(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Does another plastics plant in Louisiana's ‘Cancer Alley’ make sense? A new report says no. (InsideClimate News), fiercely proud of their home, residents of the Southeast Side — long a toxic dumping ground — are rising up against polluters (Chicago Tribune), more than 30,000 registrations so far in Flint water deal (AP), Poisoned: hundreds of workers at a Tampa lead smelter have been exposed to dangerous levels of the neurotoxin. The consequences have been profound. (Tampa Bay Times)
VOTER SUPPRESSION: Georgia GOP passes major law to limit voting amid nationwide push (New York Times $, NBC, CNN), Georgia troopers arrest Black woman lawmaker during protest of new voting law (The 19th* News, Atlanta Journal-Constitution), Martin Luther King III calls Georgia voting bill 'racist' (CNN)
IMPACTS' IMPACTS: Back-to-back hurricanes in Central America push migrants north, adding to humanitarian crisis (EcoWatch)
EXTREMISM: Big tech CEOs face lawmakers in House hearing on social media’s role in extremism, misinformation (Washington Post $)
BOARD GAMES: His game made beating a pandemic fun. Can he do it for climate change? (New York Times $)
OBVIOUS PARALLELS: Ad agencies step away from oil and gas in echo of cigarette exodus (New York Times $)
AGENCIES: EPA urged to reconsider listing Missouri lakes as ‘impaired’ (AP), [DOE] pledges to slash solar energy costs by 60% in a decade(Reuters, Axios, Politico Pro $, E&E $, The Hill, Bloomberg $), DOT axes Trump's 'rule on rules' (E&E $), DOT staffing up to meet requirements of pipeline law (Politico Pro $), Haaland stresses 'major role' of fossil fuels in economy (E&E $), FEMA nominee pledges a ‘hard conversation’ on buyouts in flood zones (Politico Pro $), FEMA workforce depleted as disasters loom (E&E $)
WHITE HOUSE: Biden talks climate, infrastructure — and re-election bid (E&E $), a Biden administration strategy: send in the [climate] scientists (New York Times $)
INFRASTRUCTURE: Biden to roll out budget, infrastructure plan next week (E&E $), 'breaking point': advocates welcome [water infrastructure] bills but push for more (E&E $)
EXECUTIVE BRANCH: NPR's full interview with Fed Chairman Jerome Powell (NPR)
THE HILL: Manchin backs tax hikes for 'enormous' infrastructure bill (E&E $), Democrats want Biden to restore Obama-era climate change policy (Axios), Biden raps 'gigantic' abuse of Senate filibuster, says it should be harder to block bills (Reuters), Democratic senators press insurers on climate readiness (Politico Pro $), Congressional Democrats aim to reinstate rules on methane gas emissions from oil and gas works (Washington Post $, E&E $, Bloomberg Law), Senate Democrats propose boost to clean energy [tax] credits (E&E $), senators introduce bipartisan bill to expand electric vehicle charging tax credit (The Hill), Manchin pushes Dems for voting rights compromise amid talk of killing filibuster (Politico)
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: 2030 is the new 2050 for emissions-cutting pledges (Axios)
CITIES AND STATES: Ohio legislature close to revoking nuclear power subsidy (Reuters), Colorado Springs, Aurora approved to perform exploratory drilling for new reservoir in the White River National Forest (The Gazette, AP), New Mexico adopts rules to curb emissions from oil industry (AP), Vermont voters stoke debate on the best path to cleaner building heat (Energy News Network), Warren Buffett group lobbying Texas lawmakers for deal to build $8 billion worth of power plants for emergency use (Texas Tribune), wind and solar farm planned north of Flagstaff (Arizona Daily Sun)
MASSACHUSETTS: Massachusetts governor to sign sweeping climate change bill (AP), acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey becomes first Black person to lead the city (NewsOne)
CALIFORNIA: California grid operator approves payments to boost reliability ahead of summer heat (Politico Pro $), California's policies to reduce air pollution are working (Earther), solar panels and water canals could form a real power couple in California (Popular Science)
FERC: FERC rejects bid to halt Mountain Valley construction (E&E $)
