FIRST LOOK:

Join Alicia Garza, principal of Black Futures Lab and co-creator of #BlackLivesMatter, Leah Penniman, food justice activist and co-executive director of Soul Fire Farm, and Grist CEO Brady Piñero Walkinshaw for a conversation on food and climate justice. Wednesday at 12:00 p.m. ET/9:00 a.m. PT.

Ana Is First Named Storm Of 2021 Atlantic Hurricane 'Season': For the seventh year in a row, a named storm formed before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. Subtropical storm Ana formed on Saturday in the Atlantic Ocean northeast of Bermuda and by Sunday evening had weakened to a Tropical Depression and never threatened land. Increases in air and ocean temperatures due to climate change have wide-ranging effects on hurricane precipitation, intensity, and coastal flooding. The recent trend of earlier storms is yet another indication of the effects of climate change on tropical weather systems, scientists say, but more research is needed to definitively link the expansion of hurricane season with climate change. (Washington Post $, Earther, Yale Climate Connections, NPR, Weather Channel, New York Times $, USA Today, CNN; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes)

Fisker To Build Electric Popemobile: The next popemobile will be an EV made by American startup Fisker, the first all-electric vehicle for the supreme pontiff, the company said Friday. The custom-made Ocean SUV will be designed to protect the pope while also allowing him to be visible to crowds and will feature sustainably-sourced elements, including carpets made from plastic bottles recovered from the ocean. Co-founders, and spouses, Henrik Fisker and Geeta Gupta-Fisker met last Thursday with Pope Francis, who has made addressing climate change and protecting the environment a key part of his papacy. "I got inspired reading that Pope Francis is very considerate about the environment and the impact of climate change for future generations," Henrik Fisker said in a statement. (NBC, CNN, Bloomberg $, Reuters, The Verge, Tech Crunch)

Judge Allows DAPL To Keep Pumping: A federal judge ruled Friday the Dakota Access Pipeline may continue pumping oil despite lacking a key federal permit while the Army Corps of Engineers conducts an extensive environmental review. The Standing Rock Sioux and other tribes challenging the pipeline, which they say is operating illegally beneath a reservoir near their reservation, failed to “demonstrate a likelihood of irreparable injury,” according to James Boasberg of the D.C. District Court, who criticized the Biden administration repeatedly in his ruling and noted the tribes' burden of evidence was far higher than the government's. It also highlights how Supreme Court precedent has made NEPA "virtually impossible to enforce," according to Eric Glitzenstein, the Center for Biological Diversity director of litigation. "Here, an environmentally devastating pipeline was constructed in flagrant violation of the law, and yet there is no remedy because of recent Supreme Court rulings that severely undercut lower courts' ability to halt a project before NEPA review can even take place," He told E&E. "We have the Roberts court to thank for that absurd outcome." (Ruling: AP, Politico Pro $, Washington Examiner; NEPA: E&E $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Stark racial disparities persist in vaccinations, state-level CDC data shows (CNN/Kaiser Health News)

COP 28: UAE asks to host 2023 UN climate change conference (Reuters)

DENIAL: A brief history of gasoline: a century and a half of lies (Jalopnik)

MEDIA: 3 signs the climate op-ed you're reading is full of it (Mashable)

ACTIVISM: Indigenous women and LGBTQ+ people led Dakota Access Pipeline protests. Five years later, they reflect on Standing Rock (The 19th* News), ‘from Ferguson to Palestine’: how Black Lives Matter changed the U.S. debate on the Mideast (Washington Post $), Ocean Rebellion co-founder alleges police tried to intimidate him (The Guardian), school strike for climate: thousands take to streets around Australia (The Guardian), Black Lives Matter activist [Sasha Johnson] in critical condition after being shot in head in London (CNN, BBC, CBS, The Guardian)

LIMETREE BAY REFINERY: Lawsuit targets Virgin Islands refinery emissions (E&E $)

NERDS EATING POPCORN DOT GIF: Rare FERC move sparks heated debate over commission's role assessing pipeline climate impacts (Utility Dive), 'deception' claims roil FERC climate fight (E&E $), feud erupts at FERC meeting over pipeline emissions (Houston Chronicle)

AGENCIES: Biden administration takes aim at the financial risks of climate change (Canary Media), Biden admin backs Apache holy land swap in court (E&E $), Walsh allies hope uproar over Boston top cop appointment will quickly fade (Politico)

EPA: Final ax coming for contentious Trump transparency rule (E&E $), groups petition EPA to consider risks to soil health (E&E $), staffers of color back Obama-era official [Micah Ragland] for Region 5 post (E&E $)

DOE: DOE moves to overturn Trump lightbulb rules (E&E $)

CLIMATE RISK EO: Biden's order to ripple across energy sector (E&E $), Biden fight against climate financial risk can’t be one-Joe show (Bloomberg $), Biden’s latest executive order takes aim at climate change’s risk to the economy (Grist)

