AirTalk for Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Contact: Producers Joel Patterson, Fiona Ng, Karen Fritsche, Sonata Lee Narcisse

626-583-5100

 

SCHEDULE FOR AIRTALK WITH LARRY MANTLE

Tuesday, July 23, 2013

 

11:06 –11:20

Topic: OPEN

Guest: TBA

 

11:20 -11:40

Topic:  Hermosa Beach battle over oil drilling

The battle over oil drilling is mounting in Hermosa Beach. In close to a year, the city will hold an election to decide whether or not oil drilling should return to the South Bay beach town. It’s been nearly 80 years since Hermosa Beach residents voted to ban oil drilling. Bakersfield-based oil company E & B Natural Resources is now asking Hermosa voters to overturn the ban. The oil company contends that the city stands to gain up to $500 million over the next 30 years. Proponents of drilling say Hermosa Beach could resume delayed public works projects, shore up the police force and fund schools. Opponents of oil drilling, however, say the health and environmental risks of drilling are just too great. This debate is pitting neighbor against neighbor. E&B Natural Resources wants to use the slant drilling technique. Is this a safer alternative to drilling through the sea floor? What are the benefits of drilling? Does Hermosa need the funds oil drilling will supply?

Guest: Stacey Armato, Committee Chair of Stop Hermosa Beach Oil and an attorney

Guest: Michael Finch, Vice President of  Health, Safety and Environment at E&B Natural Resources

 

11:40-12:00

Salton Sea geothermal plants causing the San Andreas fault to tremor

There are over 10 geothermal energy plants around the Salton Sea and the vast amount of electricity they generate is making the Imperial Valley a renewable energy hub in the state. Turns out, though, power might not be the only thing these plants are producing. A paper published in the online journal Science found that geothermal production in the Imperial Valley inadvertently increased seismic activities around the San Andreas fault. The Los Angeles Times reports that between 1981 and 2012, some 10,000 earthquakes over a 1.75 magnitude were registered in the area. Could these smaller earthquakes trigger larger ones that could really rock Southern California? As we learn more about the tradeoffs involved with the use of alternative energy sources, should we rethink our adoption and reliance?

Guest: Emily Brodsky, Professor of Earth & Planetary Sciences at UC Santa Cruz and the lead author of the paper.

Guest: Thomas Kelley, President and CEO of the Imperial Valley Economic Development Corporation

 

12:06 – 12:20

Topic: OPEN

Guest: TBA

 

12:20 - 12:30

Topic: UC’s new controversial student regent Sadia Saifuddin

Guest: Sadia Saifuddin, UC Student Regent and student at UC Berkeley

 

12:30 – 1:00

Topic: Baby panic averted? Suppose you’re a woman of a certain age and you’d like to have children. Chances are you’re concerned about your ability to conceive naturally. Most headlines on the topic and well-meaning grandparents don’t help ease the anxiety. Their advice is generally to pop those kids out while you’re still young, or risk never being able to. But is the fertility news really that bad for women in their 30s? No, argues Jean Twenge in her recent Atlantic Magazine article, “How Long Can You Wait to Have a Baby?” According to Twenge, “the statistics on women’s age and fertility—used by many to make decisions about relationships, careers and when to have children—were one of the more spectacular examples of the mainstream media’s failure to correctly report on and interpret scientific research.” For example, Twenge argues, the widely cited statistic that one in three women ages 35 to 39 will not be pregnant after a year of trying is based on French birth records from 1670-1830. “In other words,” Twenge writes, “millions of women are being told when to get pregnant based on statistics from a time before electricity, antibiotics, or fertility treatment.” Is the science used to educate women outdated and alarmist? Do modern studies paint a more optimistic picture? How much does fertility truly decline with age and what’s the takeaway for women in their 30s and 40s? How loud is that biological clock ticking for you?

Guest: Jean Twenge (pron TBD), author of the Atlantic Magazine article “How Long Can You Wait to Have a Baby” and the book “The Impatient Woman's Guide to Getting Pregnant” (Atria Books)

Guest: Dr. Marcelle Cedars, MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Director of Division of Reproductive Endocrinology at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF)

 

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Joel Patterson

Senior Producer, AirTalk

626-583-5375 office

858-349-2205 cell

@joelerson