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3 White Men Convicted of Murdering Ahmaud Arbery: The three white men who pursued, trapped, and murdered Ahmaud Arbery were convicted of their crimes last Wednesday. “The spirit of Ahmaud defeated the lynch mob,” Ben Crump, attorney for Arbery’s father, told reporters. Gregory McMichael, Travis McMichael and William “Roddie” Bryan all face life in prison for gunning down the young Black man out for a run. Police and the local district attorney did not pursue the case until a leaked video and weeks of community organizing and pressure eventually forced state officials to investigate. The three murderers face federal hate crimes trials in February. “He didn’t do nothing but run and dream,” Marcus Arbery Sr. said of his son. (Black Wall Street Times, AP, CBS, Al Jazeera, CBS; Case timeline: New York Times $; Commentary: San Francisco Chronicle, Cat Brooks op-ed, CNN, Issac Bailey op-ed, Washington Post, Kevin B. Blackistone column $, The Guardian, Moustafa Bayoumi op-ed, CNN, Nsenga Burton essay) [Additional coverage is below]

Biden Admin Makes Pre-Thanksgiving Moves: The Biden administration made multiple climate and energy announcements the day before Thanksgiving, including releasing a DOI report on oil and gas drilling, approval of an offshore wind farm, and the creation of a new division within the White House to develop climate policy. 

• DOI Report, Largely Silent On Climate, Calls For Increased Drilling Fees: The Interior Department released a report the day before Thanksgiving calling for increased prices for drilling on public lands and waters. The report explains why royalty rates for oil and gas drilling are too low, the minimum bid of $2 per acre should be increased, and calls for increasing bonding requirements to make sure oil and gas companies set aside sufficient funds to fully cap and remediate well sites. The report largely sidesteps the issue of climate change and does not call for fulfilling President Biden's campaign promise to ban oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters. (AP, E&E News, CNN, Washington Post $, E&E $, CNBC, Politico Pro $, Axios, New York Times $, The Hill, Reuters)
• Administration Approves Second Major US Offshore Wind Farm: The Biden administration issued final approval for the South Fork Wind project off Rhode Island on Wednesday. The project is the second major offshore wind project approved in U.S. waters, and will produce enough power to supply about 70,000 homes on Long Island. “The offshore wind industry will create thousands of union jobs, reduce air pollution, and combat climate change — the greatest existential threat facing our communities on Long Island,” said Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-N.Y.) in a statement. (E&E News, Washington Post $, AP, Axios, The Hill, Reuters, Politico Pro $, Bloomberg $)
• White House Launches New Climate Policy Division Within OSTP: The White House launched a new division within the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop climate policy on Wednesday. Sally Benson will head the new effort to craft policy to move the U.S. towards achieving the goal of 100% clean electricity by 2035, including shifting away from fossil fuels to renewable energy and electrifying America's building and transportation sectors. (Washington Post $, Politico Pro $, CNN)

Atmospheric Rivers Keep Flooding Pacific Northwest: Two atmospheric rivers dumped even more rain on Washington and British Columbia over the (American) Thanksgiving weekend, and another is expected to pummel the already-widely-flooded region today. Some areas have been deluged by more than 2 feet of rain in the last 30 days. Less than two weeks ago as many as 18,000 people were cut off by flooding in southern British Columbia. Climate change is worsening extreme precipitation events and flooding. The warming, caused mainly by extracting and burning fossil fuels, also supercharges wildfires, which further exacerbates the flooding by denuding mountainsides of erosion protection. (Axios, Washington Post $, AP, NPR, CNN, New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation events, Flooding)

Iranian Gov. Violently Suppresses Drought-Fueled Unrest: After two weeks of protests across Iran over scarce water supplies, the government violently cracked down on demonstrators with a 4am raid last Friday, beating and firing birdshot at the Isfahan farmers gathered in a dry river bed. “Before we had a chance to move, suddenly our tents were set on fire and they started throwing tear gas at us and shooting in the air,” 47-year-old farmer and protestor Hassan Tavakoli told the New York Times in an interview. Nearly the entire country, 97% according to the Iran Meteorological Organization, is enduring some degree of drought. Climate change, caused primarily by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is worsening drought and extreme heat and heatwaves, both of which have hit the country this year leading to power outages, water shortages, and civil unrest persisting since at least July. (New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: New study examines inequities in likability, favoritism, micromanagement toward Black people in the workplace (Essence), When it rains, it can pour sewage in Baton Rouge. These residents bear the brunt of it. (The Advocate)

