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Clean Start: November 2, 2011

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you?

A large section of bluff collapsed Monday next to the We Energies Oak Creek Power Plant in Wisconsin, sending dirt, coal ash and mud cascading into the shoreline next to Lake Michigan and dumping a pickup truck, dredging equipment, soil and other debris into the lake. [Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel]

H.R. 1633, a bill to prevent imaginary regulations on farm dust from Rep. Kristi Noem (R-SD) will go before the Energy and Power Subcommittee for a vote tomorrow morning. [E&E; News]

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (R) outlined his energy policy at a speech at the University of New Hampshire, saying he would “systematically” eliminate energy subsidies but also cut health regulations on coal, expand offshore drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and support the Keystone XL pipeline. [E&E; News]

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Understanding how climate change influences the weather is increasingly seen as key to predicting climate disasters, and new studies should help policymakers anticipate the conditions and trends associated with weather extremes. [The Daily Climate]

A palm oil company has forcibly evicted an indigenous community from one of the last tracts of rainforest near Jempang in Indonesia’s East Kalimantan province on the island of Borneo, reports Telapak, a group that advocates community forest management. [MongaBay]

Drying of northern wetlands has led to much more severe peatland wildfires and nine times as much carbon released into the atmosphere, according to new research led by a University of Guelph professor. [Science Daily]

Authorities in the Thai capital repaired a damaged flood gate on Wednesday that has become the focus of anger, fear and rivalry between arms of government battling the country’s worst floods in decades. [Reuters]

Cold, tired and frustrated, residents of more than 1.6 million homes in the Northeast remained without power on Tuesday and some were told it could take 10 more days to restore electricity after the rare and deadly October snowstorm. [Reuters]

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Summer’s drought and excessive heat have led the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare 44 Illinois counties natural disaster areas. [AP]