‘Green News Report’ – October 22, 2024

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Cuba hit with double whammy — first a national power outage, then Hurricane Oscar; Historic rains, flooding strike New Mexico, France, and Bangladesh; World sees largest, longest coral bleaching event on record; PLUS: Oil lobby prepares to overturn Biden climate rules under Trump… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Coming Financial Hurricane: How Hurricane Milton and other climate chaos could trigger the next economic crisis; Can the tire industry be sustainable? Guayule farmers say yes; AR may have vast lithium reserves; U.S. approves mega geothermal energy project in Utah; Flesh-eating bacteria cases rise in Florida after hurricanes Helene and Milton; Extreme storms have obvious and not-so-obvious economic impacts; IEA expects global clean energy investment to hit $2 trillion in 2024… PLUS: One of the largest solar projects in US opens in Texas, backed by Google… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Cuba grapples with double crises of national grid collapse and Hurricane Oscar:
• Cuban power grid collapses for fourth time as hurricane arrives (CNN)
• Tropical Storm Oscar dumps heavy rain on eastern Cuba as it heads toward the Bahamas (AP):
  [N]ot a single forecast model indicated that Oscar might strengthen into a hurricane on Saturday before making landfall in the Bahamas. “It’s not often we see a colossal failure in hurricane forecasting,” he wrote in an analysis published Monday.
• Hurricane Oscar leaves at least six dead in Cuba (BBC)
• Island-wide blackout sweeps Cuba after power plant failure (CNN):
  In fact, seven of the eight thermoelectric plants that supply energy to Cuba are broken or under maintenance, according to a statement released this Wednesday by the Cuban Electric Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines of the island.
• A Nationwide Blackout, Now a Hurricane. How Much Can Cuba Endure? (NY Times):
  The repeated failure of the power grid and a hurricane that has swamped the island’s eastern end has many Cubans fed up, posing a challenge to the Communist government.
• Cuba Suffers Second Power Outage in 24 Hours, Realizing Years of Warnings (NY Times):
  Cuba’s electricity grid relies on eight very large power plants that are close to 50 years old. “They have not received any operational maintenance, much less capital maintenance, in the last 12 to 15 years,” he said, adding that they have a lifetime of only 25 to 30 years.
• ‘Huge humanitarian crisis’: Cuba hit by hurricane amid island-wide power outage (MSNBC)
• Roswell, New Mexico inundated by historic rainfall:
• Deluge in New Mexico triggers flood, killing 2 and stranding hundreds (Washington Post):
  Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington urged residents to stay at home in a video posted to social media early Sunday morning from the roof of his police truck…All roads leading into Roswell are closed, and vehicles can leave but not re-enter the city, Richards said. A bridge on New Mexico State Road 409 was “beginning to collapse” due to floodwaters and shut down, Richards said.
• Officials tour ‘unbelievable’ deadly flood damage in Roswell following historic rainfall (Yahoo News)
• VIDEO: In Roswell, Aerial Phenomena Identified (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Central France inundated by historic rainfall:
• Two days of torrential rain bring major flooding to central France (AP)
• Flooding in France: ‘Global warming is generating even more severe episodes of heavy precipitation’ (Le Monde):
  In the space of a few months, we experienced a sequence of several remarkable episodes of heavy precipitation. Before Kirk, there was also the exceptional flooding in the Aspe valley, in the Pyrénées region in September, and the flood that ravaged La Bérarde [near Grenoble] at the end of June. Parts of Central Europe were also hard hit in September…[I]t is consistent with the projection expected from climate change.
• VIDEO: Severe flooding hits south of France after torrential rain (EuroNews)
• France Struggles to Dry Out From Flash Flooding (NY Times)
• Italy and France hit by severe flooding after heavy rain (EuroNews)
• Bangladesh: heavy rains and floods destroy rice crops:
• Floods destroy 1.1 million tons of rice in Bangladesh (Reuters):
  Floods in Bangladesh have destroyed an estimated 1.1 million metric tons of rice, according to data from the agriculture ministry, prompting the country to ramp up imports of the staple grain amid soaring food prices…The floods have also severely impacted other agricultural products, including more than 200,000 tons of vegetables. Total nationwide agricultural losses due to the flooding are estimated at around 45 billion taka ($380 million).
• Bangladesh Communities On the Frontline of Climate Change (Global Issues)
• Experts urge collaborative approaches for flood management in Bangladesh (Dhaka Tribune)
• Global coral bleaching event now the largest ever recorded:
• Exclusive: Global coral bleaching event expands, now the largest on record (Reuters)
• Over a year of astonishing ocean heat has given way to the largest coral bleaching on record (CNN):
  A staggering 77% of the world’s coral reef areas — from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Indian oceans — have so far been subjected to bleaching-level heat stress, according to satellite data, as climate change fuels record and near-record ocean temperatures across the world.
• Global coral bleaching event is now largest on record (Axios)
• Revealed: Oil lobby groups’ extensive scheme to rollback Biden’s landmark climate rules
• Trump has vowed to gut climate rules. Oil lobbyists have a plan ready. (Washington Post):
  As companies fall short on methane flaring emission reductions, a top trade group has crafted a road map for dismantling key Biden administration rules.
• Oil group’s 2025 playbook surfaces in election’s closing days (Axios):
  A major oil and gas lobbying group is pressuring Republicans to repeal the IRA’s methane fee in reconciliation if they take unified control of Congress next year, according to an internal industry document… The American Exploration and Production Council document lays out detailed plans for the looming tax debate in 2025, when the Trump tax cuts will expire. The tax debate is crucial to policy ambitions for industry and NGOs alike and widely seen as the top vehicle for legislative priorities in the next Congress.
• Biden Dept. of Energy invests in upgrading U.S. electric grid:
• Energy grants aim to harden grid against events like Helene, Milton (Roll Call)
• Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program (U.S. Dept. of Energy)
• DOE delivers $2B to expand grid for renewables, extreme weather (E&E News):
  The Department of Energy on Friday announced nearly $2 billion in funding for transmission projects nationally, marking a key step in the Biden administration’s efforts to strengthen the electricity grid in the face of climate change and rising power demand…The projects, which are still being finalized, are backed by the $10.5 billion Grid Resilience and Innovation Partnerships (GRIP) Program authorized in the infrastructure law, which Granholm called the “single largest investment in our grid in history.”

