** Taking a page from the “throw-the-bums-out” script in politics, Mainers are poised to vote on an unprecedented plan to rid themselves of the state’s two largest electric utilities and start with a clean slate.
** American Electric Power discloses that it is in negotiations with federal regulators to resolve allegations about the utility’s role in the bribery scandal around Ohio’s nuclear bailout bill.
** An Arkansas man has been arrested for trying to crash through the exit gates of a South Carolina nuclear plant, authorities said. Doyle Wayne Whisenhunt, of Lockesburg, Arkansas, was taken into custody Friday night at an abandoned home in Pickens County, South Carolina.
** A federal appeals court is tossing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ban on a pesticide that has been linked to brain damage in children. The decision from the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to send the rule back to the agency does not preclude the agency from reinstating the ban in the future.
** The Biden administration announced that it is investing more than $653 million to fund port projects with the goal of improving U.S. supply chain reliability.
** Exxon Mobil’s early foray into lithium brine production is “looking more and more promising,” CEO Darren Woods said in third-quarter earnings. Spring, Texas-based Exxon Mobil Corp. looks to deploy $17 billion into low-carbon investments in the coming years, including carbon capture, hydrogen and biofuels.
World
** Russia and Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporters, confirmed that their voluntary crude oil supply cuts would continue until the end of 2023, Reuters reported on Nov. 5. The cuts will drive up oil prices worldwide.
** Iran’s oil exports dropped for a second month in October, data from a firm that analyzes satellite imagery of tanker movements show.
** Delegates meeting in Abu Dhabi agreed late Saturday that the World Bank will host a new Loss and Damage Fund on an interim basis for four years — breaking an impasse after months of negotiations. They also set basic guideposts for funding, with developed countries urged to provide support.
** The firm that was once the crown jewel of Argentine soy processing risks going out of business altogether if a $1.3 billion rescue deal is rejected. Vicentin SAIC, which has been battling an Argentine court to get the plan approved, would struggle to survive if it’s forced into a process allowing other parties to put forward proposals to secure its future, said Estanislao Bougain, a board member.
** Panama President on Friday signed into law a national moratorium on new metal mining exploration and extraction activities after weeks of protests rattled the Central American nation.
** Former European Union climate chief , a prime minister candidate in Dutch elections later this month, backtracked on his commitment to the 2030 deadline of halving nitrogen emissions, in a surprise U-turn to appease farmers.