Notes Today:

• (Wired) - The FDA has scheduled its final review of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for December 10. If they are granted emergency use authorization, distribution could begin within hours. But both vaccines quickly lose potency if they aren’t stored and transported at “ultra-cold” temperatures, which will make distributing them to small and isolated rural areas—where many vulnerable Americans live—a delicate operation. Pharmaceutical companies and other packaging manufacturers are working on tech solutions to bridge that gap.

• (Reuters) - Trump’s last-minute push to allow drilling in a pristine part of Alaska’s Arctic will be an early target for the next administration, according to Senator Tom Udall, a contender to lead the Interior Department under Joe Biden. 

• (Reuters) - Siemens Mobility and Deutsche Bahn have started developing hydrogen-powered fuel cell trains and a filling station which will be trialled in 2024 with view to replace diesel engines on German local rail networks. 

• Putin says he is not ready to endorse Biden. I’m not sure this dude gets a vote. 

• (WP) In a last-minute change before leaving office, the Trump regime finalized a rule Wednesday that will allow the U.S. Forest Service to log and otherwise manage 2,800 acres of forest in the West without an environmental review. 

• Bloomberg reports: households across the US are once again filling grocery carts brimful in the second round of panic buying. 

• It is refreshing when you read something about the US government (upcoming) and it makes you calmer instead of upsetting you. Have not experienced that in years.

• John Kerry:  America will soon have a government that treats the climate crisis as the urgent national security threat it is. I'm proud to partner with the President-elect, our allies, and the young leaders of the climate movement to take on this crisis as the President's Climate Envoy.