Reuters: Japan crisis now seen worse than Three Mile Island

A second fire was discovered Wednesday in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, the latest in a series of setbacks at the stricken plant that has heightened fears that the incidents could lead to widespread radiation contamination.

The 50 workers who have stayed behind to stave off catastrophe are true heroes.  But they now have 6 reactors to focus on.

As the NYT reported 8:39 pm EDT, beyond the “the three stricken reactors, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, where overheated fuel rods continued to boil away the water at a brisk pace” during much of the day, “Concern remained high about the storage pools at that [4th] reactor and at two other reactors, Nos. 5 and 6.”

For Japan news junkies, here is the live stream from NHK WORLD TV, a 24-hour English language news channel:

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Media blows the story, again

A new Gallup poll finds Americans (accurately) believe global warming is due more to human activities than natural changes by 52% to 43%, up from 50 to 46 last year.  Only 36% of Republicans acknowledge this.

The percentage who believe “most scientists believe that global warming is occurring” vs. “most scientists believe that global warming is NOT occurring” is 55 to 8, vs 52 to 10 just last year.

Some 51% personally worry a great deal or fair amount about the problem, almost precisely the percentage as last year (52%).  Only 31% of Republicans worry that much about global warming.

But the media had a different take on the poll.

The CNN headline reads, “Poll: Global warming fears cooling,” and the lede is “Americans’ perceptions of the issue of global warming appear to be cooling.”  The UPI story’s headline is “Americans’ concern over warming slips.”  Why this spin?

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Written with guest blogger Kristen Bartoloni, Researcher for Progress Central.

Today, Republicans in the House energy committee voted not once, not twice, but three times, against amendments recognizing that climate change is real, despite the broad scientific consensus that “climate change is happening and human beings are a major reason for it.” They then unanimously voted in favor of the Upton-Inhofe bill to repeal the EPA’s scientific endangerment finding on greenhouse pollution.

The 31 Republicans and three Democrats who voted in favor of H.R. 910 have received a grand total of $343,750 from Koch Industries, an average of more than $10,000 each. Freshman Mike Pompeo (R-KS), Koch’s special man in Congress, tips the scales at $79,500.

But today’s vote is not the first time the Commitee From Koch went public on their science denial. Here’s a survey of the members of the committee, fueled by support from Koch Industries and other polluters, and their proclaimed opposition to climate science and climate scientists:

House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton (MI): “I do not say that it is manmade.” [ThinkProgress, 2/8/11]
Koch Contributions: $20,000

Energy and Power Subcommittee Chair Ed Whitfield (KY): “Whitfield has questioned climate science in the past, including in the aftermath of the release of the so-called “Climate Gate” emails.” [The Hill, 3/15/11]
Koch Contributions: $9,000

Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX): “My good friend from California tries to make it clear that the science is settled. I would say it’s not settled.” [The Hill, 3/15/11]
Koch Contributions: $44,750

Rep. Charles Bass (R-NH): “A debate continues about the sources of this climate change, and it should continue within the scientific community.” [WMUR, 7/25/10]

Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-CA): “Whereas recent events have uncovered extensive evidence from the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia in England (in this resolution referred to as the ‘CRU’) which involved many researchers across the globe discussing the destruction, altering, and hiding of data that did not support global warming claims.” [H. Res. 954, 12/8/09]

Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN): “Also absent from the discussion in Copenhagen is the climate-gate scandal. Recently leaked e-mails reveal climate scientists have a long track record of manipulating data to hide scientific evidence that contradicts the global warming establishment. And why? To bully citizens and lawmakers into supporting job-killing energy tax schemes. This scandal raises serious questions about the Democrat’s climate control plans, questions that deserve a transparent investigation, not a rush to judgement by the bureaucrats in Copenhagen.” [GOP weekly address, 12/12/09]
Koch Contributions: $32,000

Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX): “My opinion, for what it’s worth, is the science behind global temperature changes is not settled…Now, weather and climate are complex phenomena affected by a host of variables. In the 1970s, we’ve all seen the cover of Time magazine, the earth was cooling, the next ice age was on the way. It was the consensus of scientists at that time that that was fact and there was no point in debating it any further.” [Energy committee hearing, 3/8/11]
Koch Contributions: $27,500

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The greatest energy-related health risks to Americans clearly come from fossil fuels.

The gravest immediate risk is the traditional air pollution that comes from the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas, which kills 20,000 or more Americans a year, and impairs the health of hundreds of thousands (see Life-cycle study: Accounting for total harm from coal would add “close to 17.8¢/kWh of electricity generated” and Burning fossil fuels costs the U.S. $120 billion a year “” not counting mercury or climate impacts).

The gravest risk in the coming decades is from unrestricted greenhouse gas emissions, primarily from the combustion of coal, oil, and natural gas, which threatens multiple simultaneous catastrophes whose combined impact would very likely harm all Americans and all of humanity severely and irreversibly for many centuries (see “A stunning year in climate science reveals that human civilization is on the precipice“).

But we also live in a world of finite resources and finite investment dollars, which is precisely why we can’t afford to make big mistakes in energy policy, as we have with, say corn ethanol.  Right now, it appears that a major push towards new nuclear power would be such a mistake.

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To defend vote, Rep. Burgess cites unscientific online poll

House Republicans rejected an amendment offered Tuesday by a top Democrat that called on Congress to accept the scientific consensus that climate change is occurring….

The amendment failed on a party-line vote of 31-20. No Republicans voted for the amendment….

The amendment says that “Congress accepts the scientific finding of the Environmental Protection Agency that ‘warming of the climate system is unequivocal, as is now evident from observations of increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level.’”

It’s official.  House Republicans are deniers of science so well verified by observation and analysis that The U.S. National Academy of Sciences declared it a “settled fact” last year.

Indeed, denial of science now appears to be a litmus test for the House GOP, with members competing to make the most inane arguments possible in defense of their anti-scientific views.

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Report: Non-nuclear clean energy to double by 2020

As concerns mount over nuclear power safety in the aftermath of Japan’s massive earthquake, a new report says other energy sources not derived from fossil fuels are expanding and will likely double market share within a decade.

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Conservative attacks on Obama keep defying logic.  First, former Big Oil lobbyist Haley Barbour said oil prices rose because Obama’s policies cut U.S. oil productions — except production has sharply increased under Obama.  Then Sen. Inhofe (R-OIL) claimed Mideast unrest isn’t causing the price surge, a clean energy bill the Senate never voted on is.

Then Fred Upton claimed his pending bill to overturn science and block EPA curbs of greenhouse gases will “stop rising gas prices,” which Politifact debunked as “False” here. Media Matter put together an impressive list of independent experts who say it’s simply “not credible” to claim that Obama’s drilling policies caused — or even contributed to — the recent price jump.

The lastest group to torture waterboard logic in an effort to blame Obama is the pro-pollution, Koch-fueled Heritage Foundation.

CAPAF’s Daniel J. Weiss rescues logic below.

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Lord Nicholas Stern, one of the world’s most prominent climate economists, believes that the fight against global warming will lead to the next industrial revolution.  Brad Johnson has the story and video.

In an exclusive interview with ThinkProgress, Stern describes the scale of the challenge to wean civilization off its dependence of unsustainable fossil fuels. Since the consequences of failure are on the almost unimaginable scale of global war, this challenge is a necessary one. Stern is actually inspired by the scope of action, recognizing that the investment to transform the global economy to be cleaner, safer, and healthier will unleash a new industrial revolution:

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