‘Green News Report’ – November 30, 2021

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: While we were out — 52 killed in Russian coal mine; Water scarcity triggers unrest in Iran; Biden opens up the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; Seattle has wettest fall ever recorded; Portugal goes coal-free; PLUS: Interior Dept. calls for overhauling nation’s oil and gas leasing program… All that and MUCH more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): How Indigenous peoples are fighting the apocalypse; How leather seats in luxury SUVs fuel Amazon deforestation; Greenland is seeing record ice loss; U.S. drillers add oil and gas rigs for record 16th month; Gulf oil lease sale means drilling within legacy chemical dump site; Plastic nurdles are the worst toxic waste you’ve probably never heard of… PLUS: Houston highway project sparks debate over racial equity… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Russia jails 5 over Siberia coal mine disaster that killed 51 (AP)
• Iran: Violent crackdowns on protests over water scarcity:
• Iran Forcefully Clamps Down on Protests Against Growing Water Shortages (NY Times)
• Iran: Protests on water shortages turn violent as police arrest 67 (Deutsche Welle)
• Iran water: What’s causing the shortages? (BBC, 8/2/2021)
• Brazil’s Amazon rainforest hits record deforestation:
• Brazil’s Amazon hit by worst deforestation since 2006 (Washington Post)
• Bolsonaro Government Lied in Official Document about Amazon Deforestation (UOL)
• PNW and BC hit with another round of atmospheric rivers:
• It’s been the wettest early fall on record in the Seattle area — and more rain is coming (Seattle Times)
• It hasn’t been a lake for a century. An atmospheric river just made it one again (MSN)
• The Pacific Northwest Is in the Midst of a ‘Cascading Hazard’ (Earther)
• CA: Climate-fueled wildfires destroyed 20 percent of giant sequioas:
• 20 percent of Giant Sequoias wiped out by wildfires since 2020 (Yahoo News):
  Experts blame drought and extreme fire behavior fueled by climate change for wildfires that have destroyed thousands of Giant Sequoias in California.
• ‘There is nothing alive on that tree’: Inside a giant sequoia grove scorched by the KNP Complex fire (LA Times)
• Biden orders oil released from Strategic Petroleum Reserve:
• U.S. to release oil from reserves in coordination with other countries to lower gas prices (CNBC)
• VIDEO: U.S. energy envoy says Biden stands ready to release even more oil reserves to cool markets (CNBC)
• Energy prices are surging. What can Biden do? (E&E News):
  “Release from the reserve will only serve to increase demand…OPEC would more than likely respond with a production cut to match any release from the reserve,” Flynn wrote. Still, talk of a response from the White House and a strengthening dollar has helped chill the run-up in oil somewhat, at least temporarily.
• Explainer: What is the SPR, the emergency oil stash Biden is tapping? (Reuters)
• The Main Driver of Inflation Is a Murderous Maniac in Riyadh (The Intercept)
• Biden Asks FTC to Examine Whether Oil, Gas Companies Are Inflating Gas Prices (Wall St. Journal/MSN)
• Interior Dept. report urges major overhaul of oil/gas leasing program:
• Biden sets out oil, gas leasing reform, stops short of ban (AP):
  The report recommends hiking federal royalty rates for oil and gas drilling, which have not been raised for 100 years. The federal rate of 12.5 percent that developers must pay to drill on public lands is significantly lower than many states and private landowners charge for drilling leases on state or private lands.
• U.S. oil drilling review proposes higher fees, development curbs (Reuters)
• 3 issues to watch with Biden’s oil and gas overhaul (E&E News)
• Interior report hardens battle lines on oil and gas leasing (E&E News)
• Interior Department approves 2nd large US offshore wind farm (AP)
• Germany’s new coalition promises climate revolution (Deutsche-Welle):
  A coal phaseout by 2030, more electric vehicles and rapid renewables expansion: Germany’s new coalition has promised a climate bonanza. But can the ambitious targets be hit?
• Portugal becomes the fourth EU country to stop using coal to generate electricity (EuroNews)
• Renewables met 97% of Scotland’s electricity demand in 2020 (BBC)

‘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

• How Indigenous Peoples Are Fighting the Apocalypse (Emergence Magazine)
• ‘The ice sheet is in for a wild ride’: Greenland is seeing record ice loss (UK Independent)
• U.S. drillers add oil and gas rigs for record 16th month – Baker Hughes (Reuters)
• How to Repair the World’s Broken Carbon Offset Markets (Yale e360)
• How leather seats in luxury SUVs fuel Amazon deforestation (Seattle Times)
• Biden Gulf Oil Sale Means More Drilling Within Legacy Chemical Dump Site (Huffington Post)
• Defections, Morale Grip EPA Forensics Lab (Bloomberg)
• Lawsuit Takes Aim At Trump-Era Rule Expanding Hunting Grounds (Reuters)
• Plastic Nurdles: The Worst Toxic Waste You’ve Probably Never Heard Of (Guardian UK)
• CA’s Failed First Plan To Stop Offshore Drilling Casts Shadow Today (LA Times)
• US Will Miss EV Targets Without Big Investments in Chip-Making: Raimondo (Inside Climate News)
• Regulator Gives TVA Approval To Bury Coal Ash In Southeast Memphis (AP)
• Houston Highway Project Sparks Debate Over Racial Equity (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.