FIRST AND FOREMOST: 

The murder of eight people in the Atlanta area last night, including including six Asian women, is just the latest example of the rise of anti-Asian racism over the past year — with a disproportionate number of attacks targeting women. Climate Nexus stands in solidarity with groups like Stop AAPI Hate in condemning this racism, and those who have used the coronavirus pandemic to spread it, in the strongest possible terms.

E-Semis Cheaper Per Mile Than Diesels At Today's Prices — Report: Heavy duty electric trucks (a.k.a. semis) cost so much less to operate per mile than diesel-powered trucks at today's prices that they would pay for themselves in just three years, according to a new report by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UCLA, and UC-Berkeley. Electrifying heavy-duty trucks would substantially improve air quality. Semis account for just 11% of vehicles on the road, but more than half of carbon pollution and 71% of deadly particulate pollution. At today's costs, electric semis could cost 13% less per mile than a comparable diesel-powered truck, and could cost just half as much per mile by 2030 with the right mix of policy. (E&E $, The Detroit Bureau; Commentary: Forbes, Silvio Marcacci op-ed)

AFL-CIO Head Calls For Action On Slavery In Chinese Solar Production: AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called for the Biden administration to block imports of critical solar energy components from China's Xinjiang region. The region produces more than half of the world's polysilicon, a critical component of photovoltaic solar panels. The "convincing evidence of systematic forced labor in the Uyghurs region’s solar production demands immediate focused action,” Trumka wrote in a March 12 letter. President Biden has accused China of "genocide" over its efforts to wipe out the culture of predominantly Muslim Uyghurs in XinJiang. Trumka's letter to top national security and State Department officials highlights the treacherous web of competing political, moral, and strategic interests faced by the Biden administration in its efforts to decarbonize the American economy. (Bloomberg $, Reuters, New York Times $; Biden statement: Bloomberg $)

Enviros Launch Campaign To Fund Climate Action With Infrastructure Bill: Environmental groups are launching a $10 million push for Congress to make climate change central to infrastructure legislation. "The Great American Build" campaign, a joint effort of Climate Power, the League of Conservation Voters and Potential Energy Coalition, will pressure lawmakers to include funding for climate action as part of the emerging infrastructure package. "Americans elected pro-climate majorities in Congress, and they expect big things on the issues that drove them to the polls — including clean energy and climate change," Lori Lodes, executive director of Climate Power, told NBC. (NBC, The Hill, E&E $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Wanted: green infrastructure for Great Lakes region (E&E $), Louisiana court reverses stunning loss for chemical plant (E&E $)

CHICAGO POLLUTION: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s proposed anti-industrial pollution plan advances over criticism it doesn’t go far enough, heads to full city council (Chicago Tribune), ‘weakened’ clear air ordinance for heavy polluters moves forward — with no support from environmental groups (Block Club Chicago), [Chicago] delays permit for General Iron, asks for data on cumulative impact of pollution from related businesses (Chicago Sun-Times, WTTW)

WIN-WINS: School's solar panel savings give every teacher up to $15,000 raises (CBS)

INSURRECTIONIST SILVER LININGS: Capitol mob may have trashed 3 Trump pollution rules (E&E $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: 5 climate liability lawyers to watch (E&E $)

TEXAS: Some on Wall Street profited off Texas blackouts. In a private call, a top regulator pledged he would try to protect their windfall. (Texas Monthly), at least 57 people died in the Texas winter storm, mostly from hypothermia (Texas Tribune), the Texas freeze set off a methane bomb (Mother Jones), Texas Senate passes bill requiring ERCOT to reprice multi-billion dollar market 'error' (Utility Dive)

AGENCIES: 'All hands on deck': SEC seeks input on climate risk rules (E&E $, Axios), BLM drilling data may shift Biden oil politics (E&E $), career [DOI] officials to resume processing drilling permits (The Hill), whistleblower case tests BLM commitment to career officials (E&E $)

EPA: EPA issues cross-state pollution rule; greens want more (E&E $, Reuters, The Hill), Regan, state groups sign public health agreement (E&E $)

LAWSUITS: Biden asks court to close out Arctic drilling battle (E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Chevron ‘greenwashing’ targeted in complaint filed with FTC (Bloomberg $, Reuters)

SOCIAL COSTS: Much-debated climate metric getting immediate use under Biden (Bloomberg Law)

THE HILL: [Rep.] Dingell proposes EV manufacturing, infrastructure bill (E&E $), [Sen. Michael] Bennet to lead panel rebranded for climate action (E&E $), Sen. Whitehouse says US needs to show the rest of the world ‘we can be trusted’ on climate change (Washington Post $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate Dems schedule votes on more Biden picks (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Biden’s solar dreams collide with his scorn for China ‘genocide’ (Bloomberg $)

CITIES AND STATES: Lawmakers want to dedicate $1.2 million to defend Wyoming coal (Casper Star-Tribune), Virginia looks to gain ground in states’ slow race on electric vehicle policy (Energy News Network)

CALIFORNIA: California utilities propose lower payments on rooftop solar (Bloomberg $), ‘record-breaking' ramp up needed for 100% clean [California] grid — report (E&E $)

SCIENCE & RESEARCH: National Academies: climate research needs fresh approach (E&E $)

IMPACTS: ‘There’s no alternative’: Louisiana’s ambitious plan to stay above water (Grist), in the Pacific, global warming disrupted the ecological dance of urchins, sea stars and kelp. Otters help restore balance. (InsideClimate News), oceans are spitting out a human-made pollutant (E&E $)

COLORADO STORM: With weekend snowstorm, significant drought relief arrives for front range and plains (KUNC), all that snow should help with Colorado’s drought, but it’s still not enough for some parts of the state (Colorado Public Radio)

