FIRST LOOK:

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Court Slaps Down FERC's 'Ostrich-Like' Pipeline Approval: A federal court threw out FERC's approval of a proposed Missouri gas pipeline Tuesday, finding FERC approved the pipeline over evidence of self-dealing. FERC said it had “no reason to second guess” the company’s business plans to pay its affiliate company, via ratepayers, to build a pipeline despite no new demand, a claim the court ruled was arbitrary and capricious. The court's order could have major implications for proposed gas pipelines across the country. The D.C. Circuit blasted FERC for its "ostrich-like" failure to adhere to its own policy and examine whether an actual "market need" existed for a Spire Energy pipeline, the only customer for which would have been its affiliate Spire Missouri. The pipeline, which has been in operation since 2019, now "no longer has a valid certificate of public convenience and necessity," Jeff Dennis, a former FERC attorney not involved in the case told Politico. Adding, "I don't think it can keep operating." The D.C. Circuit, which remanded the issue to FERC for further review, would need to issue further orders to shut down the pipeline, and Spire can appeal the decision. (Politico Pro $, E&E $, S&P Global, E&E $)

Research Shows Climate Change Makes Southwest Less Humid: The American Southwest is becoming drier because of climate change, contrary to the global trend of warm air holding more moisture, a new study published in Nature Climate Change finds. Instead, as winter and spring soils have dried out, there’s less moisture in the ground to evaporate. That’s led to the decline in summer humidity over the past decades in the region, illustrating how climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, impacts different regions. The findings also link climate change to worsening wildfires in the region. “High temperature, low humidity days help desiccate the vegetation,” Karen McKinnon, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles and lead author of the study, told the New York Times, meaning “the fire weather itself is worse.” (New York Times $)

Legal Experts Propose International 'Ecocide' Definition: A team of a dozen legal experts from around the world have drafted a definition of "ecocide" for use by the International Criminal Court. If adopted by the ICC, ecocide would be one of just five crimes prosecuted by the court, along with war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression — the crimes prosecuted at the Nuremberg trials. Advocates say the ICC's prosecution of ecocide could provide a mechanism with which to hold transnational polluters accountable. “The environment is threatened worldwide by the very serious and persistent damage caused to it, which endangers the lives of the people who live in it," Dior Fall Sow, a co-chair of the panel, UN jurist, and a former prosecutor from Senegal told The Guardian. "This definition helps to emphasise that the security of our planet must be guaranteed on an international scale." (The Guardian, NBC and InsideClimate News, Al Jazeera; Commentary: The Guardian, Alexandre Antonelli and Pella Thiel op-ed)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Toxic beauty products contribute to health inequity (E&E News), US boarding schools to be investigated (Indian Country Today), what climate science loses without enough Black researchers (Bloomberg $)

MEDIA: Climate coverage booms, but still pales compared to weather (Axios), Hong Kong pro-democracy paper [Apple Daily] announces closure (BBC)

TASTES GREAT! LESS FILLING!: Companies want climate reporting — without the risk (Politico)

TRANSIT: How climate-proofing mass transit can make cities more equitable (Bloomberg $)

AGENCIES: [Financial] regulators tell Biden of 'steady progress' on climate risk (E&E $)

EPA: Biden EPA will review contentious air rules for chemical manufacturers (Politico Pro $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Fed's Daly says climate change poses 'significant' economic risk (Reuters)

HOUSE: House passes bipartisan measure to boost state energy security plans (Politico Pro $), California Republicans introduce broad drought bill (E&E $), Democrats probe JPMorgan's oil and gas investing (E&E $)

SENATE: Manchin open to Biden's 'human infrastructure' plans and undoing some Trump tax cuts (NBC)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden to ‘bring every resource’ to manage busy storm season (AP)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Labor, green groups urge Biden to reject any 'watered-down' infrastructure deal (Reuters), 4 proposals to watch in Manchin's big energy bill (E&E $), progressives draw infrastructure red lines (Axios)

POLITICS: Some Republicans find failure to grapple with climate change a ‘political liability’ (New York Times $), House GOP to launch climate caucus (The Hill)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden picks veteran criminal prosecutor [David Uhlmann] for EPA enforcement job (Politico Pro $), Senate confirms OPM pick [Kiran Ahuja] after bruising fight (E&E $), 'thrilled to be back': [Rick] Spinrad sworn in as [NOAA] chief (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: South Carolina pastor pushes for a Green New Deal that would empower Southern communities (Yale Climate Connections), U.S. cities need more trees in poor neighborhoods — report (E&E $)

CALIFORNIA: California regulators again delay health rules to protect people near oil and gas sites (LA Times $, AP)

FERC: Electric transmission developer files FERC complaint against PJM (Politico Pro $)

SUPRANATIONALS: World Bank commits to annual reports on climate action plan (Reuters)

IMPACTS: In India's storm-battered Sundarbans, villagers have no place to call home (Thomson Reuters Foundation), flood risk replaces drought as rains fill Taiwan reservoirs (Bloomberg $), Florida reefs can't escape climate change (E&E $), UN agency says 41 million on verge of famine (Reuters), Venice at risk of UNESCO 'endangered' listing (CNN)

