FIRST LOOK:

Biden Administration To Allow Drilling In Half Of Alaska Reserve: The Bureau of Land Management said this week it intends to only allow oil and gas companies to drill in half of a vast, largely untrammeled swath of northern Alaska, instead of most of it, as the previous administration wanted to allow. BLM's filing to a federal court in Alaska came less than one week after President Biden said Colorado's late December firestorm was "supercharged" by climate change and represented "a blinking code red for our nation." The NPR-A includes 23-million-acre of tundra west of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Prudhoe Bay oil field and has become a recent target of oil and gas drillers. Climate change caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels threatens wildlife and Native communities. It also threatens oil and gas infrastructure like the Trans-Alaska Pipeline and  — not to mention roads and people's homes — as permafrost melt destabilizes the terrain. The Arctic is warming faster than the global average, and new research in Nature Reviews Earth & Environment found nearly 70% of infrastructure in the Northern Hemisphere's permafrost regions are located in areas with high potential for near-surface melt in the next 28 years. (NPR-A: E&E $, Wall Street Journal $, Washington Examiner; Permafrost melt: Washington Post $, Reuters; Climate Signals background: Arctic amplification)

It's Getting Hot In Here, Also Cold Over There, And Sometimes Both In the Same Places: A surge in all-time temperature records across the U.S. in 2021 is a clear indicator of climate change, the New York Times reports. More all-time temperature records were broken last year than in any year since 1994 and 8.3% of all U.S. weather stations recorded a record high temperature, the most since at least 1948. “We do not live in a stable climate now,” Robert Rohde, lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, told the Times. That instability led to extreme temperatures in regions unprepared for it — like extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest and extreme cold in Texas — with deadly results. (New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves, Large scale global circulation change, Feb. 2021 Polar Vortex breakdown)

2021 Extreme Weather Killed Far More In US Than NOAA Accounting Shows: Extreme weather killed more than the 688 people included in NOAA's Monday report on 2021’s billion dollar disasters, Buzzfeed reports. In addition to events intentionally excluded from the report, like August flooding that killed 20 people in Tennessee, NOAA dramatically undercounts the number of people killed by extreme cold in Texas in February and extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest in late June. NOAA's official count included just 226 deaths caused by the extreme cold that descended on Texas and broad swaths of the central U.S. in February. Not only is that number lower than Texas' official revised count of 246, it is dwarfed by the more than 700 deaths Buzzfeed determined were caused by the freeze. NOAA also said 229 people died in the PNW heatwave, far below Buzzfeed's analysis of state records compiled by the CDC that found approximately 670 people were killed in one week at the height of the heatwave, which was described as "virtually impossible" without human-caused climate change. The discrepancies are primarily caused by gaps in cause-of-death reporting, with many deaths attributed to underlying conditions, particularly cardiovascular disease, that can be worsened by extreme heat and cold. NOAA amended its report after being contacted by Buzzfeed to acknowledge the two events may have caused "hundreds of additional deaths." (Buzzfeed; Climate Signals background: June 2021 PNW heatwave, Feb. 2021 Polar Vortex breakdown, Flooding) 

HOUSING (IN)JUSTICE: Deadly Bronx and Philly fires spotlight racial and economic disparities in housing (NewsOne), stirring up lead dust in NYC housing (Environmental Health News), at vigil, AG james vows to investigate ‘neglect’ that led to Bronx fire (New York Post), police identify all 17 victims of deadly bronx fire; community holds can­dle­light vigil (NY1, New York Times $), 2-year-old boy identified as youngest of 17 victims killed in bronx fire tragedy (NBC New York)

BILLION DOLLAR STORMS: Hurricanes, fires, severe weather, cold, winter storms, heat and drought cost US $145 billion in 2021 (CBS, NPR)

OCEANS, SO HOT RIGHT NOW: Warming oceans set new temperature records in 2021 as climate crisis worsened (Democracy Now, The Hill)

