Hot News will return on Monday, November 29.

CORRECTION:

The top story on gerrymandering yesterday misstated the year in which the Ohio Legislature passed House Bill 6, which it passed in 2019. Thank you to our eagle-eyed readers. A corrected version of the story is available here.

Calif. Water Utilities Refusing 'Free Money;' Would Rather Shutoff Families' Water: California water utilities could leave families high and literally dry by refusing to apply for nearly $1 billion in water debt relief for their customers before the December 6 deadline, Capital and Main reports. A quarter of California households were behind on their drinking water bill in August and the state's shutoff moratorium lifts January 1, 2022. The state created a water debt relief fund to prevent drinking water shutoffs in the middle of a global pandemic, but about a third of California's water systems refuse to complete the application. Many utilities “clearly don’t want to participate in a program like this,” Michael Claiborne, directing attorney, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability, told Capital and Main, because they are "eager to return to water shutoffs as a collection tool, and are not interested in accepting state money that comes with state oversight.”  More than 80% of the available debt relief fund remains unclaimed as of earlier this week, but the window for utilities to get debt relief for struggling California families during the holiday season is still open. “It’s free money — please apply,” Uriel Saldivar, a senior policy advocate with the Community Water Center, urged utilities. “The residents need it.” (Capital and Main)

2020/21 Was Tumultuous Year Of Record Loss For Greenland Ice Sheet: 

The Greenland ice sheet experienced a tumultuous year of loss in 2021, losing more ice than it gained for the 25th consecutive year. Greenland's net ice loss from Sept. 2020 to Aug. 2021 is relatively consistent with annual losses over recent decades, but the major swings from intense melting to heavy snowfall — all concurrent with the highest levels of ice loss and calving since satellite records began in 1986 — augur danger. (Washington Post $, The Hill; Climate Signals background: Glacier and ice sheet melt)

Journalists Held And Charged For Covering Canadian Pipeline Protests: Two journalists have been released after being arrested and incarcerated by Canadian police for covering pipeline protests in what is now Northern British Columbia. Photojournalist Amber Bracken of The Narwhal and documentarian Michael Toledano were reporting on the construction of TC Energy’s 416 mile (670 km) Coastal GasLink pipeline, across Wet’suwet’en territory and over the opposition of the Tribe's hereditary chiefs. The journalists believe they were targeted by the heavily armed police forces who also arrested at least 13 land defenders. "This was a punitive arrest. A punitive incarceration. I was put in a holding cell for four days for filming Indigenous people being removed from their land at gunpoint," Toledano told CBC News upon his release. He also said one of the police officers knew him and "gloated" over his arrest, the AP reported. “I’m cognizant that the charges have not been dropped, and so, in that way, I think it’s still very much fasten your seatbelts,” Brent Jolly, president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, told the New York Times. “This ultimately has an effect on chilling media freedoms.” (AP, New York Times $, CBC, The Narwhal, Guardian, Grist, Reuters; Arrests: Grist, Democracy Now!)

Private Lenders, Reimbursed By Taxpayers, Aim To Distribute Post-Disaster Relief More Quickly: A new federal program will rely on private lenders to disburse disaster relief funds to be repaid, with interest, by American taxpayers, the New York Times reports. The new program means taxpayers will effectively pay private lenders to do work traditionally done by the federal government, but it could also mean relief gets to victims sooner. “Disaster recovery is not equitable in this country,” Priscilla Almodovar, head of Enterprise Community Partners, a Washington-based housing nonprofit. “Renters are the hardest hit.” It takes HUD an average of 20 months to begin distributing recovery funds after floods, wildfires, and disasters, which are becoming more intense  and/or more frequent due to climate change, according to the Urban Institute. (New York Times $)

COMMUNITY ACTION: Why community is key in climate justice activism, according to Wawa Gatheru (Green Matters)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Big climate change job awaits WTO - if it can step up (Reuters), Global climate pledges could result in 3 C warming (E&E $)