ARBERY MURDER TRIAL: How one local reporter's instincts focused public attention on the Ahmaud Arbery case (CNN), How the murder of Ahmaud Arbery further exposes America’s broken and racist legal system (The Guardian), Discussions of race are notably absent in trial of Arbery murder suspects (New York Times $), How a prosecutor addressed a mostly white jury and won a conviction in the Arbery case (New York Times $), Kyle Rittenhouse, Ahmaud Arbery, and the future of right-wing vigilantism (The Intercept), Their own words may have doomed men who killed Ahmaud Arbery (AP)

MEDIA: New York Times headline SNAFU raises questions about crime reporting (NewsOne)

COP26: Australia’s dismal climate record comes under COP26 spotlight (CNBC)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Politicians are failing to deliver climate justice. Lawyers and scientists could do it in court (CNN), Activists take court action against Boris Johnson over climate crisis (The Guardian)

DENIAL: Exxon lobbyist questions urgency of climate’s catastrophic risks (Washington Post $, Video: Washington Post $), Inside the ‘misinformation’ wars (New York Times $), Australia’s spy agency predicted the climate crisis 40 years ago – and fretted about coal exports (The Guardian)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Europe’s energy crisis is about to get worse as winter arrives (Bloomberg $)

FAMILY VALUES UNDER ATTACK: Albatrosses, known for monogamy, may be pushed to ‘divorce’ because of climate change, study finds (Washington Post $, HuffPost, New York Times $, NPR)

SOCIETAL FAILURE: In San Francisco’s Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, advocates have taken air monitoring into their own hands (InsideClimate News)

SHOPPING: A comprehensive guide to buying Black during the holidays (NewsOne), Black Friday is causing toxic traffic jams at US ports and warehouses (The Verge)

BUSINESS: Businesses embraced net zero, then realized it's daunting (E&E $), ‘It’s critical’: can Microsoft make good on its climate ambitions? (The Guardian), What 24/7 carbon-free energy can achieve over the long term (Canary Media)

AGENCIES: US will miss electric-vehicle targets without big investments in semiconductor manufacturing, Commerce Secretary warns (Washington Post $)

EPA: ‘Cancer has decimated our community.’ EPA’s regan vows to help hard-hit areas but residents have doubts. (Washington Post $), ‘Soap opera’: how the never-ending fight over wetlands began (E&E News), EPA forces natural gas plants to make pollution data public (E&E News)

DOI: Biden Gulf oil sale means more drilling within legacy chemical dump site (HuffPost)

DOD: Hawaii groups want US to shut down military fuel tanks (AP)

THE HILL: Maryland, Virginia lawmakers spearhead drive to make the Chesapeake Bay a national recreation area (InsideClimate News), Five ways Senate could change Biden's spending plan (The Hill), Manchin and Cortez Masto kill chances of reforming outdated hardrock mining law (Grist)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden’s EJ promises might not cover other countries (E&E News)

• SPR: What's the deal with this whole strategic petroleum reserve, anyway? (Gizmodo), Many environmentalists back Biden’s move to tap oil reserve (AP, The Guardian)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): With Build Back Better, Dems aim to correct messaging missteps (The Hill), Flood funding slashed in reconciliation package (E&E News), Years of delays, billions in overruns: the dismal history of big infrastructure (New York Times $)

• INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT AND JOBS ACT: Lobbyists turn to infrastructure law's implementation (The Hill)

POLITICS: How ‘climate migrants’ are roiling American politics (Politico), Biden faces new pressure from climate groups after Powell pick (The Hill)

ELECTIONS: O'Rourke seizes on Texas power grid in bid against Abbott (The Hill)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden nominates Shalanda Young to lead ‘the nerve center of our government’ (The 19th* News)

CITIES AND STATES: Massachusetts solar setback may threaten climate plans (E&E News), Can New York really get to 100% clean energy by 2040? (New York Times $), California denies most fracking permits ahead of 2024 ban (AP)

FERC: Is PennEast pipeline dead? FERC may end the mystery (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Don’t call it climate change. Red states prepare for ‘extreme weather’ (Politico), Can the Gambia turn the tide to save its shrinking beaches? (The Guardian), Lake Michigan’s November surface temperature — hovering around 50 degrees — ‘really warm for this time of year’ (Chicago Tribune, AP), The Arctic Ocean began warming decades earlier than previously thought, new research shows (CNN, Axios, New York Times $), Where have weather records been broken so far this year? (FT $)

