FIRST LOOK:

Extreme Weather Hit Home For 40% Of U.S. Population In 2021: More than 40% of people in the U.S. live in a county hit by climate-related extreme weather in 2021, a Washington Post analysis of federal disaster declarations found. Additionally, more than 80% of people living in the U.S. experienced a heatwave, which is not considered a disaster, but is the most deadly form of severe weather. The widespread, sometimes overlapping, and increasing disasters are a testament to the way climate change “has loaded the weather dice against us,” climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe told the Post. Wildfires, flooding and landslides, hurricanes, and other severe storms are all made worse or more frequent by climate change, primarily caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. The analysis does not include the megadrought parching vast swaths of the West. In Louisville, Colorado, Mayor Ashley Stolzmann lost much of her town to the Marshall Fire last week. “When I lay awake the first night, not able to sleep from the fire, when I was evacuated from my house,” she told the Post, “the first thing I thought of is: I need everyone to reduce their carbon emissions.” (Washington Post $; Climate Signals background: 2021 Western wildfire season, Flooding, 2021 Atlantic Hurricane season, Western drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

'Seems … Real KKKordinated' — 7 HBCUs Receive Simultaneous Bomb Threats: At least seven HBCUs received bomb threats on Tuesday. No bombs were discovered and no explosions occurred, but the threats triggered abrupt evacuations and lockdowns. Spelman College (Atlanta), the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Howard University (Washington, DC), Norfolk State University (Virginia), North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University (Texas), and Xavier University of Louisiana all reported bomb threats. "These bomb threats at [7] different HBCUs in [7] different locations at the same time, @TendentiousG Tweeted, "seems…real KKKordinated." (Atlanta Black Star, Black Wall Street Times, NewsOne, The Root, Washington Post $, USA Today, Observer, ABC, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Axios, The Guardian, WAVY, The Hill)

Pipeline Dumps 300,000 Gallons Of Diesel Near Mississippi River. The Meraux pipeline spilled 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel a few hundred feet from the Mississippi River last week, E&E reports. PBF Energy Inc. officials knew of the corrosion damage in the 42-year-old pipeline more than a year ago, but did not repair the 22 feet by 2 feet section of pipe so corroded it was only one-third of its original thickness. That the pipeline wasn't fixed is "maddening," Pipeline Safety Trust executive director Bill Caram told E&E. "Now we have over 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel spilled, a mere few hundred feet from our treasured Mississippi River." (E&E $)

US Became World's #1 LNG Exporter In December: The United States exported more LNG than any other nation for the first time in December. More than 7 million tons of liquified methane-based gas left U.S. shores, more than Qatar or Australia. LNG was first exported from the lower 48 states just six years ago. Demand for U.S. LNG in Europe and Asia is driving up methane-based gas prices for U.S.consumers and LNG exports face increasing criticism from consumer, climate, and environmental justice advocates. In North America, 80% of increased methane pollution from 2000 to 2017 was driven by fossil fuels, and the U.S. fracking boom in particular. Record-breaking LNG exports undermine the Biden administration's climate goals, especially its pledge to cut methane pollution by 30% by 2030, the main target of its highly-touted Global Methane Pledge  — between extraction, transportation, and combustion, methane pollution threatens to make gas more climate-heating than coal. (CNN, Bloomberg $, S&P Global, Al Jazeera, World Oil; Coal comparison: S&P Global)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Texas and North Carolina deal with racial gerrymandering lawsuits as Republicans claim they drew maps ‘race-blind’ (Atlanta Black Star)

INSURRECTION: A year after Capitol riot, Trump’s hold on GOP is unrivaled (New York Times $), ‘I don’t feel safe’: a year after January 6, women in Congress still fear for their security (The 19th* News), ‘we were trapped’: Trauma of Jan. 6 lingers for lawmakers (AP), 8 ways teachers are talking about Jan. 6 in their classrooms (NPR), how many Americans support political violence? (New York Times $), recalling Jan. 6: a national day of infamy, half remembered (AP)

