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Sea Levels Rising At Fastest Rate Since Before Foundation Of Sparta: U.S. coasts will be inundated by one foot of sea level rise over the next 28 years, according to a report released Tuesday by NOAA and other federal agencies. Sea levels, driven higher by climate change primarily caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, are rising faster than at any point in the last 3,000 years and will rise as much in the next three decades as they have over the past century. Higher sea levels means a further, dramatic increase in high tide flooding, storm and wastewater systems unable to cope with the influx of seawater, crop fields sterilized by saltwater inundation, and septic systems overwhelmed by higher water tables — not to mention increased vulnerability to hurricanes and tropical storms. The predicted sea level rise will make some areas effectively uninhabitable with about 140,000 homes at risk of twice-a-month flooding. “We can see this freight train coming from more than a mile away,” Andrea Dutton, a University of Wisconsin-Madison geoscientist, told the AP. “The question is whether we continue to let houses slide into the ocean.” (AP, Washington Post $, E&E News, Axios, NPR, Reuters, CNN, Politico, The Hill, Wall Street Journal $; Sea level rise explainer: The Conversation; Climate Signals background: Sea level rise)

British Columbia Flooding Made More Likely By Climate Change: A Canadian government report found climate change "contributed substantially" to the catastrophic flooding across British Columbia set off by torrential rains from an atmospheric river last November. “The chance this kind of flood will happen has increased by 100 to 300% due to human influence,” Xuebin Zhang, a senior research scientist with Environment and Climate Change Canada, told Canada’s National Observer. At least five people (and hundreds of thousands of livestock) were killed, 15,000 people were stranded and evacuated, and one drained prairie became a lake again, in Canada's most expensive extreme weather disaster in history. (National Observer, Canadian Press; Climate Signals background: Climate signals background: Flooding, Extreme precipitation increase, Wildfires)

Fossil State Lawmakers Seek To Punish Firms For Planning For Climate Change: Legislators in multiple fossil fuel-producing states are seeking to prohibit state entities from investing in or doing business with firms that account for climate change in their own risk assessments or are moving to remove fossil fuels from their investment portfolios, Politico reports. At least some of the state bills are backed by fossil-fuel backed, and climate science-denying, outside groups including ALEC, the Texas Public Policy Foundation and the Heartland Institute. The legislation could expose state assets and pension funds to climate risks, while also creating a chaotic patchwork of regulation for asset managers, all while the federal regulators at the SEC and Federal Reserve are creating guidelines for firms' disclosure of climate risk. (Politico)

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM: White House takes aim at environmental racism, but won’t mention race (New York Times $)

HOUSING (IN)JUSTICE: Homeless youth and children are wildly undercounted, advocates say. (NPR), judge denies dismissal of central California homeless suit (AP)

KING CORN: How corn ethanol for biofuel fed climate change (Civil Eats), US corn-based ethanol worse for the climate than gasoline, study finds (Reuters)

FINANCE: Private equity’s dirty dozen: the 12 US firms funding dirty energy projects (The Guardian), banks gave more than $1.5 trillion to coal sector in 2019-2021, NGOs say (Reuters)

US EMISSIONS: EPA says US met Obama-era climate pledge (E&E News, Politico Pro $)

INDUSTRY AND MANUFACTURING: Biden presses industry, a climate laggard, to decarbonize (E&E News), Biden administration rolls out effort to curb industrial greenhouse gas emissions (Yahoo), Biden administration announces green manufacturing push (The Hill), Biden administration could finally define what ‘clean’ manufacturing is (Grist), Biden administration promises to buy ‘clean’ industrial materials (New York Times $), Biden administration unveils plan to spur carbon cuts in heavy industries (Axios), Biden to launch 'Buy Clean' US government task force (Reuters), White House issues clean manufacturing initiatives (Politico Pro $)

MEDIA: AP adds 20 positions to new climate desk (Axios, The Hill), Climate grant illustrates growth in philanthropy-funded news (AP)

CLEAVAGE OF HUMANITY AND NATURE: Conservation has a human rights problem. Can the new UN biodiversity plan solve it? (Inside Climate News)

