FIRST LOOK:

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute (EESI) and U.S. Nature4Climate (USN4C) will hold a briefing on how natural climate solutions are A Win-Win Solution for Our Environment and Our Economy. Tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. EDT.

Gas And Biomass Now Deadlier Than Coal: Promised health gains from the decline of coal-fired electricity are being undone by pollution caused by burning other combustion fuels like gas and wood pellets, new research from Harvard scientists finds. The study, published Wednesday in Environmental Research Letters, found stationary sources, like power plants, buildings, and industrial boilers, killed at least 47,000 people in the U.S. in 2017, and gas-fired pollution killed more people than coal in at least 19 states plus DC. “If you swap out one combustion fuel for another, that’s not a pathway toward a healthy energy system,” Harvard research scientist and the paper's lead author Jonathan Buonocore told HuffPost. “This is showing that even with the transition from coal to gas, there are remaining impacts.” The research, which was supported by RMI, found particulate pollution (technically known as PM2.5) from biomass pollution "essentially replaced" averted sulfur dioxide emissions from coal and oil combustion. So-called natural gas, which is mostly methane, was touted as a "bridge fuel" from coal to renewable energy, but a new report from Energy Innovation released earlier this week says new wind and solar capacity costs less to build than 80% of U.S. coal plants cost to keep running. (Harvard: HuffPost, E&E $, Fast Company, Chicago Tribune; Energy Innovation: Bloomberg $, E&E $)

One Of California's 2020 Wildfires Is Still Burning: A giant sequoia is still smoldering after last year's Castle Fire, an illustration of the severity of last year's fire season and an indication of California's drought, the AP reports. Though giant sequoias have historically been resilient to wildfire, the Castle Fire was so severe it likely killed more than 1,000 of the trees including many that had stood for more than 1,000 years. Climate change is making droughts more likely to occur, and more severe when they do, and thus makes wildfires more extreme as forests and other fuels sources are turned into proverbial tinder boxes. “The fact areas are still smoldering and smoking from the 2020 Castle Fire demonstrates how dry the park is,” Leif Mathiesen, assistant fire management officer for Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, told the AP. California's current severe and extreme drought conditions covering the Sierra Nevada mountains set a dire stage for the upcoming wildfire season. (AP; Climate Signals background: Drought, Wildfires)

Sea Level Rise Could Be Extremely, Unpredictably Bad If Global Warming Is Not Limited, Studies Show: Current climate pollution levels put the world on a trajectory to suffer catastrophic sea level rise, but decisive action in line with the Paris Agreement's goals could substantially reduce its impact, a pair of studies published in Nature find. One of those studies shows the current pace of warming could trigger a sudden acceleration of ice melting in about 40 years, with catastrophic impacts as ice melt is responsible for about half of sea level rise. The other study, however, found that limiting warming to 2.7°F (1.5°C) could slow sea level rise caused by melting Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets to about five inches by 2100. Predicting ice sheet melt is already extraordinarily complex, but the scientists emphasized the potential for even less predictable, and worse, impacts if global temperatures are left to continue rising. “When we jump to a world that reaches 3 degrees by 2100, [the way ice behaves] really start[s] to change,” Robert M. DeConto of the University of Massachusetts and author of the 'trigger' study, told the New York Times. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, Earther, The Guardian, Thomson Reuters Foundation, InsideClimate News, Bloomberg $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: In America’s cities, inequality is engrained in the trees (Grist), Haaland: Santorum's Native American comments 'unfortunate' (The Hill), critical race truth: Republicans keep trying to revise America’s racist history (NewsOne)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Legal opinion puts governments 'on notice' over export finance for fossil fuels (Reuters)

HAMBURGLERS: Burger bans and land grabs: the right’s deceptive war against Biden’s climate goals (HuffPost), Nebraska launches ‘beef passport’ program for meat eating (AP), the meatless movement could become a class war (Earther)

MEDIA: Most newspaper editorials mum on Biden 50% by 2030 pledge (Yale Climate Connections)

GAS STOVES: Gas cookers in homes have same impact on children as passive smoking: report (Sydney Morning Herald)

GERMANY: Germany raises ambition to net zero by 2045 after landmark court ruling (Climate Home, AP, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg $), 'it's my home': the island activist who forced German climate action (Reuters)

AGENCIES: Vilsack defends USDA's climate, anti-discrimination plans (Politico Pro $, E&E $), EPA official directs agency to ramp up enforcement in communities hit hard by pollution (The Hill), DOE turns its focus toward equity with commitment to lowering solar deployment barriers (Utility Dive), Haaland: government 'ready to solve' crisis of missing and murdered Native Americans (The Hill), Haaland faces cleanup challenge at moldy N.M. tribal school (E&E $)

THE HILL: White House plans flurry of Hill meetings next week (E&E $), meet [Louisa Terrell] Biden's climate voice on Capitol Hill (E&E $)

HOUSE: [NFIP] bill would help 'fancy pants' beach houses — lawmaker (E&E $), lawmakers eye cash infusion, reforms for science office (E&E $), House Republicans raise China specter on EVs (Politico Pro $)