ORPHANED WELLS: Interior: US has twice as many abandoned oil and gas wells as previously thought (The Hill, E&E $), US says more than half of states will seek oil well cleanup funds (Reuters), Texas seeks federal funding to clean up abandoned oil wells (Houston Chronicle)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Federal judge sends Delaware climate lawsuit back to state court (Politico Pro $), Big Oil loses bid to keep Delaware climate case in federal court (Bloomberg Law)

POPULAR CULTURE: ‘Don’t Look Up’ is meteoric hit (MSNBC), ‘Don’t Look Up’: Hollywood’s primer on climate denial illustrates 5 myths that fuel rejection of science (The Conversation)

DEADLY PRODUCTS: Car ads get cigarette-like disclaimer in France suggesting walking or biking instead (Electrek, Washington Post $, NPR)

ONE-UPMANSHIP: Chevy reveals electric Silverado pickup, vows to beat Ford’s towing, power, range (Detroit Free Press, Car and Driver, Detroit News, CNBC, Electrek, The Verge, CNET, Bloomberg $, Wall Street Journal $, NBC, The Verge), Ford jacks up production of electric F-150, cites big demand (E&E $, Axios), GM's electric onslaught: pickups, SUVs and delivery vans (Axios), why electric pickup trucks are so hot (Axios)

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: Homer Plessy, of 'separate but equal' ruling, pardoned for riding whites-only train in 1892 (USA Today, The Root, CNN, The Guardian, BBC, New York Times $, AP)

IN MEMORIAM: Maxine McNair, last parent of four girls killed in Birmingham church bombing dies at 93 (Black Enterprise, CNN, The Root, AL.com, AP, Washington Post $)

YEAR AHEAD: Climate change action: 6 trends to watch in 2022 (Thomson Reuters Foundation), what to watch at DOE, FERC, Interior in 2022 (E&E News), what to watch in 2022: critical moments and issues for climate diplomacy (Climate Home)

AGENCIES: 2022 delivers a full plate to ‘NOAA recidivist’ Rick Spinrad (E&E News), SEC's Texas office probes banks over disclosures on guns, fossil fuels -sources (Reuters, The Hill)

EPA: EPA ramps up environmental justice focus for waste office (E&E $), for the first time in over 30 years, the EPA adds to its list of hazardous air pollutants (Washington Post $, E&E News), EPA’s failure to disclose chemical health risks draws ire (E&E News)

BUILD BACK BETTER ACT: Biden to restart talks with Manchin after 'cooling off' period (The Hill), Sen. Manchin voiced his strongest support yet for Democrats' climate provisions. Will it be enough? (Washington Post $), Republican-aligned group launches $1 million ad campaign to sway Manchin (NBC), we'll believe it when we see it, Joe (Gizmodo)

THE HILL: Democrats revisit voting rights legislation around Jan. 6 anniversary (NPR)

HOUSE: Michigan Democratic appropriator [Rep. Brenda Lawrence] announces retirement (E&E $)

SENATE: Cortez Masto racks up mining wins ahead of reelection run (E&E News), Senate begins bipartisan talks over legislation on elections and voting (The 19th* News), Democrats shift gears on Russian pipeline, backing Biden against Cruz’s gambit (Politico Pro $), tough talk, uncertainty ahead of new reconciliation push (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden gives meat industry $1B. Is that bad for the climate? (E&E $)

POLITICS: No time to waste in 2022 (Atmos), why the coming months will be critical for Biden’s climate plan (New York Times $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate delays final vote on 9th Circuit nominee — again (E&E $), White House renominates Interior, Energy, EPA picks (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Health care, climate change crux of NY governor’s 2022 plan (AP, New York Times $), citing danger to freshwater, scientists say we need to put brakes on road salts (Washington Post $, Modern Farmer), how to address climate locally? These 6 places have plans (E&E News), Youngkin nominates Trump EPA chief Andrew Wheeler for secretary of natural resources (Washington Post $, HuffPost, Axios, E&E News, Reuters, AP, The Hill)

• CALIFORNIA: What to know about California’s new composting law (Gizmodo)
• INDIANA: The country’s biggest solar farm is coming to one of the coal-friendliest states (Grist) [For added context, check out yesterday's Denier Roundup on Hoosier coal front groups.]