ENERGY GEOPOLITICS: Europe’s next climate challenge: getting off Russian gas (Grist), How a Ukraine conflict could reshape Europe’s reliance on Russia (New York Times $), how Texas is rescuing Europe from the Russians (Texas Monthly), Ukraine tensions drive gas prices to their highest level in years (CBS), European attempts to replace Russian gas by LNG risk sparking gas crisis in Asia, Russia's Novak says (Reuters)

OLYMPICS: Sha’Carri Richardson calls out double standard in Olympic doping case: ‘Only difference is I’m a Black young lady’ (The Grio, The Root, NewsOne, Blavity, Teen Vogue, NPR, Yahoo, Reuters)

EVs: The EV boom is being fueled by underpaid, underfed cobalt miners (The Verge), Tesla, Uber trade group urges USPS to abandon gas cars (E&E $)

• THE BIG GAME: GM's Dr. Evil Super Bowl commercial is a little too literal (Gizmodo)

SCOTUS: How Ketanji Brown Jackson’s pursuit of success as a lawyer and parent got her a potential Supreme Court nod (The 19th* News)

AGENCIES: Regulators pushed to examine corporate offset use (Axios)

EPA: EPA responds after HuffPost investigates Gulf chemical dump: nothing to see here (HuffPost), Sources: Biden to restore Calif. Clean Air Act waiver for cars (E&E $)

DOE: Biden looks to extract critical minerals from coal waste, to aid clean energy goals (Houston Chronicle, E&E $), DOE to offer $3 billion to boost battery production, recycling (Utility Dive), Republicans demand documents on Granholm stock trades (E&E $)

DOI: Senior BLM official won’t testify in whistleblower case (E&E News), top environmental groups call on Biden to protect mature trees and forests on federal lands from logging (Washington Post $), what BLM’s new leader means for oil and gas (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: White House CCS guidance exposes environmental justice rifts (E&E News), Biden takes half-steps on electric vehicles (AP Fact Check)

THE HILL: Republicans deploy old and new tactics against EJ bill (E&E News), After cracking down on racial justice protests, Republicans cheer Canadian truckers (HuffPost), dozens of lawmakers press Biden to prioritize appliance efficiency standard updates (Utility Dive)

HOUSE: Big changes coming to Energy and Commerce next year (E&E News), George Clooney to produce series about Ohio State scandal that allegedly involved Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan (CityBeat)

POLITICS: One in four US Democrats say their own party failed to make use of its power (Reuters)

ELECTIONS: Rising GOP star faces climate attack in Texas race (E&E $), these Black candidates are aiming to make Black history in 2022 midterm elections (The Grio), why Ore. Dems are turning their backs on green candidate (E&E News)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: GOP senators to block vote on Biden Fed picks (The Hill, Reuters, Reuters explainer), two key Senate Democrats [Jon Tester and Mark Warner] plan to vote for all of Biden's Fed nominees (Reuters), what's next for Fed after Senate vote on Biden's nominees delayed (Reuters explainer)

CITIES AND STATES: Supporters of battling climate change rally in Annapolis (AP), Santa Fe Mayor addresses city’s climate change issues (NBC), transportation advocates want [New York] gas tax to help fund mass transit (Politico Pro $)

• CALIFORNIA: A California county moves to protect children from lead poisoning — but some aren’t ready for the solution (Grist), Calif. lawmakers aim to bolster climate education (E&E $), California sets home, community standards to lower fire risk (AP), saved pollution credits may hinder California climate goals (AP)

FERC: New faces on a vital national commission could help speed a clean energy transition (Inside Climate News)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: New policy group will focus on climate and trade (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Antarctica is heating up and these plants are absolutely thriving (Gizmodo), how incarcerated people face increasing threat of fires, floods & extreme heat (Democracy Now)

IMPACTS' IMPACTS: Climate migration fuels conflicts in Bay of Bengal region (Thomson Reuters Foundation), tackling climate change includes seeking equitable mental health care (Yale Climate Connections)

EXTREME WEATHER LITIGATION: One Houston judge holds the fate of nearly all Texas freeze lawsuits in her hands (Houston Chronicle)

