(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Ghosts of polluters past: as new soil tests reveal the pervasiveness of lead contamination, one California barrio continues its long struggle for justice (Grist), Indigenous advocates in Florida say oil drilling in Big Cypress will destroy sacred sites (Prism Reports), toxic churn: how the legacy of former industrial sites pollutes American cities today (Grist), Whole Foods doubles down on banning employees from wearing BLM masks at work (NewsOne)
MEDIA: theGrio’s April Ryan celebrates 25 years as a White House correspondent (theGrio), inside The New York Times’ crossword correction on coal (E&E News)
CLIMATE LITIGATION: Activists behind Shell climate verdict target 30 multinationals (Reuters), Chevron cites Covid-19 case in Hawaii climate venue fight (E&E $)
EU: “A huge mistake.” The EU jeopardizes its climate goals by labeling natural gas as green (TIME), EU greenwash laxity could see it build back worse (Reuters)
POPULAR CULTURE: ‘Don't Look Up’ is a Netflix hit. Is that also a win for the climate? (Grist), fifteen years after "An Inconvenient Truth" documentary, Al Gore speaks about climate change (CBS)
POPULAR OPINION: Six in 10 Americans ‘alarmed’ or ‘concerned’ about climate change – study (The Guardian)
CLIMATE COMMUNICATIONS: Washington can do better talking to Black and Latino voters about climate change (TIME)
AGENCIES: Details emerge about DOE, FERC grid plans for clean energy (E&E News), DOD denies military exempt from Biden sustainability order (E&E $), FAA's bid to reduce airplane emissions (Axios)
EPA: EPA rejected White House effort to toughen car rules (E&E News), in Orlando, a mountain of coal ash evades EPA rules. It's not the only one. (NPR)
DOE: Biden nixes Trump's efficiency loophole for quick dishwashers, washers, dryers (The Hill)
DOI: Interior Department announces New York Bight lease auction for up to 7 GW of offshore wind (Utility Dive), Interior Department extends abandoned mine reclamation program through 2034 (The Hill)
THE HILL: Appropriators plan meeting today to advance spending deal (E&E $), Congress to take a look at crypto's carbon footprint (Axios), Democrats start building their 2022 case assuming BBB will fail (Politico Pro $)
HOUSE: House panel highlights uphill climb for EVs in rural America (E&E News)
SENATE: It’s not just Manchin (The Atlantic), White House presses Senate holdouts on filibuster rule change as John Lewis voting rights bill hangs in the balance (NewsOne), Sens. Kyrsten Sinema, Joe Manchin defend filibuster, likely crushing Biden's hopes of passing voting rights bill (USA Today, CNN, LA Times $, New York Times $, The Guardian, The Hill, Axios)
POLITICS: Amid delayed action and White House staff resignations, activists wonder what’s next for Biden’s environmental agenda (InsideClimate News), Biden's climate runway is shortening (Axios)
CITIES AND STATES: 2nd largest US oil state eyes net-zero emissions (E&E News), America’s most energy efficient cities (New York Times $), before elections, Georgia Republicans again consider voting restrictions (New York Times $)
IMPACTS: Breaking down the cost of extreme weather events caused by climate change (NBC), climate and the overdose crisis (Atmos), girl among 10 killed by heavy rains in Brazil in wake of deadly cliff collapse (CBS), Nepal's blossoming honey industry crushed by wild weather (Thomson Reuters Foundation), When extreme rainfall goes up, economic growth goes down, new research finds (NPR)
OCEANS: Ocean heat is at record levels, with major consequences (The Conversation)
WILDFIRES: It’s alive: the groundbreaking research on the microbes in wildfire smoke (Grist)
THE POLLUTION IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE HOUSE: Household air pollution contributes to almost 4 million premature deaths a year (Yale Climate Connections)
RENEWABLES: Building equity into the renewable energy transition (High Country News), Abu Dhabi solar firm Sweihan gets $701 mln via green bonds, slightly less than hoped (Reuters), why a Colorado engineer switched from oil industry to geothermal (Yale Climate Connections)
BATTERIES: Battery startup QuantumScape's new move (Axios)
EFFICIENCY: Massachusetts startup sees path to more efficient windows with new material (Energy News Network)
OIL & GAS: One of the world’s dirtiest oil patches is pumping more than ever (Wall Street Journal $), the American Petroleum Institute wants a greener future, as long as it has more oil and gas (Grist), oil producers aren’t keeping up with demand, causing prices to stay high (New York Times $)
PLASTICS: Americans agree on something: Get single-use plastics out of our national parks (Environmental Health News)
NUKES: Nuclear startup Oklo gets thumbs-down from regulators. What does this mean for next-gen nuclear? (Canary Media)
STEEL: The US-EU green steel deal: climate breakthrough or lipstick on a pig? (Energy Monitor), Metinvest will invest $20-$30 bln to cut steel emissions, CEO says (Reuters), betting on hydrogen hype, Thyssenkrupp eyes $687 million in IPO cash (Reuters), hydrogen brings new hope to an old industry titan (Wall Street Journal $)
GRID: A 21st-century reinvention of the electric grid is crucial for solving the climate change crisis (The Conversation), cold weather reignites debate about stability of Texas' gas-powered grid (Houston Chronicle), in aim to expand power grid, Biden faces pushback from conservation allies (Houston Chronicle), SOO Green transmission project faces PJM obstacles: Are grid operators hindering the energy transition? (Utility Dive)
EVs: Give the US postal service $3 billion to electrify its fleet, you cowards (Gizmodo), electric cars could become charging stations too (Axios)
AGRICULTURE: Farmers could be paid for post-Brexit 'rewilding' land changes (BBC), Yara and Lantmaennen to launch 'fossil-free' fertilisers in Sweden (Reuters)
BUSINESS: IKEA buys land damaged by hurricane in Florida to plant forests (Reuters)
CARBON CAPTURE: A CCS 'hub" along Gulf Coast? Here's a road map (E&E $), Honeywell bets on UT carbon-capture technology (Houston Chronicle)
WILDLIFE: Plants at risk of extinction as climate crisis disrupts animal migration (The Guardian)
INTERNATIONAL: ‘Oppressive and wrong’: green activists urge Labour to vote against [UK] policing bill (The Guardian), Australia’s stances on climate crisis and asylum seekers ‘backwards,’ Human Rights Watch says (The Guardian)