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SCOTUS To Overturn Roe, Eliminate Federal Right To Abortion: The Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the two cases that together essentially delineate the minimum rights of people in the United States who can become pregnant to have autonomy over their own bodies and access the health care they need, Politico reports. Approximately one in four people who can become pregnant in the United States (23.7%) will have had an abortion by the age of 45. Justice Alito's draft majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, joined by Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, says "Roe was egregiously wrong from the start. Its reasoning was exceptionally weak." Only one of those justices was nominated by a President who won the popular vote upon first taking office; two have been credibly accused of sexually assaulting women. Alito's draft specifically argues the right to abortion does not exist because it was not mentioned in the Constitution and because it has no "deeply rooted legal history" — statements that are also true of racial equity, LGBTQ+ equality — and explicitly criticizes Lawrence v. Texas (the right of individuals to be intimate with consensual partners) and Obergefell v. Hodges (the right of same-sex people to marry). The House of Representatives passed the Women's Health Protection Act prohibiting governmental restrictions on the provision of, and access to, abortion services in September of last year. To pass that legislation in the Senate would require eliminating the filibuster due to en masse opposition by Senate Republicans, something Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema have repeatedly opposed. The Mississippi law at issue in the case bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy. (Politico)

'Unprecedented' South Asian Heatwave 'Testing The Limits Of Human Survivability': The months-long heatwave in India and Pakistan is shattering records and "testing the limits of human survivability," IPCC Lead Author and Senior Researcher at the Indian Institute for Human Settlements Dr. Chandni Singh told CNN. At least 25 people have died of heatstroke in India's Maharashtra province, but the actual death toll of the heatwave is almost certainly far higher, experts say. Average April temperatures in northwest and central India were the highest since records began at the beginning of the 19th century. Cities in Pakistan's southeastern Sindh province hit 117°F (47°C) last week, the highest temperature that day in the Northern Hemisphere. “We are living in hell,” Nazeer Ahmed of Turbat, Pakistan, where high electricity demand is causing up to nine hours of electricity blackouts every day, told the Guardian. Blackouts in India have also highlighted the country's need to diversify its power sector, which still relies on coal for 70% of its electricity generation, the AP reports. "This heatwave is definitely unprecedented," said Singh, adding the heat had diminished April wheat yields by as much as 445 pounds per acre (500kg/hectare). "We have seen a change in its intensity, its arrival time, and duration. This is what climate experts predicted and it will have cascading impacts on health." (CNN, The Guardian, Axios, CNBC; Deaths: Times of India; Wheat: Bloomberg $; Electricity: Reuters, AP; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Ad Agencies Increasingly Vulnerable To Climate Denial Litigation: Ad agencies' work promoting the fossil fuel industry could open them to legal liability, a new report from Clean Creatives says. The amount of climate-related litigation has risen dramatically in recent years, and lawsuits related to fossil fuel advertising especially so. Multiple states and municipalities have taken legal action to hold oil companies and their industry groups accountable for fraudulently misleading the public over the climate-heating impacts of their products. Public relations and advertising agencies are not protected from liability for actions taken in the representation of their clients as lawyers are. “We are still in the earliest stages of what is going to be years, if not decades, of litigation against these companies,” Carroll Muffett, president of the Center for International Environmental Law, told AdWeek. “As our understanding of the gravity of climate impacts grows, the risks of being on the wrong side of history here, I think are really profound.” (AdWeek)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Indigenous Taíno of Puerto Rico take their fight for visibility and rights to the UN (Grist and Indian Country Today), Amazon tribes turn the tables on intruders with social media (AP), One island nation's controversial plan to take climate justice into its own hands (TIME)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: Was Russia’s decision to cut off natural gas exports a mistake? (Vox), Who is buying Russian crude oil and who has stopped (Reuters, factbox), Pandemic, war, politics hamper global push for climate action (Washington Post $), Japan pushes ahead with plan to add Russian gas imports (Wall Street Journal $), Russian threats redraw the global energy map (Washington Post $), What the Kremlin’s rubles-for-gas threat is about (Politico Pro $), Russia could sell more energy to Asia, but has to slash prices (New York Times $)

• US IMPACTS: Get ready for another energy price spike: high electric bills (New York Times $)
• LNG: French utility Engie buys US natural gas as Europe looks beyond Russia (FT $, S&P Global, Bloomberg $), Russia’s weaponization of natural gas could backfire by destroying demand for it (The Conversation), US LNG exports decrease, Europe remains top destination (Reuters), French flip-flop on American LNG draws cry of 'hypocrisy' (E&E $)
• EU: The EU is ramping up efforts to ban Russian oil (OilPrice), EU energy ministers hold crisis talks after Russian gas cuts (Reuters), EU consider exemptions as Hungary threatens to veto Russian oil ban (OilPrice), EU energy ministers near mandatory gas storage deal (Politico Pro $), European port workers are refusing to unload Russian diesel (OilPrice), Italy readies $7 billion package to curb energy prices, help firms (Reuters), European requests for Russian gas hit 5-month high (OilPrice)
• GERMANY: In shift, Germany says it could back immediate EU ban on Russian oil (Reuters, AP, Politico Pro $), Germany, India pledge climate cooperation but far apart on Ukraine (Reuters)
• RENEWABLES: Vestas warns war in Ukraine will add to wind industry slowdown (FT $)