DROUGHT: Drought exposes an underwater 'ghost' village in spain (Gizmodo), study finds 42% of megadrought in West is due to human-caused climate change: "Worst-case scenario keeps getting worse" (CBS, The Guardian), UN: Horn of Africa drought kills over 1.5 million livestock (AP)

FLOODING: Cities’ biggest obstacle to flood-proofing isn’t money: it’s 50-year-old rainfall data. (Grist)

DEFORESTATION: Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon reached record levels last month (Democracy Now)

POLLUTION: Pollution causing more deaths than COVID, action needed, says U.N. expert (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: India solar park sparks desire for school, as girls dream of green jobs (Thomson Reuters Foundation), India's solar energy boom fuels local struggle for green justice (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Canada says USMCA panel finds US solar tariffs violate trade pact (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Plant expansion gives Louisiana role in battery supply chain (AP)

LNG: Europe remains top destination for US LNG for the third month (Reuters), Freeport LNG eyes expansion with marine barge terminal project (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: The case against methane emissions keeps getting stronger (Bloomberg $)

OIL & GAS: Wyoming plan aims to undermine Biden oil and gas agenda (E&E $), Shell moves to sell British North Sea southern gas fields -sources (Reuters), New North Sea oil and gas licences ‘incompatible with UK climate goals’ (The Guardian), tighter oil market confirmed by IEA demand revision (Reuters), UN says agreement in principle on Yemen tanker oil transfer (AP)

• PERU OIL SPILL: 1 month after oil spill, Lima’s beaches empty, cleanup slow (AP)

GAS STOVES: The kitchen of the future won’t be cooking with gas (Politico)

PIPELINES: Developers halt Virginia natural gas pipeline (E&E $, Virginia Mercury), Enbridge misses Minnesota hiring goals for Line 3, exceeds promised spending with Indigenous firms (Star-Tribune $)

COAL: How poisonous mercury gets from coal-fired power plants into the fish you eat (The Conversation)

HYDROGEN: Experts sound the alarm on oil sector’s blue hydrogen push (Climate Home), Green steel without green hydrogen — can it work? (Canary Media)

• HELPFUL: The difference between gray, blue, and green hydrogen (Yale Climate Connections)

UTILITIES: Exelon leader on FERC, grid and ‘doable’ 100% clean power (E&E News)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Eye on Utilities: FirstEnergy works to limit impact in HB 6 cases (Energy News Network)

GRID: Advocacy, trade groups urge PJM to reject bid to bar some renewables from pending capacity auction (Utility Dive, Calvin Butler interview), US must increase manufacturing of core grid equipment, despite costs: Berkshire Hathaway Energy (Utility Dive)

AGRICULTURE: A vision for more sustainable farmlands (High Country News), chicken frenzy: a state awash in hog farms faces a poultry boom (Yale Environment 360)

BUSINESS: Criticism of corporate climate pledges ramps up (The Hill), Patagonia, others threaten to boycott major outdoor show (AP)

CARBON PRICING: Poland calls on EU to remove 'speculators' from its carbon market (Reuters)

IN MEMORIAM: Satirist P.J. O'Rourke, panelist on NPR's 'Wait...Wait Don't Tell Me,' dies at 74 (NPR, Deadline, New York Times $)

INTERNATIONAL: Brazil’s Bolsonaro issues decrees to boost mining of Amazon (AP), farmers unite in push for share of India's solar power bonanza (Thomson Reuters Foundation), London's mayor wants to join green bond rush to tackle fuel poverty (Bloomberg $)

• Young people should start running for local and statewide office (Teen Vogue, Amanda Litman op-ed)
• It's time for Congress to take environmental justice seriously (The Hill, Angelo Logan and Raul Garcia op-ed)
• Republican voters need to fire Texas Railroad Commission chair over shameless disregard for ethics (Houston Chronicle, Chris Tomlinson column)
• America takes pole position on oil and gas (Wall Street Journal, Daniel Yergin op-ed $)
• Unfit for the federal reserve (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• Can we get smarter about disinformation? (New York Times, Jay Caspian Kang op-ed $)
• Never believe a bank's net-zero pledge (New Republic, Kate Aronoff column)
• 7 principles to help utility regulators untangle the wires of a clean, equitable EV transition (Utility Dive, Larissa Koehler and Pamela MacDougall op-ed)
• The joy of cooking (insects) (New York Times, Tala Schlossberg, Kirk Semple and Jonah M. Kessel op-ed $)
• Electric vehicles run over ethanol and gas (Reuters, Lauren Silva Laughlin op-ed)

