FIRST LOOK:

Learn about exciting EV demonstrations, other electrification efforts underway at the Port of San Diego with lessons applicable around the country, and a panel discussion on changing workforce needs. TOMORROW at 10:00-11:30 PM EDT.

Toxic Waste Infrastructure Vulnerable To Climate Change: The threat of a catastrophic failure unleashing a 20-foot wall of industrial wastewater over nearby homes and businesses in Piney Point, Florida, illustrates the danger of widespread reliance on industrial waste ponds across the U.S., the New York Times reports. Many of these ponds, filled with toxic and sometimes radioactive, byproducts of climate-change causing activity like coal ash from power plants or manure from industrialized farms, are also at risk because of climate change. Open lagoons make up the extent of waste processing infrastructure for industrial hog farming operations and coal-fired power plants and both were overwhelmed by Hurricane Florence in 2018, when more than 100 hog lagoons were swamped throughout the Carolinas and coal ash poured out of containment ponds at Duke's Sutton Plant in Wilmington, N.C. “They’re just an irresponsible way to store very dangerous waste,” Daniel Estrin, general counsel at the Waterkeeper Alliance, a clean water nonprofit group, told the Times. “And with climate change, we’re going to see more frequent and stronger storms that are going to impact these sites.” (New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes)

PG&E Faces Criminal Charges, This Time For 2019 Kinkade Fire: The Sonoma County district attorney filed 33 criminal charges, including five felonies, against Pacific Gas & Electric over its role in sparking the October 2019 Kincade Fire. PG&E accepts its transmission line started the fire, but denies criminal recklessness. The fire burned about 78,000 acres, destroyed 174 homes, and forced nearly 100,000 people to evacuate their homes. Six firefighters, including one incarcerated person, were injured fighting the blaze. Regardless of their source, climate change is setting the stage for more extreme wildfires across the American West as increased temperatures and drought dry vegetation into a veritable tinder box. PG&E is already one of the most criminally convicted businesses in U.S. history, including felony convictions following the deadly 2010 San Bruno gas pipeline explosion and the 2018 Camp Fire, though no executives were charged in either case. (San Francisco Chronicle, Politico Pro $, AP, Forbes; Climate Signals Background: Wildfires; Drought)

Policy Needed To Ensure Equity In EV Infrastructure — Report: States and utilities need to take intentional steps to ensure the coming wave of vehicle electrification is accessible to everyone, especially those in low- and medium-income households and communities of color, a new report shows. Urban settings present challenges for EV infrastructure — "If everyone lived in a single family home with off-street parking in a garage, it’d be an easy nut to crack," Peter Heuter, author of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy report, told Earther — but absent policy intervention, EV charging would likely follow patterns of other infrastructure, like public transportation stops and bike lanes, that disproportionately benefit whiter, wealthier neighborhoods. Of the 36 states covered by the report, just 6 require utilities to invest in EV charging infrastructure for lower-income communities or communities of color. (Earther)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: ‘This is environmental racism’: how a protest in a North Carolina farming town sparked a national movement (Washington Post $), new study warns of racial disparity in Bay Area air pollution's impact on childhood asthma (ABC-7 KGO News, The Root), a proposed plastics plant will test joe Biden’s commitment to environmental justice (Earther), shareholders target ‘white man’s world’ with record demands for diversity data (Politico)

VOTER SUPPRESSION: Dianne Feinstein signals she’s open to abandoning Senate filibuster for voting rights (LA Times $)

WAVES OF ABANDONMENT: The Permian Basin is ground zero for a billion-dollar surge of zombie oil wells (Grist), ‘no teeth and no funding’: how regulators failed to police the oil industry (Grist), how we calculated the size of the Southwest’s abandoned oil well problem (Grist), one researcher’s quest to quantify the environmental cost of abandoned oil wells (Grist)

HISTORY: Did climate change cause societies to collapse? New research upends the old story. (Grist)

DENIAL: Poll: 2 out of 3 Republicans deny humanity's role in climate (E&E $)

