FIRST LOOK:

Join an event showcasing successful climate justice partnerships in Chicago between local organizers and researchers featuring representatives from Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and the Center for Neighborhood Technology, who will share about their collaboration on a water and health study in the Little Village neighborhood. TODAY at noon ET. 

Methane Pollution Can Be Cut 30% With Extant Tech, UN Report Shows 'No Chance' of Meeting Climate Targets Without It: Aggressive action to slash methane pollution could slow global warming by as much as 30%, new research shows. The study, in press at the journal Environmental Research Letters, comes ahead of a UN report to be released next week that will call for "urgent steps [to] be taken to reduce methane emissions this decade." Ilissa Ocko, senior climate scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund and a lead author of the study, told the Washington Post that “people talk about net zero in 2050, but what the temperature will be in 2050 will be determined by what we do now.” Methane, the main component in so-called natural gas, is an extremely potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas. A full-scale effort to implement existing technologies to cut methane pollution could have a significant impact on efforts to avoid the most extreme impacts of climate change, the study says. “There’s no chance whatsoever to meet our climate targets if we don’t deal with the methane emissions that [the UN] report highlights,” Jonathan Banks, international director for methane at the non-profit Clean Air Task Force, told Reuters. (Study: Washington Post $; UN report: New York Times $, Reuters; Both: Earther)

Senate To Vote On Methane CRA: The Senate is set to vote today to reinstate Obama-era safeguards designed to limit methane pollution for oil and gas fields via the Congressional Review Act. The Trump administration's pre-election effort to undo regulations including leak protection requirements were seen as so extreme the gas industry worried they would undermine its messaging efforts to portray the methane-based fossil fuel as a clean alternative. The House is expected to pass a similar resolution, and as Dan Grossman of EDF told the New York Times, “once the president signs it, this will be the first move by Congress and this administration to actually put climate policy back on the books.” (AP, New York Times $; Climate Nexus backgrounder: Gas)

Maryland County Sues Big Oil: Anne Arundel County, Maryland, is suing more than two dozen oil and gas companies and API for covering up what they knew to be the truth of their products' impact on global warming and, seeking to hold them liable for the "costs and consequences" of climate change. Anne Arundel is home to Maryland capital Annapolis, which filed a similar lawsuit in February and is one in a drumbeat of suits filed by states and municipalities across the country. (Capital Gazette, Maryland Matters, WTOP, E&E $)

Agencies Announce Grid Expansion Programs As Report Highlights Need For Far More: Federal agencies announced steps Tuesday to expand and improve the nation's electricity grid to facilitate renewable energy generation and improve its resilience. DOT said it will facilitate permitting along rail lines, highways, and other federal rights-of-way and it issued guidelines to help states host and build transmission lines and renewable energy projects. DOE announced two loan programs totalling $8.25 billion, including $3.25 billion for projects in the West to connect renewable energy sources to population centers that need the electricity, and $5 million for Tribal projects, including for offshore wind. Greatly expanded transmission capacity to carry electricity from solar installations in the desert or wind farms in the Great Plains, for example, is vital to decarbonizing the nation's power sector, according to a report released Tuesday. Building 22 “shovel-ready” high-voltage power line projects at a cost of $33 billion, the report released by Americans for a Clean Energy Grid says, could support a 50% increase in U.S. wind and solar generation, and create more than 1.2 million jobs. That investment is just a first step, the report's authors say, but one that can beget more action. “[These projects] can be underway in the next 12 to 36 months if we can just get a little bit of a push to get these projects over the top,” Michael Skelly, founder of Grid United, and co-author of the report, told reporters. (Loan programs: Reuters, Politico Pro $; ACEG report: E&E $; Both: AP, Wall Street Journal $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Conservatives Angry At Kids’ Network Teaching Environmental Racism (Black Enterprise), race, politics, and the crumbling water infrastructure in Mississippi's capital city (CBS), Department of Homeland Security investigating extremists within ranks (Black Wall Street Times), Dr. Tony Reames is working to eliminate energy poverty (Ebony)

