FIRST LOOK: 

FEMA Failing To Account Form Racism, Climate Change: The Federal Emergency Management Agency's failure to account for systemic racism and climate change is compounding the harm caused by those interconnected phenomena, Prism reports. FEMA, tasked with preparing for and responding to major floods and other disasters, also administers the National Flood Insurance Program. Centuries of segregation and economic inequality shoehorned Black Americans into living in neighborhoods more vulnerable to climate change — in part because flood zones were the only places formerly enslaved Black residents could find safety. This racism was then enshrined in public policy through redlining during the Great Depression and historically redlined neighborhoods are now 25% more likely to flood and Black residents currently have a 10% higher risk of living in an area at risk for flooding. Federal problems combine with local politics as real estate developers are allowed to build in flood plains without disclosing risks to buyers and well-resourced (whiter) communities are able to elbow their way to the front of the line for post-disaster aid. All of these failings combine to force impacted communities to work together despite the dearth of outside assistance. Contrary to white man savior narratives often perpetuated after disasters, “Generally, the heroes in the story are also residents from that town who are also Black and brown,” said Newark's Nicole Miller. (Prism Reports)

Malarial Mosquitos' Territory Expands As Climate Warms: The mosquitos carrying malaria, one of the world's most devastating diseases, are flying farther from the equator, and to higher elevations, as climate change increases temperatures around the world, a new study in Biology Letters finds. Using data from as far back as 1898, Georgetown University researchers found the mosquitos that carry malaria, generally considered a tropical disease, have ranged 2.9 miles farther from the equator and more than 21 feet higher in elevation every year since then. Malaria has also killed hundreds of people in Pakistan since widespread flooding submerged a third of the country last summer. Climate change is already exacerbating the impacts of infectious diseases more broadly. “If this were random, and if it were unrelated to climate, it wouldn’t look as cleanly climate-linked,” lead author of the study Colin Carlson told the New York Times. (New York Times $, Washington Post $)

Antarctic Sea Ice At Lowest Recorded Levels, Again; Thwaites Glacier's Weak Spots Getting Weaker: For the second year in a row there is less sea ice surrounding Antarctica than has ever been recorded before, scientists said Tuesday, and more is expected to be lost before the antarctic summer draws to a close. “This will not just be a ‘barely made it’ record, it is looking like it will be another substantial jump downward on top of last year’s record,” Ted Scambos, a sea ice and glaciers expert at UC-Boulder, told the Washington Post. That news comes as new data collected by pencil-like undersea robot show rapidly heating oceans are undercutting the Thwaites Glacier, leaving it more vulnerable to cracking and eventually accelerating global sea level rise. Known as the "doomsday glacier" the Thwaites Glacier holds sufficient water to cause multiple feet of sea level rise and is especially vulnerable because it rests on the seabed and can thus be melted from underneath. “The warm water is getting into the weak spots of the glacier, and kind of making everything worse,” lead researcher Britney Schmidt told the Washington Post. “It shouldn’t be like that,” Schmidt added. “That’s not what the system would look like if it wasn’t being forced by climate change.” (Sea ice: Washington Post $, The Guardian; Thwaites Glacier: (Washington Post $, New York Times $, AP, Reuters; Climate Signals background: Glacier and ice sheet melt, Sea level rise)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Lewis Hamilton plans to continue speaking out after formula 1 bans 'political' or 'personal' statements and comments (Blavity, Black Wall Street Times, CNN, ESPN, The Guardian, AP, BBC, Sports Illustrated), Lewis Hamilton is not here for this (Jalopnik)

COP28: UAE's Jaber says keeping 1.5 Celsius goal 'alive' is top priority for COP28 (Reuters)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Germany's LNG import project plans (Reuters, Factbox), Good time to lower oil price cap, central banker says (Politico Pro $), Europe is guzzling US crude oil (Wall Street Journal $)

