News items for November 24, 2020
Montana’s Battle for Mail-in Elections.
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1. Afraid cities would rule with a national popular vote? Don’t be.
Only 20 percent of Americans live in big cities, so that’s not a winning path to the White House.
Sightline Institute
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2. US judge voids permits for Kalama methanol plant
A judge on Monday voided permits needed for a massive methanol plant on the Columbia River in Southwest Washington, agreeing with conservation groups that the project needs a more thorough environmental review.
OPB
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3. With John Kerry pick, Biden selects a ‘climate envoy’
On Monday, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. said he would name Mr. Kerry his special presidential envoy for climate, creating a new cabinet-level position.
The New York Times
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4. How to recover WA’s economy without waiting on the feds
State recovery bonds can kickstart the economy, put people to work, and fight climate change.
Sightline Institute
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5. Why learning real Native history is important to the PNW
Washington schools are changing how they teach Indigenous histories. Here’s what the people who’ve already been through school can learn from these efforts.
Crosscut
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6. GM drops support for lawsuit against CA clean-air standards
General Motors says it will no longer support the Trump administration in legal efforts to end California’s right to set its own clean-air standards.
The Huffington Post
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7. Myth-Buster: Uber and Lyft aren’t addressing transit deserts
Most Uber and Lyft trips aren’t bolstering transportation options in transit deserts, but are being taken in majority White and more affluent neighborhoods, a new study reveals, debunking claims by the rideshare companies that residents of lower-income Black and Latino neighborhoods with sub-par public transportation access rely on the companies to fill gaps in the transit network.
Streetsblog
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8. Seattle City Council approves new car-tab fee
About a month after the Washington Supreme Court tossed out car-tab-cutting Initiative 976, Seattle cemented plans to charge a new $20 vehicle license fee.
The Seattle Times
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9. Carbon pricing rises as world’s tool of choice in climate fight
Can you put a price on pollution? Some of the world’s biggest economies are doing just that as they wrestle with how to make good on grand pledges to tame planet-warming emissions.
Reuters
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10. The last big environmental fight of the Trump era
Conservation advocates and Trump officials are fighting what looks to be the last major environmental battle of this administration over oil and gas development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Washington Post
More News from November 24, 2020
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The pandemic’s effect on emissions was ‘just a tiny blip’
The pandemic-induced lockdowns at the start of this year reduced daily global CO2 emissions by up to 17 percent compared to the mean daily level in 2019, a study found. But the total worldwide reduction for the year is likely only between 4.2 percent and 7.5 percent compared to the previous year.
Grist
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AK agency says it’s neutral on Pebble Mine. Internal docs tell different story.
Publicly, the Alaska Department of Natural Resources says it’s not involved with Pebble Limited Partnership’s application for a federal permit to dig an open-pit gold mine upstream from Bristol Bay. But text messages and meeting notes show otherwise.
Alaska Public Media
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A power company’s quiet land-buying could shield it from coal ash cleanup
Georgia Power paid top dollar to buy land from residents living near waste sites at its power plants. Environmentalists fear it’s a tactic to forestall the cleanup bill from new regulations for coal ash.
ProPublica