• COP26: UK will press governments to stick to climate pledges, says COP26 president (The Guardian)

'ROLLING DEEP': Here's how Latinos are reshaping California environmentalism (KQED)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: US natgas jumps 4% as soaring global prices keep LNG exports strong (Reuters), Senator Warren lashes out at energy companies over natural gas prices (Reuters)

MENTAL HEALTH: Costa prize 2021 shortlists highlight climate anxiety (The Guardian)

SPOILER ALERT: IT'S SEWAGE: Detroit homes are being overwhelmed by flooding — and it's not just water coming in (NPR)

LAND GRABS: US soy giants linked to 'green land grabbing' case in Brazil (Thomson Reuters Foundation), what is 'green land grabbing' - and why is it surging in Brazil? (Thomson Reuters Foundation, explainer) 

AGENCIES: Biden proposes restoring logging restrictions in Alaska's Tongass forest (The Hill)

EPA: ‘It should not have taken this long’: Regan confronts EJ vows (E&E News), EPA forces natural gas plants to make pollution data public (E&E News)

DOE: DOE undoes Trump era hurdles to setting appliance efficiency standards, finalizes process rule updates (Utility Dive, E&E $), Energy Department to revamp National Coal Council (Politico Pro $), Jigar Shah’s big idea for getting rooftop solar and smart appliances to low-income Americans (Canary Media)

DOI: Deb Haaland is taking on racist names on federal lands (Grist)

DOD: Won't someone think of the bombs? (Gizmodo)

FEDERAL RESERVE: What's next for the Fed on climate change (Axios, Wall Street Journal $), who will get the Fed regulation job? Here are some of the contenders (Reuters, Factbox), Biden keeps Jerome Powell. What it means for climate (E&E News, Mother Jones), why Biden picked Powell (Politico)

SCOTUS: The Supreme Court will hear cases that could undercut Biden's climate agenda. Here's what to know. (Washington Post $), the Supreme Court's decision on the Mississippi-Tennessee aquifer conflict will change US water wars (TIME)

THE HILL: Beyond Manchin: Dems’ $2T bill faces Senate gauntlet (AP)

WHITE HOUSE: White House creates new energy division to coordinate climate change policies (Washington Post $)

• SPR: Biden authorizes use of strategic oil reserves to combat high US gasoline prices (Washington Post $, E&E News, AP, Reuters, The Hill, Washington Examiner, WBUR, Houston Chronicle, Axios), Biden says Americans should 'rest easy' about gas, goods prices this Thanksgiving (The Hill, E&E News), the real impact Biden’s strategic oil release will have on gas prices (Gizmodo), Biden acts to lower fuel prices — with help from GOP (Politico), Republicans, Manchin blast Biden for tapping oil reserve (E&E News), many environmentalists back Biden’s move to tap oil reserve (AP)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Flood funding slashed in reconciliation package (E&E News), Congress panel corrects tax rates for wealthy under Biden's [BBBA] proposal (Reuters)

POLITICS: Adapting to climate is a winning issue — even in red states (E&E $), Chamber and its members at odds over climate risk disclosure (E&E $), climate-conscious conservatives try to make their voices heard (Yale Climate Connections), Republican party awakens to climate change as extreme weather bites (Energy Monitor)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden to nominate Shalanda Young as budget director (New York Times $, CNN, Washington Post $, Politico, The Hill, Wall Street Journal $, USA Today, Reuters, Bloomberg $)

CITIES AND STATES: Artificial island on Georgia coast to provide nesting habitat for shorebirds (Yale Climate Connections), California pick for top utility role may sway clean energy (E&E $), liberal Oregon resists dropping controversial investments (AP), most state lawmakers earn low salaries. It impacts who can afford to be one. (The 19th* News), New York’s right to ‘a healthful environment’ could be bad news for fossil fuel interests (InsideClimate News), West Virginia governor Jim Justice faces justice for coal crimes in Kentucky (Grist)

