FIRST LOOK(s)

HBCUs Targeted With Bomb Threats: Spelman College in Atlanta received a bomb threat early this monring, one day after at least six historically Black colleges and universities were forced into lockdown by similar bomb threats. This is the second time in less than a month that multiple HBCUs were concurrently targeted. Southern University and A&M (Baton Rouge), Howard University (Washington DC), Bethune-Cookman University (Daytona, FL), Albany State University (Georgia), Bowie State University (Maryland), and Delaware State University (Dover) all received threats. No explosives were discovered. The previous threats were made on January 5, the day before the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection, and six of the seven threats in the most recent set were made the day before the first day of Black History Month. (Spelman: CBS46, FOX5, 11Alive; Monday threats: (The Root, The Grio, Black Wall Street Times, CNN, Charlotte Observer, Washington Post $, ABC, The Guardian, BuzzFeed, The Independent; Albany State: 11Alive; Delaware State: DPM, WDEL, WRDE; Southern: WBRZ, KSLA, The Advocate; Bethune-Cookman: WMFE; Howard & Bowie State: WTOP, WUSA)

Black Communities At Disproportionately Increasing Flood Risk: Increasing flood risk driven by human-caused climate change will disproportionately harm Black communities in the South, new research published in Nature Climate Change finds. According to the study, Appalachia and the Northeast currently have higher flood risks, and flood damage will increase by more than 26% nationwide in the next 30 years. “Poorer, Whiter communities bear that historical flood risk, but the people that are bearing a disproportionate burden of those new risks are typically Black communities across the Southeast,” Oliver Wing, the study’s lead author, told the Washington Post. (NPR, Washington Post $, NBC, The Conversation; Climate Signals background: Flooding)

Oil And Gas Investments Could Lead To $500B In Stranded Assets – Report: Oil and gas companies seeking to cash in on recently-rising prices risk losing billions later in the decade, a new analysis from Carbon Tracker says. While some oil and gas firms are looking to capitalize on recent oil and gas price hikes, decisions made on short term price signals could result in about $500 billion in stranded assets as the energy transition accelerates, according to the analysis. (Report: E&E $, Earther; Recent activity: Houston Chronicle, Reuters)

White House Announces First Round Of Orphaned Wells Cleanup Funding: The White House announced Monday it will make $1.15 billion available to states for cleaning up orphaned oil and gas wells. So-called because they have been abandoned by unknown or insolvent owners and operators, orphaned wells emit large amounts of methane, a planet-heating gas more than 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20 year timespan, and other pollutants into the atmosphere and surrounding soil. The $1.15 billion is the first disbursement of the $4.7 billion approved in last fall's bipartisan infrastructure package. (Washington Post $, Politico Pro $, Reuters)

EPA To Bring Back Co-Benefits Calculations: The Biden administration announced Monday it will reinstate EPA regulations governing how benefits of air pollution reductions are calculated. The move undoes one effort by the previous administration to undermine environmental protections, and is a first step toward potentially tightening limits on mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants. Under the reinstated rule, the EPA could consider the collateral benefits (like reducing PM2.5 emissions) of a proposed regulation (reducing mercury pollution) when assessing its costs and benefits. (Washington Post $, E&E News, New York Times $)

Burst Pipeline Dumps Crude Oil In Ecuadorian Amazon: A ruptured Ecuadorian pipeline dumped heavy crude oil in a protected area in the country's Amazon rainforest. The privately-owned pipeline operator OCP Ecuador said it stopped pumping crude oil through the broken pipeline, but Indigenous organizations like CONFENIAE said communities were already being affected, including the Kichwa community of Panduyaku in the province of Sucumbíos (via Google Translate). The pipeline break, caused by falling rock, is in the same location as a 2020 rupture that spilled more than 15,000 barrels of crude oil. (Reuters, NBC, Democracy Now, Deutsche Welle, Reuters, The Real News, GK.city (es), Al Jazeera, Vice; 2020 spill: Mongabay (es))

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: US pushes for better tap water but must win over wary public (AP)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Stalled 'Build Back Better' package threatens US climate influence (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

FOSSIL GEOPOLITICS: Biden's Russia problem reveals political landmines in energy policy (Politico Pro $), Can the US find enough natural gas sources to neutralize Russia’s energy leverage over Europe? (The Conversation), OPEC, war drums to drive oil prices this week (Houston Chronicle), War in Ukraine could be a windfall for energy giants—thanks to Congress (New Republic)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Alaska kids' climate case rejected by state Supreme Court (E&E $)

VERY COOL: Home generator sales are booming with mass outages, climate change and COVID (NPR)

TEXAS: Texas deep freeze this week will bring a fresh test to the power grid (Bloomberg $), The cost of dealing with Permian earthquakes (Houston Chronicle)

OLYMPICS: Fat Tire beer urges Olympic sponsors to prioritize climate action (AdAge)

