FIRST LOOK:

Manchin Says Agreement on BBBA Climate Provisions Possible, But Continues To Push Fossils: West Virginia senator Joe Manchin voiced support for climate provisions in the Build Back Better Act Tuesday, telling reporters, “The climate thing is one that we probably can come to an agreement much easier than anything else." Manchin, who has made millions from the coal company his family owns and has received more campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry this election cycle than any other senator, also said "as we move from a fossil dependency to more of a cleaner, and you do that by using fossils in cleaner ways." Last fall, Manchin effectively gutted the Build Back Better Act of a key climate provision that would have incentivized utilities to provide cleaner electricity to their customers. Manchin, a millionaire who has never given birth, reiterated his opposition to other parts of the Build Back Better Act, including paid family leave and Medicare expansions and also said unemployed people should be barred from receiving any extension of the child tax credit. (Climate: E&E News, The Hill, Politico Pro $; Other provisions: Bloomberg $, AP, Politico)

World's Largest Floating Solar Array Comes Online: The world's largest floating solar power array is now online in China's Shandong province. The 320 MW facility built by Huaneng Power International is expected to generate around 550 GWh per year, according to the company. The panels float atop a reservoir near a much larger thermal power station, and the array is integrated with energy storage capacity and a nearby wind farm. Beyond cutting greenhouse gas pollution, floating solar arrays can produce co-benefits like reducing evaporation and boosting solar efficiency. HPI is currently building an experimental floating array more than six times larger in Jiangxi province that will include agrivoltaics and solar parks above fish ponds. (PV Magazine, Offshore Energy, Renewables Now)

Disaster Relief And Preparedness Bureaucracy Processes Heighten Systemic Inequities: FEMA disaster relief programs, “often fail to deliver assistance to those with the greatest need” and worsen "the continued 'wealth gap' in the United States,” a report by the agency’s National Advisory Council says. Desperately needed aid following disaster, including hurricanes, floods, and other extreme weather fueled by climate change, “is not distributed to individuals that most need assistance," so those who "started with less receive disproportionately less." Part of the problem, as described in the 2020 report, stems from the fact that wealthy homeowners get "an additional boost" from relief programs while landlords receive benefits while their poorer renters "sink further into poverty after disasters." Bureaucratic hurdles also prevent less-resourced municipalities and individuals from accessing the relief they need. The advisory group issued similar criticisms last year. Many are also raising concerns over the potential for bureaucracy in the disbursement of forthcoming climate resilience funding in the bipartisan infrastructure package exacerbating systemic inequities. “There's a lot of money out there. How do we actually get the infrastructure in place to go after it?” Colin Wellenkamp, executive director of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative who has been helping communities navigate the new funding options and application processes, told Politico. “It's overwhelm[ing] in a good way. It's a good problem to have. It's a lot better than the problem of ‘we have no resources at all.’” (FEMA: E&E $, Indiana Environmental Reporter; Resilience funding: Politico)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Colonialism still influences the earth sciences today — and that’s a big problem for research (The Verge), right-wing journalist driving in DC snowstorm blames BLM for icy roads (NewsOne)

POPULAR CULTURE: Apocalypse nowadays: the new wave of films about the end of the world (The Guardian), climate scientists love Don’t Look Up (Buzz)

NEVER FORGET: Committee investigating Jan. 6 insurrection prepares to go public (Black Wall Street Times), Facebook hosted surge of misinformation and insurrection threats in months leading up to Jan. 6 attack, records show (ProPublica), ‘It’s only gotten worse’: The long shadow of the night that broke the House (Politico)

…OR JUST, DO: Corporations resume political contributions after January 6 pause (Bloomberg $)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Gas prices surge in Europe over tight Russian supplies (Reuters), energy-starved France mulls burning more coal to keep lights on (Bloomberg $), German households feel the heat from rising power and gas bills (Reuters), New York City natural gas price jumps fivefold from Thursday (Bloomberg $)

NOTHING TO SEE HERE: Fossil fuel firms among biggest spenders on Google ads that look like search results (The Guardian)

AGENCIES: Regulatory fight looms over first-ever air toxics addition (E&E News), federal report IDs new carcinogens (E&E $)

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT: Remember cap-and-trade? It offers lessons for the Build Back Better Act, former congressman says (Washington Post $)

THE HILL: Advocates eye lands package focused on recreation (E&E News)

HOUSE: House Democrats float net-zero emissions, wildfire bills (E&E $), Bobby Rush, senior Energy and Commerce member, to retire (E&E News)