‘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

• The Coming Financial Hurricane: How Hurricane Milton and other climate chaos could trigger the next economic crisis (The Lever News)
• Can the tire industry be sustainable? Guayule farmers say yes. (Washington Post)
• U.S. approves mega geothermal energy project in Utah (Washington Post)
• Flesh-eating bacteria cases rise in Florida after hurricanes Helene and Milton (CNN)
• NYC comptroller Lander to end private market fossil fuel investments (Reuters)
• Extreme Storms Obvious, and Not-so-Obvious Economic Impacts (This Is Not Cool blog)
• IEA expects global clean energy investment to hit $2 trillion in 2024 (Reuters)
• World Lags On 2030 Nature Goals Headed Into UN COP16 Talks (Reuters)
• Arkansas May Have Vast Lithium Reserves, Researchers Say (NY Times)
• Maryland Law to Fix Retail Energy Market Faces Industry Legal Challenge (Inside Climate News)
• Supreme Court To Consider Which Courts Can Hear Challenges To EPA Actions (The Hill)
• One Of The Largest Solar Projects In US Opens In Texas, Backed By Google (AP)
• What’s Causing the Recent Spike in Global Temperatures? (Yale e360)
• Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)
• America’s Climate and Economy Are on the Ballot (The American Prospect)
• How to power your home through an outage without a gas generator (Washington Post)
• VIDEO: John Oliver on Trump’s Project 2025: Blueprint for the Death of Democracy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)
• How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)
• Abrupt reduction in shipping emission as an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock produces substantial radiative warming (Nature)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)