FERC: Climate or reliability? FERC blocks Northeast gas project (E&E News, Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Alaska school in race with climate change for new building (AP, KYUK), Filipinos count cost of climate crisis as typhoons get ever more destructive (The Guardian), in coastal areas, rising seas can also mean failing septic tanks (NPR), the 1.5 degrees goal: beware of unintended consequences (Yale Climate Connections), There was way too much lightning in the Arctic last year (Gizmodo)

WINTER STORM URI: More than 100 insurance companies sue ERCOT, power generators over winter storm losses (KXAN), Texas power plants 'ready for winter' following weatherization assessment, ERCOT says (Utility Dive), Texas is still not recognizing the full death toll of the last year’s devastating winter storm (Buzzfeed)

DROUGHT: California is suddenly snow-capped and very wet. But how long will the water rush last? (LA Times $), scientists explore Thwaites, Antarctica’s ‘doomsday’ glacier (AP)

FLOODING: UK towns and cities hit by flash flooding 51 times since 2007 (The Guardian)

WILDFIRES: Health risks of smoke and ozone rise in the West as wildfires worsen (New York Times $)

MARSHALL FIRE: Remains found, yet most people escaped Colorado fire (AP), ‘I have absolutely nothing’: after a massive winter fire, what is left? (New York Times $), rare winter wildfire to cost insurers about $1 bln - KCC (Reuters), 

HURRICANES: Study: Climate change could lead to more hurricanes hitting Northeastern cities (The Hill)

WATER: Moab’s aquifer may be maxed out, prompting city to explore water conservation (KUER)

DEFORESTATION: Can synthetic palm oil help save the world’s tropical forests? (Yale Environment 360), tree-cutting makes storms worse in West Africa (E&E $)

RENEWABLES: As the Biden administration eyes wind leases off California’s coast, the Port of Humboldt sees opportunity (InsideClimate News), coal-dependent Indonesia starts tapping huge solar power potential (Reuters), the link between ancient ice sheets and offshore windfarms (The Guardian)

OK?: World’s largest coal port to be 100% powered by renewable energy (The Guardian)

BATTERIES: Mining of lithium, key to the climate fight, faces new scrutiny in chile (New York Times $), the top-performing commodity of 2021 rose 437% (Quartz), San Miguel to switch on battery storage as it pushes renewables (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: A question embroils Europe: Is gas green? (E&E $), crude oil is shrugging off Omicron (Axios)

COAL: US government squandered hundreds of millions on ​‘clean coal’ pipedream (Canary Media), energy-starved France mulls burning more coal to keep lights on (Bloomberg $), Indonesia talks on coal exports postponed as scores of ships in limbo (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Idaho Power cuts coal by 2028 in plan to state regulators (AP)

EVs: The road ahead: how legacy auto brands will level the EV playing field in 2022 (Utility Dive)

FOOD: Veganuary is a tough sell (Axios)

FINANCE: Taiwan fund to issue $2.3 bln climate change pension mandate, Asia's first -official (Reuters)

BITCOIN: Cryptocurrency plan fails for Manchin-connected coal plant (E&E News)

WILDLIFE: A prehistoric-looking turtle prompts a modern policy debate (E&E News), tropical species could slither, crawl, and hop their way north as the climate warms (Yale Climate Connections)

INTERNATIONAL: Russia-led force to help quell Kazakhstan unrest (Wall Street Journal $), natural-gas crisis pushes German utilities into dash for cash (Wall Street Journal $), UK needs better supply of cheap energy, says PM Johnson (Reuters)

• America’s most urgent threat now comes from within (New York Times, Cynthia Miller-Idriss op-ed $)
• Is 'Don't Look Up' a good movie? (Buzzfeed, discussion)
• 'Don’t Look Up' doesn’t get the climate crisis (NY Mag, Eric Levitz review)
• ‘Don’t Look Up’: Hollywood’s primer on climate denial illustrates 5 myths that fuel rejection of science (The Conversation, Gale Sinatra and Barbara K. Hofer)
• I fear for our democracy (New York Times, Jimmy Carter op-ed $)
• EU’s anti-greenwashing crusade takes a risky turn (Reuters, Lisa Jucca op-ed)
• Trump supporters tried to silence Black and Brown voters with Capitol attack — accountability is vital (The Grio, Donna Brazile commentary)
• The world is half-prepared for a different energy future (The Atlantic, Robinson Meyer commentary)
• For the sake of the planet, Build Back Better must be salvaged (The Hill, Stuart Mackintosh op-ed)
• Today’s soaring energy prices are only the beginning (Wall Street Journal, Bjorn Lomborg op-ed $)
• Future engineers need to understand their work’s human impact – here’s how my classes prepare students to tackle problems like climate change (The Conversation, Gordon Hoople op-ed)
• Natural gas can only be ‘green’ for now (FT, The Editorial Board $)
• Class struggle in my family’s hometown (New York Times, Tom Morello essay $)
• 'We have to be there': AP photographer recalls Capitol siege (AP, J. Scott Applewhite reflection)

