FIRST LOOK:

The Recovery Recess coalition launched yesterday in support of green jobs, care jobs, justice, green infrastructure, climate solutions, Indigenous tribal sovereignty, fighting voter suppression. More information is here.

Biden Announces Major Offshore Wind Expansion In 'Build Back Better' Buildup: The Biden administration announced a plan to dramatically expand wind energy generation along U.S. coasts on Monday amid its ramp up for a major legislative push on infrastructure and climate change. The offshore wind plan aims to generate thousands of union jobs and 30 gigawatts of power capacity over the next nine years — enough to power more than 10 million American homes and prevent 78 million metric tons of carbon pollution. “We are ready to rock-and-roll,” national climate adviser Gina McCarthy told reporters Monday. President Biden will pitch his major 'Build Back Better' infrastructure agenda on Wednesday in a speech in Pittsburgh. The plan is expected to be a multi-trillion dollar package that aims to revitalize the U.S. economy by addressing climate change and domestic inequality, targeting environmental racism and aiding communities ravaged by the fossil fuel industry through major infrastructure investments. Biden hopes to pass the measure over the summer. The administration's infrastructure and climate efforts would  expand on clean energy investments made under the 2009 Obama stimulus package, the implementation of which then-Vice President Biden oversaw. The political environment has shifted and the scientific consensus for accelerated action on climate has grown since 12 years ago, however, and whereas Obama's stimulus merely included climate and clean energy provisions, they will be a centerpiece of Biden's. (Offshore wind: New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP, E&E $, The Hill, Axios, Reuters, Bloomberg $, Reuters, Politico Pro $; Speech: Reuters, E&E $, Axios; BBB agenda: New York Times $, Vox, CNBC, E&E $; Legislative timeline: AP) 

Flooding Kills 7 In Tennessee With More Rain Expected: Heavy rain and widespread flooding killed at least seven people, including two people experiencing homelessness, and knocked out power across Central Tennessee over the weekend, with more rain on the way. More than 2.5 million people are under flood warnings through Thursday evening. Global warming increases the amount of moisture that can be held in the air, just as a bigger bucket can dump more water, and thus increases the extreme precipitation that causes flash flooding. Nashville was inundated by its second-highest ever two-day rainfall over the weekend, but could receive another one to two inches of rain just as flood waters have begun to recede. "Normally this amount of rain wouldn't cause flooding, but because it is so wet there is that possibility," National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Shamburger told the Tennessean. (CNN, Nashville Tennessean, USA Today, Washington Post $; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase, Flooding)

Wildfires Burn In Black Hills As Worry Grows Over Upcoming Fire 'Season': Wildfires in the Black Hills forced at least 400 people from their homes and shut down Mount Rushmore as firefighters struggled to contain the blaze fueled by winds that gusted to more than 70 mph. Three separate fires, all located west of Rapid City, South Dakota, had burned 1,900 acres as of Monday night and were "zero percent contained." Climate change dries out vegetation, which in turn fuels more destructive wildfires. The Black Hills fires burn as members of California's congressional delegation called on DOI and USDA, which includes the U.S. Forest Service, to make firefighting work year-round. Across California and the West, "it has become clear that we are entering a ‘new normal’ in which increasingly intense wildfires wreak havoc during a nearly year-round fire season,” the letter said. California's Sierra Nevada snowpack is currently one-third below normal and major reservoirs are also low, portending another devastating fire season. (Black Hills fires: AP, New York Times $, Argus Leader, KVEN, CNN, Grand Forks Herald, Axios; Acreage and containment: Rapid City Journal; Agencies: AP; California water: New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Wildfires, Drought) 

Explosion At Indonesian Oil Refinery: A massive explosion at an oil refinery in Indonesia's West Java province on Monday injured about 20 people and forced nearly 1,000 to evacuate. It was still burning Tuesday morning, Eastern Time. The state-owned Pertamina Balongan Refinery has a capacity of about 125,000 barrels per day and supplies fuel to Jakarta, Banten and some parts of West Java. Local news reported the explosion could be heard miles away. Oil is Indonesia's primary energy source, and Pertamina has caused environmental disasters in the past, including a weeks-long oil well leak that created a miles-wide oil slick that disrupted the local fishing and tourism industries. The cause of the fire and explosion, which blew out windows and damaged hundreds of nearby homes, are unknown. One man died of a heart attack in the process of evacuating. (AP, New York Times $, Earther, BBC, Al Jazeera, Deutsche Welle, AFP, CNN, The Hill)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Report: military cleanup in Puerto Rico islands slow-going (AP), when an oil company profits from a pipeline running beneath tribal land without consent, what’s fair compensation? (InsideClimate News), opening arguments begin in Derek Chauvin’s murder trial (NewsOne)

VOTER SUPPRESSION: Corporations, vocal about racial justice, go quiet on voting rights (New York Times $), inside the Koch-backed effort to block the largest election-reform bill in half a century (The New Yorker $)

FIRST CENTURY ENERGY SOURCES: The ‘green energy’ that might be ruining the planet (Politico)