THE HILL: Lawmakers look to address aviation carbon emissions (E&E $)

HOUSE: Anger over riot may overtake renewables bill hearing (E&E $), Neguse wants Congress to lead by example on climate (E&E $), industry presses House committee on facilitating new transmission critical to Biden climate goals (Utility Dive)

SENATE: Senate committee to vote on clean energy overhaul (E&E $), GOP renews effort to curb state say over energy projects (E&E $), Senators push White House on implementing CCS law (E&E $), [Roy Blunt] sees short window for infrastructure deal (Reuters)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden adviser Gina McCarthy calls it "ridiculous" to push climate sacrifice now (Axios)

AMERICAN JOBS PLAN: It’s crunch time and Biden’s climate gambit faces steep hurdles (New York Times $), Biden lowers infrastructure plan price tag, but 'vast differences' remain with GOP (NPR, Politico, New York Times $, AP, Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, Reuters), infrastructure plan calls for fixing the nation’s existing roads. Some states are still focused on expansion. (Washington Post $), small spending cuts plus a hard line on pay-fors won't add up to an infrastructure deal (Politico Pro $), White House holds firm on funding for EVs, lead pipe replacement in infrastructure talks (Politico Pro $), infrastructure is important to reduce climate risk. But it's not enough (TIME)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: NOAA nominee pledges scientific integrity (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: G-7 environment ministers target fossil fuel funding (E&E $, Reuters, AP, Axios, The Guardian, E&E $), G20 nations should join G7 countries with climate pledges, says U.S. (Reuters), U.S., South Korea plan to deepen economic, security ties (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: How pay-to-play politics and an uneasy coalition of nuclear and renewable energy led to a flawed illinois law (InsideClimate News), North Dakota, using taxpayer funds, bailed out oil and gas companies by plugging abandoned wells (InsideClimate News), oil and gas funding complicates New Mexico’s clean energy transition (Energy News Network), South Carolina to implement net metering settlement with time-of-use pricing (Utility Dive)

CALIFORNIA: California approves first-ever EV mandate for Uber, Lyft (E&E $), California starts process to phase out fracking in 2024 (Politico Pro $), California drought cuts hydropower, boosts natgas prices (Reuters), governor caught between key Democratic blocs on oil setbacks (AP)

IMPACTS: To protect a community from climate change, New York is elevating a park (Reuters), luckless Lake Charles: Louisiana city battered by extreme weather – again (The Guardian)

DROUGHT: Melting snow usually means water for the west. But this year, it might not be enough (NPR), California facing drought crisis as water shortages mount and fire danger escalates (Washington Post $), California is sinking further into an ‘exceptional’ drought (HuffPost), worsening Western drought forces states to shore up power grids (Axios)

WILDFIRES: Indigenous land management is the best answer to the wildfire crisis (New Republic), wildfire closes stretch of Interstate 95 in central Florida (AP)

HEALTH: Doctors put a price tag on the annual health impacts of climate change. It’s $820 billion. (Grist)

HOUSING: Floridians could lose home insurance as hurricane season nears (CBS)

ARCTIC: In the Russian Arctic, the first stirrings of a very cold war (New York Times $), new Arctic Council reports underline the growing concerns about the health and climate impacts of polar air pollution (InsideClimate News), melting permafrost puts military on unstable ground (E&E $), seed the North: Fighting climate change, one sprout at a time (Grist)

RENEWABLES: Biden’s solar ambitions collide with China labor complaints (AP), solar panels allow religious institutions to do well while doing good (Religion News Service), Solyndra, 10 years later (Environmental Health News)

STORAGE: Green Mountain Power and Tesla break grid barriers with behind-the-meter batteries (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS: New gas plants threaten carbon hangover long past Biden deadline (Bloomberg $), bursting gas bubble leaves hierarchy of pain (Reuters), the fight for the soul – and the future – of ExxonMobil (Washington Post $)

ORPHANED WELLS: The cost to clean up New Mexico’s oil and gas industry? $8 billion. (Grist)

PIPELINES: 5 big takeaways from the POLITICO Pro Colonial Pipeline briefing (Politico Pro $)

UTILITIES: New York utilities update storage plans after missing initial deployment deadline (Utility Dive), [Oregon] utility commission approves blackouts for wildfire season (AP)

WATER: Colonial hack reveals major threats to water sector (E&E $)

GRID: Climate panel mulls permit reforms for grid upgrades (E&E $), Canada gives final OK for hydropower transmission project (AP)

EVs: Ford's electric F-150 pickup can power your home for 3 days. Should Houston oil and gas be worried? (Houston Chronicle)

AGRICULTURE: The red meat issue Biden won't touch (Politico)