NEW MEXICO WILDFIRES: 'Huge firefight' to defend New Mexico villages, city from blaze (Reuters, AP), Thousands flee New Mexico wildfire as blaze breaches containment lines (The Guardian, Reuters, AP)

YOUR KITCHEN: Video: Cooking without gas? Induction stoves are the future, so we test one out (Canary Media)

MEDIA: Weather Channel turns 40 and launches first 24/7 Spanish broadcasts (Washington Post $)

TRUE (CLIMATE) CRIME: Body found in barrel in Lake Mead may date back to 1980s, more likely to appear as water recedes, Las Vegas police say (8NewsNow, New York Times $)

SCOTUS: Supreme Court takes up offshore labor dispute (E&E News)

DOE: Biden administration begins $3 billion plan for electric car batteries (New York Times $, AP, CNN, Politico Pro $, Reuters, The Hill)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: USPS made 'textbook' NEPA violation — legal experts (E&E $)

THE HILL: Lawmakers seek deal on energy-climate package, Ukraine aid (E&E News)

SENATE: Senate Democrats call for boosting clean energy in response to war in Ukraine (Washington Post $), Senators plead with Biden for quick end to solar-trade probe (Bloomberg $, The Hill), Foreign Relations panel sets vote on Kigali treaty (E&E $), Senate votes will air energy, climate grievances (E&E $)

• MANCHIN: Manchin eyes tax on carbon-intensive imports in energy package (Bloomberg $), GOP floats NEPA reform, carbon border fee in Manchin talks (E&E $, The Hill)

TRIBES: Why the debate over Russian uranium worries US tribal nations (New York Times $)

CITIES AND STATES: Billions at stake as NY climate law’s ‘disadvantaged communities’ label directs flood of funds (The City), Is that an outlaw lawn? Las Vegas has a new approach to saving water (New York Times $), Louisiana AG seeks new order on federal leasing (E&E $), Michigan awards grants to spur EV equity and economic development (Utility Dive), Unprecedented water cuts will require sacrifices for SoCal. What to expect June 1 (LA Times $)

FERC: US regulators nix pipeline’s ‘climate-friendly’ gas plan (Bloomberg Law, Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: A climate-driven decline of tiny dryland lichens could have big global impacts (Inside Climate News), Coastal cities are drinking themselves underwater (E&E $)

DROUGHT: New government maps show nearly all of the West is in drought and it's not even summer yet: 'This is unprecedented' (CBS), California’s grim drought situation is visible from the International Space Station (KTLA)

FLOODING: Surprise' urban Malaysia floods drive pleas for climate action (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

HURRICANES: Flood and cyclone-prone areas in eastern Australia may be ‘uninsurable’ by 2030, report suggests (The Guardian)

WATER: Colorado river reservoirs are so low, government is delaying releases (New York Times $)

BOUGHT AND PAID FOR: Gas giants have been ghostwriting letters of support from elected officials (HuffPost)

BUILDINGS: Building codes: The new natural gas battlefront? (E&E News)

LNG: Soaring costs curb enthusiasm for US LNG (Energy Monitor)

OIL & GAS: U.S. natural gas production growth wanes as need arises (Reuters, Fox Business), Gulf of Mexico oil drilling makes too-little, too-late comeback (Bloomberg $), Oil is soaring. Will the majors stick with net zero? (E&E News)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen is every US gas utility’s favorite Hail Mary pass (Bloomberg $), Scaling hydrogen in North America will require policy support beyond infrastructure funding, panel says (Utility Dive)

UTILITIES: Washington utilities keep close eye on Great Resignation trends as they prep for wildfire season (Utility Dive)

GRID: New England grid operator moves to delay reform of rule favoring fossil fuels (Energy News Network)

EVs: Can the grid handle millions of EVs? In Tennessee, distribution systems will be ‘canary in the coal mine’ (Utility Dive), Ending the sale of gas cars by 2030 was a radical idea. What changed? (Grist), The race to add more public EV chargers (Utility Dive)

CRYPTO: Can crypto go green? Major companies are trying — but it’s easier said than done (CNBC), Dorsey, Saylor, Fidelity and others defend environmental impact of bitcoin mining in letter to EPA (CNBC), Wikipedia doesn't want your crypto donations anymore (Protocol)

AVIATION: The New Jet Set: How the COVID-driven boom in private jets is still flying high (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: Weather station network intended to provide some security for farmers, ranchers (New Mexico Political Report)

