FIRST LOOK

Judge halts massive Gulf of Mexico oil auction over climate impact: A federal judge stopped the Interior Department from selling 80 million offshore acres in the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas development, saying the Biden administration failed to properly account for the climate change impacts that would result from the sale. The decision cast uncertainty over the future of the U.S. federal offshore drilling program, which has been a big moneymaker for decades. The program has also been acknowledged by the Biden administration to be at odds with its climate goals. The sale would have netted the U.S. government more than $190 million and drew bids from U.S. oil majors, including Exxon and Chevron. The court’s decision came after Earthjustice challenged the sale along with four other environmental groups, arguing the Interior Department relied on an outdated environmental analysis that did not accurately consider climate impacts. Scott Lauermann, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute, told CNN that the decision was ‘disappointing.’ (CNN, NPR, ABC News, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Washington Post $, The Week, Daily Beast, Axios)

Studies find fossil fuels are a major global killer: A new study from the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health finds elderly people living near or downwind from oil and gas fracking sites are more likely to die prematurely, while another study links fossil fuels to 8.7 million premature deaths around the world. To figure out the impacts of fracking productions on the elderly, researchers studied the health records of 15 million people and data on 2.5 million oil and gas wells across the U.S. They found the closer people aged 65 and older live to an oil and gas operation, the higher the risk of dying prematurely, even after accounting for socioeconomic, environmental, and demographic factors such as gender and race. This is the first major study into the link between premature death in older people and fracking, and the first to examine the importance of wind direction. Relatedly, another piece of new research links fine particulate matter produced by burning fossil fuels, especially coal, is causing millions of premature deaths, especially in China and India - two of the top coal-burning countries in the world, which account for roughly half of all the premature deaths identified in the study. (The Guardian, Desert Sun, The Hill, Environmental Health News)

Climate change to ruin your cup of joe: The world could lose half of its best coffee-growing land under a moderate climate change scenario, according to a new study published in the scientific journal PLOS One. Rising temperatures and changing precipitation rates are forecast to shrink the world’s production of Arabica - the dominant coffee variety - and a finicky crop that grows poorly in high temperatures. Currently, some of the best areas to grow coffee are in Brazil and Columbia, but researchers found climate change could cut the suitable areas for growing coffee in these countries by 76% and 63%, respectively. While the links between climate change and coffee have been previously documented, the research offers more evidence of a decline in coffee production by looking at a wider range of factors like how PH and soil texture can change with more rainfall. Coffee is big business, accounting for $460 billion in revenue in 2022, but could become more of a delicacy instead of a cheap everyday beverage if climate change continues its current course. (National Geographic, BBC, CNN, The Conversation, EcoWatch)   

BIG COAL: Decline of US coal pressures banks at the core of community economies (S&P Global)  Despite soaring oil price, drilling jobs are slow to return (Houston Chronicle) 

SHAREHOLDER ACTIVISM: Climate Activists Poised to See Big Gains in 2022 (Bloomberg) 

JOBS: 2020 a COVID-year of major energy industry job losses ( Yale Climate Collection) 

OPINION: The Fed has a clear mandate to mitigate climate risks (The Hill) Carbon offsetting is not warding off environmental collapse – it’s accelerating it (The Guardian)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: On anniversary of Biden's EJ order, is Justice40 delivering? (E&E $), Biden’s focus on environmental justice led to a year of progress — and burnout (Washington Post $), For low-income Pittsburgh, clean air remains an elusive goal (Yale Environment 360), The people most impacted by climate change are ready to f**k s**t up (Gizmodo), Corporations are funding police repression (Truthout)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Oil market faces rocky road as shock absorbers wear thin (Reuters), Higher cost of fossil fuels drives wholesale power prices up despite falling market share (The Guardian)

AGENCIES: Biden administration’s climate change initiatives expanding to DHS, USDA (Natural Gas Intel), Biden outpaces Trump in issuing drilling permits on public lands (Washington Post $)

