FIRST LOOK:

HAPPENING NOW: In the wake of the catastrophic Himalaya flood that swept away dams and people in India's Uttarakhand state, experts and journalists will explore the lessons in a special news briefing on risk and resilience in the Earth Institute's Sustain What? webcast at 9:00 a.m. EST.

ITC Gives Auto Companies Grace Period in Battery Ruling: The U.S. International Trade Commission banned lithium batteries produced by SK Innovation Co. from the U.S. for 10 years, potentially hampering the Biden administration’s ambitious EV goals. SKI’s rival, LG Chem, claimed in 2019 that SKI stole trade secrets related to EV battery technology, saying SKI hired dozens of LG’s Chem’s employees and destroyed evidence of trade secret theft. Although the trade commission ordered a cease and desist on SKI products, it added in a four-year grace period for Ford, and a two-year period for Volkswagen to find alternative suppliers. That grace period makes it more difficult legally for the Biden administration to reverse the ruling, which it has 60 days to do. The ruling also casts doubt on the future of SKI’s plans for two battery factories in Georgia.  (Wall Street Journal $, Reuters, HuffPost)

Equinor Regrets US Shale Investments, Sells Assets: Norwegian energy giant Equinor is selling its Bakken shale oil assets to Grayson Mill Energy for about $900 million following more than a decade of heavy losses. The company recorded accounting losses of $21.5 billion on its U.S. activities between 2007 to 2019, about $9 billion of which were from onshore shale and affiliated assets. The losses are due in part to high per-barrel cost of extracting oil in the region, which includes parts of North Dakota, Montana, and Canada, and a boom-and-bust cycle cratered by the pandemic. “We should not have made these investments,” Equinor CEO Anders Opedal told Bloomberg. “The Bakken does not compete,” he added. The company, a majority of which is owned by the Norwegian government, is under growing criticism there for its losses in North American oil and gas investments. The company has begun investing more heavily in renewables in recent years, including winning one of the largest contracts ever in the U.S. with BP for a wind farm off of New York’s coast. (Reuters, Bloomberg $, OilPrice, WorldOil, Williston Herald, Upstream)

The Last of the Ice Volcanoes: Temperatures in the northern Midwest have been so cold for so long that ice volcanoes — which can grow as tall as humans — have emerged on the Great Lakes this week, but their appearances have become more infrequent and short-lasting due to climate change. During the winter, ice shelves can form on the lakes as liquid flows underneath, and the resulting ice erosion creates the volcanoes. Their formation requires long periods of cold conditions, which are becoming less common as the climate warms. “Whatever you would think are the worst conditions to be outside,” those are the prime conditions for this strange phenomena to occur Tom Finley, director of education at Milwaukee's Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, told the Washington Post. (Washington Post $, NBC, Michigan Radio; Climate Signals background: Global Warming)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: The generational rift over ‘intersectional environmentalism’ (Grist), House Democrats' COVID-19 plan eyes environmental justice funds (Axios), 'we have a water crisis in our country' Rashida Tlaib on shutoffs, pollution and working in a hostile Congress (The Guardian)

AGENCIES: Biden's EPA pick to review options for biofuel blending law beyond 2022 (Reuters)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: UAW president holds White House talks on vehicle emissions (Reuters), Biden seeks delays on Arctic drilling challenges (The Hill), Biden holds first call as president with China's Xi Jinping (Axios)

THE HILL: GOP leaders on three committees push Pelosi on stimulus markups (The Hill)

TRANSITION, PERSONNEL: Biden announces Turk, Su to be energy, labor deputy secretaries (Reuters), Biden picks ex-Obama climate official [David Turk] for Energy Department deputy (Washington Post $, The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: Arizona showdown: lawmakers face regulators in fight over zero-emissions mandate (Utility Dive), Louisiana governor at odds with Biden over oil, gas policy (AP), state energy plans show how process can match final product in impact (Energy News Network), Delaware to boost renewable energy requirements by 2035 (WHYY)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: COVID, climate, tax feature at first post-Trump G7 talks (Reuters)

IMPACTS: Details emerge of terrifying moments before Uttarakhand avalanche struck as search for survivors continues (CNN), experts warn more India glacier disasters "can't be avoided" without better monitoring (CBS)

WILDFIRES: Audit raises concerns about wildfire risks at US nuclear lab (AP)

