‘Green News Report’ – November 21, 2024

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Back-to-back major storms slam the Pacific Northwest; Climate change intensified every hurricane in 2024, new study finds; US has huge cache of rare earth elements buried within its coal ash waste dumps; PLUS: NY Gov. revives congestion pricing to rein in traffic and air pollution in New York City… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Parts of Great Barrier Reef dying at record rate, alarmed researchers say; “worst fears” confirmed; China’s soaring emissions are upending climate politics; Fossil fuel transition talks rescued from brink of collapse at COP29; Super Typhoon Man-yi devastates Philippines, 6th typhoon to hit country in 4 weeks; Beekeeper mourns millions of bees killed in Mountain fire; FEMA worker tells of avoiding MAGA homes due to threats of violence… PLUS: Giraffes are up next on the endangered species list… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• ‘Bomb’ cyclone and atmospheric river pummel Pacific Northwest:
• VIDEO: Bomb cyclone pounds Pacific Northwest – and another storm is on the way (USA Today)
• ‘Bomb cyclone’ brings high winds and soaking rain to Northern California and Pacific Northwest (AP)
• Washington state reels from bomb cyclone as atmospheric river drenches California (NBC News)
• Northern California faces possible record-breaking rainfall from atmospheric river and another storm is coming (CNN)
• VIDEO: Mathew Cappucci explains “Double Bomb” Cyclone (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Climate change intensified every hurricane in 2024:
• Climate change goosed hurricane wind strength by 18 mph since 2019, study says (AP)
• Climate change is increasing hurricane wind speeds, study finds (Axios)
• Climate change increased wind speeds for every 2024 Atlantic hurricane: Analysis (Climate Central):
  All eleven hurricanes in 2024 (as of November 10) intensified by 9-28 mph during the record-breaking ocean warmth of the 2024 hurricane season, strengthening over waters made as much as 2.5°F warmer because of climate change.
• Biden Admin. asks for $100 billion to refill FEMA’s Disaster Relief Fund:
• Biden administration requesting roughly $100 billion for disaster relief (CNN):
  It includes $40 billion for the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Disaster Relief Fund, after the federal government rapidly spent a recent infusion of around $20 billion from Congress to respond to hurricane season after it ran out of money amid other tornadoes, wildfires and floods…The whopping topline number is roughly five times the amount Congress initially gave FEMA in its yearly budget process. ..The request includes funding for a number of other key areas of assistance for those impacted by natural disasters.
• Biden asks Congress for about $100 billion in disaster relief funding (NPR)
• Trump nominates climate science denier Gov. Kristi Noem for DHS (FEMA):
• Kristi Noem rejected climate change and money to fight it (E&E News):
  President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the department in charge of disaster recovery has been skeptical of climate change, declined to accept federal climate money and been criticized for her own handling of a natural catastrophe.
• VIDEO: Kristi Noem doesn’t believe in climate change because it hasn’t been proven to her that it is human-caused (Heartland Signal/YouTube)
• Kristi Noem ‘Knows Nothing’ About Homeland Security: Ex-Trump Official (MSN)
• Donald Trump’s pick for energy secretary says ‘there is no climate crisis’ (The Verge)
• What to know about Doug Burgum, Trump’s Interior secretary pick (Axios)
• US coal ash waste ponds contain billions of dollars’ worth of rare earth elements:
• Enormous Cache of Rare Earth Elements Hidden Inside Coal Ash Waste (Univ. of Texas at Austin):
  “This really exemplifies the ‘trash to treasure’ mantra,” said co-lead author Bridget Scanlon, a research professor at UT’s Bureau of Economic Geology at the Jackson School of Geosciences. “We’re basically trying to close the cycle and use waste and recover resources in the waste, while at the same time reducing environmental impacts.”
• Coal ash resources and potential for rare earth element production in the United States (International Journal of Coal Science and Technology)
• Rare Earth Elements in U.S. Not So Rare (US Geological Survey)
• Rare earths: Neither rare, nor earths (BBC, 3/24/2014)
• NY Gov. Hochul revives congestion pricing in NYC:
• Congestion pricing will begin in January with reduced $9 toll. Here’s what drivers should know (NBC-New York):
  “We brought our lawsuits to ensure that congestion pricing would go into effect as required by law – and it couldn’t come at a more urgent time. If we don’t get the system in operation before Donald Trump becomes President, we’ll lose $15 billion in critical transit investments that we’ll never see again,” said [NYC Comptroller Brad] Lander.
• New York to Revive Congestion Pricing With $9 Toll (NY Times):
  Gov. Kathy Hochul is expected to announce the revised program on Thursday with the aim of putting it in place before Donald J. Trump takes office…Five House Republicans representing parts of New York City and its suburbs wrote to Mr. Trump on Tuesday blasting the program as “oppressive taxation regime” and asking the president-elect to try to quash it.
• Hochul’s congestion pricing revival approved by MTA – clearing the way for $9 tolls starting Jan. 5 (MSN)

‘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

• Parts of Great Barrier Reef dying at record rate, alarmed researchers say; “worst fears” confirmed (CBS News)
• COP29 Bulletin Day 10: Draft finance text missing numbers, more effort sought on emissions-cutting (Climate Home News)
• China’s soaring emissions are upending climate politics (NY Times)
• Fossil fuel transition talks rescued from brink of collapse at COP29 (Climate Home News)
• Super Typhoon Man-yi devastates Philippines, 4th typhoon to hit country in 2 weeks (Yahoo News)
• ‘All we could do was watch’: Beekeeper mourns millions of bees killed in Mountain fire (LA Times)
• FEMA worker tells of avoiding MAGA homes due to threats of violence (This Is Not Cool blog)
• An up-close look at the Marshall Mesa coal fire mitigation project (NBC-Denver)
• A call for EPA action on climate risks to hazardous waste facilities (The New Lede)
• Giraffes Are Up Next On The Endangered Species List: US Wildlife Officials (CNN)
• 5 firms in alliance ‘made 1,000 time more plastic than they cleaned up’ (Guardian)
• The US no longer supports capping plastic production in UN treaty (Grist)
• The Climate Fight Will Continue (This Is Not Cool blog)
• 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)