FIRST LOOK:

New analysis from BailoutWatch finds that even after collecting billions in public aid in 2020, a dozen top oil and gas companies paid top executives more than 100 times the median worker’s salary while laying people off. Learn more HERE.

'We Can't Breath … In A Place That’s Supposed To Be America’s Paradise': Less than 48 hours after an EPA employee sent to the Virgin Islands to investigate the Limetree oil refinery told colleagues “there is oil on my windshield,” the agency took the remarkable action to shut down the entire refinery citing an 'imminent' threat to human health. This is not the first time the St. Croix refinery has made it rain oil. A release of oil vapor in early February, three days after reopening for the first time in a decade, triggered an EPA investigation and Administrator Michael Regan said the refinery showered oil on nearby residents twice and has released sulfuric gases into the surrounding area and spewed hydrocarbons into the air at least as many times over the past three-and-a-half months. The refinery leaked more than 300,000 barrels of petrochemicals and polluted St. Croix's only aquifer over decades before it shut down nearly 10 years ago after settling a multimillion-dollar lawsuit with EPA as well as several class-action suits. “Our children are suffering,” local resident ChenziRa Davis-Kahina said during a virtual town hall meeting. “This is becoming uncomfortable to a point that we have to put out a hashtag like, ‘We can’t breathe.’ We have to put out hashtags like, ‘Stop killing us.’ We have to put out hashtags to get people to hear what’s happening here in a place that’s supposed to be America’s paradise.” Judith Enck, who oversaw the U.S. Virgin Islands for EPA as its Region 2 administrator, told the Washington Post, "This is a majority-Black island in a U.S. territory. It is located next to public housing. If this refinery were located most anywhere else in the country, it would have been shut down months ago." (Washington Post $, InsideClimate News, The Hill, E&E $, Axios, Politico Pro $)

'Horrific' Gas Explosion Rocks Baltimore County Neighborhood: A gas explosion injured several people, including one critically in Pikesville, Maryland on Friday. Baltimore Gas & Electric crews were working on the gas line when it exploded. The blast, which launched flames 60 feet into the air, ignited a fire that burned for three hours, and power and gas service were shut down for more than 250 homes for several hours. This is the second gas explosion in less than a year in the Baltimore region. A massive and deadly explosion ripped through multiple row houses in the Reisterstown Station neighborhood last August. "In the corner of our eyes, we saw this giant burst of flame," Rubin Schechman told WBAL. "Just a horrific incident, it's horrible. To see people coming out to work, doing what they're supposed to, getting hurt like that, it's horrible." Holding back tears the next day, Jill Wachs told the Baltimore Sun, "It was a pretty devastating day on Birch Hollow [Road].” (Baltimore Sun, WBAL, WJZ, WMAR; Devastating day: Baltimore Sun)

Cyclone Tauktae Batters Western India Ahead Of Landfall: Now an 'extremely severe cyclonic storm,' Tropical Cyclone Tauktae has already killed at least 12 and forced nearly 150,000 people to evacuate along India's western coast over the past two days. The storm is the region's first named cyclone of the year and comes as the region struggles amid a devastating wave of the novel coronavirus. It is expected to make landfall early Tuesday morning local time (Monday afternoon, ET). The storm is expected to be the worst storm to hit the region in more than two decades. As climate change heats up sea surface temperatures, it provides more fuel for more powerful cyclonic storms and thus increasing their potential intensity. (BBC, Reuters, CNN, NDTV, Times of India, New York Times $; Climate Signals background: Intense cyclonic storm frequency increase)

COP26: UK insists COP26 must be held in person if possible (The Guardian), UN climate summit organisers consider vaccine drive for delegates (FT $), COP26 president says ‘coal must go’ if planet is to meet climate targets (CNBC), U.K. wants COP26 to kill coal (Politico Pro $), [John Kerry] wants pope to attend climate conference, sway debate (Reuters)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Judge steers Juliana toward settlement (E&E $), No room for novelty in 'climate kids' and Biden admin negotiation - experts (Reuters)

DENIAL: Exxon blames you for climate change (Earther, Grist)

WASHINGTON STATE: Gov. Inslee vetoes 2030 gas car ban, citing road usage fee concerns (Electrek, Utility Dive, E&E $, Seattle Times $)

AGENCIES: Secretary of State Blinken heads to the Arctic amid rapid warming (Axios), SEC chair planning new workforce data disclosures for public companies (Reuters)

EPA: 9th Circuit orders EPA to tighten Trump's lead dust rule (Politico Pro $), EPA plans listening sessions for methane rule (E&E $), the EPA is doing its job again (Earther), the EPA just accused Missouri’s environmental agency of violating the Civil Rights Act (Grist)