RENEWABLES: Is Germany making too much renewable energy? (Foreign Policy), why oil giants are swapping oil rigs for offshore windfarms (The Guardian), EDF CEO says doubling renewables target by 2030 would mean 15 billion-20 billion euros extra investment (Reuters), Vestas takes GE’s ‘world’s largest offshore wind turbine’ (Electrek, CNBC)

STORAGE: How US grid operators plan to tackle energy storage at gigawatt scale (Greentech Media)

OIL & GAS: Oil rises, posts eighth straight day of gains (Reuters), North Dakota oil prices surge and output stalls as pipeline's fate awaited (Reuters)

SHELL: Shell to expand gas business despite pledge to speed up net-zero carbon drive (The Guardian, Reuters), Shell turns to forests and the earth to soak up its emissions (Reuters), Shell’s falling oil output ends century-long business model (Bloomberg $), oil giant Shell says its carbon emissions and oil production have peaked (CNBC)

PIPELINES: Minnesota police want a pipeline company to pay for weapons claimed as PPE (The Intercept), first Keystone XL, now Dakota Access: pipeline politics swirl around Biden (Forbes), Saudi Aramco prepares $10 billion loan for pipeline business buyers: sources (Reuters), Republican states consider suing Biden for canceling Keystone XL pipeline (Washington Examiner)

COAL: Coal is set for a miniature pandemic rebound (Axios), other states are making utilities dig up toxic coal ash. Indiana is letting it sit there. (Indianapolis Star), another blow to coal: Arch to close Coal Creek mine in 2022 (Wyoming Tribune-Eagle), COVID contributes to coal's downturn; Ohio weighs viability of mine clean-up fund (Columbus Dispatch)

HYDROGEN: German gas lobby wants more rapid switch to green hydrogen (Reuters)

WATER: Egypt's farmers tap new technology to save water and boost crops (Thomson Reuters Foundation) 

GRID: Local grid investments can make or break the energy transition (Energy Monitor), Biden’s green-grid timeline ‘difficult’, power trade group says (Bloomberg $)

ACTIVISM: When defending the land puts your own life at risk (NPR), appeals court rebuffs youth climate activists in novel case against government (The Hill)

AIRPLANES: Airlines can now pick their own routes across the Atlantic. Huge fuel savings could follow (CNN)

AGRICULTURE: Mark Bittman explains why the next 100 years of food will have to be radically different (Earther), deep in factory farm country, CAFO critics are just trying to get heard (Modern Farmer)

BITCOIN: Bitcoin is red hot. Can it ever be green? (Bloomberg $), Elon Musk wants clean power. But Tesla's carrying bitcoin's dirty baggage (Reuters)

BOOKS: Electrified rivers and other attempts to save the environment (New York Times $)

CARS: GM’s profits from trucks and SUVs fuel its electric quest (New York Times $), to meet climate goals, think outside the electric car (Bloomberg $), how car-centric street networks make buses less efficient (Bloomberg $), true crime with a climate connection (New York Times $)

FINANCE: Brookfield pauses $7.5 billion fund devoted to ‘net-zero’ shift (Bloomberg $),Credit Suisse says quick climate wins may reduce investor impact (Bloomberg $)

HEALTH: Climate action could save 'millions of lives' through clean air, diet and exercise (The Guardian)

INFRASTRUCTURE: California’s aging dams face new perils, 50 years after Sylmar quake crisis (LA Times $)

METHANE: Methane is blowing more holes in the arctic (Earther), Texas oil group vows to limit flaring as state signals crackdown (Bloomberg $), Permian kept spewing methane despite drilling slowdown, EDF says (Bloomberg $)

CARBON REMOVAL: There’s a lot more than Elon Musk’s $100 million riding on carbon removal (Grist) 

TRASH: Amazon is creating an empire of trash (Earther), scientists have created a recyclable, self-healing wearable that could one day power gadgets (Earther)

SNOW?: How skiing can survive climate change (Wall Street Journal $)

SCIENCE: Sobering science shows world is woefully behind on Paris climate goals (Axios), science moms look to enlist other moms to tackle climate change (EcoWatch), saving sea level records: what historical records tell US about the rising ocean (NPR)

OZONE: China’s emissions of ozone-harming gas are declining, studies find (New York Times $), the ‘environmental crime of the century’ solved (Grist), study suggests China’s crackdown on illegal CFC gases is working (Climate Home)

WILDLIFE: Return of Mexican wolves in Southwest (Indian Country Today)

