Energy briefs

** Florida imports a projected 30,000 power line workers from states as far as New Mexico, Arizona and California as electric utilities prepare for the approaching Hurricane Milton.

** Hurricane Helene pushes Tennessee officials to confront “outdated or incorrect” emergency plans and flooding data linked to 274 dams that are considered to have “high hazard potential” for downstream communities.

** A U.S. House committee said on Monday it is investigating the Federal Communications Commission’s decision to deny SpaceX satellite internet unit Starlink $885.5 million in rural broadband subsidies.

** Chevron is selling its assets in Athabasca Oil Sands and Duvernay Shale to Canadian Natural Resources for $6.5 billion, the oil giant said on Monday as it puts in motion its divestiture plan. The all-cash deal, which is expected to close by Dec. 6, is a part of its strategy to raise $10 billion to $15 billion by 2028 through asset sale, while increasing focus on regions such as U.S. shale and Kazakhstan.

** Hyundai begins producing electric SUVs at its new, $7.6 billion Georgia factory ahead of a grand opening planned for 2025.

** For the first time in more than a century, salmon are swimming freely along the Klamath River and its tributaries — a major watershed near the California-Oregon border — just days after the largest dam removal project in U.S. history was completed.

** The Biden administration is working on plans to bring additional decommissioned nuclear power reactors back online to help meet soaring demand for emissions-free electricity, White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi said on Monday.

World

** Germans are buying more bicycles and fewer cars as the country’s economic slump prompts households to cut back on expensive purchases. In what is a further blow to Germany’s troubled automotive industry, new research shows that car sales are slowing and unlikely to improve any time soon.

** China continues to stretch its lead in the high-speed rail industry, debuting a hydrogen-powered train at InnoTrans 2024. The zero-carbon train — made by China Railway Rolling Stock Corporation’s Qingdao Sifang — travels up to 200 kilometers per hour (125 mph) and can cover 745 miles before needing a recharge.

** China imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the EU on Tuesday, hitting French brands including Hennessy and Remy Martin, days after the 27-state bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs).

** A rare deluge of rainfall left blue lagoons of water amid the palm trees and sand dunes of the Sahara desert, nourishing some of its most drought-stricken regions with more water than many had seen in decades. Southeastern Morocco’s desert is among the most arid places in the world and rarely experiences rain in late summer.