LIBRARIES: How libraries are improving climate literacy in their communities (Yale Climate Connections)

MEDIA: [RMI] launches climate news outlet powered by former Greentech Media staff (Axios)

AGENCIES: Highway foes emboldened as Buttigieg puts Houston project on pause (Bloomberg $), IG finds mine safety agency dallied on violation enforcement (E&E $)

EPA: Groups petition EPA to remove ethane and methane from list of compounds exempt from emissions limits (The Hill), EPA to propose vehicle emissions standards to meet 'the urgency of the climate crisis' by July's end (The Hill, Bloomberg $), enviros push EPA to toss waiver for ozone-forming emissions (E&E $), EPA’s new chief gets to work on climate goals—and hiring scientists (Bloomberg $)

TREASURY: Yellen backs aligning U.S. portfolios with climate goals (Bloomberg $, Politico Pro $), Yellen: 'we lost four important years' in fight against climate change (The Hill)

THE HILL: How a Senate ruling could help push Biden’s agenda through congress (New York Times $, Bloomberg $, E&E $), Chuck Schumer is thinking big — gridlocked Senate be damned (Politico Pro $), Markey, Warren renew bid to block natural gas projects (E&E $), DeFazio forging ahead with surface transportation bill (Politico Pro $, E&E $), Democrats hold firm on including carbon pricing in infrastructure talks (Politico Pro $), Democrats want to expand DOE vehicle loan program (E&E $), Pressure builds on Congress to help poor buy flood insurance (E&E $)

AMERICAN JOBS PLAN: Granholm defends Biden's infrastructure plan from Republican attacks (Politico Pro $, E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Climate activists push hodgepodge of strategies to force action (Politico Pro $)

POLITICS: Energy industry heavyweights boost carbon price lobbying (Axios), enviros press Biden to set 'ambitious' power plant controls (E&E $), Corporate America tears down Biden's infrastructure plan (Politico Pro $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Why the world awaits Biden’s pledge on climate change (Bloomberg $), Biden's climate balancing act with China (Axios), Kerry says India 'getting job done' on climate (The Hill), Putin plans to go to Biden climate summit: report (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: After passing a landmark climate law, Mass. officials now face the hard part: how to wean the state off fossil fuels (Boston Globe $), a small city pays for flood walls at 2 global companies (E&E $), former Chicago hospital site provides a blank slate for equitable, efficient development (Energy News Network), green means business in building a more energy-efficient future in Chattanooga (Chattanooga Times Free Press)

CALIFORNIA: How Biden's $2 trillion infrastructure plan could boost California's energy transition (Utility Dive)

TEXAS: Battle escalates over [Texas] gas price spikes (E&E $)

FERC: Northeast gas pipeline sparks FERC brawl (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Even the Great Lakes’ deepest waters are now warming (Grist), study: drought-breaking rains more rare, erratic in US West (AP), sea level rise is killing trees along the Atlantic coast, creating ‘ghost forests’ that are visible from space (The Conversation), West Virginia wildfires double in first 3 months of 2021 (AP)

RENEWABLES: Hawaii NIMBY fight reveals Biden offshore wind challenge (E&E $), China, U.S. made 2020 a record year for renewable power growth (Bloomberg $)

STORAGE: New York regulators have 'effectively accelerated' the state's storage market, report finds (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS:  Weymouth compressor reports another 'unplanned' gas release. Third time in 8 months (WBUR), US natgas output to rise, while demand falls for second year in 2021 (Reuters), Colombia oil workers join anti-fracking campaign (Reuters), Aramco weighs selling stake in oil pipelines for more than $10 billion (Wall Street Journal $)

PIPELINES: Enbridge seeks tax credits for push into hydrogen, CO2 capture (Bloomberg $), Exxon sues Energy Transfer over charges from pipeline dispute (Reuters)

COAL: Greens' suit prompts Illinois coal plant to close 3 years early (E&E $), why China is still clinging to coal (Vox)

HYDROGEN: World’s biggest solar company joins the hydrogen game (Bloomberg $)