DOE: DOE, Interior officials outline offshore wind plans (E&E $)

DOI: Haaland: No timeline on monuments decision (E&E $), Interior official ducks leasing pause questions (E&E $)

DOT: Buttigieg urges new regs for private-sector infrastructure (E&E $)

THE HILL: Democrats, tribal leaders demand greater consultation (E&E $)

HOUSE: Committee adopts amendment to electrify postal fleet (E&E $), lawmakers clash over climate bill cleanup mandates (E&E $)

SENATE: Dems push administration on resiliency, mitigation (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: White House advisers to Biden: Equity work 'must start today' (E&E $), White House environment justice advisers snub carbon capture, trading (Politico Pro $), beneath Joe Biden’s folksy demeanor, a short fuse and an obsession with details (New York Times $)

POLITICS: Crying about hamburgers is dead-end on climate crisis, Republicans warned (The Guardian), GOP readies new offer after 'productive' Biden huddle (E&E $), the Biden challenge: coaxing farmers on climate, pollution (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Why local governments don't pay for expensive disaster insurance (Bloomberg $)

CALIFORNIA: CAISO 'cautiously optimistic' about summer 2021, but still sees causes for concern (Utility Dive), Newsom proposes nearly $1.9B for clean energy and fossil fuel transition (Politico Pro $)

FERC: FERC tees up decisions on gas pipelines for next week (Politico Pro $), FERC urged to crack down on funding 'anti-climate' groups (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Third of global food production at risk from climate crisis (The Guardian), $4.3M cliff-top home inflames fight over coastal retreat (E&E $), 40,000-year-old rock art is being destroyed due to climate change (Earther, E&E $), historic Portsmouth Village under threat from hurricanes and rising seas (Yale Climate Connections), NOAA's ‘new normals’ climate data raises questions about what’s normal (InsideClimate News), Spain logged hottest year on record in 2020 (Reuters), what 2050 could look like if we don’t do anything about climate change: hot, a constant cough, regular mask-wearing (CNBC)

DROUGHT: The entire state of California is in drought—but the impacts are just beginning (Earther)

WILDFIRES: Lawsuit seeks $103 million in damages from two public utilities stemming from Holiday Farm wildfire (The Oregonian, AP), Topanga Canyon residents evacuate homes because of wildfire (AP)

HURRICANES: Why are there so many Atlantic named storms? Five possible explanations (Yale Climate Connections)

CARBON CAPTURE: Policy group lays groundwork for "net negative" emissions tech (Axios), using captured CO2 in everyday products could help fight climate change, but will consumers want them? (The Conversation)

INFRASTRUCTURE: ‘We need to shut traffic down’: massive crack in Memphis bridge prompted urgent 911 calls (Washington Post $), Minnesota family-owned company on track to build third of U.S. wind projects this year (Star Tribune $)

RENEWABLES: Syria’s surprising solar boom: sunlight powers the night in rebel idlib (New York Times $)

BATTERIES: Natural gas, America’s no. 1 power source, already has a new challenger: batteries (Wall Street Journal $)

OIL & GAS: Gas faces existential crisis in climate wary Europe (Reuters), private oil companies fall short on cutting flaring (FT $), proxy adviser backs activist call for Exxon board overhaul (FT $), refinery once key to New York’s fuel supply ordered shut (Bloomberg $), getting out of gas - the sold and scrapped projects (Reuters, Factbox)

PIPELINES: Biden’s pipeline dilemma: how to build a clean energy future while shoring up the present’s carbon-intensive infrastructure (InsideClimate News), Congress eyes hack reporting law after pipeline disruption (Politico Pro $), court won't pause Dakota Access NEPA ruling (E&E $)

COLONIAL PIPELINE: Colonial Pipeline resumes normal operations after ransomware hack (Axios, The Hill), gas shortages likely to linger for days (The Hill), as Colonial pipeline returns to service, Congress looks to bolster utility-government security efforts (Utility Dive), vast majority of DC gas stations without fuel amid panic buying (The Hill)

COAL: Coal industry sees relevance in tech embraced by Paris climate agreement (Reuters), last hope over climate crisis requires end to coal, says Alok Sharma (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen cars failed to deliver. Investors hope planes are different. (Wall Street Journal $), Plug Power to bring wind-powered hydrogen plant to Fort Worth (Bloomberg $)

NUKES: Does nuclear power really keep the lights on? (The Guardian)

UTILITIES: An activist investor may urge Duke Energy to ‘get back to basics’ (CNBC)

WATER: Conservation groups say they'll sue dams' owner over salmon (E&E $)