POLITICS: Biden ‘over-promised and under-delivered’ on climate. Now, trouble looms in 2022. (New York Times $)

CITIES AND STATES: Mass. advances solar projects after climate complaints (E&E News), what’s next for Michigan’s stride to clean energy? (Energy News Network)

CALIFORNIA: California adopts drought rules outlawing water wasting, with fines of up to $500 (LA Times $)

IMPACTS: A month of unprecedented US weather disasters ends with Colorado fire catastrophe (Yale Climate Connections), December was likely the hottest on record for the US (Earther, Axios)

HEAT: ‘Extreme marine heatwave’: waters off Sydney set to break January temperature records (The Guardian)

DROUGHT: No, California’s drought isn’t over. Here’s why. (CAL Matters), drought’s grim death toll: California says endangered salmon perished in Sacramento River (Sacramento Bee $)

WILDFIRES: Crews box in Colorado wildfire as investigators seek cause (AP), Colorado wildfire inquiry focuses on Christian sect (New York Times $)

WATER: Indigenous feminism flows through the fight for water rights on the Rio Grande (High Country News)

EMISSIONS: The race against time to prevent a "carbon tsunami" (Axios)

RENEWABLES: Roofing giant takes on Tesla to make solar roof shingles more affordable (CNBC), renewables vs. species: Nevada geothermal project sparks fight (E&E $), US judge blocks work at Nevada geothermal plant for 90 days (AP), these cells could be the key to efficient, cheap solar energy. But they have to make it in the “torture chamber” first. (The Colorado Sun), a widening web of undersea cables connects Britain to green energy (New York Times $)

BUILDINGS: In Michigan, a new housing project shows that sustainable development isn’t only for the rich (Grist), these homes are off-grid and climate resilient. They’re also built out of trash. (Washington Post $)

EFFICIENCY: Maine nursing homes offered funding to help filter viruses, reduce energy use (Energy News Network)

COAL: Germany is quitting coal. Why the U.S. might not follow (E&E News), China coal futures surge on supply worries amid Indonesia export ban (Reuters), Indonesia secures more coal supplies ahead of export ban review (Reuters, Reuters)

UTILITIES: PG&E power lines started enormous Dixie fire, investigators say (San Francisco Chronicle, Modesto Bee, LA Times $, Redding Record-Searchlight, CNN, NBC, New York Times $, AP), Duke, SCE, other grid modernization proposals faced big cost questions, more regulator scrutiny in 2021 (Utility Dive)

GRID: Data centers, EVs drive PJM's long-term load growth forecast, but it expects some utilities to see declines (Utility Dive), US East Coast begins 2022 with winter storm, almost 1M outages (Utility Dive)

EVs: Mercedes electric car breaks 1,000km charge barrier (FT $, Axios), EV charging stations are annoying. Ford wants to fix them (E&E News), Ford to double production capacity of its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck (Tech Crunch, Axios), Ford F-150 Lightning order bank opens; production capacity targets 150k per year (Detroit Free Press), rideshare 2.0: Uber, Lyft rivals roll out EVs and employee drivers (Axios), Tesla opens showroom in Xinjiang province, despite China's human rights abuses (Axios)

FOOD: Beyond greenwashing: how chain restaurants could actually address their climate pollution (Grist)

AGRICULTURE: Is a state program to foster sustainable farming leaving out small-scale growers and farmers of color? (InsideClimate News), off-season 'cover' crops expand as U.S. growers eye low-carbon future (Reuters)

DIVESTMENT: Big numbers – dollars and institutions – behind divestments from fossil fuels (Yale Climate Connections), why students pushed Harvard to halt fossil fuel investments (Yale Climate Connections)

BITCOIN: Kosovo bans cryptocurrency mining to save electricity (Reuters)

IN MEMORIAM: Sarah Weddington, feminist attorney and champion of Roe v. Wade (Ms. Magazine)

WILDLIFE: Be it crayfish or crawfish, Florida's crustacean’s now protected (E&E News), we saved the puffins. Now a warming planet is unraveling that work. (Grist)

INTERNATIONAL: “Extraordinary progress” – Beijing meets air pollution goals after coal crackdown (Climate Home, Reuters), Czechs want tweaks to nuclear and gas conditions in EU green plan (Reuters)