Morons Repost Anti-Methane Stove Study Attack From Big Oil Bozo on LinkedIn

One of the simplest, easiest, and quickest ways to begin to determine if someone is trustworthy on a topic, or if they may be biased, is to check their LinkedIn account, and see who they’re working for. If someone works directly for an industry that, let’s say, may be slowly poisoning you and everyone in your house, then you’d be wise to take their response to such science demonstrating the harms of their industry’s product, with the largest grain of salt you can reasonably attain. 

Sometimes it’s a lot harder to know if you can trust someone, but sometimes it’s not. Which is exactly why you can be sure that climate deniers are deliberately spreading disinformation, and aren’t just stupid and misled by clever marketers. 

For example, the other day, WUWT reposted a MasterResource post, which itself was “adapted from “a LinkedIn post by Steve Everley, a communications advisor in the field of energy.” 

The (re)post aims at coverage of a recent study showing that methane gas stoves are a bigger threat to the climate than previously realized. Because not only does burning methane in a confined area (your kitchen) expose you and your children to dangerous levels of air pollution, but even when they’re not on, stoves were found to just constantly leak out little bits of extremely-heat-trapping methane. 

But “communications advisor in the field of energy” Steve Everley has other thoughts, and complains that one co-author suggested people switch to electric stoves in one story (despite one of the other study co-authors then told a different outlet that they “don’t want people to go out and completely ditch a perfectly good gas stove,” and “running out and replacing your stove is not the right response at this time,” because that itself would be a lot of wasted stoves).

This totally pragmatic response, however, is too much for Everley to handle though, and he can’t seem to comprehend the apparent two layers of complexity in which methane stoves are bad, but not so bad they need to be wastefully disposed of and replaced. Even a child understands that we don't drive to the grocery store so that she can ride the 25¢ unicorn ride, but that if we are already going to the grocery store to get food, she can ride it on the way out. 

That is maybe 5% less complex than this 'don't throw out your gas stove' conundrum.

He also repeats the American Gas Association’s attempted rebuttal of the study’s controlled conditions, and in flagrant disregard for the study he just complained about, concludes that “gas appliances are safe” before he warns that “hopefully, journalists, we can all agree that the next time a study makes a claim about how gas appliances are supposedly harmful to your health, an appropriate level of scrutiny will be applied at the time of, and in the same article as, the announcement itself.” 

So who is Steve Everley, to be offering this communications advice in the field of energy to reporters? Well, clicking all the way over from his post to his account to find out, as MasterResource’s Roger Donway and WUWT’s editor apparently didn’t bother, and it appears Mr. Everley is in fact a Managing Director at FTI Consulting, having spent over 10 years at one of the key Public Relations firms employed by the fossil fuel industry to push climate denial and energy disinformation. Prior to that, Everley fought against fossil fuel regulations at “American Solutions” for nearly two years, and in the years before that was a Research Assistant to Newt Gingrich while at the industry-funded American Enterprise Institute, a gig he got after a brief internship at the billionaire-backed Claremont Institute. His entire career has been in the service of the right’s disinfo industry, and it hasn’t been passive. 

Everley has indeed played a key role in the service of Big Oil’s propaganda, for example lobbying against regulations on methane and attacking studies showing the feasibility of a clean grid just like he did this one showing the dangers of methane. 

To build off Everley’s journalist chastising, hopefully, bloggers, we can all agree that the next time a “communications advisor in the field of energy” makes a claim about how fossil fuels are supposedly not harmful for your health, an appropriate level of scrutiny will be applied, so that you’re not uncritically parroting industry propaganda.

Or at least do the hard, hard work of clicking one link from a LinkedIn post to a LinkedIn bio, so that you can at least be a knowing cog in the disinformation machine, as opposed to an unwitting one, as surely is the case now. 

Because what honest public discourse-haver would ever knowingly platform an obvious industry advertiser as though they’re an unbiased expert?

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