FIRST LOOK:

Business Roundtable Wants Dems To Pay For BBBA With New Debt: The Business Roundtable is claiming to support the climate-friendly provisions of the Build Back Better Act while fighting to undermine the revenue provisions that fund them, Bloomberg reports. The trade group representing many of the country's biggest corporations, including Apple, Bank of America, and ExxonMobil, says Democrats (every Republican opposes the bill) should separate the BBBA's climate provisions from its revenue raisers and fund the climate provisions with new debt. Funding the bill with even more deficit spending could create significant obstacles from centrist House Democrats and West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, who has expressed concern about spending levels. Dynamics of which the Business Roundtable, which employed at least 98 lobbyists and spent more than $20 million on lobbying in the first three quarters of this year, is almost certainly aware. (Bloomberg $)

Families Of Color Pay More For Energy, Get Less Benefit But More Pollution: Black, Latino, and Native households use less energy but pay more for it and suffer from disproportionate pollution caused by its production, research published in Energy Research & Social Science reveals. The inequities reflect long-standing systemic racism, including, but not limited to, redlining, racial covenants, and outright racial segregation. White, affluent households are the most energy efficient but are still responsible for the most pollution. This means households of color spend a greater portion of their income on energy with even less benefit, leaving them vulnerable to deadly heat and cold. (Grist)

Fire Destroys Century-Old Grain Elevators In Central Montana, In December: A late-season wildfire in central Montana incinerated much of the small farming town of Denton earlier this week. The fire, fueled by high winds and unfettered by any snow, consumed vegetation desiccated by exceptional drought, melted rail cars, and destroyed more than two dozen homes and four grain elevators that had stood for more than a century. “It’s definitely not a good sign that it is this dry in December and this warm,” Brock Linker, a Denton farmer and volunteer firefighter, told the New York Times. “We’ve had zero moisture since May and no sign of any in the future.” Climate change, caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making droughts more frequent and severe, raising temperatures, and supercharging wildfires.  “We’re looking at conditions we haven’t seen for a thousand years in Montana and probably longer in terms of the drought,” Cathy Whitlock, a paleoclimatologist at Montana State University, told the Times. “Temperatures are exceeding what we have seen for the last 11,000 years.” (New York Times $, AP, Great Falls Tribune, The Guardian, Montana Public Radio, Lewistown News-Argus; Record highs across North America: Washington Post $; Climate Signals background: Drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves, Wildfires)

Coal Plants Blame Trump Wastewater Rule For Forcing Them To Close So They Can Pollute More: Coal-fired power plants are blaming clean water protections for forcing them to close, but a loophole in the rule could just be helping them pollute more, E&E News reports. A Sierra Club report last month showed at least 26 power plants said they would shut down or stop burning coal because, their operators said, of a wastewater rule enacted by the previous administration meant to weaken Obama-era protections. By announcing their closure, coal plant operators can now take advantage of a provision of the rule that allows them to keep discharging polluted wastewater, and exempts them from having to install wastewater cleanup equipment, for seven more years. In other cases, the regulations are little more than a scapegoat, advocates say, for an industry facing steep underlying economic challenges that has fought pollution reduction measures for decades. “For some of them, the wastewater rule was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Casey Roberts, a senior Sierra Club attorney, told E&E News. “A lot of them are facing uphill economics, a lot of them have other environmental compliance issues and expenses coming up … and just competition from other resources.” (E&E News)

FED WATCH: Who will get the Fed regulation job? Here are some of the contenders (Reuters Factbox)

GREEN (OR NOT) FINANCE: Report: markets like carbon-cutting firms (Axios), Sustainable investors look for profits in fuzzy data (Reuters), Asset managers fail to act on pledges to divest from Brazil over deforestation (FT $)

ENERGY (IN)JUSTICE: Asia's informal workers risk losing out in green economy push, officials warn (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

0%: California water districts to get 0% of requested supplies (AP)

CAMBO OIL FIELD: Shell ditches UK oil project in win for climate activists (Bloomberg $, OilPrice, Reuters, AP, The Scotsman, The National, The Independent, BBC, The Guardian, New York Times $)

COP27: Innovative financing can help unlock promises at Egypt's COP27 - minister (Reuters)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: China and India’s carbon dioxide emissions, in context (PolitiFact), Climate change, COVID-19 and conflict drive 'alarming' rise in aid need (Reuters)

DENIAL & DISINFORMATION: Behavioral tools of pandemic should be applied to climate policy - scientists (Reuters)

👻 👻 👻 : Florida Power & Light execs worked closely with consultants behind ‘ghost’ candidate scheme, records reveal (Orlando Sentinel)

AVIATION: United flies first plane with 100% ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ (Gizmodo, Axios), Universal Hydrogen CEO sees jetmakers backing new fuel (Reuters)

FIRST AND WORST: How Bangladesh is beating the odds on climate disaster deaths (The New Humanitarian)

DOING GOD'S WORK: Meet an ecologist who works for God (and against lawns) (New York Times $)

