‘Green News Report’ – November 18, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Pacific Northwest careens from deadly extreme heat to deadly extreme floods; Interior Department holds controversial oil and gas lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico; Federal Trade Commission to investigate whether Big Oil is illegally inflating gas prices; PLUS: President Biden promotes infrastructure deal and American-made electric vehicles… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): ‘Don’t Look Up’: A-list actors made the climate movie we deserve; The Pacific Northwest Is in the Midst of a ‘Cascading Hazard’; Report warns Texas to take certain steps to avoid future winter power outages; Believe it or not, electric cars aren’t the best-selling electric vehicles. These are; Israel, Jordan and UAE to sign deal for huge solar farm; Biden Submits Treaty Fighting Climate Super-Pollutants For Senate OK; Energy-Efficient Isn’t Enough, So Homes Go ‘Net Zero… PLUS: After record low, monarch butterflies return to California… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• British Columbia, Pacific NW hammered by extreme weather whiplash:
• Thousands remain out of their homes in B.C. after devastating, destructive floods (CBC)
• Mammoth cleanup to begin in B.C. as flood waters recede (CBC)
• B.C. declares state of emergency in wake of devastating flooding, mudslides (CBC)
• The latest news on mudslides and flooding in British Columbia (Canadian Post):
  The mayor of Abbotsford, B.C., says he’s spoken to the prime minister and provincial government officials to prepare them for a flood-damage bill of up to $1 billion.
• Vancouver Is Cut Off by Road, Rail After ‘Extraordinary’ Storms (Bloomberg/Yahoo News):
  The impact “is expected to be significant and will have a cascading effect,” says Wade Sobkowich, executive director of the Western Grain Elevator Association. There will be vessel delays at a time when freight rates and demurrage are already high because of supply chain logjams, he said.
• Flooding, Outages, And Rescues Mount In Severe West Coast Weather (NBC)
• Trans Mountain pipeline, construction on expansion shut down due to B.C. flooding (Globe & Mail)
• BC Flooding is an Extreme Weather Event Making a Mockery of Calgary’s Climate Emergency Declaration (Yahoo News)
• Extreme heat, downpours intensified by man-made climate change:
• Extreme weather outruns the world (Axios) [empahsis added]:
  “It’s quite clear that for each additional 0.5°C of warming there is a clearly discernible and substantial increase in the frequency and intensity of extreme temperatures and extreme downpours,” climate scientist Daniel Swain tells Axios.The effect isn’t linear, he said — double the warming we’ve seen so far, which the world is on course to do now, would produce more than double an increase in the severity of extreme weather.
• Why are the B.C. floods so bad? Blame the wildfires, at least in part (CBC):
  While climate change and (bad) luck each had some role to play, previous wildfires are known to boost the risk of disastrous flooding following a heavy rain or snowmelt.
• First fires, now floods: British Columbia and Washington reeling from atmospheric river (Washington Post/MSN)
• From fire to ‘atmospheric river’: Why B.C. is trapped in a world of climate extremes (Globe & Mail)
• The chaos on Canada’s west coast is a preview of climate change woes to come (The Week):
  Yes, we need to do what we can to cut emissions so things don’t become even worse down the road. But they’re going to become pretty bad regardless. Internalizing that fact is an important task, not least because doing so might goad us to develop a nimbleness in our response to disasters and resilience in our supply chains once the worst discrete weather events have receded.
• Extreme rain and venomous scorpions plague Egypt:
• Climate-Pumped Rain Extreme Unleashes Killer Scorpion Horde (Climate Crocks)
• Plagues Strike Egypt: Sudden Floods, Then 4-Inch Scorpions Called Deathstalkers (NY Times):
  Swept from desert burrows, hundreds, if not thousands, of scorpions skittered into villages, stinging at least 503 people.
• Interior Dept. holds controversial oil/gas lease sale in Gulf of Mexico:
• Why the Biden administration just sold offshore oil leases, despite campaign pledge (Yahoo News):
  “We believe the decision is wrong, and the Justice Department is appealing it,” said Jen Psaki, Biden’s press secretary…”We’re required to comply with the injunction. It’s a legal case and legal process, but it’s important for advocates and other people out there who are following this to understand that it’s not aligned with our view, the president’s policies, or the executive order that he signed.”
• Days After Climate Summit, Biden To Hold ‘Carbon Bomb’ Gulf Oil Sale (Huffington Post)
• Biden orders FTC investigation into Big Oil amid spiking gas prices:
• Biden Asks FTC to Examine Whether Oil, Gas Companies Are Inflating Gas Prices (Wall St. Journal/MSN):
  “This unexplained large gap between the price of unfinished gasoline and the average price at the pump is well above the pre-pandemic average,” Mr. Biden wrote. “Meanwhile, the largest oil-and-gas companies in America are generating significant profits off higher energy prices.”
• Energy prices are surging. What can Biden do? (E&E News):
  But analysts are skeptical of the president’s ability to move the needle on prices. Phil Flynn, of the Price Futures Group in Chicago, said such an SPR release would be a failure. “Release from the reserve will only serve to increase demand. It will artificially lower prices in a market where the demand is insatiable and fundamentally undersupplied,” he said in an investor note Friday. “Besides that, OPEC would more than likely respond with a production cut to match any release from the reserve.”