GLOBAL SURFACE TEMPS: The past seven years have been earth's hottest on record and there's no signs of 'slowing down' (USA Today)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Typhoon Rai’s trail of destruction in the Philippines reignites loss and damage calls (Climate Home)

YEAR IN REVIEW: The top 10 global weather and climate change events of 2021 (Yale Climate Connections)

POPULAR CULTURE: Meet the Bernie vet and comet hunter behind ‘Don’t Look Up’ (E&E News), don’t just watch: team behind ‘Don’t Look Up’ urges climate action (New York Times $)

OFFSHORE WIND:The first offshore wind lease sale under Biden is coming soon. Will the fishing industry intervene? (Washington Post $), feds sued over offshore wind farm leases near Jersey shore resort (Reuters), Biden admin advances Gulf and California offshore wind reviews (E&E News, Politico Pro $)

MEDIA: NPR hosts' departures fuel questions over race. the full story is complex (NPR)

EIA STEO: EIA expects US power use to rise 1% in 2022 as economy recovers (Reuters), US natgas output to rise, demand to ease in 2022 -EIA (Reuters), feds: 2023 oil production to reach highest level in history (E&E $)

AGENCIES: Biden administration calls on agencies to better guard against political influence on science (The Hill), NASA’s new chief scientist absorbs climate advisor role ahead of busy year in space (Orlando Sentinel)

EPA: EPA advances efforts to curb toxic coal ash contamination (Reuters, AP, The Hill), EPA to assess impact on endangered species before signing off on pesticide ingredients (The Hill), meet the EPA staffers key to Biden’s goals (E&E News)

DOE: The Energy Department blew $1.1 billion on carbon capture projects that were mostly failures (Earther)

DOI: BLM's former top cop plans whistleblower complaint (E&E $)

LAWSUITS: D.C. Circuit may ax Interior offshore leases on NEPA grounds (E&E News)

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT: Biden spending bill ignites debate over dairy methane pollution (Reuters)

THE HILL: Paul Gosar lost his Natural Resources seat. Will it matter? (E&E News), voters move to block Trump ally Madison Cawthorn from re-election (The Guardian), Biden officials lobby Senate Dems against Nord Stream bill (E&E News)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden trails Trump, Obama in getting nominees confirmed (E&E $), Senate committee sets vote on 2 USDA nominees (E&E $)

• FEDERAL RESERVE: Powell says climate stress tests will 'very likely' be a 'key tool going forward' (The Hill), US economy can withstand Fed tightening, Omicron surge, Powell says (Reuters), Gulf [stock exchanges] close mixed ahead of Powell testimony (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: Idaho confronts climate change with money to protect forests (AP), Maine lawmakers propose $3M climate education program (E&E $), Virginia advocates seek legislation to push rural electric co-ops on transparency (Energy News Network), California budget aims to clear up port congestion and pollution (The Verge), California offers plan to prevent extreme heat deaths (E&E $), Newsom allocates $22.5 billion to climate crisis in California budget proposal (The Hill), 

FERC: FERC filing could shake up N.Y. renewables (E&E $)

IMPACTS: There is no adapting to this (Earther), 2021 was New Zealand’s hottest year on record (The Guardian), across the boreal forest, scientists are tracking warming’s toll (Yale Environment 360), atmospheric river bringing new flood concerns to Washington state (Washington Post $), climate inaction - and 'dramatic' consequences - top global threat list (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

HEAT: 'Furnace': Argentina roasts in record-setting heat wave (Reuters)

WILDFIRES: Fires doubled Australia’s emissions. It might never recover (E&E News), wildfires are digging carbon-spewing holes in the Arctic (Wired)

RENEWABLES: Solar could boom this year if supply chains don’t collapse (E&E $), plant owner says construction ban could sink Nevada geothermal project (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Tesla unveils its giant megapack battery project in Texas (Electrek)

BUILDINGS: The next front in fighting climate change: your home (CNN)

OIL & GAS: Putin's (natural) gaslighting of Europe (Axios), where the oil industry is headed in 2022 (E&E News)