REPORTING: Why there’s so much investigative journalism about utility companies (ProPublica)

TEXAS: Almost 70% of ERCOT customers lost power during winter storm, study finds (Texas Tribune), gas bills could spike for decades after Texas blackouts (E&E $), Houston families sue CenterPoint for February freeze deaths amid outages in vulnerable neighborhoods (Houston Chronicle)

CHICAGO: Fiercely proud of their home, residents of the Southeast Side — long a toxic dumping ground — are rising up against polluters (Chicago Tribune), [Chicago] won’t say when it will make a decision on controversial Southeast Side metal scrapper’s permit (Block Club Chicago)

AGENCIES: Biden lays groundwork for environmental regulations (The Hill), EPA revamps risk assessments for new chemicals (E&E $), Republicans slam participant list for [DOI] oil and gas forum (E&E $), [BLM] can reconsider Colorado oil and gas leasing plan (Bloomberg Law)

WHITE HOUSE: The Biden administration will investigate Trump-era attacks on science. (New York Times $, E&E $, Politico Pro $)

THE HILL: Democrats look to smooth the way for Biden’s infrastructure plan (New York Times $), clean energy, tax bills abound ahead of Biden budget (E&E $), Democrats prod insurance industry on climate risk (E&E $), lawmakers push military resiliency after storm damage (E&E $), Senator Toomey [R-Penn.] questions Fed tackling climate risk, racial inequality (Reuters, Wall Street Journal $), Top Natural Resources Republican asks Haaland for details on national monuments (The Hill)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: CEQ pick offers Senators insight on NEPA, equity concerns (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: India, U.S agree to revamp strategic energy partnership (Reuters)

NDC FOR COP26: Here's what Biden could include in his Paris climate pledge (E&E $)

TRANSITION, PERSONNEL: Biden announces environmental justice advisers (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Northeast states face political minefield on offshore wind (Politico Pro and E&E $), has Eugene, Oregon, found a ‘superpower’ for climate action? (High Country News)

CALIFORNIA: Environmental justice outcry axes [California] plan to boost natural gas (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Rainfall threatens spectacular Northumberland carved fireplace (The Guardian), from U.S. to Japan, iconic cherry trees are blooming earlier (E&E $), The cicadas are coming. Rising temperatures and thawing soils portend insect explosion. (Washington Post $)

POSSIBLE IMPACTS: Experts say the term ‘tornado alley’ is misleading, advocate moving away from it (Washington Post $)

FAMILIAR BUT UNSETTLING: Composers, scientists, designers update Vivaldi's 'Four Seasons' for an era of climate change (Yale Climate Connections)

AGRICULTURE: Biden mulls giving farmers billions to fight climate change. Even farmers are unsure about the plan. (Politico)

BUILDINGS & ELECTRIFICATION: Here’s how Joe Biden can decarbonise US buildings (Energy Monitor), sweeping Massachusetts climate law revives gas ban battle (E&E $)

RENEWABLES: Global wind industry could install almost 1 TW of new capacity by 2030, report says (Reuters), Illinois lawmakers push for more union jobs in renewable energy industry (Chicago Sun-Times), new global solar PV installations to increase 27% to record 181 GW this year: IHS Markit (Reuters), solar installations on pace for biggest growth in five years, IHS Markit says (Reuters), Norway readies first offshore wind tenders to spur oil industry transition (Reuters), The U.S. is finally looking to unlock the potential of wave energy (Grist), wind and solar power aren’t displacing coal nearly fast enough (Axios)

OIL & GAS: Shell to link executive pay more closely to group's climate performance (Reuters)

OIL SPILLS: Amid myriad crises, Lebanon now confronts an ecological disaster on its shores (NPR)

ORPHANED WELLS: Biden takes aim at reducing emissions of super-polluting methane gas, with or without the Republicans (InsideClimate News)

PIPELINES: A fight is brewing over an oil pipeline and it's pitting Native groups against Big Oil (NBC), Greenhouse gases from Line 3 pipeline raise questions about meeting Minnesota's goals for cutting emissions (Star Tribune $)

COAL: China generated over half world's coal-fired power in 2020: study (Reuters), coal country races to shield itself from Biden’s climate plan (Bloomberg $), Texas coal plant nears $1 billion restructuring after customer’s bankruptcy (Wall Street Journal $)

UTILITIES: Census Bureau to track scope of utility bill debt (E&E $), experts aren't buying Warren Buffett's $8.3 billion plan to build more Texas power plants (Houston Chronicle), Nebraska utility could slash emissions at little or no added cost, studies show (Energy News Network)

WATER: Colorado River tribes aim to establish ‘one unified voice’ in policy talks (KUNC)

GRID: Biden team boosts effort to shield power grid from hackers (Bloomberg $)

EVs: Volkswagen poised to change its name to 'Voltswagen' as it invests in electric vehicles (USA Today, Axios), VW accidentally leaks new name for its U.S. operations: Voltswagen (CNBC), Thinking of buying an electric vehicle? Read this first. (Washington Post $)