• Here’s what Joe Biden can actually do about gas prices (CNN)
• Biden promotes American-made electric vehicles, infrastructure deal:
• Biden Lauds Electric Cars In Michigan As Climate Agenda Hits Road Bumps (Washington Post):
  President Biden continued his infrastructure sales tour Wednesday with a visit to the Detroit area, promoting American-made electric vehicles and his broader public works law while the rest of his climate agenda hangs in the balance in Washington.
• VIDEO: Biden gives remarks at General Motors electric vehicle factory in Detroit (PBS NewsHour)
• VIDEO: President Biden Test Driver Hummer EV in Michigan (Yahoo News)
• In Detroit, Biden says Build Back Better bill won’t add to inflation, is ‘fully paid for’ by taxing corporations (MLive/MSN):
  President Joe Biden argued America will lose a global race for economic dominance without large investments in its workforce, pitching his Build Back Better proposal as key to the country’s future.
• Biden returns to Detroit to talk up infrastructure and raves about GM’s electric Hummer (Detroit Free Press/MSN)
• Joe Biden gives GM CEO Mary Barra credit for ‘electrifying the entire auto industry,’ but he’s wrong (Electrek)
• VIDEO: President Joe Biden Tours GM’s Factory Zero Plant, Discusses Infrastructure Bill (CBS2 Detroit)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• ‘Don’t Look Up’: A-list actors made the climate movie we deserve (Axios)
• The Pacific Northwest Is in the Midst of a ‘Cascading Hazard’ (Earther)
• The Celebrity-Backed Green “Fintech” Company That Isn’t as Green as It Seems (Pro Publica)
• Report warns Texas to take certain steps to avoid future winter power outages (My San Antonio)
• Believe it or not, electric cars aren’t the best-selling electric vehicles. These are (Electrek)
• Scoop: Israel, Jordan and UAE to sign deal for huge solar farm (Axios)
• Biden Submits Treaty Fighting Climate Super-Pollutants For Senate OK (Washington Post)
• ‘Watered-down hope’: Experts wanted more from climate pact (AP)
• Sinema speaks up — and shakes off her critics (Politico)
• Energy-Efficient Isn’t Enough, So Homes Go ‘Net Zero’ (NY Times)
• New Energy Regulator Gets Tie-Breaking Vote on Grid’s Future (Bloomberg)
• After Record Low, Monarch Butterflies Return To California (AP)
• EPA Overturns Approval Of Mississippi Yazoo Pumps Project (AP)
• Ethanol: Brazil’s Sugar-Based Biofuel Built On Labor Abuse (Thompson Reuters Foundation)
• American Shad On Brink Of Collapse In The James River, Nonprofit Says (Norfolk Virginina-Pilot)
• Regulators Seek To Suspend Trump Rule On Railway Natural Gas (AP)
• The World’s First Solar-Powered Steel Mill Is Here (Earther)
• VIDEO: 2050: what happens if we ignore the climate crisis (Guardian UK)
• Guilt, grief and anxiety as young people fear for climate’s future (Reuters)
• 99.9 percent Of Scientists Agree Climate Emergency Caused By Humans (Guardian UK)
• An Empire of Dying Wells: Old oil and gas sites are a climate menace. Meet the company that owns more of America’s decaying wells than any other. (Bloomberg)
• Climate Fund Choices for Investors Are Multiplying (Bloomberg/Yahoo)
• How climate change could undo 50 years of public health gains (Grist)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• What Does ’12 Years to Act on Climate Change’ (Now 9 Years) Really Mean? (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: A Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (The Intercept)
• What genuine, no-bullshit ambition on climate change would look like: How to hit the most stringent targets, with no loopholes. (David Roberts, Vox)
• A Global Shift To Sustainability Would Save Us $26 Trillion (Vox)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)
• An Optimist’s Guide to Solving Climate Change and Saving the World (Vice)
• The great nutrient collapse: The atmosphere is literally changing the food we eat, for the worse. And almost nobody is paying attention. (Politico)
• The world’s bleak climate situation, in 3 charts: We’ve got a long way to go and a short time to get there. (Vox)
• The Climate Risks We Face (NY Times):
  To stabilize global temperature, net carbon dioxide emissions must be reduced to zero. The window of time is rapidly closing to reduce emissions and limit warming to no more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the goal set in the Paris climate accord. The further we push the climate system beyond historical conditions, the greater the risks of potentially unforeseen and even catastrophic changes to the climate – so every reduction in emissions helps.
• The Uninhabitable Earth: When will climate change make earth too hot for humans? (New York Magazine):
  Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak – sooner than you think.
• A beginner’s guide to the debate over 100% renewable energy (Vox):
  Clean-energy enthusiasts frequently claim that we can go bigger, that it’s possible for the whole world to run on renewables – we merely lack the “political will.” So, is it true? Do we know how get to an all-renewables system? Not yet. Not really.