SCOTUS: EPA, Supreme Court jockey to define Clean Water Act’s reach (E&E News), Senate prepares for Biden’s Supreme Court nominee (E&E News), Critics say Ginni Thomas's activism is a Supreme Court conflict. Under court rules, only her husband can decide if that’s true. (Washington Post $)

AGENCIES: HUD prioritizes environment, economic equity in bloc grants (AP), Raimondo: Manchin 'gettable' on revised Build Back Better plan (Politico)

DOI: The nuanced yet far-reaching oil leasing ruling (Axios)

THE HILL: 4 issues to watch as Congress returns (E&E News), As crypto floods Texas, high energy use draws scrutiny from Congress (Houston Chronicle)

HOUSE: House Democrats pivot to economy in search of next legislative win (Politico Pro $), International climate funding fight hangs over China bill (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: New John Kerry adviser has clean energy, venture capital ties (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: 9th Circuit's Hurwitz to leave active service, giving Biden new vacancy (Reuters), Committees to question Biden budget office nominee [Shalanda Young] (E&E $), Senate panel calls up Interior nominee for 2nd hearing (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: N.Y. utilities: FERC delays could jeopardize gas system (E&E News), 4 climate issues NYC will face this year (New York Times $)

CALIFORNIA: California weighs help for oil workers in green future (E&E News), Is there hope of finding middle ground on California’s rooftop solar policy? (Canary Media), Los Angeles is building a future where water won’t run out (Bloomberg $), University of California sues 8minute solar, seeking $1.22 billion (Wall Street Journal $)

FERC: Con Edison, KeySpan urge FERC to ignore EPA call to pause natural gas project reviews (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: Climate change may be supercharging Northeast snowstorms (Axios), Epic week of snow: high plains hammered, Northeast nailed (Yale Climate Connections), A town that saved a mountain, and a mountain that saved a town (New York Times $)

HEAT HUMIDITY: Measuring climate change: It’s not just heat, it’s humidity (AP)

DROUGHT: Millions at risk as drought threatens the Horn of Africa (AP)

FLOODING: Safety app for drivers debuts in flood-plagued Virginia city (AP)

WATER: Reclamation turns on tap for drought resilience projects (E&E $)

TREES: Global count estimates Earth has 73,000 tree species – 14% more than reported (The Guardian, Reuters)

RENEWABLES: NextEnergy Capital raises record $896 mln for solar infrastructure fund (Reuters)

NUKES: Can nuclear fusion power the race to net zero? (Energy Monitor)

OIL & GAS: Exxon locked workers out of their jobs. Can workers lock Exxon out of a carbon capture deal? (Grist)

COAL: European gas demand seen falling this year due to cheaper coal-IEA (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Breakthroughs in generation and system integration are driving the utility of the future, analysts say (Utility Dive), Green Mountain Power's bid to extend home storage programs meets tax credit snafu (Utility Dive), MGE looks to buy share in gas plant, says fuel switch will speed carbon reduction (Wisconsin State Journal)

GRID: Studies map how climate change will disrupt the Western grid (E&E $)

EVs: BYD presents next electric school bus doubling as energy source - electrive.com (Electrive), The US lags in the race to build an electric vehicle battery industry (Yale Climate Connections)

ACTIVISM: Meet the next generation of climate influencers (E&E News), Student walkouts over COVID are sweeping the country (Teen Vogue)

AVIATION: Turkey opens laboratory to grow algae for jet fuel, in EU-backed clean aviation push (Climate Home)

BOOKS: In 'Goliath,' only the rich and white can escape to space as the earth collapses (NPR)

CARBON PRICING: Global carbon markets value surged to record $851 bln last year-Refinitiv (Reuters)

CARBON REMOVAL: Exxon-backed carbon removal firm looks for new leader (E&E $), Researcher floats pairing offshore wind with carbon removal tech (Axios)

CARBON CAPTURE: CCS in the Gulf: Climate solution or green washing? (E&E News)

FINANCE: BlackRock tallied its climate impact. Here’s what it found (E&E News), Euroclear teams up with fintech to expand ESG services (Reuters), Great Lakes platform helps connect green investors with regional projects (Energy News Network)

WILDLIFE: Beavers are flooding the warming Alaskan arctic, threatening fish, water and Indigenous traditions (InsideClimate News), Parasites that thrive in a warming planet are killing Minnesota’s moose (Vox)

INTERNATIONAL: EU auditor: Fossil fuels get more tax breaks than renewables (AP), Fossil fuel subsidies to face tighter EU scrutiny (Reuters), Amnesty joins rights groups in accusing Israel of apartheid (AP, CNN, BBC)