9:37 🚂 TO THE PETROCHEMICAL DYSTOPIA: ‘This is absurd’: Train cars that derailed in Ohio were labeled non-hazardous (Grist), Ohio's toxic train disaster follows ‘perfect storm’ of cuts, deregulation (HuffPost), EPA's Regan to visit Ohio derailment as lawsuits mount (E&E $), Ohio train derailment latest: Residents attempt home cleanups, EPA removes soil (Gizmodo, AP, The Hill), Congress wants answers on Ohio train derailment (E&E $), DeWine blames Ohio rail company for chemical spill: 'They should pay' (Politico), How dangerous was the Ohio chemical train derailment? An environmental engineer assesses the long-term risks (The Conversation), Pa. governor accuses train company of mishandling Ohio derailment (Washington Post $), What’s known about the toxic plume from the Ohio train derailment (Washington Post $)

• ARIZONA: Hazmat spill on Arizona highway spurs evacuation, shelter-in-place orders (The Hill, HuffPost), ‘Extended closure’ expected after deadly Arizona crash, leak (AP), Arizona interstate reopens after deadly crash, leak (AP)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Kids tell Canadian court not to sit out climate fight (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: At Bahamas summit, Caribbean leaders to seek international push on Haiti (Reuters), Poor nations seek to go green with debt swaps (Context, explainer), Study: IPCC asks emerging countries to drop coal faster than rich nations did (Climate Home), The United Nations says Denmark and Greenland must address colonialism (Grist)

MEDIA: Nearly 200 New York Times contributors are denouncing the paper’s anti-trans coverage (Vanity Fair, Nieman Lab, NPR, Buzzfeed, Them, Daily Beast, Rolling Stone, Forbes, Deadline, Hollywood Reporter, New York Daily News, NBC, New York Post, HuffPost, The Wrap, The Hill)

WORLD BANK: Criticized for climate stances, World Bank president will step down (Washington Post $, New York Times $, Politico Pro $, Reuters, Axios)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: German FinMin: Excessive subsidies wrong answer to Inflation Reduction Act (Reuters)

AGENCIES: Biden administration releases first-ever report on diversity in federal government (The 19th* News)

EPA: Enviros press EPA to flunk Permian Basin for ozone (E&E $), EPA declined to challenge federal utility on new gas plant (AP), US EPA sets soot pollution rule, energy companies warn of costs (Reuters), EPA draft: US greenhouse gas emissions saw record single-year spike in 2021 (The Hill, E&E $, Politico Pro $)

• $27 BILLION: EPA announces $27 billion effort to curb emissions and stem environmental injustices. advocates say it’s a good start (Inside Climate News, Utility Dive), EPA climate fund may not be a green bank after all (E&E News)

DOE: DOE names 17 officials to advance clean energy (E&E $)

DOI: NPS shuts down largest homeless encampment in D.C. (E&E $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Meet Biden’s new economic, CEQ, USDA picks (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: New electric vehicle charging standards force Tesla to change its ways (Gizmodo, Reuters, AP, The Hill, Politico Pro $, E&E News, Utility Dive, Wall Street Journal $, Axios, New York Times $, Canary Media), Biden: EV charging stations build ‘little tiny communities’ (E&E $), 

THE HILL: Divided government threatens to clip wings of Congress' China hawks (Politico Pro $), The 2023 Farm Bill should be a climate bill, Democrats say (Washington Post $)

HOUSE: GOP looks to move energy package next month (The Hill), House Agriculture Committee hears climate-related pleas (E&E $)

SENATE: Feinstein will leave a vast environmental legacy (E&E News), Manchin on EV deal: ‘Ford has serious questions to answer’ (E&E News), Murkowski: President Biden 'better not' kill oil project (E&E $), Senate appropriators finalize committee roster (Politico Pro $)

ELECTIONS: Haley pledges oil and gas boost in presidential bid (E&E $), Nikki Haley wants to address climate change not by reducing carbon, but capturing it (Washington Post $)

TRIBES: Mono Lake Tribe seeks to assert its water rights in call for emergency halt of water diversions to Los Angeles (Inside Climate News), Environmental groups and Native leaders say proposed venting and flaring rule falls short (Inside Climate News), Climate change takes toll on traditional Ojibwe wild rice harvest (Yale Climate Connections)