CARBON PRICING: The lucrative climate proposal that’s going nowhere in Washington [DC] (Politico)

CARBON CAPTURE: ExxonMobil pitches massive Houston carbon-capture ‘hub’ to Biden and Congress (Washington Examiner)

FINANCE: Green finance goes mainstream, lining up trillions behind global energy transition (Wall Street Journal $), City of London pivots toward U.S. on green finance (Politico Pro $), nonprofit seeks to trap carbon in the financial markets (Wall Street Journal $), Norwegian fund backs Exxon management in proxy fight with hedge fund (Reuters)

BITCOIN: Bitcoin miners are giving new life to old fossil-fuel power plants (Wall Street Journal $), oil drillers and Bitcoin miners bond over natural gas (Reuters)

GRETA: Greta Thunberg aims to change how food is produced (Reuters)

FOOD FOR VERY GOOD DOGS: I fed my dog bugs (and you should, too) (Earther)

INTERNATIONAL: Australian students strike against government funding for gas industry (Reuters), Azerbaijan says it is discussing solar energy production in Karabakh with BP (Reuters), Germany's Scholz proposes "climate club" to avoid trade friction (Reuters), Mexico slow to shift climate gear, but some cities speed ahead (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• Joe Manchin’s foolish hopes (Washington Post, James Downie op-ed $)
• Keeping fossil fuels in the ground is the only corporate strategy possible (Energy Monitor, Philippa Nuttall Jones op-ed)
• A new study shows getting to net-zero emissions is doable. Here’s how. (Washington Post, Editorial Board $)
• Natural gas is now a punching bag but can it withstand the pummeling? (Forbes, Ken Silverstein op-ed)

EPA To Respond In More Detail Explaining Why Climate Deniers Were Dumb To Challenge Endangerment Finding

From the opening days of the Trump administration, deniers were eager to have the federal government reconsider its 2009 finding that climate change poses a danger to human health. Known as the endangerment finding, it’s the scientific basis, and thus legal justification for climate policies, and therefore a prime target for organized denial. Despite the actual science getting stronger over the years, they were confident that Team Trump would overturn it. Fortunately, they were wrong.

But for once, they were almost right, and it did almost happen. According to emails successfully FOIA’d by E&E's Kevin Bogardus, despite it being one of the first things deniers wanted on the agenda, it was actually one of the last things the lame duck administration attempted. On January 12th, after election deniers had attempted to overthrow the U.S. government, Adam Gustafson was working deep into the night to get ethics approval to deal with the issue. 

Why did he need ethics approval to weigh in on the Competitive Enterprise Institute's petition for the EPA to reconsider the endangerment finding? Well because like most everyone else Trump brought into the EPA, his background was decidedly dirty — he worked for Boyden Gray & Associates, which counted CEI among its clients. But on the 14th, Gustafson received the ethics waiver anyway, and got to work on the petition. 

Surprisingly, though, the petitions were denied. On January 19th, 2021, outgoing Trump EPA admin Andrew Wheeler sent CEI and the other similar petitioners a letter to let them know that the EPA had considered their requests, and concluded “that they present insufficient information to warrant revisiting the 2009 Endangerment Finding.” 

Ouch!

Not only that, but “to the extent [the EPA has] considered new assessments of the danger posted [sic] by greenhouse gases, we have concluded that they “further strengthen[] the case that GHG emissions endanger public health and welfare.” 

It's EPA-equivalent of saying Not only will I not go to prom with you, but I like you even less than when I rejected you last year.

But the story’s not quite over. The Biden administration notified CEI that they’ve actually re-opened the issue, as Administrator Michael Regan withdrew the denial, because it “does not provide an adequate justification for the denial.” Apparently Wheeler’s write-off pointing to pre-existing EPA regulatory filings that reaffirm the Endangerment Finding wasn’t detailed enough for Regan, so “the EPA therefore intends to reassess the petitions and to issue a new decision in due course.” 

Oh my! CEI hasn’t responded yet, but one of the other groups that filed a similar petition is the (industry-funded and kooky) Texas Public Policy Foundation, and they’ve filed a suit demanding a prompt decision on their now-four-year-old petition. While CEI focused more on the science, TPPF’s petition is more procedural, alleging that the EPA violated its own policies by not “seeking peer review from the Science Advisory Board” (SAB) on the decision. 

If the EPA granted TPPF’s petition, then the SAB would review the decision, which would be no big deal now. But it would have been a crafty move if Trump had made it when the board was purged of some of the best researchers and stacked with polluter-apologists hand-picked by...TPPF! 

But one of the biggest priorities Administrator Regan set when taking the helm at EPA for the Biden administration was restoring scientific integrity in the agency, so the advisory board membership is being reset so that actual experts and legitimate science can once again feel at home in the EPA. 

Which means TPPF and CEI’s climate denial, once again, will not.

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