FIRST LOOK:

Tune in TODAY at 11:00 a.m. ET for an America Is All In event on the future of U.S. energy with DOE Sec. Granholm and Sen. Carper. Mayors, businesses, veterans, hospitals and colleges will discuss their support for landmark clean energy investments in front of Congress.

Climate Change Doubled Likelihood Of Deadly South African Floods: Climate change doubled the likelihood of the catastrophic rains and resulting flooding that killed at least 448 people in eastern South Africa in April, an analysis released this morning by World Weather Attribution finds. The deluge would have a 1-in-40 chance of happening in any given year, but climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, made the torrential rainfall a 1-in-20 year event. “We need to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to a new reality where floods and heat waves are more intense and damaging,” Izidine Pinto, a climate scientist at the University of Cape Town and one of the report's authors, said in a statement. The report also noted that, beyond the deluge of rainfall, racist legacies of apartheid that included pushing nonwhites into more flood-prone areas and the dearth of safe affordable housing in and around Durban contributed to the tragically high death toll. (New York Times $, AP, CNN, Carbon Brief; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

California Commission Rejects Poseidon Desalination Plant: The California Coastal Commission unanimously rejected the proposed construction of the $1.4 billion Poseidon Water seawater desalination plant Wednesday. The plant would have caused substantial harm to both marine ecosystems near the proposed Huntington Beach site, and nearby communities, critics argued. It would also use substantial amounts of energy in a region less strapped for water than other parts of the state, and the company backing the project had no binding agreements to provide water to any water districts. Gov. Newsom supported the project. In addition to the negative externalities of the project, the Commission's staff also warned against approving the project because of its vulnerability to sea-level rise and seismic activity. “This desal proposal is privatization of water. It provides a large private profit,” Vice Chair Caryl Hart said before casting her vote. “It would harm the public welfare.” (LA Times $, CAL Matters, AP, CBS, Reuters, KTLA, CNN)

Fires Already Incinerating Southwestern US: Tinder-dry vegetation, and wind, are fueling extraordinary wildfires across the Southwest, auguring danger in a region suffering its worst drought in 1,200 years. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, makes droughts more frequent and worse, setting the stage for supercharged wildfires. Over 2,000 square miles have burned across the country this year – the most at this point since 2018. “We all know it’s really early for our fire season and we’re all in awe of what we’ve already experienced ... to this point,” Dave Bales, commander on the northern New Mexico fire, currently the largest in the U.S., ripping through dry, overgrown mountain sides in the Sangre de Christo range. In the wealthy community of Laguna Niguel, California, the Coastal Fire burned 20 large homes. (Both: AP, The Guardian, Democracy Now; New Mexico: (Reuters, Axios, Washington Post $; California: ABC, CNN, Reuters, Axios, CNN; Climate Signals background: Western U.S. megadrought, Wildfires)

ANALYSIS: Top oil & gas firms increased layoffs, cutting 15k jobs in 2021 (BailoutWatch)

PRIVATE EQUITY: The smash-and-grab economy (Mother Jones)

BANKS: How Wall Street banks made a killing on SPAC craze (Reuters), Canada banks face 'greenwashing' claims as oil & gas firms obtain sustainable financing (Reuters)

PROXY SEASON: Dominion shareholders pass resolution on stranded assets (E&E $), BP wins shareholder support for climate strategy (Reuters), Big oil braces for shareholder revolt over climate plans in proxy voting season (CNBC), BlackRock to vote for fewer climate shareholder provisions in 2022 than 2021 (CNBC)

CARLYLE: Carlyle Group hires Dey as it restructures energy-deals team (Bloomberg $), Carlyle merges energy and infrastructure units ahead of investment push (FT $)

COMMENTARY: What BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street are doing to the economy (New York Times, Farhad Manjoo op-ed $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Baby formula shortage taking toll on Black mothers, families (Black Wall Street Times), Is the energy transition hitting a glass ceiling? (Energy Monitor), Man fights eligibility of 13K voters. It’s the county Oprah visited in 1987 to ask why Black people were forced out (The Grio), One-third of Afro-Latinos checked ‘white’ on the census. BLM, racism drove others to embrace Blackness (The Grio), Woman sentenced to 5 years for voter fraud gets second chance to plead her case (The Grio)

TEXAS / GAS / RACISM: Black communities are last in line for disaster planning in Texas (Washington Post $), A 67-foot pipeline rupture in Texas triggered massive methane plume (Bloomberg $), Study finds higher density of gas leaks where people of color live (Bloomberg $)

CARBON BOMBS: US fracking boom could tip world to edge of climate disaster (The Guardian), ‘Our ancestors are in the rocks’: Australian gas project threatens ancient carvings – and emissions blowout (The Guardian), ‘We can’t eat a new road’: Guyanese voice fears over true cost of Exxon’s oil bonanza (The Guardian), Climate chaos certain if oil and gas mega-projects go ahead, warns IEA chief (The Guardian), Governments must say no (The Guardian, Editorial Board)