DISPLACEMENT: Climate pioneers flee fire, heat for famously frigid Duluth (E&E News)

FLOODING HISTORY: Saving history with sandbags: climate change threatens the Smithsonian (New York Times $, PHOTOS: New York Times $)

TEXAS FREEZE URI: Judge, known for expertise in complex litigation, has her work cut out in winter storm cases (Houston Chronicle)

WILDFIRES: Thousands lose power on Thanksgiving in Southern California (AP), Fire danger eases in southern California after winds calm down from 80 mph peaks (Washington Post $, AP), Fighting fires and family secrets (NPR), This fire-loving fungus eats charcoal, if it must (New York Times $)

DEFORESTATION: Brazil faces economic pain as Amazon forest destruction dries up water supplies (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Brazil hits out at EU ‘protectionism’ behind planned anti-deforestation law (FT $)

EMISSIONS: What is 'net zero' and why does it matter? (Thomson Reuters Foundation, explainer)

RENEWABLES: Australian parliament clears way for offshore wind farms (Reuters), Portugal to hold first auction of right to install floating solar panels (Reuters), PSEG proposes $7B in offshore transmission projects for New Jersey (Politico Pro $), Reinventing the wind turbine for a bigger, greener future (Energy Monitor), The clean energy transition enters hyperdrive (InsideClimate News), The Gulf of Mexico is poised for a wind energy boom. 'The only question is when.' (NOLA.com), Trade panel calls for extending tariffs on Chinese solar equipment, kicking decision to Biden (Politico Pro $), Trouble in the wind: offshore turbine farms complicate fishing, shrimping (NOLA.com), Who owns the wind? An anthropologist has ideas (E&E News)

BATTERIES: Can lithium cure what ails the Salton Sea? (LA Times $), After shaking up nickel, China's Tsingshan sets sights on lithium (Reuters), Hunt for the ‘blood diamond of batteries’ impedes green energy push (New York Times $)

BUILDINGS: Developers challenged over carbon footprint of new buildings in UK (The Guardian)

STORAGE: Hydrostor advances 3.2 GWh energy storage project to help replace California's Diablo Canyon plant (Utility Dive)

NUKES: Europe revisits nuclear power as climate deadlines loom (New York Times $)

LNG: Energy company cancels $2.5 billion oil export terminal in Louisiana (Grist), Floating on water: LNG industry goes offshore amid skyrocketing prices (Houston Chronicle), Greece's DEPA eyes Egyptian LNG after intergovernmental energy cooperation deal (CHECK OUTLET)

METHANE: Scientists solve two problems at once—turning methane pollution into sustainable fishmeal (Anthropocene Mag)

OIL & GAS: The deep toll of tar sands on Canada’s Indigenous people (Undark), Petrobras doubles down on hydrocarbons as part of $68bn investment plan (FT $)

ORPHANED WELLS: Colorado debates bonding for closing, cleaning orphan wells (AP)

PLASTICS: Biden’s infrastructure bill includes money for recycling, but the debate over plastics rages on (InsideClimate News)

MOVIES: ‘Burning’ review: pulling the fire alarm in Australia (New York Times $)

COAL: Russian coal mine blast kills at least 52 people (Axios, AP, New York Times $, The Hill), A mine disaster in Russia highlights safety shortfalls in rush to dig coal (New York Times $), Kyrgyz government hands out cheap coal amid energy crunch (Reuters), I can't stop watching these power plant demolition videos (Gizmodo), West Virginia governor Jim Justice faces justice for coal crimes in Kentucky (Grist), What happens when America’s coal plants die? (The Guardian)

UTILITIES: [Philadelphia Gas Works] emails show involvement in drafting bill that runs counter to climate goals (WHYY)

GRID: Maine DEP suspends permit for 1.2 GW Avangrid power line to import power from Hydro-Québec (Utility Dive)

TRAINS: The 'betrayal' that could kill Britain's railway romance (CNN)

CARS: German car goals not tough enough to protect climate, NGOs say (Reuters)

EVs: Five innovations for cleaner, greener electric vehicles (The Guardian), Hertz-Tesla deal signals broad shift to EVs for rental-car companies (Wall Street Journal $), Tesla decides against state aid for German battery plant as Musk opposes subsidies (Reuters)