IMPACTS, U.S.: A very, very, very dry future for the US West (Axios), California's drought is back, but nobody wants to hear it from Newsom (Politico), new priorities needed for California’s next drought (CAL Matters), new problems arise for crop storage as planet gets warmer (AP)
IMPACTS, INT'L: Kuwait records hottest March temperature ever amid dust storms and locusts (Earther), climate change set to drive more deadly heat in South Asia (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Australia endures droughts, fires, floods and marauding mice (AP)
VICIOUS CYCLES: Melting Arctic ice could release methane reserves (E&E $)
JUST TRANSITION: Feds urged to help people hurt by fading fossil industries (E&E $), partisan divides intensify over 'just transition,' grid (E&E $)
RENEWABLES: How a blackout helped this clean grid experiment (E&E $), county boundaries become barriers for community solar in Minnesota (Energy News Network), scientists work to make solar panels more efficient (Yale Climate Connections), senators press [solar] industry on forced labor concerns (E&E $)
OIL & GAS: Even new offshore rigs aren't immune to the pandemic oil bust (Houston Chronicle), Big Oil pushed school officials to make "dishonest" claims on Biden climate policy (Salon), shale driller sells leases for third of what it paid in 2014 (Bloomberg $)
PLASTICS: 'It's a pipe dream': green groups blast plastic makers' recycling push (Politico), major plastics bill returns with toxics, justice focus (E&E $), US lawmakers target plastic pollution, producers in new legislation (Reuters)
PIPELINES: Activists step up pressure on Minnesota [Line 3] pipeline (The Hill), the Indigenous-led fight to stop a oil pipeline expansion in Minnesota, explained (Vox), authorities have forced anti-pipeline protesters out of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Delaware Public Radio)
COAL: Judge OKs deal on [Indiana] coal plant pollution control violations (E&E $)
HYDROGEN: What's the biggest role for hydrogen in a clean energy economy? It depends who you ask (Utility Dive), Shell hunts for hydrogen opportunities in Australia in net zero push (Reuters)
UTILITIES: NextGen hires labor activist as executive director (E&E $)
TRANSMISSION: Midwest transmission morass: A 100% clean power warning? (E&E $), renewable energy growth is being slowed by current transmission planning, ACORE study says (PV Magazine, RTO Insider, North American Wind Power, Solar Power World, North American Clean Energy)
EVs: As EV economics improve, medium- and heavy-duty trucking may be 'next big frontier' for clean transportation (Utility Dive), boom or bubble? Skeptics take aim at buzzy electric vehicle market (NPR), Carper, Burr introduce green vehicle charging bill (Politico Pro $), well that was fast: Volkswagen quickly catching up to Tesla (InsideClimate News)
SILICON VALLEY: Clean tech 2.0: Silicon Valley’s new bet on start-ups fighting climate change (FT $)
DEFORESTATION: Indigenous peoples by far the best guardians of forests – UN report (The Guardian, HuffPost, InsideClimate News, Thomson Reuters Foundation)
INDIVIDUAL ACTION: Cutting your carbon footprint matters a lot — if you’re rich (Grist), online calculator measures the climate impact of remote work policies (Axios)
BITCOIN NFTs: Carbon offsets for NFTs don't address the deeper problem (Earther)
FINANCE: Green energy spinoffs can help investors clean up (Wall Street Journal $)
INTERNATIONAL: China to step up financial support for wind and solar power (Reuters), despite pledges to cut emissions, China goes on a coal spree (Yale Environment 360), EU’s top court rejects effort to force tougher climate rules (AP), India to double down on coal projects amid climate warnings (Bloomberg $), Indian lawmaker submits private bill to achieve net zero emissions by 2050 (Climate Home), Ireland’s government agrees on climate bill to set 2050 net zero goal in law (Climate Home), this tiny [Senegalese] fishing town was poisoned by a coal plant. The government is trying to replace it with a mine (Vice), why a big mining project could wipe out rural villages in Indonesia (Yale Environment 360)