WATER: Nevada farmers and conservationists balk at ‘water banking’ (AP)

TRANSMISSION: Poor transmission planning hamstrings renewables — report (E&E $, Politico Pro $)

EVs: The electric vehicle sales surge (Axios), Biden wants to give electric cars a huge boost. Will people buy them? (Vox), GM to build electric Chevy Silverado pickup in Detroit (Axios)

ACTIVISM: Alleged mastermind of Honduran activist’s murder on trial (AP), why Cambodia's environmentalists fear new internet firewall (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

ALL ABOARD!: They’re obsessed with trains. Will Biden bring them Nirvana? (Politico)

BITCOIN: Bitcoin mining operations in China threaten climate goals (Bloomberg $)

BUSINESS: Paypal pledges to reach net-zero greenhouse emissions by 2040 (Bloomberg $)

CARBON PRICING: Occidental CEO rejects U.S. carbon tax in break with big oil (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: How debt and climate change pose a ‘systemic risk to the global economy’ (New York Times $)

IN MEMORIAM: 'Environmental champion' Alcee Hastings dies (E&E $, Essence, NewsOne, AP, CNN, Broward Sun-Sentinel, NPR, Wall Street Journal $, NBC, Washington Post $)

AT LEAST LEARN HOW TO USE YOUR CAMP STOVE FIRST: Pandemic wilderness explorers are straining search and rescue (New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: African leaders warn COVID-19 crisis harming climate adaptation push (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Australian scientists sound alarm over Paris climate goals (Axios), Canada's move away from fossil fuels threatens 450,000 jobs (Thomson Reuters Foundation), carbon emissions from England's roads plan '100 times greater than government claims' (The Guardian), Great Britain’s electricity system has greenest day ever over Easter (The Guardian), satellite images show huge Russian military buildup in the Arctic (CNN), South Africa sets out to tighten 2030 emissions target (Climate Home)

BAD NEWS: With veto override, Arkansas bans gender-affirming care for minors (The Advocate, The 19th* News)

• We shouldn’t see the Lower Rio Grande Valley as a source of crisis. It’s a huge ecological asset. (Washington Post, Bruce Beehler and Jeffrey Glassberg op-ed $)
• On doomed Greentech Media, its replacement and Dave Roberts (E&E, Eric Wesoff interview $)
• Republicans may regret their Luddite view of infrastructure (Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin column $)
• How to combat climate change misinformation (The Hill, Karen Conover op-ed)
• A ‘Just Transition’ clean energy revolution can be a boon for West Virginia — and the country (Washington Post, Katrina vanden Heuvel op-ed $)
• Tech's 'inactivism' on climate policy is a big problem (Newsweek, Michael Mann and Bill Weihl op-ed)
• Can Biden add energy jobs? Hope mixes with doubt (AP Explainer)
• The Chauvin trial will impact how a generation views justice (Blavity, Richard A. Fowler op-ed)
• How Biden's zero-carbon revolution would broaden the energy map (CNN, Ronald Brownstein, analysis)
• The fight to define infrastructure could change America (CNN, Stephen Collinson, analysis)
• Biden wants to go big on infrastructure. History says that’s the right call. (Washington Post, David B. Woolner commentary $)

Climate Deniers Make In-Roads With Naomi Wolf’s Covid-Denial Audience At the Daily Clout

On Tuesday, the dirty energy- and tobacco-funded Heartland Institute reposted something from the Daily Clout about how there’s “no silver bullet on the energy issue,” according to their policy advisor Ronald Stein, and people just need more “energy literacy” to recognize that we can’t rely on renewables for our energy supply. Unfortunately, the image depicting those principles is so small and low-quality it’s only barely legible, so instead of strain our eyes, we moved on to the post.

Disappointingly, it’s just a rehash of the industry’s recent exploitation of African children under the guise of “energy poverty,” so it's not exactly anything groundbreaking.