CITIES AND STATES: A new force for climate bills on Beacon Hill: The New England Aquarium (Boston Globe $), Alaska carbon plan: Boost state coffers without cutting oil (AP), Houston electric providers are sweetening their incentives to EV owners as cars rise in popularity (Houston Chronicle), Red states bet on 5th Circuit to take down Biden agenda (E&E News), West Virginia Senate OKs $105M for iron-air battery plant (AP)

• NEW JERSEY: New Jersey governor to set leading clean power target and follow California ban on gas-powered cars (Politico Pro $), New Jersey moves up 100% clean power goals to 2035 (Reuters)  
• VIRGINIA: Virginia Senate panel defeats final bill to repeal vehicle emissions standard (The Hill), Youngkin opposes effort to shield menstrual data from law enforcement (Washington Post $)
• CALIFORNIA: Calif. clean truck mandate may kick in early (E&E $), California debates what to do with water from recent storms (AP)

IMPACTS: California’s snowpack is melting faster than ever before, leaving less available water (LA Times $), Million of Americans are fleeing their homes because of extreme weather (CBS), Waters off New England had 2nd warmest year on record in ’22 (AP), World’s largest skating rink on thin ice as Canada’s warm winter prevents opening (The Guardian), 2°C target won’t stop ‘runaway’ sea-level rise (E&E News), New Zealand, battered by a record storm, faces a painful cleanup (New York Times $), Rising seas risk climate migration on ‘biblical scale,’ says UN chief (Washington Post $), Will global warming make temperature less deadly? (Washington Post $)

EAST AFRICA: Rise in Horn of Africa migration a worry, says UN official (AP)

WILDFIRES: California’s lower-income communities enduring more frequent wildfires: study (The Hill), Wildfire damage prompts calls for funding water system (AP)

HURRICANES: Hurricanes Ian and Nicole left devastating flooding in central Florida. Will it happen again? (Inside Climate News)

DROUGHT: California lost more than 36 million trees in the last year alone (NPR), Study: Don’t blame climate change for South American drought (AP, New York Times $)

WATER: Poll: Western voters uneasy about dwindling water supplies (E&E $), Where’s the end of Hawaii’s water crisis? (Atmos)

DEFORESTATION: A third of companies linked to deforestation have no policy to end it (The Guardian)

MED SCHOOL: How Harvard will teach future doctors about climate (Grist)

RENEWABLES: Across the country, a big backlash to new renewables is mounting (Minnesota Reformer), After a profitable year, some oil companies are slowing their pivot to renewables (NPR), BP enters South Korea's offshore wind sector (Reuters), D.C. Circuit hands win to solar in PURPA fight (E&E $), These companies are making solar cells out of fake Moon dirt (The Verge)

BUILDINGS: How heat pumps of the 1800s are becoming the technology of the future (Yale Climate Connections), 6 ways to make your home more energy efficient (New York Times $)

LNG: 4 things to know as Freeport LNG resumes operations 8 months after blast (Houston Chronicle)

OIL & GAS: Booming oil exports boost US role as global price maker (Wall Street Journal $)

PIPELINES: Iowa regulators won't require safety data for CO2 pipeline (E&E $)

COAL: Canary in a (lignite) coal mine: How Lützerath became a symbol for Germany's addiction to coal (Energy Monitor)

NUKES: Why permitting debate may go nuclear (E&E News)

UTILITIES: Exelon bumps 4-year capital spending plan up to $31.3B, expects 8% annual rate base growth (Utility Dive), Fire safety lags growth in utility-scale battery production, Duke Energy, other officials say (Utility Dive), FirstEnergy: Electricity rates 10%-40% below peers will buffer customers from $18B in capital spending (Utility Dive), New England's largest utility signals exit from offshore wind (E&E $)

GRID: CPower, Voltus see thaw in MISO state opposition to aggregated demand response (Utility Dive)

EVs: Bring on the boring EVs (The Atlantic), America’s EV heartland struggles with increased power outages (The Hill), Ford says battery fire behind Lightning production pause (Wall Street Journal $)

AGRICULTURE: Fruit flies are spreading across US crops. The government’s outdated approach isn’t helping (TIME)

TV: Enjoy a century of climate change in the trailer for Apple’s star-studded Extrapolations (AV Club)

MOVIES: Atomic Hope review – a powerful case for pressing the nuclear power button (The Guardian), Finite: The Climate of Change review – powerful case against climate crisis fatigue (The Guardian)