CITIES AND STATES: Biden admin revamps deal to tackle NJ water woes, equity (E&E $), Biden administration cancels two Trump-approved Minnesota mining leases (Truthout), Biden administration revokes Trump-approved Minnesota mining lease (The Guardian), Waikiki Beach is vanishing, nobody can agree what to do next (Politico $)

CALIFORNIA: CA law requiring businesses to disclose greenhouse gas emissions passes Senate (Washington Examiner), Carbon reporting bill for big companies passes California Senate (Bloomberg Law), As climate crisis worsens, this California city wants to build a gas plant (LA Times $), California's proposed NEM tariffs could halve residential solar market by 2024: WoodMac (Utility Dive)

SCOTUS: Breyer and the environment: 'He wasn't a liberal. He was a moderate' (E&E $), How Stephen Breyer changed FERC and clean energy (Energywire $)

IMPACTS: Climate change batters US cereals — but boosts American avocados (The Hill), Climate Change Might Be Shrinking Amazonian Birds (Discover Magazine)

FLOODING: Fannie Mae urges new flood disclosures for homebuyers (Politico)

WATER: Biden administration moves to boost cybersecurity of water systems (The Hill)

WICKED WEATHER: Central New York’s wicked weather blamed on climate change (WSKG)

STORMS:  US northeast power demand, gas and power prices elevated with storm approaching (S&P Global), Aid agencies scale up Storm Ana response amid floods and rising death toll (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: US wave energy projects get funding boost as plans for open-water testing take shape (CNBC)

BATTERIES: Lithium-ion batteries beat novel long-duration tech in California contest (Canary Media)

OIL & GAS: Despite soaring oil price, drilling jobs are slow to return (Houston Chronicle), For Big Oil’s future, look to Big Tobacco’s past (Wall Street Journal $), Big Oil's new ad campaign is 'one of the creepiest' it's ever made (Gizmodo), BP hires Orsted executive as it restructures renewables (Reuters)

METHANE: U.S. urges countries to adopt individual methane goals (Climatewire $)

SOLAR: White House mulls extension of Trump-era solar tariffs, with tweaks (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Xcel Energy to reach 80% emissions reduction by 2030, building out renewables (S&P Global)

EVs: States are adjusting their gas tax to the new reality of EVs (E&E $), Biden admin has $7.5B to spend on EV charging. How can it get it right? (Canary Media), The real brake on America’s electric vehicle revolution (Wall Street Journal $)

AGRICULTURE: US crop insurance payouts rise sharply as climate change worsens droughts, floods (Reuters)

BITCOIN: Top bitcoin miners pressed by US lawmakers to detail climate impact, power consumption (Bloomberg $), Democrats press crypto mining companies on energy consumption (The Hill)

COOLING: America’s hottest city is nearly unlivable in summer. Can cooling technologies save it? (The Guardian)

CHINA: China's Xi says climate targets can't compromise energy security (E&E $)

FUSION: DOE lab achieves key milestone for fusion energy (E&E $)

FINANCE: Where the billions pouring into the energy transition are going (Bloomberg $)

MINING: How an ‘anti-trans’ group split the fight against a lithium mine (E&E $)

NUCLEAR: Former Nuclear Regulatory Commission chair argues nuclear power isn’t a climate solution (The Verge)

ELON: Musk vows to accelerate Tesla solar and energy storage business in 2022 (Utility Dive)

PALM OIL: Malaysia's Sabah aims to win big as world's first green palm oil state (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

AUSSIES: Australian PM’s $700M Great Barrier Reef plan slammed for failing to address climate crisis (Axios)

ADVOCATES: Audubon names new leadership team (E&E $)

INTERNATIONAL: Why the Russia crisis matters for US energy (E&E $), German minister urges overhaul of EU green energy finance rules (Reuters), France looking at using more winter coal as nuclear output lags (Reuters), Big polluters chart climate path amid rocky energy picture (Politico $), West accused of ‘climate hypocrisy’ as emissions dwarf those of poor countries (The Guardian)