EVs: Bus industry raises alarm at some provisions intended to boost EVs, safety (Politico Pro $), Renault and Nissan step up race with Tesla over powering electric cars (FT $)

TRANSPORTATION: Modeling a pathway to clean transportation (Axios)

METALS: Record metals boom may threaten transition to green energy (The Guardian)

CEMENT: The growing push to cut carbon emissions from cement (Axios)

ACTIVISM: Michigan Line 5 opponents serve ‘eviction notice’ at Enbridge pumping station (Energy News Network)

ARCHITECTURE: Designed for disaster: these homes can withstand a Category 5 hurricane (Washington Post $), the architecture firm that wants to combine gravity storage with data centers (Canary Media)

BUSINESS: After railroad vote, climate resolutions pick up steam (E&E $), Amazon seeks direct renewable power for Japan data centers (Nikkei Asian Review)

FINANCE: Central banks jump into climate-change policy fray (Wall Street Journal $), Citigroup forms energy transition group within investment banking - memo (Reuters), JPMorgan details climate metrics for clients (E&E $), Kerry: Banks aren't "pressured" on CO2 pledges (Axios)

INTERNATIONAL: Asian cities face greatest environmental risks, report shows (Bloomberg $), Merkel rejects bringing forward Germany's exit from coal (Reuters), Spain to end fossil fuel production by 2042 under new climate law (Climate Home), why the German Greens want to kill Nord Stream 2 (Energy Monitor)

• The meat industry is doing exactly what Big Oil does to fight climate action (Washington Post, Jennifer Jacquet analysis $)
• The ‘gas bridge:’ Why Connecticut’s green future remains largely out of reach (CT Mirror, Sarah Backer op-ed)
• Why Charles Koch wins when our energy system breaks down (New York Times, Christopher Leonard op-ed $)
• The biggest ideas in farming today are also the oldest (Bloomberg, Amanda Little op-ed $)
• Biden must pay farmers to store more carbon (The Hill, Benjamin Houlton op-ed)
• Let America's farmers grow climate solutions (The Hill, Charles Hernick op-ed)
• Why I’m trying to shut down an underwater oil pipeline that threatens the Great Lakes (Washington Post, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer op-ed $)
• Climate and COVID-19 crises both need feminism – here's why (The Hill, Farhana Sultana op-ed)
• Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (Politico Pro, interview $)
• The other climate risk investors need to talk about (FT, Cyrus Taraporevala op-ed $)
• We’re not ready for the next big climate disasters (New York Times, David G. Victor, Sadie Frank, and Eric Gesick op-ed $)
• A federal program can help give Virginia’s coal-mining towns a future (Washington Post, Gov. Ralph Northam op-ed $)
• [Steve Koonin] debunks the climate doom-mongers (Washington Post, Marc Thiessen column $)
• Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack is an opportunity for every organization to shore up its cyber defenses (CNBC, Sec. Alejandro Mayorkas and Sec. Gina Raimondo op-ed)
• The American Jobs Plan is a chance to reimagine nature as infrastructure (The Hill, Tim Male and Christy Plumer op-ed)
• The Hoover Dam made life in the West possible. Or so we thought. (New York Times, Timothy Egan op-ed $)

Facebook Sucks At Moderating, Remains Key Source of Climate Denial’s Spread

The climate denial accountability group Stop Funding Heat released a new report last week finding, despite Facebook’s public proclamations about how much it cares about climate change, the platform is not only letting climate denial thrive, but is still profiting off of it. 

While the company does have a Climate Science Information Center and uses a fact-checking program, the report shows how those fundamentally fail to address the website’s problem with climate denial. What’s worse, the company’s Community Standards, the rules about what people can post, what gets banned or what gets investigated, does not even consider climate denial — a threat to the habitability of this planet — worth a mention. Similarly silent on climate is the company’s Oversight Board, Advertising Standards, and fact-checking program. 

The company’s lack of prioritization of climate denial shows. It’s rife on the platform, as the report shows in summarizing a number of existing reports. Big Oil ads are all over the website, promoting their sophisticated denial and predatory delay messaging, and the website has been caught over and over again doing next to nothing about the (disproportionately right-wing) misinformation that proliferates on its pages, and carving out massive loopholes for deniers that do get caught by the fact-check program. 

So what’s to be done? Facebook says it cares about climate change, but it clearly doesn’t care enough to stop profiting off of polluters’ ads, to address climate lies in its policies like it does other types of unwelcome content, share data transparently with researchers studying the issue, or most importantly, simply ban repeat offenders. 

The organized climate denial network exists to lie to the public about climate change. Why is Facebook letting itself be a tool used directly in opposition to its own stated values? 

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