‘Green News Report’ – November 5, 2024

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Tornadoes strike Oklahoma, as wet weather complicates Election Day; October 2024 was one of the driest months in U.S. history; Late season Tropical Storm Rafael threatens U.S. Gulf Coast; A boatload of positive climate news; PLUS: President Biden allocates $3 billion to upgrade and electrify the nation’s ports… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): What’s at stake on Tuesday? The planet; Trump vows anti-regulatory blitz; An angry Spain, still reeling from floods, faces more rain; Trump donor fined for pollution now leading fight to end methane emission penalties; New EV battery reaches 90% charge in 15 minutes; NYC tests a solar-powered school bus microgrid; L.A. County sue Pepsi and Coca-Cola over plastic pollution… PLUS: Fruit farmers of 50 years still at it, with help from wind turbines… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Tropical Storm Rafael on track to threaten US Gulf Coast:
• Tropical Storm Rafael forms in the Caribbean and is expected to become a hurricane (NBC News/MSN)
• Tropical Storm Rafael forms in the Caribbean and could threaten the US Gulf Coast (CNN)
• Tornado swarm strikes Oklahoma:
• Strong storms are hitting parts of the US for the third straight day after spawning destructive Oklahoma tornadoes (CNN)
• At least 11 injured after tornado-spawning thunderstorms left a trail of destruction across parts of Oklahoma (CNN)
• More tornado warnings for Oklahoma City area, day after twisters caused major damage (ABC News)
• Oklahoma storms bypass voting sites, officials say ahead of election (The Oklahoman)
• Extreme weather complicates Election Day:
• ‘Heartwarming’: Western NC sees record voter turnout despite Helene changes (WRAL-TV)
• North Carolina sees turnout record with more than 4.2M ballots cast at early in-person voting sites (AP):
  Turnout in the 25 western counties affected by Hurricane Helene was stronger than the rest of the state at 58.9% — about 2% higher than statewide turnout, officials said.
• A look at the weather expected in battleground states on Election Day (AP)
• October 2024 was one of the driest months ever in U.S. history:
• A Record Number of States Are in Drought (NY Times, no paywall):
  “Drought in many parts of the country and the world is becoming more frequent, longer and more severe,” said Erica Fleishman, director of the Oregon Climate Change Research Institute and a professor at Oregon State University. Dry conditions over the past few months led New York City on Saturday to urge residents to start conserving “every drop possible.”
• Where has all the rain gone? Bone-dry October strikes much of US (AP):
  A bone-dry October is pushing nearly half of the United States into a flash drought, leading to fires in the Midwest and hindering shipping on the Mississippi River.
• Americans just lived through one of the driest months in history. (CNN):
  One of the driest months in United States history is coming to a close after causing the worst drought in more than 20 years in parts of the East as temperatures soar well above average there.
• Russia, China, Cuba amplified hurricane disinformation in US to sow division:
• Russian propaganda exploits US hurricane response to undermine FEMA and Ukraine support (ISD Globa.)
• Russia amplified hurricane disinformation to drive Americans apart, researchers find (AP):
  Russia has helped amplify and spread false and misleading internet claims about recent hurricanes in the United States and the federal government’s response, part of a wider effort by the Kremlin to manipulate America’s political discourse before the presidential election, new research shows.
• Russia, China and Cuba spread misinformation about US hurricane response, US official says (CNN):
  It’s the clearest statement yet from the US government that foreign powers have spread false information about the two hurricanes that hit the US in September and October. Much of the false information about the federal response to the hurricanes has been spread by Americans, including the billionaire Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X. False claims that relief funds were being given to migrants, for example, have gone viral.
• Disaster misinformation is part of the US political landscape now (Bloomberg)
• Army of bots promotes petrostate hosting global climate talks (Washington Post)
• Good climate and clean energy news around the world:
• Good climate news this week (Assaad Razzouk/Twitter)
• EU greenhouse gas emissions down 8 percent in 2023 (Politico Europe):
  Accelerating rollout of renewable energy sources drives stunning drop…”We are on track to meet our 2030 targets to reduce emissions by at least 55 percent if this momentum is maintained,” European Commission spokesperson Tim McPhie said at a press conference.
• German coal use continues downward trend in 2024 (Clean Energy Wire)
• Analysis: No growth for China’s emissions in Q3 2024 despite coal-power rebound (Carbon Brief)
• China’s largest offshore wind farm goes into operation (REVE)
• China Appears On Track to See Emissions Fall This Year (Yale e360)
• China debuts a record-smashing 26 MW offshore wind turbine (Electrek)
• The Midwest is becoming ground zero for the EV charging boom (Detroit News)
• All the news about EV charging in the US (The Verge)
• America’s EV Charging Network is Starting to Look Like Europe’s (Newsweek)
• US power grid added battery equivalent of 20 nuclear reactors in past four years (Guardian):
  From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
• Biden allocates $3 billion to electrify, upgrade nation’s ports:
• Biden announces $3B to reduce carbon emissions at US ports, ‘the linchpin to America’s supply chain’ (AP):
  The new funding will help ports and communities across the country cut operating costs and keep consumer prices down, “while slashing carbon pollution and supporting an estimated 40,000 new, good-paying jobs to support clean energy manufacturing all across America,’’ Biden said. “This is about environmental justice,’’ he added, citing studies that show higher childhood asthma, cancer and lung and heart disease in residents who live near U.S. ports.
• Biden unveils $3 billion investment in U.S. ports (CBS News)
• VIDEO: President Biden Delivers Remarks on electrifying U.S. ports and his Investing in America Agenda (White House/YouTube)
• FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Initiative to Bolster Cybersecurity of U.S. Ports (White House)

‘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

• What’s at stake on Tuesday? The planet. (CNN)
• Trump vows anti-regulatory blitz (E&E News)
• An angry Spain, still reeling from floods, faces more rain (NY Times)
• Trump donor fined for pollution leads a fight to end methane emission penalties (Guardian)
• Amprius ships EV battery that reaches 90% charge in 15 minutes (Electrek)
• Fruit farmers of 50 years still at it, with help from wind turbines (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Why did so many die in Spain? Because Europe still hasn’t accepted the realities of extreme weather (Guardian)
• L.A. County sue Pepsi and Coca-Cola over plastic pollution (LA Times)
• Invasive species trouble for New York’s beloved tap water (Inside Climate News)
• Pesticide PAC money surges into states as firms seek to limit damage awards (US RTK)
• New York City tests a solar-powered school bus microgrid (Canary Media)
• 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)