AGENCIES: NRC chair defends cleanup plan to skeptical Democrats (E&E $), FEMA wants to track race of disaster victims for first time (E&E $)

EPA: EPA union announces agreements with agency expanding work from home (The Hill)

DOE: Could someone please help the Biden administration store all this nuclear waste? (Gizmodo), Energy Department funding experiments to fight methane with plasma, copper (Bloomberg $)

DOI: Biden is leasing public lands for oil drilling. But what about solar and wind? (LA Times $), Biden backtracked on drilling ban. What it means for CO2 (E&E News)

THE HILL: Democrats want to prevent new oil and gas drilling in most US waters. Their plan might work. (Washington Post $), House Democrats detail stopgap spending bill through Feb. 18 (Politico Pro $)

HOUSE: Left looks to build momentum for regulatory reform (E&E $), Retiring DeFazio leaves climate, infrastructure legacies (E&E News), Lawmakers demand oil and gas firms divulge methane leak data (Washington Post $)

SENATE: Sen. Ted Cruz wants to sanction a natural gas pipeline — but not because of climate change (Washington Post $)

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE: Shutdown averted? Deal would fund agencies through Feb. 18 (E&E News), Senate passes bill to avert government shutdown, sends to Biden for signature (Reuters)

WHITE HOUSE: Tough politics around oil and gas are preventing Joe Biden from being a climate hero (CNN), White House says EJ tool coming before new year (E&E $), Harris: space goals to include climate (E&E News)

BUILD BACK BETTER: Dems lean into extreme weather to sell climate package (E&E News), Green incentives usually help the rich. Here's how the Build Back Better Act could change that. (Grist), GOP ramps up attacks on SALT deduction provision (The Hill), Progressive groups urge Schumer to prevent further cuts to $2T plan (The Hill)

POLITICS: Biden oil policies draw heat from both sides (Politico Pro $)

CITIES AND STATES: As people crowd into cities, climate looms as dire threat (E&E $), With regional transportation pact stalled, what’s next for Massachusetts’ climate strategy? (Energy News Network), Can we pedal any faster? (New York Times $)

CALIFORNIA: California PUC approves policies to stave off summer blackouts (Politico Pro $), California should eliminate oil extracted from Amazon rainforest -NGOs (Reuters)

FERC: 'Elephant in the room': FERC grid plan fuels landowner fight (E&E $)

SCOTUS: Reproductive rights advocates sound the alarm after Supreme Court hears arguments in Mississippi abortion case (Prism Reports)

IMPACTS: It's December and it hasn't snowed in Denver yet. That's never been recorded (CNN), The American West went through climate hell in 2021. But there’s still hope (LA Times $), The ins and outs of understanding what’s in a degree (Yale Climate Connections), A slow-motion climate disaster: the spread of barren land (New York Times $)

ATTRIBUTION: How science links global warming to extreme weather (Bloomberg $)

WILDFIRES: The Twitter wildfire watcher who tracks california’s blazes (Wired)

HURRICANES: Study finds Atlantic Hurricanes becoming more frequent, destructive (Washington Post $, The Hill), 2021 hurricane season was third most active (BBC)

RENEWABLES: 5 graphs that show the world is in the midst of a renewable energy revolution (Gizmodo), Fossil fuel plant outages pose main threat to [Australia] summer power supply as renewables bolster grid (The Guardian), SSE and Equinor to proceed with $4 billion Dogger Bank C offshore wind farm (Reuters), US utility-scale solar, storage prices drop 12+% in past year, but supply chain worries loom: NREL (Utility Dive)

BUILDINGS: Weaker efficiency standards for manufactured housing could 'threaten grid reliability,' says California agency (Utility Dive)

STORAGE: Here’s how compressed air can provide long-duration energy storage (InsideClimate News), Hydrostor plans 4 GWh long-duration storage project in Southern California (Utility Dive)

OIL & GAS: ExxonMobil's governance structure fails the energy transition -Engine No. 1 (Reuters), A king in oil-rich Nigeria delta pins hope on UK in Shell case (Bloomberg $), BP agrees to $500K penalty, soot limits at Indiana refinery (AP), Oil rises as OPEC+ leaves door open for quick change of plans (Bloomberg $, The Hill, FT $), Woodside’s new Western Australian gas project ‘a bet against’ global 1.5C goal, report finds (The Guardian)

PLASTICS (IT'S BEEN A LONG WEEK, OK?): US must create a post-plastic economy, scientists say in new study (Bloomberg $), Salmon plastic jizz mug? Salmon plastic jizz mug (Gizmodo)

COAL: Mining giant[ Glencore]’s goal: coal — and net zero (E&E News), Putin accuses management of falsifying data at Russian mine where 51 died (Reuters)

HYDROGEN: 'Coal to hydrogen.' Report outlines path to CO2-free steel (E&E $), Iberdrola, H2 Green Steel plan mega green hydrogen plant (Reuters)

NUKES: Commonwealth Fusion pulls in a colossal $1.8B for novel nuclear tech (Canary Media)