Washington Post Imagines Electric Cars Stuck In Snow Instead Of Gas Ones (To Capitalize on Rightwing Disinfo Clicks?)

No one wants to get stuck in traffic. Or in the snow. Getting stuck in an all-day traffic jam because it snowed, well, that’s pretty much the worst. And that’s exactly what happened in Virginia this week, when thousands of people spent all day stuck on the highway after a severe snowstorm turned a jackknifed semi from a relatively routine highway occurrence to a major SNAFU. 

Fortunately, everyone was okay. But imagine if they weren’t! Wouldn’t that have been terrible! Imagine if zombies had attacked while they were stranded, or if a horde of chuds emerged from the frozen sewers to convert everyone to Scientology, or, and this may be worst of all …

What if the cars stuck in the snow were all electric??? 

Everyone would surely be dead, or something! 

At least that’s what the Washington Post editorial writer Charles Lane is scared of, judging by a column on Tuesday that turned a rightwing meme into his weekly column. “Imagine Virginia’s icy traffic catastrophe – but with only electric vehicles," implores the headline, as though the issue here were a lack of access to electricity and not, you know, an overturned semi and snowfall that prevented emergency responders from doing their jobs. 

The basis for his scary story? A trucker tweeted that he gave someone “driving a Tesla” some water and blankets. Apparently this anecdote “illustrates an important point: If everyone had been driving electric vehicles, this mess could well have been worse.” 

Except, of course, that’s not true at all. As both Reuters and Politifact pointed out last year when rightwing shitposters pushed the same scare story, EVs are fine when stuck in traffic jams because sitting there doesn’t run down the battery. (And a reply to the trucker that Lane must have missed linked to a video showing a fully charged EV keeping warm for 70 hours at -3C.) 

Idling your gas car does burn fuel though, something that even Lane acknowledged, writing that “of course, cold also affects the performance of gas-powered vehicles; many were left stranded in Virginia after they ran out of fuel or their batteries died.” 

Oh!

Nevertheless, Lane used the Tesla driver for his clever kicker complaining that EVs aren’t already cheaper, easier and better than gas cars, saying that like that driver “on I-95 in the wee hours of Tuesday morning, we’re not there yet.” 

Except the Tesla family probably drove off fine, but a bunch of people who didn’t have electric vehicles were stuck, by Lane’s own accounting! 

Still though, apparently old cars have the advantage because it’s easier to deliver gas to stranded motorists than charge an EV. But that’s only because gas is currently the norm! Can you imagine if the situation were reversed, and gas cars were replacing electric cars? 

How would you possibly convince people that toting around gallons of liquid explosives is the safe and easy alternative to a battery or extension cord? 

More realistically though, why is the Washington Post publishing this kind of nonsense? Do they really think that double-fact-checked memes are the sort of content deserving of their pages? Worse, are they aware that they’re offering the exact same sort of content as climate denial blogs? Watts Up With That ran a functionally identical post asking readers to “imagine you were stuck in an EV,” and the professional industrial disinformation peddlers at CFACT, who also are just begging people to ignore that it’s gas cars that got stuck and instead “imagine electric vehicles in bad weather.” 

And of course, for the coup de grace, you know you’ve gotten something badly wrong when it’s approvingly tweeted by Steve Milloy from his “@Junkscience” account, a handle that originates in his work for Big Tobacco to oppose regulations on smoking in the ‘90s. 

Imagine adopting “Democracy dies in darkness” as a motto, and then running opinions echoing those who’ve dedicated their lives to blowing smoke–literally.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)