BOOKS: Storms, bombs, contagions, pandemics and pandemonium (New York Times $)

CARBON PRICING: Booming offset industry could cut CO2 — or just line pockets (E&E News), The Bahamas plans to sell 'blue' carbon credits in 2022, PM says (E&E $)

FINANCE: How public resolutions can lead to backroom climate deals (E&E News), ESG investing is hard. Doing it via ETFs is harder (Bloomberg $), Wall Street climate semantics skew fossil-fuel financing votes (Bloomberg $)

INTERNATIONAL: Mexico opposition party pitches free solar panels for housing (Reuters)

• Saad Amer: combating climate change and India’s heat wave (Atmos, interview)
• The west can cut its energy dependency on Russia and be greener (The Guardian, Jeffrey Frankel op-ed)
• Did California actually hit 97% renewables in April? Yes and no (Canary Media, Mike O'Boyle op-ed)
• Amlo's lithium grab and war on green energy will hurt north America (Bloomberg, Shannon O'Neil op-ed $)
• Climate change: Biden, give children their day in court (The Hill, William Becker op-ed)
• A bipartisan energy deal? (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)

Even Q-Anon-Ron Watkins Admits GOP’s Biden-Keystone-Putin Disinfo Is ‘A Mistake’

For the past two months, republicans, disinfo media and dirty industry spokespeople (but we repeat ourselves) have said that because Biden canceled the Keystone XL pipeline we’re reliant on Russian oil, and therefore Putin invaded Ukraine. It’s ridiculous nonsense, and even one of the scummiest liars on the planet just admitted it. 

In a mildly viral clip last week Ron Watkins stumbled through his delivery of the talking point, and was then roundly shut down by one of his fellow Republicans running for an Arizona congressional seat, State Senator Walt Blackman. “Listen…” Blackman said, “you're trying to work on a national stage and you don't even know why the war started in Ukraine, it had nothing to do with the Keystone pipeline.”

And when the moderator asked him for a response, Watkins did something absolutely incredible, unprecedented, and surprisingly decent.

“He’s right, I made a mistake,” Watkins said

Now, obviously for any Republican who just failed to recite talking point to admit that “I made a mistake,” or really for any politician, or any normal human being to utter those four words in sincerity, is quite a surprise, and not the kind of thing you see every day, to say the least. Mike Pence certainly didn’t say it when his $10 million ad campaign with the same disinfo was fact checked as “false,” so who is this man more righteous than Pence, a devout evangelical so uptight he calls his wife “Mother” and isn’t allowed to be alone in a room with any women without Mother’s presence? And whose religious anti-drug prudishness made an AIDS outbreak worse? Who could possibly be more humble and gracious than Pence? (lol) 

Oh, just one of the most disgraceful, dishonest and disgusting people on the planet, who has more to say “I made a mistake” about than anyone else, except maybe his father Jim, who ran a child pornography website domain host.

Sins of the father aside, Ron Watkins was the administrator of 4chan-spin-off website where people posted child pornography that was also where Jan 6. Insurrectionists organized, and then the father-son pair almost certainly posted as Q. While they reject the evidence, all signs point to Jim and Ron Watkins being behind Q as it spread the violently dangerous Q-Anon conspiracy alleging Democractic politicians are raping, killing and consuming children. And only Donald Trump could stop it. (Yes, the man who bragged about barging into Miss America dressing rooms because no one stopped him, as the owner, and who also owned the Miss Teen American pageants, and whose modeling agency was an inspiration for Jeffrey Epstein, whose network recruited at least one 16 year old directly from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago spa. That guy.)

Before running for a seat in Congress representing Arizona, Ron Watkins was running a website that spread conspiracy theory that inspired terrorists to take up arms to block bridges with armored vehicles, build bombs, murder a mobster, vandalize a church, kidnap a bunch of kids, derail a freight train into a navy hospital ship, drive to another hospital ship to murder Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden and Tony Podesta“in the name of Babylon” (yes, Tony, not his brother who ran Hilary Clinton's campaign and whose emails were hacked), livestream a police chase with kids in the car, ram a truck into the prime minister of Ottawa’s gates, and drunkly ramming another driver she (supposedly, and falsely) believed to be sex trafficking a young girl. 

And that’s just the list as of October of 2020! Since then, as you may have noticed, they violently attacked the Capitol chanting death threats to intimidate Republican Vice President Mike Pence into evacuating as part of the plan to sabotage the transfer of democratic power and reinstall Donald Trump as president, and at least one remains so addicted to posting he went back to jail because he violated his court order not to go online.  

Ron Watkins, almost certainly one of the guys who spurred all that, denies being Q, and who sicc’ed a mob on Pence, was able to admit that he “made a mistake” in blaming Biden’s Keystone XL cancellation for inflation and Putin’s invasion, like Pence did. 

Why can’t others? Surely Pence and company are no less sleazy and deceptive than Q-Anon Ron? 

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