ABORTION & POLLUTION: What overturning Roe v. Wade means for pregnant people in pollution hotspots (Grist)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR: EU considers shelving ban on Russian oil as Hungary blocks sanctions (Politico Pro $), Europe is running out of time to find alternatives to Russian gas (CNN), EU readies 195 billion euro plan to quit Russian fossil fuels (Reuters), How Germany’s LNG terminals will morph into green hydrogen hubs (Bloomberg $), Iraq feels pull of European demand for Russian crude alternatives (S&P Global), More oil from US strategic petroleum reserve heads to Europe (OilPrice), Russia could cut gas supply to Finland on Friday -newspaper (Reuters), Ukraine won't restart gas flows to Europe until it has control of pipelines (OilPrice), European gas Surges as Germany clashes with Russia over supply (Bloomberg $), Senegal sees opportunity and ‘hypocrisy’ in Europe’s search for gas (Washington Post $), Spain approves cap in Europe’s boldest effort to tame gas prices (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: US climate envoy John Kerry warns world against turning back to coal (FT $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: New climate frontier: Gender-based lawsuits (E&E $)

REFINED CARCINOGENS: Cancer-causing gas emission spikes continue at refineries (E&E News)

GASOLINE GOUGING: House plans to vote next week on energy price-gouging bill (E&E News), Gas prices reach record highs as Biden calls inflation top priority (Washington Post $)

SOUTH ASIA HEAT: The extraordinary heat wave in India and Pakistan, explained (Vox), India heatwave throws food security for loop (Reuters)

DRIBBLING, AND NOT SHUTTING UP: NBA goes full-court press on climate change (E&E $)

POLITICS: Appalachian activists renew calls for federal climate action as time ticks away on current Congress (Charleston Gazette-Mail)

FEDERAL RESERVE: Lisa Cook confirmed as first Black woman on Federal Reserve Board (Black Wall Street Times, Atlanta Black Star)

AGENCIES: Justice Dept. tries to shift environmental justice efforts from symbolic to substantive (New York Times $)

COMMERCE: Biden admin defends solar probe, spurs industry outrage (E&E News, E&E $)

EPA: EPA blocks bid to review basis for climate regs (E&E News), Race car fans argue EPA wants to slow them down (E&E $), US EPA distributes $250 mln to clean up polluted sites (Reuters)

DOE: DOE plans to buy capacity on proposed power lines in first step for $2.5B transmission funding program (Utility Dive)

DOI: 2nd Interior lease sale boosts N.C. offshore wind (E&E News), Biden administration cancels drilling sales in Alaska and gulf of Mexico (New York Times $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: How Congress is routing climate policy through the Army Corps Of Engineers (Grist), SEC gets aggressive in demanding climate data (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: CEQ chair fires back on NEPA changes: 'It is about science' (E&E $), Executives, tribes and greens meet at White House on mining (E&E $), Offshore move highlights Biden’s mixed message on oil (E&E News)

THE HILL: A ban on excessive gasoline prices heading to congress for vote (OilPrice)

HOUSE: House panel will investigate USPS plan to purchase 8.6 mpg trucks (Washington Post $, E&E News)

SENATE: Coal miners press Manchin to back reconciliation bill to extend black lung funding (The Hill), Failure to advance Women’s Health Protection Act puts spotlight on absence of Black women senators (NewsOne), Manchin rips Biden for canceling offshore oil lease sales: 'Just awful' (Politico Pro $), Senators seek funding for DOJ's new environmental justice arm (Axios), Whitehouse seeks compromise on carbon border fee (E&E News)

ATTACKS ON DEMOCRACY: Jan. 6 investigation subpoenas McCarthy, Jordan, 3 other House Republicans (Politico, NPR, USA Today, NBC, New York Times $, CNN, CBS, Washington Post $, The Hill), Schiff: Congressmen subpoenaed claim to have 'relevant information' for Jan. 6 investigation (MSNBC)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: US Senate panel to question Fed nominee Barr on May 19 (Reuters), Biden Taps 7 Nominees To Fill Out Sentencing Commission (Law360 $), Biden nominates [Judge Carlton W. Reeves] first Black chair of US sentencing commission (The Root)(NewsOne)

CITIES AND STATES: Oregon adopts strongest worker protections in US against heat and wildfire smoke (Yale Environment 360)

CALIFORNIA: California is betting big on offshore wind power (Gizmodo)

California regulators reject governor’s pitch for carbon neutrality by 2035 (Grist)