• If you want clean power, go fission (Robert Hargraves op-ed)
• To help climate migrants, we must first recognize them (Jay Balagna, Aaron Clark-Ginsberg, Vanessa Parks op-ed)
• The term Latinx wasn't made by 'woke' whites. Stop erasing its creators (LA Times opinion)
• Here is the first step to a sustainable water policy (Cal Matters analysis)

Shady Pro-Methane Group Recruits Dems As GOP Snags Another Climate Concern Headline

Just as the sun rises in the East and, hard as it may be to remember in the depths of winter, spring comes eventually, so too must the Republican party successfully plant a headline suggesting they care about climate change, while remaining committed to the fossil fuels causing it. 

NPR credulously parrots GOP Senator Kevin Cramer’s lie that he “wants to tackle climate change,” Morning Edition host Steve Inskeep’s interview proved Cramer only wants to sound like he wants to tackle climate change. Cramer doesn’t even manage to stick to his new pro-climate talking points, though, repeating stale denial lines about how “Earth has gone through cycles,” which Inskeep does a fine job of pushing back on.

Cramer, though, in his reflexive need to defend fossil fuels, says, “I reject the notion that you have to stop all fossil fuel production and fossil fuel use for electricity in the United States of America to solve climate change.” 

Fact check: yeah, pretty much we do. It’s not a “notion,” it’s science: 60% of oil and gas and 90% of coal reserves must remain in the ground if we are to have even a 50-50 chance of meeting the Paris agreement goals, with a global production decline of 3% a year until 2050. 

But apparently, denying that fact is lucrative. For example, last November, we noticed that a shady methane group was promoting a Fareed Zakaria op-ed that was in turn promoting methane exports, “Natural Allies For A Clean Energy Future,” and that it had little public presence but lots of links to the methane industry. 

Well apparently they’ve taken our criticism to heart, as Rachel Frazin at the Hill reported Wednesday that Natural Allies For A Clean Energy Future hired two former Democratic senators, Heidi Heitkamp and Mary Landrieu. 

What’s their purpose? According to Landrieu (former Louisiana senator whose brother just happens to be a senior adviser and infrastructure coordinator at the White House), it’s nothing uncouth like “lobbying for any federal or state or local policy” but instead “just touting the science and the benefits of this really remarkable asset.” 

Oh! What a relief! It’s not like a gas industry front group has hired Mary Landrieu to lobby Mitch Landrieu or anything, Mary said, because “as our siblings will tell you, my influence with my younger brother is limited now and has been since he was about five years old!” 

Oh my! What a charming and amusing response! How silly of anyone to believe that someone might be hired for their ability to contact and lobby a federal official through personal communication channels and family gatherings that therefore aren’t subject to public transparency laws! Who could be so jaded and cynical as to think that, when lil bro’s been a real stinker since he was just a wee scamp!

As for former North Dakota senator Heitkamp, who’s now also a lobbyist at a firm with Trump toadie Mick Mulvaney, that counts astroturf-beneficiaries SoCalGas-Sempra Energy among its clients? 

She told Frazin their aim is “changing hearts and minds of people in the climate movement” to build support for gas, which would require overturning decades of science meticulously detailing the public health, environmental and climate impacts of gas. For example, most recently, that living downwind of fracking sites is linked to older people dying sooner. Gonna be hard to soften hearts to an industry that’s killing grandma, but if COVID-19 has taught us anything, it should be that lots of people are apparently in the mood for some good ol’ human sacrifice. 

Heitkamp, like Cramer, shows how people funded by fossil fuels are desperately trying to get you to believe that the primary cause of climate change (burning fossil fuels) is somehow also a solution. 

Unlike NPR’s headline editor, apparently hungry to embarrass his reporter for clicks, you certainly know better than to give it any credence. 

Right?

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 ($)