ANDREW BROWN JR.:  Attorney for family of Andrew Brown Jr. calls his shooting an ‘execution’ (Rolling Out), bodycam ‘snippet’ shows Andrew Brown Jr. holding steering wheel when cops shot him in the head: lawyer (NewsOne), 'showed us what they wanted’: family blasts sheriff’s decision to show them redacted bodycam video of Andrew Brown Jr.’s shooting by deputies, FBI launches investigation (Atlanta Black Star), police ‘executed’ Andrew Brown Jr. Now, Fox News is assassinating his character (NewsOne), Andrew Brown Jr. autopsy results reveal ‘kill shot to the back of the head’ (NewsOne)

ACCOUNTING: Gap between models and reports complicates climate action (E&E $), Paris climate agreement overlooks wood pellet loophole (Environmental Health News)

BEEF: Fox News anchor admits Biden burger ban claims are false (HuffPost), Epicurious ditches beef in a move it calls 'pro-planet' (NPR, New York Times $, HuffPost), these climate-conscious farmers say Americans eat too much meat (WBUR), how pro-planet pioneers could end the culture war over meat (Earther), the Hamburglar? How a story about meat limits fell apart (AP)

CORONAVIRUS: ‘Time to shake things up’: music industry confronts climate crisis as gigs resume (The Guardian)

DENIAL: John Kerry calls on scientists to lead fight against climate change denial (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

EXTREMELY BAD: Around 25,000 barrels of suspected DDT has been found off the California coast (Earther)

AGENCIES: EPA Administrator Michael Regan (Politico Pro, interview $), long waits for U.S. disaster aid spur state calls for reform (E&E $), Regan's contentious bid to reset EPA scientific integrity (E&E $), Regan: 'sense of urgency' will drive sweeping review of EPA PFAS approach (Politico Pro $, E&E $), U.S. Interior Dept. moves to restore Native American land (Reuters, E&E $)

LAWSUITS: [South Dakota Gov.] Noem joins lawsuit challenging social cost of climate change (AP)

THE HILL: The flood insurance debate returns. Here's what to expect (E&E $), bipartisan lawmakers readying alternative to Biden infrastructure plan (Reuters)

SENATE: Crapo, Whitehouse float technology-neutral credit (E&E $), lawmakers edge closer to simplifying clean energy tax breaks (Politico Pro $), Manchin warns banks against withdrawing support for fossil fuels (Politico Pro $), Senate begins consideration of bipartisan water infrastructure bill (Politico Pro $), Senate Commerce pulls Schumer innovation bill (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: How Biden will fund his plans to create jobs, confront COVID-19 and climate change (PBS NewsHour), Biden's unlikely new ally on climate change: Corporate America (Politico)

POLITICS: Emails show oil lobby mobilized Democratic governors’ opposition to Biden energy order (HuffPost), redistricting may shift fortunes of Great Lakes, fossil fuels (E&E $), these Big Oil lawyers are major Democratic donors (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Obama climate policy architect [Janet McCabe] confirmed to Biden EPA over GOP fears (Washington Examiner, Politico Pro $, E&E $), Biden taps Michael Connor to oversee Army Corps (Politico Pro $)

CITIES AND STATES: U.S. oil lease pause will not hit states' income near term, official says (Reuters)

FERC: States ask FERC to eliminate MOPR, grant more flexibility in pursuing alternatives to PJM capacity market (Utility Dive)

REVOLVING DOORS: Trump DOE official [Allison Bury] joins Edison Electric Institute (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Here come the cicadas (NPR), new homes in poorer areas of England and Wales face undue flood risk (The Guardian), why dead trees are ‘the hottest commodity on the planet’ (The Atlantic)

GRID RESILIENCY: How to keep the power on when 'magical' grid fails (E&E $)

$$$: Banks produce 700 times more emissions from loans than offices (Bloomberg $)

RENEWABLES: Advocacy pressure mounts for clean energy standard (E&E $), eminent domain opens doors for fossil fuels — could it do the same for renewable energy? (Grist), Musk touts Tesla's move to only sell home solar and storage together, admits mistakes with solar roof (Utility Dive)

BATTERIES: A green tech battery plant is transforming a deep-red part of Georgia (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