HEAT: ‘Historic’ heat wave to torch Pacific Northwest into next week (Washington Post $), California faces new round of record heat this weekend (Bloomberg $), ground temperatures hit 118 degrees in the Arctic Circle (Earther)

WILDFIRES IN RAINFORESTS: Extreme drought and deforestation are priming the Amazon rainforest for a terrible fire season (CNN)

HELP WANTED: US wildfire officials see increasing demand for firefighters (AP), Biden to meet with governors on weather, hike salaries for firefighters (Reuters)

DROUGHT: This giant ‘inland ocean’ is Southern California’s last defense against drought (LA Times $), water conservation gets funding amid a worsening drought (Axios)

BUT MAKE IT FASHION: Why scientists and meteorologists are wearing blue and red stripes (CNN)

INSURANCE: Extreme weather to push property insurance higher -Hippo CEO (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: Falling renewables costs undercut new and some existing coal plants - study (Reuters), solar power investors burnt by rise in raw materials costs (FT $)

BATTERIES: Used EV batteries could get a second life storing clean energy on California's grid (Canary Media), could installing batteries under solar panels kick-start the commercial building market? (Canary Media)

EFFICIENCY: Gates-backed climate fund invests in sealing leaky buildings (Bloomberg $)

ELECTRIFICATION: Colorado requires utilities to run building electrification incentive programs (S&P GLobal)

OIL & GAS: As the Gulf of Mexico heals from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, stringent safety proposals remain elusive (InsideClimate News), Canada's climate plan charts hard road ahead for high-polluting oil sands (Reuters), the weird argument that offshore oil is good for the climate, debunked (Vox)

MINERALS: Energy transition metals poised for uneven, explosive run higher (Reuters)

COAL: Just transition for coal workers is possible, reports say (Casper Star-Tribune), South Korea's major insurers say will stop underwriting new coal power (Reuters), why coal plant workers aren't going green (E&E $)

HYDROGEN: California firm to help build U.K. waste-to-hydrogen network (E&E $)

UTILITIES: South Carolina regulators reject Duke's long-term power plant construction plans, call for changes (Utility Dive, E&E $), despite South Carolina IRP rejection, Duke energy seeks 80-year operation for Oconee nuclear units (Power), how your power company can remotely control your smart thermostat (Vox), North Carolina legislature retools Duke-backed bill after Dems, governor protest weakened oversight (Utility Dive)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: New York scrutiny: National Grid faces bribery investigation; revenues docked for Con Edison, NYSEG, RG&E (Utility Dive)

GRID: US grid needs overhaul to keep up with renewable revolution, says GE exec, Sen. Heinrich (Utility Dive)

EVs: It’s official: US government says electric vehicles cost 40% less to maintain (Clean Technica, Motor Trend), what’s happening with Tesla’s $7 billion German ‘gigafactory’? (Reuters explainer), car hire start-up Virtuo adds Teslas to fleet in electrification push (CNBC), why electrifying the light truck market could be tough (Axios)

AVIATION: UK aviation’s carbon plan allows rising emissions from planes (The Guardian, FT $)

CARBON CAPTURE: 'Falling apart.' World's largest CCS plan hits snag (E&E $), has the carbontech revolution begun? (New York Times Magazine $)

FINANCE: The little hedge fund taking down big oil (New York Times Magazine $), China’s $113 billion green bonds caught in jumble of rules (Bloomberg $), UK financial watchdog proposes broader scope for climate disclosure (Reuters)

BITCOIN: City sinking into sea [Miami] welcomes bitcoin miners (Earther)

METHANE: Microbes from biological sources driving methane surge (E&E $)

WILDLIFE: Rainforests are under siege. Here's what you should know. (CNN)

INTERNATIONAL: [Bhutan] has negative emissions. But for how long? (E&E $), Britain prepares for new wave of nuclear decommissioning (FT $), China energy market reforms offer no quick fix for renewables (Energy Monitor), China's Shandong to limit carbon emission at new industrial projects (Reuters), political ploys and an ocean jewel: what’s behind the UN’s ‘in danger’ warning for the Great Barrier Reef (The Guardian)

DIDN'T SEE THAT ONE COMING DID YOU?: This pole-dancing-company-turned-oil-driller is the latest meme stock (Earther)

• Here we go again: Texas, climate change and the power grid (The Hill, Michael Webber, Andrew Dessler, and Katharine Hayhoe op-ed)
• Guerrilla war, divorce, gangs hold secrets for defusing climate disputes (Bloomberg, Eric Rosten commentary $)
• Coal-fired carbon capture projects are a waste of tax dollars (Utility Dive, Dennis Wamsted and David Schlissel op-ed)
• Climate change is destroying my country. The rich world must help. (New York Times Magazine, Bernard Ferguson commentary $)
• Rhode Island should lead the way on renewable energy (Providence Journal, Emma Searson op-ed)
• Not one without the other: Reparations for African-Americans and Indigenous peoples (Indian Country Today, Frank Pommersheim op-ed)
• Exxon slayer's new ETF courts passive aggressive money (Bloomberg, Liam Denning column $)
• UN aid chief: Tackle root causes of suffering (AP, Mark Lowcock interview)
• Biden’s proposed investments in America’s homes are a no-brainer for economic recovery, public health and climate stability (Morning Consult, Sara Baldwin op-ed)
• New energy storage project near Goldendale, WA will help NW power needs (Tri-City Herald, Greg Walden op-ed)

Supposedly Pro-Climate Conservative Group ACC Masks GOP’s Sustained Extremism and Climate Denial

When last we met the conservative activist co-opting climate to make the GOP appealing to the youths, Benji Backer was going on rightwing, denier-platforming and/or fossil-fuel-funded podcasts and posing the big climate questions, like, “how can I make tea at home instead of having to go out and buy tea every time that I need a caffeine break?” 