SENATE: Heinrich touts transmission, agriculture and hydrogen as ways to address the climate crisis (New Mexico Political Report), Senate Democrats announce $73B clean bus plan (The Hill)

WHITE HOUSE: Dakota Access decision snarls Biden's equity progress (E&E $), Biden administration conservation goals to include 'different categories' of lands, official says (The Hill)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: EPW to consider EPA, Interior picks May 12 (Politico Pro $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Old pipelines become new flashpoints for U.S., Canada environmental clashes (Politico)

CITIES AND STATES: States want federal cash, not rules, to propel clean energy, Colorado, other officials say (Utility Dive), the Aloha State declares a climate emergency (Atmos), whitest paint ever spotlights dark effects of city heat (E&E $), Charlottesville gas station chain makes unexpected bet on solar power (Energy News Network), North Carolina groups sign on to renewed national focus on curbing climate change (Public News Service)

TRANSIT: COVID-19 seen slowing city shift to green transport (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

CALIFORNIA: California blackouts this summer? State offers ‘guarded optimism’ the lights will stay on (Sacramento Bee, Politico Pro $)

STATE ELECTIONS: GOP united in ire over energy law in Virginia governor's race (E&E $)

IMPACTS: NOAA's new 'normal' makes it official: U.S. is heating up (E&E $), new climate goals won't prevent damaging heat — analysis (E&E $)

RENEWABLES: Big solar eyes old power plants in congested Midwest grid (E&E $), Enel announces three major Texas renewable energy projects, including its largest US solar farm (Houston Chronicle), SunPower backs view on strong rooftop solar demand, Biden policy support (Reuters), why not turn airports into giant solar farms? (Grist)

MINERALS: New climate goals are going to need a lot more minerals (The Verge, E&E $), US faces soaring need for critical minerals dominated by China, IEA says (Washington Examiner)

OIL & GAS: Feds warn of safety gaps following deadly oil site poisonings (E&E $), leaked slides show the gas industry is freaking out (Earther), New Mexico oil and gas royalties set highest monthly record (AP), Port Arthur LNG final investment decision likely to be delayed to 2022: Sempra (S&P Global)

PLASTICS: Social media sparks research opportunities for spilled cargo (E&E $)

PIPELINES, BYHALIA CONNECTION: Builders of contested Memphis pipeline weigh route changes (E&E $)

PIPELINES, MVP: Equitrans now delaying MVP startup to 2022; NC regulators reiterate Southgate denial (Natural Gas Intel, E&E $), pipeline opponents sentenced to spend day in jail for each day in tree-sit protest (The Roanoke Times)

COAL: Coal company calls for scrutiny of EPA emissions authority (E&E $), Consol Energy, finding hungry industrial plants abroad, mines more coal than ever before (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette $)

UTILITIES: HECO chafes at Hawaii PUC's conditions on new battery project, saying they could deter deployment (Utility Dive)

NUKES: Dominion wins approval for 20-year reactor extension (E&E $), U.S. eyes nuclear reactor tax credit to meet climate goals - sources (Reuters)

WATER: Public health crisis looms as California identifies 600 communities at risk of water-system failures (The Revelator)

EVs: Automakers: states 'unlikely to reach' 2035 gas-free goal (E&E $), Midwest farmers look to plow through Biden’s electric-vehicle push (Politico), why Ford’s new electric car is so important (The Atlantic), as cars go electric, China builds a big lead in factories (New York Times $)

AVIATION: Airlines get lift from corporate allies in shift to sustainable fuels (Politico), airlines must reduce emissions instead of offsetting, say experts (The Guardian)

FOREST CONSERVATION: Forest emission reductions get a makeover, with $1 billion in new funding (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

BITCOIN: New bill would ban Bitcoin mining across New York State for three years (Earther)

BOOKS: The conventional wisdom on how to talk about climate change? It’s wrong. (Grist)

BUSINESS: Unilever says majority of shareholders voted in favour of climate action plan (Reuters)

FINANCE: Barclays offers vote on climate progress as activist heat rises (Reuters), finance sector skills shortage puts ESG in focus (Energy Monitor)

SHIPPING: U.S. push for carbon-neutral ships expected to reveal industry divisions (Wall Street Journal $)

INTERNATIONAL: EU countries could face national renewable energy goals, official says (Reuters), France advances climate bill backed by Macron (Wall Street Journal $), how low can you go? Volkswagen throws down the emissions gauntlet (Reuters), insurers warn government Canada's flood mapping must not take a decade (Reuters), Italy promises "brutal" cuts to red tape delaying renewable energy projects (Reuters)

• Polluters: Clean up your own mess (The Hill, Faye Park op-ed)
• I am getting sick of writing these pieces to respond to people like Rick Santorum (Washington Post, Sierra Teller Ornelas op-ed $)
• Florida’s ‘anti-rioting’ law criminalizes protesters and creates new crimes (Teen Vogue, Kay-Ann Henry op-ed)
• We can't let sand mining threaten storm-buffering, natural infrastructure (The Hill, Robert Young op-ed)
• Meeting Biden’s new climate target starts with affordable, sustainable housing (Next City, Madeline Fraser Cook, Mike Henchen, Krista Egger, and Srinidhi Sampath Kumar op-ed)
• We don’t need a ‘moonshot’ for faux burgers—we need to hold ‘big meat’ accountable. (Civil Eats, Sophia Murphy op-ed)