OIL & GAS: Energy CEO: 'we have to fix' natural gas (E&E $), lockout looms for 600 workers at Exxon's Beaumont plant (Houston Chronicle), oil and gas bankruptcies fall in first quarter as crude prices rebound (Houston Chronicle), refineries to pay $5.5M for Lake Charles-area contamination (AP), South Korea's LNG demand forecast to rise 15% through 2034: ministry (S&P Global)

METHANE: Appalachian natural gas, coal produce most methane in US, Kayrros says (Natural Gas Intel)

PIPELINES: Canada's Trans Mountain ordered to suspend oil line expansion work to protect hummingbird nests (Reuters), judge pushes Army Corps for Dakota Access review (AP, E&E $)

COAL: Global alliance for phasing out coal not fit for purpose, says NGO (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: $15 trillion global hydrogen investment needed to 2050-research (Reuters)

DUKE IT OUT: Duke vs. Duke: Electric and gas utilities at odds over efficiency rebates in N.C. (Energy News Network)

EVs: CBS News poll — what drives views on electric cars? (CBS), electric cars test safe in crash tests (CBS), Ford plans to develop and produce electric vehicle batteries (AP), U.S. auto suppliers oppose setting gas-powered phaseout date (Reuters), White House eyes $42B in existing funding for Biden electric vehicle push (Utility Dive)

TRANSIT: Just transition needed in transit electrification, labor leaders say (Utility Dive)

BUSINESS: The tech some countries are betting on to reach new climate goals (The Verge), U.S. companies boost sustainability scores - Refinitiv data (Reuters)

CARBON PRICING: Climate dividends' can help cut emissions and poverty, researchers say (Thomson Reuters Foundation, Earther)

INTERNATIONAL: Germany to spend 90% of EU recovery money on green, digital goals (Reuters), Putin sounds methane alarm, under satellite surveillance and EU pressure (Climate Home)

• Newsom’s guide to ban fracking (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• This might be the Senate’s most important climate vote ever (Washington Post, Editorial Board $)
• Who will pay for the energy transition? (Reuters, John Kemp column)
• Conservatives serve up a scary dish of nothingburgers (Washington Post, Molly Roberts column $)
• Congress must act to solve the methane problem (The Hill, Rob Jackson and Daphne Wysham op-ed)
• Fracking jobs will disappear. Pennsylvania has to manage the decline. (Philadelphia Inquirer, Editorial Board)
• Congress must act to allow tightening of methane rules (Santa Fe New Mexican, Editorial)
• The insidious impact of police violence on Black mental health (The Grio, Dr. Shamard Charles op-ed)
• You don’t actually need to reach across the aisle, Mr. Biden (New York Times, John Lawrence op-ed $)

Garret Graves Interviews Show Garret Graves is Lying About Climate Change, Still Only Cares About Protecting Fossil Fuels. 

Ever since the GOP tapped Louisiana Rep. Garret Graves to be the their lead “we’re totally not deniers now” guy on the House Climate Crisis Committee in 2019 — and he immediately hired a guy who used to work for the guy who managed Richard Nixon's CREEPy reelection committee and whose claim to fame is co-authoring a dishonest GND "analysis," — Graves has been the premier voice of predatory delay. Not that he’s been particularly good at it. In his opening attempt to claim a mantle of climate concern, he admitted he was only looking for solutions that don’t include reducing fossil fuel emissions. Which … aren’t really solutions to the problem of too many fossil fuel emissions. 

Graves then went on to say in 2020 that he also doesn’t like the idea of setting a target for reducing emissions, and reassured his colleagues that this supposed shift in the GOP’s position on climate is actually asking them “to double down” on their denial and fossil fuel support. 

Now in 2021, he spent Earth Day repeating this duplicitous propaganda, doubling-down himself with a pair of interviews in Politico and the Washington Examiner. In the past few years he’s gotten better at hiding his intentions, but they haven’t changed: he’s still opposed to any real or meaningful climate action, and is only presenting the appearance of a good-faith engagement. 

And he doesn’t take long to make that obvious. In response to Biden’s climate agenda, Graves whined to the Washington Examiner that “this is a dictatorship.” (Though we would expect him to use the word approvingly, given that Graves voted against Democracy on January 6th.) Then Graves turned around and complained that actually Biden was giving Congress TOO MUCH discretion, because the plan wasn’t detailed enough and left too much up to them. 