HOT NEWS JUST WANTS AN E-B2000: Nissan investing in electric vehicles, battery development (AP, Wall Street Journal $)

EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES: Pity the 'green' car buyer (Axios)

TRASH: ‘A trash heap for our children’: how Norilsk, in the Russian arctic, became one of the most polluted places on earth (InsideClimate News), Trash walking to save the planet (Atmos), Why trying to clean up all the ocean plastic is pointless (Gizmodo)

AVIATION: EU countries split on sustainable aviation fuel mandate (Politico Pro $)

AGRICULTURE: Researchers try producing potato resistant to climate change (AP)

CARBON PRICING: Pricing carbon is vital to US climate goals and politically unlikely but there is another way, analysts say (Utility Dive)

TREES: Democrats’ plan to boost ‘tree equity’ is actually a good idea (The Verge), ‘Every tree counts’: Dutch come up with cunning way to create forests for free (The Guardian), Kenyan forest communities sidelined as government misses two billion tree target (Climate Home)

DOES NOT BRING CAKE TO EAT, UNFORTUNATELY: A green mechanic for superyachts helps alleviate climate guilt (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Blackstone, Apollo among holdouts snubbing new finance club (Bloomberg $)

GEOENGINEERING: Despite drought, New Mexico project to seed clouds scrapped (Reuters)

WILDLIFE: Photos show vast coral spawning event in great barrier reef, giving divers hope for climate change recovery (Washington Post $, The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: Russia needs to invest up to $54 bln a year to reduce carbon footprint - cenbank (Reuters), China CO2 emissions fall for first time since COVID rebound, report says (Reuters), China emissions fall as economy buffeted by property downturn (FT $), China plans methane emission controls in key industries (Reuters), China’s grid heeds Xi’s call for more supply of clean energy (Bloomberg $), Germany’s energy plan to have limited impact on EU carbon prices, analysts say (Reuters), How Germany's new government plans to be the greenest one yet (TIME), Hundreds stop traffic in Serbia in protest against government's environmental stances (The Hill), Iceland’s new cabinet raises climate goal as glaciers melt (Bloomberg $, Reuters), Rally in Belgrade demands end to alarming air pollution (AP), Vietnam cuts back on LNG, coal-fired power projects after net zero pledge (S&P Global), Watchdog: department in charge of Trudeau's climate agenda lacks clout to drive it (Politico), Will Germany’s ‘debt brake’ stop its green ambitions? (New York Times $)

• On environmental justice, the Mountain Valley Pipeline is an old story (Washington Post, Karen Campblin and Samantha Ahdoot op-ed $)
• How Black Friday hurts Black and Brown communities (Blavity, Cristal Castro and Ian Meas op-ed)
• At the forefront: the biggest state clean energy legislative trends of 2021 (Utility Dive, Autumn Proudlove column)
• GOP becoming a cult of know-nothings (The Hill, Bill Schneider op-ed)
• Bankers took over the climate change summit. That's bad for democracy. (New York Times, Christopher Caldwell op-ed $)
• I was with family. Suddenly, a white man appeared with a gun. (New York Times, Danté Stewart op-ed $)
• Black Friday is an opportunity for retailers to rethink how profit hurts the planet (Thomson Reuters Foundation, Hannah Nascimento op-ed)
• Kore Power CEO Lindsay Gorrill on building a battery manufacturing ecosystem in Arizona (Utility Dive, Jason Plautz column)
• Biden’s scorecard on climate change (Foreign Affairs, John Podesta and Todd Stern op-ed)
• How a biased filibuster hurts Democrats more than Republicans (The Hill, Jonathan Gould and David Pozen op-ed)
• Can the DOE's community solar target to power 5M homes be met? Not without state-level support (Utility Dive, Mike Gordon op-ed)
• Why stopping deforestation must be a priority for public health (The Hill, Neil Vora and Jay Varma op-ed)
• She changed astronomy forever. He won the Nobel Prize for it. (New York Times, Short film by Ben Proudfoot, feat. Jocelyn Bell Burnell $)
• Want to fight for climate action but feel daunted or powerless? Try this (The Guardian, Tayo Bero op-ed)

The Denier Roundup will be fully roused from its post-Thanksgiving slumber tomorrow morning.

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