INTERNATIONAL: Europe trade talks: Australia urged to be 'more ambitious' on climate (The Guardian), big-emitting Australian businesses could soon face costly carbon levy in Europe (The Guardian), China’s coal war with Australia fuels shortage at home (Wall Street Journal $), United Airlines to buy 200 flying electric taxis to take you to the airport (Wall Street Journal $), France presents new climate bill, activists slam "mini-measures" (Reuters), Central Europe leaders focus on vaccination, nuclear energy (AP), wood heat tax credit gives New England industry ‘something to rally around’ (Energy News Network)

• Build nothing new that ultimately leads to a flame (The New Yorker, Bill McKibben column $)
• Don’t bank on Biden’s carbon bank (Bloomberg, Adam Minter op-ed $)
• We're on a collision course with the planet. But with public support, that can change (The Guardian, Larry Elliott op-ed)
• The global problems Biden can't avoid (CNN, David Miliband and Nazanin Ash)
• Five things Biden should do to tackle the climate emergency (The Hill, Ezra Silk and Margaret Klein Salamon op-ed)
• How to shop for cleaning products - while avoiding toxics (Environmental Health News, Ruth Greenspan Bell and Jeffrey Peterson op-ed)
• We can build the economy while addressing the climate crisis and environmental injustice (The Hill, Reps. Donald McEachin, Nanette Barragan, and Pramila Jayapal op-ed )

Boston Globe Falls For Misleading, Truncated 'Break The Will' Quote As Part Of Conservative Cancel Campaign

It's 2021 a former social media influencer and president is on trial for his second impeachment for inciting an insurrection to overthrow his defeat, and major legacy media outlets are still taking obviously truncated videos pushed by super-shady front groups at face value.

According to a recent story from the State House News Service, picked up in the normally-reputable Boston Globe, a Massachusetts climate official made some controversial statements recently, and in response a group of Republican lawmakers asked the Republican governor to cancel (“immediately dismiss”) the official.

Now what sin did this official supposedly commit that has a handful of state reps abandoning their conservative allegiance to free speech? Well — according to a forty-second snippet of a meeting with Vermont officials, posted by a conservative dark-money group with a local reputation for deception — Massachusetts state Undersecretary for Climate Change David Ismay said that when it comes to climate action these days, “we have to break your will.” 

Hm, well, an official saying they intend to force policy on the public by breaking their will would certainly be eyebrow-raising. 

Except that — when you actually look at the full video, which again is only forty seconds and cuts off immediately after Ismay begins to elaborate what he meant by the “break your will” comment — it’s clear his point is the exact opposite of how it’s been portrayed. 

What he appears to be saying (again, the whole thing is based off of a 40-second clip) is that since 60% of Massachusetts emissions are from cars and residential heating, it’s not a matter of instituting policies that target major polluters like factories but instead it’s policies that will reduce emissions from the public, from “the person on the street, the senior on fixed income.” A new approach is needed, because this isn’t a fight against polluters, it’s a transition we all need to make together. 

“There is no bad guy left, at least in Massachusetts,” he says, “to point the finger at, turn the screws on, and break their will so they stop emitting.” 

No, instead the bulk of the problem are from just regular people, and continues with the ill-fated metaphor by saying that it’s now it’s “you, we have to break your will,” he says with a joking chuckle, adding that “I can’t even say that publicly,” before then clarifying that “what I’m trying to say is...” and then the clip cuts off. 

Now, perhaps what he went on to say was that the approach to climate solutions that worked for confronting major polluters, breaking their will, is clearly not going to work when it comes to the public, because “seniors on fixed income” can’t buy carbon offsets or install hypothetical scrubbers in their chimneys like a factory’s required to do on its smokestacks. 

But we don’t know what he went on to say, because the video source cuts off. Now why might that be? 

Probably because it was posted by the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance, a conservative, anti-COVID-safety lawsuit-filing, dark money group with a history of deceptive practices and false claims made in the state, that works with the Koch network and is funded primarily by another nonprofit it also set up. It's all an unprecedentedly shady funding situation that was exposed by … wait for it! … none other than the Boston Globe! 

So, yes, State House News Service and/or the Boston Globe should cover the news that a group of lawmakers are trying to get a civil servant fired based on a bad Zoom joke. But the coverage should be explicit that this is a bad faith campaign waged by a frequently deceptive dark money lobby group based on an obviously truncated quote taken deliberately out of context and used as a stalking horse to oppose climate policy.

The story isn’t that an official made an dumb joke while on a Zoom call. It’s that professional liars from front groups and the lawmakers they support are weaponizing disinformation to attack climate policy, and journalists are still, somehow, in the year 2021, falling for it. 

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