He was just as two-faced on China, first claiming that the U.S. should get more concessions from the country before making its own commitment. When then told that his wish was actually granted and Chinese President Xi Jinping had announced for the first time that China is phasing out coal by 2030, his response wasn’t an honest oh okay, guess we can promise to do the same. Instead, he said that while “obviously, any progress is a step in the right direction,” he “would like to see more” because he says they have been known to “make commitments and then refuse to allow for proper verification or fulfill them.”

So the man who has for years said he opposes setting a target for emission reductions told the Examiner that he thought China should go first, and then China did, and then he basically said oh just kidding, lol, you can’t trust those sneaky Chinese!

He wasn’t any more honest at Politico. The first thing Anthony Andragna asked was “what's different” between the current GOP offering, and the sort of bills one “could have seen discussed in the last year of the Obama administration,” and Graves’ reply was both stupid and slimey in its immediate defensiveness. “The reality is”, Graves said, “that we have really strong concerns that the climate issue has become more of a religion, then it has an actual science or evidence-based issue for some members of Congress, particularly the Democrats.” 

Ah. Of course. Silly us to have forgotten that it’s the Democrats who are actually the anti-science party, and the COVID-denying, Q-loving, evolution-hating, climate-denying party of “alternative facts” and who used the phrase “reality-based community” as an insult is claiming for itself the mantle of “evidence-based.” Off to a good start! 

Graves then goes on to say, in response to a question about what’s different between the “old” GOP approach and this one, that the bills they’re working on now are “much more grounded in sort of an evidence-based approach” that is “based on science, facts, and America’s resources rather than a strategy that really plays into the hands of other countries.” 

Now, we’ll assume Graves was contrasting his bills with Democrats' and not legislation from the “old” GOP, like the question asked, when he said their new proposals are “evidence-based.” But even with that question-dodging attack, the idea that President Biden’s plan to build renewables in the US would help the Chinese solar market, instead of compete with it, is a pretty stupid lie. But it’s got a nice nativist ring to it, so it sounds natural coming out of Graves’ mouth. 

Which really sets the stage for the rest of the interview. Andraga asked what Graves thought about how Louisiana is “losing a football field of land every 90 minutes or so,” which highlights the “real risks in betting that technology alone is going to be enough to solve this problem?” 

Graves deflects here by saying that sea level rise “is not the main driver” of that land loss, and claims “the primary cause is actually the levying of the Mississippi River by the US Army Corps of Engineers.” But the truth, which Graves certainly knows, is that the sort of dredging and levying he's talking about was largely done for the benefit of the oil and gas industry. Louisiana’s losing a football field of land every hour and a half because of the carbon pollution from burning fossil fuels raising temperatures and melting ice, which raises sea level, AND because the oil and gas industry’s exploitation of the region is so intense and widespread it has caused the land to sink. 

It’s doubly the industry’s fault, they’re getting sued for it, and Graves is quoted in a story about how they’re putting $110 million into restoring wetlands and resilience, so he definitely knows this, and yet he spins it like it’s the government’s fault and industry is blameless. 

He then does the same thing regarding methane pollution. Politico asks about the oil companies and trade groups that support methane emissions regulations, and Graves’s answer is that he’s “generally supportive but…” then goes on to say he’s not really supportive. He’s channeling the oil industry’s talking points here, more or less using methane as a bargaining chip — if you don’t let us build pipelines, then we can’t do anything about all this leaky methane! (They could easily plug their leaks without new pipelines.) 

You get the point. Graves goes on to say lots and lots of things that all seem to add up to a 'No' on anything real, and a 'Yes' on anything that sounds real but is actually a bailout of the fossil fuel and timber industries causing climate change in the first place. 

Is that progress? Is it any different from what Republicans have been offering for the past thirty years?

Obviously not, but that’s not going to stop Republicans from continuing the charade, so long as the industry is free to pour its profits into their campaigns. After all, it’s not like the Oil and Gas, Lobbying, Chemical, and Electric Utility industries gave Graves over a million dollars for nothing!

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