• Natural gas can only be ‘green’ for now (FT, Editorial Board $)
• Watching Don’t Look Up made me see my whole life of campaigning flash before me (The Guardian, George Monbiot column)
• EPA Midwest head [Debra Shore] talks climate, environmental justice, hiring (E&E, interview $)
• Top 2021 climate realities demand a New Year's resolution for our planet (The Hill, Jonathan Overpeck op-ed)
• To get rural Americans involved in climate crisis, see them for who they are (Grist, Michelle Nijhuis op-ed)
• Why Republicans keep falling for Trump’s lies (New York Times, Rebecca Solnit column $)
• Big transitions are better embraced than resisted (Reuters, Rob Cox op-ed)
• The next US civil war is already here – we just refuse to see it (The Guardian, Stephen Marche op-ed)
• We were lucky more people weren’t killed on Jan. 6 (Washington Post, Kathleen Parker column $)
• Marjorie Taylor Greene is a wart on the body politic. Facebook is a melanoma. (Washington Post, Dana Milbank column $)
• Imagine Virginia’s icy traffic catastrophe — but with only electric vehicles (Washington Post, Charles Lane column $)

Do Hoosiers Have To Count on Coal? Or Is That Just Coal Companies That Want You Trapped Buying Their Dirty Product? 

Why is it that coal companies are so shy about taking credit for their PR campaigns? Why do they go to such great lengths to conceal their hand behind basically every anti-climate initiative out there? Hardly a new question, or one without an obvious answer, but since it’s a new year, let’s unmask a new front group! In fact, let’s make it a double! 

Yesterday the industry-funded Heartland Institute posted a fawning write-up of a Facebook video about how support for renewables and the “premature, rapid closure” of coal plants threatens Indiana. Heartland’s H. Sterling Burnett breathlessly described every moment of the nearly two-minute video using the Texas blackout disinformation to fearmonger in Indiana. But as for who’s behind the video he so gratuitously praised, who did the work he’s elevating, Burnett merely mentioned just that it’s a tag-team effort by “Reliable Energy, Inc” and “Hoosiers for Reliable Energy.”    

Who are they? Is the first a company, as “Inc” might suggest, that provides some sort of reliable energy? Is the second, as the name suggests and as it claims on its website, a grassroots group of “concerned Indiana citizens” who just happen to be super passionate about reliable energy? 

Well, since Burnett declined to tell readers anything, at all, about the groups. Left to our own devices, what did we find? 

First, the Facebook page for Hoosiers for Reliable Energy notes that the page was created all the way back in 2013, as “Hoosiers Count on Coal.” A quick Google search reveals that it’s a front group, a local rebranding of the National Mining Association’s Count on Coal Initiative, according to a statement by Indiana Coal Council president Bruce Stevens. 

Which is weird, because the actual Hoosiers for Reliable Energy webpage claims that it was formerly “Hoosiers for Home Rule,” and that it’s “made up of concerned Indiana citizens who want to see Hoosier energy sources continue to be reliable.” Why not admit that it’s not just “concerned Indiana citizens,” but specifically those in the coal industry? Wouldn’t they want to bolster their credibility by touting their first-hand knowledge of the industry? 

Apparently not! Seems like the rebranded coal lobby group is a little shy about its identity. 

What about “Reliable Energy, Inc”? The home page isn’t as reserved, calling itself “Indiana’s leading dependable energy advocacy organization” that’s “Powered by coal.” It’s not exactly a corporation, which makes the “Inc” symbolic, but the Resources page sure looks like professional PR schlock, linking for example to Alex "I <3 Fossil Fuels" Epstein’s talking points. 

And the About page at least acknowledges that it’s little more than an advertisement operation, calling itself “a world-class trade association promoting the interests of the coal industry.” 

Ahh, what refreshing honesty! Click on over to “Get Involved,” though, and you see the good stuff: the member list! 

Founding board members are Alliance Coal and Hallador Energy Company, while Associate Members include Alcoa, Heritage Petroleum, and bankrupt coal giant Peabody Energy. 

Reliable Energy “Inc” also has an address and phone number posted to the website- which happens to be home to Catalyst Public Affairs Group, an Indiana lobbying firm.

Well what do you know, those two groups Heartland promoted weren’t independent assemblies of unbiased Indiana residents, but front groups for a national climate disinformation campaign and a local industry effort using PR gloss to keep the state hooked on its product.  

So if you’re an Indiana resident (or any other, really) wondering whether or not to trust someone trying to sell you on the supposedly affordable and reliable merits of coal, just ask: Hoosier funder? 

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