RIP TCI: Transportation pact is likely totaled, but equity components could be salvaged (Energy News Network), Rhode Island rethinks plan to cut transportation pollution (AP)

IMPACTS: What’s on the Thanksgiving table in a hotter, drier world? (Washington Post $), another Thanksgiving. Another crab season delay. (New York Times $), can bamboo walls help Uganda hold back worsening floods? (Thomson Reuters Foundation), let it snow? Not in Denver, which has broken a nearly 90-year-old record in a snowless fall. (USA Today)

RENEWABLES: First Solar announces its largest-ever single order of solar modules — 5.4 GW to BP and affiliate (Utility Dive), Denmark signs deals to facilitate wind power links to Germany and Belgium (Reuters), Israel, Jordan, UAE sign pivotal deal to swap solar energy, desalinated water (The Hill), more renewables may hurt Texas schools — report (E&E $), scientists examine energetic oceans, eddies, and kinetic energy (Yale Climate Connections)

BATTERIES: Houston-based battery storage company Broad Reach scores cash infusion (Houston Chronicle)

STORAGE: Long-duration energy storage should scale up 400x by 2040, bp, Siemens and ESS-backed group says (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: ‘Remember Solyndra.’ Will feds’ oil cleanup plan work? (E&E News), hard questions at [Shell] Deer Park [refinery] go unanswered (Houston Chronicle), UAE sees no logic in it pumping more oil now, says energy minister (Reuters)

COAL: Bosnian coal miners halt work, protest against lower wages (Reuters), German parties agree on 2030 coal phase-out in coalition talks -sources (Reuters)

HYDROGEN: BP goes on hydrogen hiring spree in bid for 10% market share (Bloomberg $)

UTILITIES: North Carolina regulators give Duke 4 months to craft carbon reduction plan (Utility Dive)

GRID: [Maine] DEP commissioner suspends permit for $1B transmission line (AP)

CARS: Car buyers face steep learning curve on green car choices (Axios), want a new EV delivered to your house overnight? (Canary Media)

EBs: GM invests in outboard motor startup to make all-electric boating (Detroit Free Press, Axios, CNBC)

AGRICULTURE: How Hmong farmers are building collective power in Minnesota (Prism Reports), climate change is making it harder to provide clean drinking water in farm country (NPR)

CARBON REMOVAL: Giant pipeline in US Midwest tests future of carbon capture (Reuters)

FINANCE: Private funds will finance energy transition, investors say (Reuters)

BITCOIN: This Houston tech company wants to build renewable energy-run Bitcoin mines across Texas (CNBC)

WILDLIFE: Birdwatchers flocked to this British ‘birdfair’ for 30 years. Now, it’s ending because of climate change. (Washington Post $)

INTERNATIONAL: EU’s reformed agricultural policy fails its climate goals, say green groups (Climate Home, Reuters), Pakistan’s Lahore becomes world’s 3rd most polluted city (AP)

• COP26 kept the world’s 1.5°C limit in reach – now we will steer it over the line (The Guardian, Alok Sharma op-ed)
• Illinois' new clean energy law could be a regulatory playbook for other states (Utility Dive, Carrie Zalewski, Jordan Graham, and Tanya Rabczak op-ed)
• Climate change is inevitable. Here's how we must adapt (TIME, Parag Khanna op-ed)
• Thanksgiving: How to adopt a turkey from farm sanctuary (Teen Vogue, Sunna Saeed op-ed)
• Want to fight for climate action but feel daunted or powerless? Try this (The Guardian, Tayo Bero op-ed)
• My book was censored in China. Now it’s Blacklisted — in Texas. (New York Times, Andrew Solomon essay $)
• Is flying home for the holidays bad for the planet? (New York Times, Farah Stockman op-ed $)

The Denier Roundup will return after Thanksgiving. 

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)