EMISSIONS: World aluminium industry must cut emissions by 77% by 2050: IAI (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: Good vibrations: bladeless turbines could bring wind power to your home (The Guardian), US solar had a record year in 2020 (Axios), renewables break records, but where are the jobs? (E&E $), world’s largest offshore wind turbine maker warns of price pressures (FT $)

OIL & GAS: North Sea oil and gas groups cut investment by £3bn (FT $), report: oil demand is bouncing back (Axios), world oil demand may have peaked in 2019 amid energy transition: IRENA (S&P Global)

PIPELINES: Jane Fonda visits Minnesota to protest Line 3 oil pipeline replacement (Axios)

COAL: Seven coal miners killed in Pakistan in second incident in one week (Reuters), Swiss Re plans coal exit, $100 carbon levy on road to net zero (Bloomberg $)

HYDROGEN: Germany, Canada agree to explore green hydrogen development (Reuters), invest $131 trillion in clean energy by 2050 to hit climate goals, [IEA] says (Reuters)

GRID: What California blackouts reveal about US grid (E&E $)

EVs: Volkswagen plans six battery factories to ramp up electrics (AP), Volkswagen CEO says he wants to ‘get close and then overtake’ Tesla (CNBC, FT $), the mad scramble for electric vehicle batteries (Axios)

STEEL: How to clean up steel? Bacteria, hydrogen and a lot of cash. (New York Times $)

AVIATION: Jet fuel from waste 'dramatically lowers' emissions (BBC), Europe seeks alliance with U.S. to tackle aviation emissions (Reuters)

FINANCE: ‘Reading the writing on the wall’: why Wall Street is acting on the climate crisis (The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: The rock standing in the way of China’s climate ambitions: coal (New York Times $), China must shut 100 GW coal-fired power capacity to meet climate goals - research (Reuters), doubling uptake of wind and solar power could set up Australia for net zero emissions by 2040 (The Guardian), ministers watering down green pledges post-Brexit, study finds (The Guardian), most British teachers say they lack training on climate change - poll (Thomson Reuters Foundation), where climate scientists see danger, Russia sees an opportunity (Bloomberg $)

• How rich countries must help developing economies afford the clean energy transition (Forbes, Ken Silverstein column)
• Taking Charge: Commissioner Clements on FERC's 'make or break' role amid the energy transition (Utility Dive, Allison Clements interview)
• Don't believe hydrogen and nuclear hype – they can’t get us to net zero carbon by 2050 (The Guardian, Jonathon Porritt op-ed)
• A new day for the Environmental Protection Agency (The Hill, Katie Huffling op-ed)
• Europe is poised to set climate standards for the world (Bloomberg, Peter R. Orszag op-ed $)
• Electric vehicles won’t fix our carbon dilemma without some hard choices along the way (Washington Post, Charles Lane column $)

Washington Times’s New Energy Reporter Haris Alic Joins Campaign Blaming Biden For Gas Prices

Just days after he was sworn in, doofus deniers like Tony Heller were already blaming President Biden for a rise in gas prices that started last October. Unfortunately, that transparently false and bad-faith attack has only grown louder and found new champions, as Mariana Mazzucato recently reported in the New Republic. 

From Senator Rick Scott to Koch groups, “it’s in some ways a version of what happened in last month’s devastating blackouts in Texas,” Mazzucato writes, “a thing people don’t like happened, and Republicans are eager to blame it on Democrats. But fuel prices going up is both a sign of economic recovery and very good news to fossil fuel companies” struggling with low prices and “a rash of bankruptcies after prices plummeted last spring.”  

One of the slightly more sophisticated versions of this argument can be found in the Washington Times, who hired a new “reporter” this month for its Congress and energy coverage, one Haris Alic. He comes from Breitbart News, “where he was the lead political reporter covering President Joe Biden and the 2020 campaign” for the outlet that “smuggled white nationalism into the mainstream.” Before that, Alic — whose name really is right on the homophonetical nose —  wrote for the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative billionaire-funded political website. His Free Beacon bio says his prior experience was “in communications and government relations at various non-profits.” 

If we had to guess, we’d wager that those nonprofits all share a common set of funders with a bank account full of dirty energy money, but judging by his output Alic was hired for his ability to sensationalize normal political news to drive angry conservative hate-clicks. 

Some of his last stories at Breitbart included immigration fear-mongering and Hunter Biden conspiracy peddling, while one of his last at the Free Beacon accused one of the only Muslims in Congress, Minnesota Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, of antisemitism while “reporting” on her pro-choice comments. 

So if that all sounds more like the output of a conservative activist than any sort of reporter, you would be correct! Before getting hired to be “staff writer” at the Free Beacon, where he was responsible for multiple blog posts a day with important news like “Democratic Rep caught playing candy crush during the State of the Union,” Haris Alic was very much a conservative activist.

At least, that’s according to a 2017 Daily Caller freelance piece of overly optimistic GOP cheerleading, in which the byline describes Alic as “a conservative activist and government affairs professional.” 

And the worst part is, he clearly knows he’s not doing news, because his piece about gas prices begins with a disclaimer that prices are rising because of “increased demand as Americans emerge from COVID-19 sheltering,” but nonetheless carries the allegation that “energy analysts” “warn that President Biden’s climate agenda likely will exacerbate the rise in fuel costs.” 

But there’s only one person quoted in the article, analyst or otherwise, and it is … wait for it …  Myron Ebell, of the industry-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute. The body of the article is about why the price increase isn’t about Biden’s policies, but somehow that’s the framing of the piece, the headline claim, and the thrust of Ebell’s evidence-free quotes are all presented as a factual counterweight to those realities. 

Because as Mazzucato pointed out, “a thing people don’t like happened,” so Alic and “Republicans are eager to blame it on Democrats.”

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