Steve Koonin, Trading On His ‘09-’11 Obama Appointment, Pens 'Unsettled,' a Pre-Rebunked Climate Denial Book

A staple of communications, persuasion and propaganda is that the messenger matters. Since audiences are more sympathetic to people they perceive as similar to themselves or belonging to the same group as them, marketing is often simply a process of finding someone from the target audience to sell the product. If it’s done authentically, it can be powerful. But if it’s artificial and the spokesperson isn’t really of the audience they’re imitating, it’s transparent “How do you do, fellow kids?” propaganda. 

As consummate students of propaganda, climate deniers are keenly aware of this dynamic, particularly the mainstream media’s gullible history with it, and use it repeatedly to great effect to get attention. But they don’t seem to actually succeed in getting anyone who genuinely cares about climate to change their mind, so much as they give Republican politicians someone respectably-bipartisan-seeming to cite when trying to save face as they’re rejecting universally popular climate policy in favor of the fossil fuel industry’s preferred policy of nothing. 

Bjorn Lomborg parlayed an early environmental passion into a career fighting alongside industry. Patrick Moore inflated his youthful dalliance with Greenpeace into a “co-founder” resume point and used it to sell climate denial and pesticides. (But don’t worry, he’s not drinking his own Roundup!) Michael Shellenberger’s doing the schtick with nuclear power, and marketing for Michael Moore’s anti-renewables movie last year played up the angle. 

Steve Koonin is just the latest to inflate his modest liberal credentials, a two-year stint in the Obama administration, to sell the rankest of rightwing climate denial propaganda retreads in a new book, Unsettled: What Climate Science Tells Us, What it Doesn’t and Why it Matters. 

Aside from the decade-old Obama gig prominently displayed on the cover, it is entirely indistinguishable from bargain basement climate denial. It’s been talked up in the Wall Street Journal’s opinion page and excerpted in the National Review, but thankfully so far, mainstream media has largely refrained from taking the bait. 

Which is good, because as Marianne Lavelle explains at InsideClimate News, Koonin’s history makes it obvious that his call for debate is as shallow as his grasp on the science. Before Koonin’s current call for debate, and before he championed the idea of having the Trump Administration carry out a “red team” attack on climate science — but after he was hired by the Obama administration specifically for his contrarianism and not the supposed liberalism he’s now impersonating to sell himself — Koonin actually carried out exactly the type of scientific debate he now claims hasn’t happened. 

What could possibly explain this apparent amnesia? 

In 2013, he led an effort to review the American Physical Society’s position on climate change. He tapped the best and brightest minds to represent the skeptic side, like the late smoking-causes-cancer-denier Fred Singer, misleading-graph-master John Christy, and eventual Trump advisor William Happer, who once compared climate advocacy to the Holocaust. Following a debate between the deniers and the consensus scientists, the physicists thoroughly rejected Koonin’s proposed changes to the science society’s statements, making it clear that the “skeptics” had not presented any compelling evidence that the consensus science was in any way in doubt. 

Instead of graciously accepting the outcome of the debate and being satisfied that the science had its day in court, so to speak, Koonin resigned. A few years later, he was back to suggest the Trump administration let him do it again, but this time with the force of a government in denial behind him. 

So you can definitely read Lavelle’s accompanying dissection of just how misleading and out of date five of Koonin’s main arguments are, if you’re interesting in what appears to be a largely out-of-date exercise in attacking the NCA and rehashing already repeatedly debunked or “rebunked” old Wall Street Journal op-eds about how GDP projections show that “we” will all be so incredibly rich in the future it doesn’t matter how bad climate change gets … because we’ll just, like, pay for new houses every hurricane season and amicably resettle essentially everyone currently living in Central America, and Sub-Saharan Africa, and large swaths of India, and basically all of Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands into the newly ice-free Arctic once the tropics and sub-tropics become too hot to be livable. Or something.

But the important thing is this: Steve Koonin doesn’t want a debate. Steve Koonin wants to trick you into thinking he wants a debate. He had his little debate already. Koonin’s arguments were roundly defeated, but instead of accepting that the debate was over, he took his ball and went home. 

And here he is again, with the same arguments, telling us he just wants a chance to debate! 

Only difference is, this time it seems like no one legitimate is falling for it. Which is good, because we definitely don’t have another decade to waste on people for whom the term “sellout” would be a compliment. Just like calling Nickelback sellouts would falsely imply they were ever not bland, mass-marketed, lowest-common-denominator poprock, calling professional deniers like Koonin, Lomborg, Shellenberger et al. "sellouts" would just validate their lies about having ever been a remotely decent human being in the first place and not just a greedy, lying, polluter mouthpiece with a contrarian streak and knack for self-promotion. 

But hey, at least Nickelback never pretended to be something it wasn’t, which means Koonin and crew are worse than Nickelback.

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