IMPACTS: Southwest 'megadrought' leads to wildfires and new homicide evidence (Axios), Radon – yet another higher risk from thawing permafrost (Yale Climate Connections), The swift march of climate change in North Carolina’s ‘ghost forests’ (Washington Post $), The tick that causes a meat allergy is on the move (New York Times $)

EXTREME WEATHER: Record heat fueling severe storms, tornadoes in central US (Washington Post $), Hurricane-force winds, dust storm blast Upper Midwest (Washington Post $)

AGRICULTURE: Crop insurance costs climb as climate change deepens (E&E $)

DROUGHT: Far from Lake Powell, drought punishes another Western dam (LA Times $)

HURRICANES: How less air pollution makes hurricanes stronger (E&E News)

RENEWABLES: Following record growth in 2021, renewables on track for new high in 2022 (Yale Environment 360), BP bids for two Dutch offshore wind power leases (Reuters), Duke Energy, TotalEnergies win North Carolina offshore wind leasing auction with $315M in total bids (Utility Dive), Finnish city taps sewers for energy in sprint for net zero (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Renewable power growth seen slowing next year on supply-chain woes (Bloomberg $, Protocol)

BATTERIES: Silicon battery maker Amprius to go public in $1.3 billion SPAC merger (Wall Street Journal $)

BUILDINGS: Living costs in outer suburbs would be slashed under plan to ‘electrify everything,' analysis finds (The Guardian)

STORAGE: Storage to play key role in Hawaii grid reliability as coal plant nears retirement, experts say (Utility Dive)

LNG: US natural gas, LNG future brightens on demand shifts, quest for supply security (S&P Global)

OIL & GAS: Oil and gas sector's new climate policies still overheat the planet: report (Bloomberg $)

PLASTICS: Recycling pledges from Coca-Cola and Nestlé are a joke (Gizmodo)

GRID: PJM releases road map for creating ‘grid of the future’ to handle coming renewables, storage wave (Utility Dive)

EVs: EVs can be cheaper on a monthly basis than gas-powered cars (Canary Media), VW is looking to bring back the Scout brand as an electric vehicle (CNBC), Rivian recalling 502 electric trucks over potentially faulty air-bag sensors (Wall Street Journal $)

• MANLY TRUCKS FOR VERY SECURE MEN: 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning: the everyman’s EV (Wall Street Journal $)

INSPIRATION & DESPERATION: The 2022 inspiration list – Katharine Hayhoe (NBC), The fire that Wynn Bruce lit (The Real News)

BOOZE: Are sheep a crucial ingredient for vineyards and ecosystems? (New York Times $)

CARBON PRICING: Offset markets need to know their carbon—and their customers (Bloomberg $)

CARBON REMOVAL: This London startup has a cheaper way to suck carbon from the air (Bloomberg $), Trees aren’t a climate change cure-all – 2 new studies on the life and death of trees in a warming world show why (The Conversation), 

CARBON CAPTURE: Chevron, Saudi Aramco invest in carbon capture startup (E&E $), UK startup raises $150 million in largest round for carbon capture (Bloomberg $)

IF IT WORKS FOR KETCHUP…: Heinz working on paper ketchup bottle (Axios)

TRASH: Environmental justice advocates urge new incinerator rules (E&E $)

WILDLIFE: China-funded dam could disrupt key Argentine glaciers and biodiversity (Mongabay), What’s killing the world’s biggest fish? (Vox)

INTERNATIONAL: Lebanon election shuns climate issues, despite fires, floods and power cuts (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Mexican environmentalists, Indigenous leaders denounce Mayan Train project (NBC), Ministers delay plans to force UK corporate environmental disclosure (FT $), Trudeau’s oil pipeline gets government-backed $7.7 billion loan (Bloomberg $)

• Fossil fuels aren’t just harming the planet. They’re making us sick (Inside Climate News, Liza Gross, Victoria St. Martin commentary)
• A 'just energy transition' is code for keeping coal (Reuters, Clyde Russell column)
• What will it take to get to successful climate action? (Brookings, Dana Fisher analysis)
• Public policies supporting regenerative agriculture will be good for business (The Hill, David Levine op-ed)
• When will ‘economic growth’ account for environmental costs? (The Hill, David Shearman op-ed)
• A natural gas terminal in South Jersey would put the health of 1.9 million people at risk (Philadelphia Inquirer, Elizabeth Cerceo and Tracy Carluccio op-ed)
• The inconvenient truth that could prevent global famine (Bloomberg, Gidon Eshel op-ed $)
• The public power option should be a community decision (Utility Dive, Joy Ditto op-ed)
• The kids are not okay (The Ecologist, Julia Steinberger essay)
• Even studying public power makes little sense (Utility Dive, Kenneth Costello)
• The opposite of abortion isn’t motherhood. It’s injustice. (Elle, Reshma Saujani op-ed)
• My college students are not OK (New York Times, Jonathan Malesic op-ed $)
• Jan. 6 panel’s subpoena of GOP members shows extent of Trump coverup (Washington Post, Paul Waldman and Greg Sargent analysis $)

Mike Pence’s Anti-ESG Attacks Against ‘Woke Investors’ Shows How Billionaires Use Racism To Build Nationalist Populist Support

There is now no doubt that the dark money disinformation machine has turned its full focus to Environmental and Social Governance standards, the wonky way to say that if companies are to be people, then they shouldn’t be the absolute worst kind of person. (Volatile, racist, polluting bigots.) 