BUSINESSES: IKEA says shrinks climate footprint with help from new light bulbs (Reuters), Itochu to supply renewable energy to Meta in US, Amazon in Japan (Reuters)

CARBON CAPTURE: Moniz-led group outlines CCS fixes (E&E $)

FINANCE: Barclays tightens lending for dirtiest fossil fuels (Reuters)

GRETA: Where Greta Thunberg does (and doesn't) expect to see action on climate change (NPR)

WILDLIFE: Plants must migrate to survive climate change. But they need our help (TIME)

INTERNATIONAL: Can Colombia's green businesses beat drugs and deforestation? (Context), France tears down beach apartment block as rising sea bites (Reuters), Israel’s new environment minister shouted off stage at climate summit: ‘Shame!’ (HuffPost), Sri Lanka, India to sign power grid linking pact within two months - envoy (Reuters), Supply chain, red tape biggest problems for European green projects, says RWE CEO (Reuters)

• Europe turned an energy crisis into a green energy sprint (New York Times, David Wallace-Wells column $)
• Carbon credits won't solve the climate crisis, but they can fund nature (Context, Fran Pricen and Manuel Pulgar Vidal op-ed)
• When a home is not a sanctuary but a sickening, expensive trap (Environmental Health News, Gabriel Gadsden op-ed)
• It’s 60 degrees in February. This is what climate change looks like (Bloomberg, Mark Gongloff op-ed $)

Breitbart Turns A Coal Failure Into Warning For California's Renewable Energy Aims

Last week, the Financial Times reported South Africa’s coal-dependent power grid is regularly failing to meet demand, requiring rolling blackouts to the extent of requiring an official declaration of a national state of disaster. The country's power monopoly Eskom "has had to cut off swaths of customers for up to 10 hours per day in recent months in order to prevent the accelerating collapse of ageing coal power plants, the mainstay of South Africa’s power network, turning into a total grid breakdown." 

When we saw this, we knew it was only a matter of time before some disinfo dork misled their audience by using coal's failure in South Africa to attack renewables, much like what happened when coal and gas failures in Texas spurred 2021's "frozen windmill" disinfo spree.

South Africa 'is reliant on coal for 80% of its power generation, so there's no honest way anyone could blame renewables, but that still leaves plenty of dishonest ways to do it.

On Monday, Breitbart published a column by Joel Pollak demonstrating one such option, warning that "California is in danger of becoming the next South Africa." 

How many times does Pollak tell readers that South Africa's failing grid is run by coal? Zero. Instead, he compares "California's 'green' fiasco" of pursuing renewable energy to the fact that South Africa's “priority is “transformation” — the idea that all of the country’s institutions should reflect the demographics of the nation as a whole, as a way of redressing the discrimination of the apartheid past.”

While Pollak attempts to dodge accusations that his writing is transparently racist by mentioning that "there are some good intentions behind the policy, in theory," he immediately goes on to claim that South Africa’s efforts to right the wrongs of apartheid have "been used to justify ruling-party corruption that has robbed South Africa of its assets and destroyed its infrastructure." Which would mean that the issue is actually corruption, which is certainly not unique to policies meant to address systemic racism, so…why bring that up at all? 

In a wildly racist demonstration of his ignorance of the true horrors of apartheid (in addition to the history of racist, extractive colonialism, which has been robbing South Africa of its assets for centuries), Pollak wrote the "transformation" agenda "has left the vast majority of black people worse off than they had been before." 

This kind of heinous coverage is shockingly routine for Breitbart, which has a neo-nazi-drafted style guide and constantly pushes the false conspiracy theory about terrorism targeting white farmers in South Africa. 

In keeping with what is apparently Breitbart editorial policy, Pollack decided that South Africa's fossil fuel dependence is a warning for California's efforts to move off of fossil fuels because the state's "utopian fight against 'climate change'" has similarly been "abused by rent-seeking interest groups." 

Pollack claims, without evidence of course, that "solar and wind power are simply unable to meet demand," in this story premised on coal being unable to meet demand. 

We'd say you can't make this stuff up, but apparently you can, because they did!

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