ENERGY

Pipeline on the Line

Among a spree of executive orders planned for his first day in office tomorrow, POTUS-elect Joe Biden will reportedly rescind a permit for the Keystone XL pipeline. 

Refresher: The Keystone XL is a planned 1,210-mile detour from the existing Keystone pipeline, which runs from Canada’s Alberta province to Gulf Coast oil refineries. The Keystone XL would haul 830,000 barrels of crude oil per day through Montana, South Dakota, and Nebraska before reconnecting to the original pipeline. 

• The American Dream mall of fossil fuel projects, the Keystone XL has been in the works for 15+ years but faced numerous delays and legal setbacks, including former President Obama's 2015 rejection of its permit application.

Why the controversy?

Environmentalists strongly oppose the pipeline because it 1) is an $8 billion investment in harmful fossil fuels 2) cuts through protected wetlands and tribal lands and 3) carries "bitumen" from Alberta’s oil sands, a type of crude oil that creates more pollution. Some major banks have stopped financing all oil sands projects because of the climate impact.  

Canada's ambassador to the US says oil sands production and emissions per barrel have improved since the project was announced, and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau and President Trump, supporters of Keystone XL, argue it will reduce reliance on foreign oil and create jobs. 

On Sunday, the Keystone XL's developer tried convincing Biden it won't be like those other fossil fuel projects, pledging...

• $1.7 billion in solar, wind, and battery investments
• Net-zero emissions after starting service in 2023
• A ~$785 million stake in the project for indigenous tribes

The Canadian portion has been under construction for months, and if Biden nixes the permit, Trudeau probably won’t invite him to the next neighborhood block party. Alberta Premier Jason Kenney told CBC it would also hurt US and Canadian jobs and undermine national security by leaving America dependent on OPEC imports. 

Zoom out: It's tough out there for a pipeline. In the last year, the Atlantic Coast pipeline was canceled, a judge temporarily shut down the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Supreme Court upheld a suspension on construction of parts of the Keystone XL. 

FINANCE

Regulators, Assemble

If Joe Biden were putting together the Avengers of financial regulation, he just found his Thor and Hulk. Yesterday, the president-elect nominated Gary Gensler to serve as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Rohit Chopra to head up the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). 

Their backstories: Gary Gensler is a former Goldman Sachs exec-turned-financial-watchdog under President Obama, while Chopra headed up the student loan division of the CFPB following the 2008 financial crisis. Both are members of the Sen. Elizabeth Warren coaching tree, which means they'll take an aggressive approach to regulating banks.

If confirmed, Gensler and Chopra could take their pick from a buffet of potential regulatory side dishes:

• Gensler could focus on Robinhood's "gamification" of trading, Chinese companies ignoring US auditing rules, or the Wild West of crypto regulation.
• Chopra will likely address the student loan crisis, as well as the heavy overdraft fees banks levy on consumers.

Bottom line: Both nominations are seen as major wins for progressives hoping to rein in Wall Street. 

HEALTH

So How Goes the Vaccine Rollout?

Seems like an important question. Here's the latest from the world of shots and jabs.

US: The governors of Oregon, Minnesota, and Colorado have criticized the Trump administration for sowing confusion after they found out their states would receive fewer doses than expected under new CDC guidelines. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is exploring if his state can buy vaccines directly from Pfizer. 

• But more help is on the way. Dr. Anthony Fauci said two more vaccines (via AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson) could be approved within weeks. 

Norway: After at least 33 nursing home residents died after receiving a Covid vaccine, health authorities said there’s no evidence the deaths were connected with receiving the shot, as the residents were already seriously ill prior to being vaccinated.

France: The country is running significantly behind other wealthy nations in its vaccination program—only administering 422,000 doses in more than three weeks, per the WSJ. France has one of the more vaccine-skeptical populations. 

Brazil: Regulators in the world's sixth-most populous country approved the use of coronavirus vaccines from AstraZeneca and China's Sinovac. Neighboring countries Chile and Argentina have already begun immunizing people. 

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MANUFACTURING

Automakers Right Now

You know when you're about to complete a jigsaw puzzle only to find out one piece is missing? Automakers are currently experiencing that on a global scale after a shortage of semiconductor chips forced Ford and Volkswagen to temporarily scale down production.  

What's to blame?

Automakers say they aren't getting the attention they deserve from chipmakers, who are fulfilling higher-margin consumer electronics orders first. But chipmakers say that the automakers played themselves by dramatically reducing orders in the early days of the pandemic. 

The problem is so acute that a lobbying body representing GM, Ford, and other US car manufacturers has been pressing the incoming president and VP to convince Asian semiconductor companies to allocate more chips toward Suburbans and Mustangs and away from iPhones and laptops. 

Bottom line: Even if the Biden administration were to flex its diplomatic muscles, there's not much it could do. Manufacturers need at least three months to scale up chip production. 

MUSIC

Mullets Are Back

Raise your finest koozie to Morgan Wallen, whose Dangerous: The Double Album just had the biggest streaming week ever for a country album, squashing No. 2 Luke Combs by more than 2x. 

Quick bio: Wallen, a 27-year-old raised in a small town in Eastern Tennessee, got his break as a contestant on The Voice in 2014.

• Six years, one album, and many hits later, Wallen earned headlines for the wrong reasons last fall, when SNL rescinded an invitation to perform after a video surfaced of Wallen partying without a mask. He finally made it to the famous stage a few months later.

Zoom out: Wallen's rise has been propelled by a number of industry trends, including Americans' increased appetite for country music during the pandemic and the sweet, viral touch of TikTok. 

+ While we're here: Streaming records were made to be broken. Olivia Rodrigo's debut single "drivers license" just notched the most streams in a single week on Spotify.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• President Trump is planning to lift travel restrictions on visitors from Brazil and Europe starting Jan. 26, but the incoming Biden administration is expected to reverse the order. 
• Tesla started to deliver the first Model Y crossovers made in its Shanghai factory. 
• Sen. Josh Hawley signed a deal with conservative publisher Regnery for his upcoming book, The Tyranny of Big Tech. Simon & Schuster had canceled its previous agreement with Hawley. 
• Virgin Orbit successfully launched a rocket into orbit from a 747 aircraft. 
• Jay Y. Lee, South Korea's most prominent businessman and vice chair of Samsung, was sentenced to two and a half years in prison following a retrial of a bribery case.
• Bill Gates is now the country’s top farmland owner, according to the Land Report. 

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GAMES

Nutritional Facts

The following is the ingredient list to a popular food product. Can you figure out the product? 

Enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, vitamin B1 [thiamin mononitrate], vitamin B2 [riboflavin], folic acid), corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, dextrose, soybean and palm oil (with TBHQ for freshness), bleached wheat flour, contains two percent or less of wheat starch, salt, dried strawberries, dried pears, dried apples, leavening (baking soda, sodium acid pyrophosphate, monocalcium phosphate), citric acid, modified wheat starch, caramel color, xanthan gum, soy lecithin, red 40, yellow 6.

ANSWER

Pop-Tarts (specifically Unfrosted Strawberry flavor)