The idea that the finance industry considers companies that treat workers decently and don’t pollute the environment to be less risky, and more worthy of investment, than companies one oil spill or damning labor exposé away from ruin, is of course very controversial to a very small set of people. Specifically, those who work for the industries polluting the environment and exploiting workers. And they’ve been quite busy! 

While there’ve long been kooky conspiratorial takes about ESG, there’s now clearly a unified agenda across the climate disinformation landscape. In May of 2021, tobacco, Exxon, and Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute laid out their ESG theory, which has served as a foundation for the movement, and in October fracker-backed PragerU published a “woke to broke” video. But more recently, similar talking point regurgitations have run at disinfo outlets like the Daily Signal, Daily Caller, WUWT, WashingtonExaminer, Newsbusters, with plenty at the WSJ.    

Since the last time we referenced the tobacco-defending Heartland Institute’s efforts in January, they’ve helpfully compiled all their dirty anti-ESG dealings in one place, including a string of op-eds in the dredges of the disinfosphere. Oddly, the one place Heartland doesn’t seem to be showing up is the Koch-hub of RealClear, which is already well-stocked in anti-ESG propaganda, courtesy of Rupert Darwall, a senior fellow there funded to work on ESG specifically, regularly publishing “woke investors” propaganda no other outlet wants. Texas passed a loophole-laden law about it, but turns out the company it hired to figure out who to boycott for caring about the climate is one of the firms that cares about the climate, so it may have to boycott the company it hired to determine who they need to boycott. 

House Republicans recently sent a letter to the SEC asking for rulemaking deliberation materials on its climate disclosure rule, while tea party front FreedomWorks put out a call to its astoturfers to submit comments to the SEC to oppose a disclosure proposal, because even calculating climate risk is too much for deniers who know that if companies have to disclose climate risk, they’ll work to reduce it. 

This week, as the climate-denying WSJ reported, rightwing ghoul Peter Thiel has backed an anti-woke investment firm to try and bully companies into not being good corporate citizens/safe investment opportunities. (Unrelated, but we also came across this: Thiel once said “even if you appointed a whole series of consevative Supreme Court justices, I’m not sure that Rove v. Wade would get overturned, ever. I don’t know if people even care about the Supreme Court.” Clearly a man with a solid grip on reality!) 

Finally, the big dog! Perfectly on script, like the good little Koch boy he is, on Tuesday former Vice President Mike Pence said at an event in Houston that Biden et al. are “weaponizing the financial system” with “capricious new ESG regulations that allow left-wing radicals to destroy American energy producers from within.”

For someone who was nearly hung by a violent mob of his own political party's supporters, you’d think Pence would be a little more concerned about the threat of right-wing radicals. After all, had he followed one particular rightwing radical’s orders to get into the Secret Service car on January 6th, who knows where Pence would be now! Almost certainly not giving speeches in Houston! 

Seriously though, what this anti-woke push makes crystal clear is the heart of the Southern strategy, and the soul of the religious right’s deal with the Koch-y devils. Polluters and exploitative industries had money, but not political power or appeal. No one wants to vote for the “pollute your neighborhood” platform. 

But if they pieced together a political party out of the religious extremists who want to reinvigorate the patriarchy, be racist and later weaponize abortion, and use anti-immigrant economic jargon to recruit the rural voters who white supremacy has granted outsized power in American democracy, they could wield power to overwhelm the multicultural, multiracial majority of Americans who want abortion access and climate safety and healthcare as human rights instead of privileges for the powerful. 

Decades later, we have a religious zealot former VP warning the oil industry that financial regulators and investors are “left-wing radicals” as a popular-vote-loser-appointed Supreme Court is poised to overturn Roe, and preemptively overturn the possibility of any strong federal climate policy in the near term, because a coal millionaire has the 50th vote in the Senate, and the industry has at least 49 others by way of campaign donations. (Koch groups disclosed spending at least $220 million on the 2020 election and “believe we have an even greater opportunity to engage in 2022.”) 

Oh and on Monday, CEI is doing a webinar asking if the federal government even has the authority to do ESG stuff, in case you were wondering if they were engaging on the merits, or trying to throw sand into the gears and sabotage the process. 

If you make it through their registration process, let us know how it goes?

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