DEFORESTATION: Average Westerner's eating habits lead to loss of four trees every year (The Guardian)

BUSINESS: Companies ask their customers to help them cut emissions (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON CAPTURE: This machine in Texas could suck up companies’ carbon emissions — if they pay (Grist), DOE lab unveils technology to slash CCS costs (E&E $)

FINANCE: Citigroup announces new investment banking unit in green push (Reuters)

GEOENGINEERING: Utah is a leader in cloud seeding. Is it working? (Casper Star-Tribune)

INTERNATIONAL: Coal-powered industry plan for South Africa's 'Eden' sparks green outcry (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Japan looks to end support for overseas coal power projects (Nikkei Asian Review, Japan Times), UK urged to take lead in helping poor countries fund climate action (The Guardian)

• Imperiled cities, mounting costs: facing the big climate risk blindspot (The Hill, Anne Perrault op-ed)
• Solutions for climate change are begging for young people have a seat at the table (Blavity, Asantie Murrell op-ed)
• Are climate progressives organized enough to force Biden’s hand? (New Republic, Kate Aronoff column)
• There's nothing just about a transition without a job (The Hill, David Foster and Sade Nabahe op-ed)
• What’s it like for communities slowly transitioning to renewables? (Clean Technica, Rich Fitzgerald interview)

Wouldn’t it be cool if news outlets didn’t rent themselves out to Big Oil?

Earlier this month, a Buzzfeed investigation revealed PR giant Edelman was breaking it’s pledge not to work on behalf of climate denial by keeping a Big Oil client. Then with a New York Times piece last week about the increasing unease workers in the advertising industry have with promoting fossil fuels, the CleanCreatives campaign has people thinking, and talking, about the fossil fuel industry’s PR efforts. 

For example, one reporter at a competing publication pointed out that while the New York Times piece noted that the publication doesn’t run oil ads on its climate content, Politico’s Morning Energy and podcast are (currently) sponsored by Chevron. And to be fair, Politico’s hardly an outlier. It’s hard to find a news outlet that isn’t being kept afloat partially by fossil fuel money, for reasons that are largely outside of a newsroom’s control. 

And as Emily Atkin recently found in the course of her excellent on-the-ground reporting for HEATED about the indigenous, women-led opposition to Enbridge’s Line 3 pipeline expansion in Minnesota, it’s also a huge issue locally, where small papers are struggling and every dollar counts. Over the course of a week, she looked at over two dozen local papers, and found pro-pipeline ads in three out of four of them. As for anti-pipeline ads? Zero. 

That’s got a huge impact on readers, which as Atkin notes, is exactly the point. The industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars on advertisements every year, but at the same time, great reporting still happens at the same outlets where they buy ads. 

So it’s not that reporters are necessarily swayed in what they say or how they do their job by the fact that Chevron’s name appears at the top of their newsletter. Politico’s got some problematic and naively credulous tendencies, but we’re not claiming their reporters are driven by whoever’s buying their ad space. Those recurring reminders of who’s paying their bills, though, does have a subtle effect on both readers and reporters. If ads didn’t work, advertisers wouldn’t be buying them! 

But it’s not like even the New York Times is above taking oil money—the next sentence after disclosing it didn’t run dirty energy ads on climate content, it said it “publishes paid posts from companies such as Exxon.” 

And that’s the deeper problem. It’s one thing for readers to tune out advertisements around the content they want to see. But what about when the industry dresses up its ads to look like the actual reporting? 

Beyond straightforward ads, sponsored content is a more serious and pernicious issue because, while advertisements are seen as ads, advertorials are inherently deceptive. They're designed to look like content from a trustworthy media outlet, when in reality they’re just advertisements.

And, as Amy Westervelt tweeted, that sort of stuff happens at all the big outlets. “WaPo, NYT, WSJ, Vox, all have these brand studios doing spon-con” Amy Westervelt recently tweeted in response to Matt Yglesias' now-deleted Christopher Columbusing of sponsored content, a topic she covered back in 2014 and again, specifically about prestige press and Big Oil, in 2019.

“Totally separate from their newsrooms,” Westervelt continued, “BUT the reason say Exxon or AEI or the API hire them is for the association with the newsroom. Because readers/listeners see it all as the same.” 

And that’s really the worst of it. Most journalists work hard to be accurate and deliver their readers with accurate, contextualized and, well, real facts. The news you read has been reviewed by an editor, examined by a fact-checker, and is a good-faith attempt to tell you the truth about something important. That reliability builds trust between an outlet and its audience, so when you see the particular font and layout that constitute each individual organization’s style, you feel like you can relax and believe what’s written.  

Sponsored content then takes that trust, and sells it to the highest bidder. With all the trappings of a piece of reliable journalism produced by a team of reporters and editors, but none of the fact checking or editorial oversight, sponsored content quite literally sells an outlet’s reputation for polluters and propagandists to exploit. 

What’s the point of having editorial standards, if polluters can just buy their way around them?

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