• The latest bad idea: Huber Mill near Leech Lake Reservation (MinnPost, Winona LaDuke op-ed)
• Stop asking when California’s drought will be over. Dry winters are the new normal (Fresno Bee, Marek Warszawski op-ed)
• Big business will not save us from itself (New York Times, Kim Phillips-Fein op-ed $)
• Meet the people getting paid to kill our planet (New York Times, Kirk Semple, Adam Westbrook and Jonah M. Kessel video and essay $)
• Not perfect, just better (Atmos, Yessenia Funes essay)
• Both GOP and Democratic party want us to surrender to COVID for capitalism (Truthout, Danny Katch op-ed)
• Highway funding bait-and-switch (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• The Pittsburgh bridge collapse and the infrastructure bill (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• I tried to add EV chargers to my rental property. Here’s what happened. (Canary Media, Andrew Campbell op-ed)
• Congrats, you’ve won a higher electric bill! (Wall Street Journal, James Hanley op-ed $)
• WTF RFK Jr.? (Environmental Health News, Peter Dykstra column)

Bryce Alters Quote to Allege Sierra Club Hypocrisy on Right Whales and Offshore Wind

Robert Bryce, once quite shy about his fossil fuel funding, has a rich history of exploiting animal deaths to attack wind power, as we have noted at length over the years. For example back in 2015 he was using astroturfed NIMBY protests to paint Vermont’s 70% support for wind and renewables as widespread opposition. In 2016, he lived up to our predictions and used the WSJ as part of his campaign to break wind, and then was caught exaggerating blatantly lying about the cost of wind subsidies by a factor of 750. In more recent years, he’s been publishing his Koch-friendly takes at Koch-funded RealClear.  

The latest is impressive, in that Bryce continues to find new ways to be dishonest in his attacks on renewables. It’s framed as a “gotcha” that, surmises the headline, “the Sierra Club loves wind turbines, not whales.”

This example of Bryce’s career spent lobbying against renewable energy is predicated on the Vineyard Wind project, a major offshore wind proposal off Massachusetts. For some reason that definitely isn’t its dirty energy industry funding, the dirty energy industry-funded Texas Public Policy Foundation is working with local fishing industry interests to block the wind project, as Molly Taft reported late last year. 

One of their tactics is to claim that the North Atlantic right whale will be negatively impacted by the offshore wind farm, and this is Bryce’s focus. He quotes a three lengthy paragraphs about the need to protect the right whales, then reveals that it’s from the Sierra Club, who “has not filed any lawsuits against Vineyard Wind even though that project will be situated atop a known right whale habitat.” 

It seems like an example of hypocrisy, weak though it may be, but we noticed the excerpt Bryce posted from the Sierra Club’s website had an ellipses indicating he’d removed some of the text. Normally that’s reasonable, but here it seemed odd because it was already a very lengthy block quote that made up about a quarter of the entire op-ed, so why the edit here? 

Bryce presents readers with this as the third paragraph of his Sierra Club excerpt: 

Although the ban [on hunting right whales] has allowed the population to recover slightly, the whale is still in grave danger of extinction from humans. A significant portion of North Atlantic right whale deaths are due to human activities; . . . . Because the North Atlantic right whale has such a small population and a low annual reproductive rate, a single whale death can have a significant negative impact on the species’ ability to recover. However, this also works in the other direction: preventing a single whale death can increase the chance of recovery.”

So what did Bryce edit out of the quote to make room in his op-ed about how the Sierra Club is failing to side with the fishing industry to protect right whales? 

Not just the end to that sentence (that “from 1970 to 2006, almost half of all deaths were anthropogenic.”) but the entire end of that paragraph, another six sentences!

Sentences which happen to explain in detail that “the two leading causes of death are ship strikes and fishing gear entanglement, as the habitat of the species overlaps with busy shipping lanes and high use fishing areas.” 

Oh! So it turns out that the fishing and shipping industries are responsible for killing right whales! So putting up wind turbines that might keep boats out (which is not necessarily even the case) would actually protect the whales from getting caught in the fishing nets that float expansively across the water. 

Bryce didn’t just use the “...” to clip an extraneous aside. Instead, he removed multiple sentences about how fishing lines and ships were the primary cause of death for right whales, and then stitched two paragraphs from the Club’s website together as though they were one. 

Turns out debunking Bryce’s disinformation, and proving it is intentional, is not even as complicated as having to compare the species-extinction-level eventuality of warming and acidifying oceans as a result of unchecked fossil fuel use with the local construction impacts of wind turbines, or a discussion about how fossil fuel exploration involves sonic booms that explode marine animals' ears to make some comparison between the pros and cons of different sources of offshore energy development. (Not that it would be hard to do, given that “oil spill” is a thing and “wind spill” is not.)

It’s much easier than all that, though. The only thing you have to do to find out that Robert Bryce is intentionally lying is actually bother to read the source Bryce cites. 

Which should also tell you plenty about RealClear, too. 

[Relevant to the subject matter: Hot News heartily endorses "Into the Deep: America, Whaling & the World" from PBS. The analogues between the evermore extreme hunts for whales and profit and the disregard for the industry's impacts will no doubt be readily apparent to readers of this newsletter.]

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