UTILITIES: Solar and green groups buy into Duke’s net-metering plan in North Carolina (Canary Media), Xcel, Dominion dispute global utility assessment, say they are on track to meet 1.5 degree climate target (Utility Dive)

GRID: The quest for a power grid that can withstand extreme weather (Vox)

EVs: Missing from Biden EV plan: state support for charging (E&E News), US lags in electric vehicle sales despite Biden administration’s push (The Guardian), General Motors, partner to build plant to process EV battery materials (Detroit News), Stellantis CEO: Mass EV push 'beyond the limits' of industry (E&E $), Toyota turns to Chinese tech to reach its electric holy grail (Reuters), Your electric car could become a virtual power plant (Axios)

TRAVEL: Can the tourism industry survive the climate crisis? (The Guardian)

AGRICULTURE: Farmers in England to be paid for looking after soil health from next year (The Guardian), Green groups criticise England’s new farming subsidies for lacking ambition (FT $)

BUSINESS: Data centres, demand response and decarbonising the cloud (Energy Monitor)

CARBON REMOVAL: Liberal group hits Dems for 'false promise' of CO2 removal (E&E $)

IN MEMORIAM: Notable deaths 2021: science and technology (New York Times $)

WILDLIFE: This legendary 92-year-old biologist has some advice for saving Earth (Vox)

INTERNATIONAL: France: the battle over wind power stirs up the election (FT $), Japan is backing oil and gas even after COP26 climate talks (Bloomberg $), Mexican electricity overhaul is hurting investment, EU says (Reuters), UK needs to deliver on climate, not set higher 2030 target, say advisers (Climate Home, The Guardian), Australian opposition promises deeper emission reductions (AP), Study: new German govt’s plans fall short of climate goal (AP)

• What privilege means in the climate crisis fight (New York Times, Carola Rackete op-ed $)
• Federal Reserve’s Powell lacks leadership on climate change (Boston Globe, Sen. Ed Markey op-ed $)
• The roots of sisterhood (Atmos, Virginia Vigliar essay)
• This proposed ballot measure would make you pay for the ag industry’s water inefficiency (LA Times, Michael Hiltzik column $)

Do You Believe In Ghost( Candidate)s? Meddling Kids At Orlando Sentinel Reveals Who’s Really Behind The Mask

Wednesday’s intergalactic adventure proved popular, so in the spirit of keeping things weird, today we’re going to tell you a ghost story! 

Once upon a time (2020), in a magnificent but poorly-esteemed kingdom (Florida), it looked like Democrats might win a few key state elections, enough to tip the balance of the state Senate out of Republican control. But then, the ghosts appeared. 

In three key races, advertisements for new, independent, “no party” candidates were served up to residents, aimed at left-leaning voters. The “ghost” candidates never did any sort of real public campaigning, but there was so much advertising that they did receive thousands of votes- and thereby sealing victory for the Republican candidates. 

One of the “ghost” candidates, who got over 6,000 votes and shares a last name with the incumbent Democratic candidate who lost by just 32 votes, has since pled guilty to accepting almost $45,000 in bribes from Republican political operative and former state senator Frank Artiles. 

But Artiles wasn’t the only Scooby-Doo villain behind the ghost candidates who helped the GOP retain power. The funding for ads has been traced back to dark money PACs, and it shared a mailing address that just so happened to be home to Associated Industries of Florida, a major trade lobby group. Alex Alvarado, a political consultant behind the groups promoting the “ghosts,” said that he doesn’t work for AIF, though, and just used the building for mail delivery because “it’s easy to pick up stuff there because they have a receptionist. I work out of my house.” 

But if he’s working out of his house, why wouldn’t he have his mail delivered to his house? And if he needed somewhere to receive mail, why not a P.O. Box? Also, while we’re hypothetically asking questions to Alex Alvarado, why did he pay a then-25-year-old community college student $1,500 to use her name on paperwork designating her the chairperson of a political organization called “The Truth,” and then not contact her at all while using the organization to run ads promoting a spoiler candidate? And then, when she called, pay her another $2,500? 

Still, the plot thickens!

Annie Martin and Jason Garcia of the Orlando Sentinel have obtained documents linking the state’s public power utility, Florida Power & Light, to the executives behind the scheme. 

Garcia and Martin write that while “none of the records sent to the Sentinel show FPL donating money directly to Grow United,” one of the organizations that funded the groups that ran ads for the spoiler candidates, “they do show that consultants who were controlling Grow United billed FPL for millions of dollars shortly before they started moving money through it in September of last year.” 

Time for another round of hypothetical questions! 

Why is a public utility spending its funds on political consultants when its monopoly is so tightly regulated? If it wasn’t funding these spoiler candidates, what were the seven-figure checks to the consultants supposed to be for, and where’s the proof of that “consulting, research and digital” work on “energy and regulatory issues?” 

And if it weren’t for meddling kids (who grow up to be reporters), would everyone still believe in ghosts?

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