No telling if the young activist has yet solved the complex problem of boiling water and dropping a tea bag into it, but one thing he does have figured out is how to get good PR stories placed to soften the GOP’s fossil-fuel-funding-driven climate denial. 

For example, earlier this month Reuters covered a rally in south Florida that Backer’s group, the American Conservation Coalition, put together with a handful of local politicians to make it look like, per the headline “conservatives stake claim to climate activism.” To his credit, reporter Timothy Gardner’s story makes it clear that actual climate activists consider ACC to be “obstructing the aggressive climate” and “proposing half-measure market-based solutions instead.” And even then, the ACC doesn’t support the most obvious and imperative market-based solution of a price on carbon. Instead it's throwing its (meager) weight behind GOP catchphrases like “innovation” and industry bailouts like carbon capture. 

As for ACC’s more explicitly denier counterparts, the Heartland Institute was very critical of the event, claiming that the “rally audience consisted of only about 50-to-60 attendees, who appeared to be outnumbered by the rally organizers, their guests, and the liberal media.” (The much more reliable narrator at Reuters, Tim Gardner reported around 200 people present.) 

ACC has been effective in providing some photo ops for Republicans to soften their denier image, but little else. For example, in a story published by a Michigan Fox affiliate, a headline claims that “young GOPers aren’t denying climate change, they want to tackle it.”  

But they’re not so much tackling, as juking to make voters think Republicans care about the issue. If they actually wanted to solve it, then ACC’s agenda would actually include some target dates or have any sort of actual plan to reduce emissions beyond hyping the same fake solutions the GOP’s been pushing for decades as an excuse not to reduce emissions in any way that threatens the profits of their fossil fuel industry donors.

And it’s not hard to see that either. When Dave Roberts rolled his eyes at the Fox story, Backer responded within 20 minutes to snark back. Roberts then replied that “it’s all so performative & designed to please op-ed writers. We need to get to net zero carbon by 2050. Come up with a plan to do that & get someone in your party to support it & introduce it as legislation.” 

Instead of a response indicating that the ACC does actually have a science-backed plan and elected-Republican backed policy, Backer demurred. Instead, he tweeted the sort of banal nothingness ACC really stands for: “be authentically yourself, even if it’s not popular.”

Which is fair, because he’s not exactly popular with either the climate community that views him as, at best, an agent of predatory delay, or with the hardcore deniers conservatives he’s claiming to represent, as Heartland maybe sort of shows. But even more telling is that he called the group “American Conservation Coalition,” despite the fact that it’s not actually conserving any land, and isn’t actually a coalition. A coalition would be an alliance of different groups, like when Heartland and CFACT and other denial organizations team up to obstruct climate policy. 

Because for whatever inroads the ACC may be making on the right, it pales in comparison to the actual coalitions Republicans rely on to set their climate agenda where it matters: in office. 

Yesterday, for example, Republicans in Pennsylvania’s House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee spent the morning hearing from professional disinformers. Steve Milloy called it the “climate realist A-team”: former CATO climate guy and current Heartland fellow Pat Michaels sat between the Caesar Rodney Institute’s Dave Stevenson and CFACT’s terrorism-embracing Marc Morano, who was next to Heartland policy advisor Joe Bastardi and across the table from Heartland’s fired former president Frank Lasee, CO2-coalition President and disinfo producer Greg Wrightstone, and disgraced Trump science appointee David Legates. 

As for the intellectual firepower this conservative coalition brought to the fore, well it ... wasn’t exactly persuasive. Democratic Rep Elizabeth Fielder described their “repeated FALSE claims” as “ridiculous” and considered the meeting, to inform legislation preventing the state’s Democratic Governor from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, “a ridiculous waste of public dollars.” 

And indeed it was, but that’s the industry’s strategy, to stall and waste time while continuing to profit from their polluting product. While Backer is grabbing headlines for convening a group of a handful of South Florida Republicans who are forced to acknowledge climate change because their districts are literally sinking beneath rising tides, the fossil fuel industry’s rising PR star Alex Epstein is sending emails to supporters bragging about how he’s been “sharing energy messaging and strategy” with all kinds of elected officials and Congressional staffers from “97 members spanning 66 offices — including just about every energy-related committee and subcommittee in Congress.” 

ACC may be making the GOP look better on climate in the media, but in the actual statehouses where political decisions are made, climate deniers are busy ensuring “a ridiculous waste of public dollars.” 

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