BIOFUELS: What is at stake for the US biofuel blending law in 2022 and beyond (Reuters, explainer), Exxon buys stake in biofuels company Biojet in clean energy push (Reuters)

NUCLEAR: Save the nukes? (Grist)

COAL: Coal to make up 85% of total US power capacity to be retired in 2022 - EIA (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Virginia okays Dominion's plan to deploy 1.1M smart meters (Utility Dive)

GRID: Cost of climate change to the grid? $4B (E&E $)

EVs: Demand for electric vehicles to cause battery supply chain bottleneck, analyst says (Yale Climate Connections), global race intensifies for EV raw materials (Axios)

FASHION: The fashion industry may finally face accountability for its huge toxic footprint (Earther)

CARBON PRICING: Carbon markets get amber light from COP26 (Energy Monitor), cryptocurrency traders move into carbon markets (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON REMOVAL: As carbon removal gains traction, economists imagine a new market to save the planet (NPR)

INTERNATIONAL: German climate minister says speed of carbon cuts needs to be trebled (The Guardian, Reuters), Johnson’s political weakness leaves climate agenda at risk, say campaigners (The Guardian), Romania pushes to add climate change education in schools (AP), windfall tax: how the North Sea is churning out cash for oil and gas barons (The Guardian)

• West Virginia needs the Build Back Better Act to recover and thrive (The Hill, Ryan Frankenberry op-ed)
• Unused and useless: States must act to end flawed natural gas power plant buildouts (Utility Dive, Grant Smith op-ed)
• We’re still expanding the natural gas system — and there’s a good chance you’re paying for it (Canary Media, Mike Henchen and Sherri Billimoria op-ed)
• The Biden White House is sacrificing the climate for geopolitics (New Republic, Kate Aronoff column)
• We need the Fossil Free Finance Act now to combat Wall Street’s greenwashing (Truthout, Alec Connon op-ed)
• These carbon-spewing vehicles must be stopped (New York Times, Margo Oge and Drew Kodjak $)
• Infrastructure spending should not facilitate sawing down our National Forests (The Hill, Carole King op-ed)
• Don't sell your fossil-fuel stock if you want to make a climate-change difference in 2022 (TIME, Chris James op-ed)
• We must overcome our divisions and come together to face longterm global risks (TIME, Saadia Zahidi op-ed)
• Climate fund aims to help indigenous people protect world's forests (Reuters, Thomson Reuters Foundation)
• ‘Don’t Look Up’ director Adam McKay on turning up 'emotional bandwidth' on climate (MSNBC, interview)

Get In Nerds, We’re Doing Science! National Climate Assessment Outline Open For Public Comment

As penance for yesterday’s ridiculousness, today we’re presenting you with a very serious and straightforward request: Go help out some real science! 

Because, as you may have gotten in your inbox, or like us, seen at climate denial hub WUWT, now is the time for public comment on a draft outline of the National Climate Assessment, a major climate report a bunch of government agencies work together to put out every four years. 

Now while the dozen-ish commenters at WUWT who have been implored to make their voices heard don’t seem to be providing much serious content to challenge the consensus that warming is bad and fossil fuels’ fault, that doesn’t mean the slightly more conniving forces of denial aren’t offering up bogus comments real scientists will have to sift through. 

Not much we can do about that, but what you can do is provide real, honest feedback so the poor unfortunate souls forced to read through each and every one of these comments, and provide a meaningful response, don’t get too depressed from deniers. 

What kind of questions might you have for climate scientists, either specific to your hometown region, or more broadly about how weather’s seeming weirder? How might your favorite local scenery fair, or what might the impacts to your job be? 

By registering as a reviewer, you can see the outline, find your region’s chapter and/or other topics that interest you, and then leave comments to help the report authors figure out what the public needs to know. 

After all, as the WUWT post notes, “once this report is published, it will be too late and all our crabby complaints will be useless.” 

Well hey look at that, climate deniers can comprehend that delayed action has consequences! 

We’re learning already!

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