But we were curious. What’s this Daily Clout website where it was originally published? It’s rare that deniers get into real publications these days, so we poked around a little to see what the deal was. The home page is well-produced and modern-looking but still confusing, with a top image promoting some sort of searchable database for legislation, followed by a bunch of blog posts railing against “vaccine passports” and the Chinese Communist Party’s naval activity. Looking at the “our story” page, it sounds like the Daily Clout is designed to help people access legislative text. Looking at the team though, things start to make sense, as the founder is Naomi Wolf. 

If you know of Wolf already, that should explain everything. If you don’t, well then you’re in for some fun! 

Often described in conservative media appearances as something like liberal feminist and former advisor to President Bill Clinton and consultant to Al Gore,' Wolf’s wikipedia page is not one of those vague, poorly cited and indecipherable entries that leaves you wondering about someone’s credibility. The second sentence reads: “Since around 2014, Wolf has been considered a conspiracy theorist by multiple media sources.” And it only gets better from there.

With references to everything from Wolf’s comparison of President George W. Bush to Adolf Hitler, to her comparison of President Barack Obama to Adolft Hilter, to her comparison of herself (during her C-section) to Jesus on the Cross, the lengthy section on the reception of her work is quite a read. It doesn’t take long to see why New York Times book reviewer Michiko Kakutani described her as “a sloppy thinker and incompetent writer” in 1997, after describing the “dubious oversimplifications” in a “messy new treatise” by Wolfe in 1993. Wolf’s admittedly most influential work, a 1991 book called The Beauty Myth, helped mainstream third wave feminism. Yet her education was “completely removed from reality,” because Wolf apparently couldn’t do the necessary “historical analysis,” according to Camille Paglia in Sex, Art, and American Culture a year later, in which Paglia presciently described Wolf’s anecdote-heavy, data-lite style in the years to come. 

And all this criticism is just a sample of what you have to scroll through before you get to the section on her latest book, in which she committed an error so profound the U.S. publisher canceled the release, marking a real high point for Wolf’s “career of blunders.” The thesis of Outrages is based on counting “deaths recorded” in the UK data as executions of Victorian-era men imprisoned for being gay, but in a live BBC radio piece described as “an actual nightmare,” Wolf finds out from interviewer Matthew Sweet that it actually meant the convicted gay man was pardoned or the sentence was commuted. So none of the dozens of supposed executions, upon which Wolf’s argument rests, ever actually happened. It's one of many examples of why Dr. Sweet, a historian, called even the revised version of the book “a betrayal of the past.”

So in the same way industrial-grade deniers like Patrick Moore, Bjorn Lomborg and Michael Schellenberger claim to be former environmentalists to deliver an anti-environmental message, these days Wolf is trading on her liberal, feminist credentials as an advisor to Bill Clinton to book conservative media appearances by saying things tailor-made for raising the blood pressure of Fox News viewers as a recurring character for Tucker Carlson’s anti-covid-prevention propaganda.

While Bush and Obama may not quite have turned out to be the Hitlers Wolf warned of, now it’s Biden’s turn. Wolf recently told Tucker Carlson that under Biden, COVID lockdowns are turning the country into a “totalitarian state before our eyes.”  

Yikes. With that context we headed back to the Daily Clout dot io (the dot com is for sale…), where Wolf’s latest venture is certainly living up to her “career of blunders” fame. Even the team bio page has an obvious error! (Bhavani Pitti’s one-line bio about being a junior at NYU also being repeated in the place where Anjali Pitti’s bio should be, complete with Bhavani’s name.)  

Having come to understand that the Dail Clout’s founder’s past work is full of Wiki-defining deceptions described as “dubious oversimplifications,” someone considered “completely removed from reality” and not even pretending this isn’t about chasing clout, seeing the Heartland Institute’s Ronald Stein show up there to talk about his “energy literacy principles” makes much, much more sense. 

As the coronavirus pandemic slowly winds down (we hope), the disinformation networks set up during it are going to be desperately seeking new conspiracies, new audiences and new ways to chase clout, and organized climate denial has spent all year building those bridges.

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