FIRST LOOK:

EESI will hold a congressional briefing recapping COP27 with a focus on key outcomes and what comes next TODAY at 3:00 pm EST.

4 Chinese Companies Evaded US Solar Tariffs: A federal investigation has preliminarily determined four major Chinese solar-cell manufacturers circumvented U.S. tariffs by rerouting portions of their operation through Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia, the Wall Street Journal reports. Solar panels from those countries account for about 80% of U.S. imports. The Commerce Department investigation, initiated in March, caused industry disruption; the Biden administration sought to mitigate that disruption by declaring a 24-month safe harbor period on solar panels imported from those countries and invoking the Defense Production Act to boost domestic production. Shortages of solar panels in the U.S. — also due to restrictions on the importation of enslaved labor goods from China — are slowing the expansion of renewable energy in the U.S. A final Commerce Department ruling, which will include on-site audits and public comments and could differ from the preliminary findings, will be released in May. (Wall Street Journal $)

Arch Capital And AEGIS London Rule Out EACOP Coverage: Two more insurance firms are refusing to underwrite the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline. Arch Capital Group and AEGIS London join 19 other major insurance and reinsurance firms in publicly refusing to cover the proposed pipeline in response to mounting pressure from activists. The pipeline, backed by France's TotalEnergies and the China National Offshore Oil Corporation, would transport oil extracted from a Ugandan national park to a Tanzanian port. (Reinsurance News, Commercial Risk, Business Insurance)

(Increased) LNG Exports To Push Gas Prices (Even) Higher: Freeport LNG delayed its target for resuming gas export operations, again, on Thursday. The terminal, which accounts for about one-fifth of U.S. methane gas exports, has been offline since a major explosion in June. The company's failure to secure necessary approvals of critical repairs forced it to push back its resumption of partial operations from the middle to the end of December. As families across the country already face the prospect of winter with debilitating fossil fuel heating bills, the company’s expected resumption of export operations, along with forecasts for colder weather, pushed methane gas futures to record highs last week as the oil and gas industry reaps record profits. FERC's approval of the massive Commonwealth LNG export terminal project along the southwest Louisiana coast will increase U.S. gas exports, pushing domestic prices even higher — along with greenhouse gas emissions and the environmental injustices inflicted upon nearby communities. John Allaire, a resident of Cameron Parish reflected on FERC’s record of approving gas export facilities: "I look at the FERC mission statement, and what they are doing has nothing to do with their mission statement, to just keep permitting these export terminals." James Hiatt, the southwest Louisiana coordinator of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, noted “[t]he long-term environmental and climate damages far outweigh any perceived economic impact this facility would provide a local community.” FERC adopted a framework in February to consider the climate and environmental justice impacts of gas projects, like gas export terminals, only to retreat under pressure from the oil and gas industry and lawmakers in March. (Freeport delay: S&P Global; Methane gas prices: Reuters; FERC/Commonwealth LNG: Inside Climate News; Heating bills: Wall Street Journal $, Quartz; Maine: WMTW; New Hampshire: The New Hampshire)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Brittney Griner in horrid conditions, says former Russian prisoners (Black Wall Street Times), Lebron James calls out media for not asking athletes about the Jerry Jones photo (NewsOne)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: Who pays the bill for climate change? (New York Times, The Daily $), More finance needed for Africa's energy transition opportunities (Reuters), From Ukraine to Yemen, UN seeks record $51.5 bln for 'shockingly high' aid needs (Reuters)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Germans have seen the future, and it’s a heat pump (New York Times $), Back online: The retired gas storage site now able to power 1m homes (The Guardian), Capping the price of Russia’s oil is a risky balancing act (Wall Street Journal $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Climate on trial: Montana youth take on state energy policy (E&E News)

SEEMS GENEROUS, TBQH: Colonial fights charges of ‘ad hoc’ response to pipeline hack (E&E News)

PRIVATE EQUITY: Private equity ‘black box’ pours New York pensions into fossil fuels (New York Focus and Albany Times Union)

GOP vs. ESG: Missouri Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick: ESG is the 'latest acronym' of leftist activism (Breitbart)

AGENCIES: New Jersey town gets first grant from new FEMA program to reduce flood risk (Politico Pro $)

EPA: US EPA proposes revamp of biofuel program to include electric vehicles (Reuters, E&E News, The Hill, Wall Street Journal $), EPA targets path for electric vehicles in reset of renewable fuel program (Politico Pro $), How a revamped US biofuel program could help electric vehicle makers (Reuters, Factbox), Denver gets go-ahead from EPA after progress on lead pipes (AP)

TREASURY: Treasury official says potential EU price cap on Russian oil could limit Moscow’s revenues (The Hill)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: US embassies face growing risk from climate change — GAO (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden enters a new type of tango with Paris (Politico), Biden wants to launch 16 offshore wind farms. Can he? (E&E News)

• LOI SUR LA RÉDUCTION DE L'INFLATION: Biden’s meeting with Macron comes amid rising trans-Atlantic tensions (New York Times $), Macron knocks Biden’s ‘super aggressive’ climate policies as US trip begins (The Hill, Reuters), Biden says climate law has ‘glitches’ after Macron criticism (AP, Politico Pro $, Reuters)

• FOR TEA?: Biden to meet with Prince William and Kate in Boston (CBS)

THE HILL: Congress is trying to avert a rail strike. Here’s how and why. (New York Times $), Cooling off period vote may be in the freight rail mix (Politico Pro $), House votes to block railroad strike; Senate outlook murky (E&E News, Politico Pro $), North Dakota, Wyoming Republicans urge Senate colleagues to pass rail strike bill (The Hill)

HOUSE: McEachin’s death revives push for vote on EJ bill (E&E News), Lofgren says she wants top spot on House Science (E&E $), Pelosi cracks door to yearlong funding patch as ‘last resort’ (Politico Pro $)

SENATE: Senators eye funding breakthrough for wildlife bill (E&E News)

POLITICS: Meet Ron DeSantis’ energy donors (E&E News)

ELECTIONS: Boebert race heads to recount despite opponent's concession (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate Energy panel advances three DOE nominees (Politico Pro $)

TRIBES: 3 tribes dealing with the toll of climate change get $75 million to relocate (NPR, Democracy Now), Biden administration gives Native American tribes more say in new mining (Politico Pro $), Nevada Democrat expects monument declaration in early 2023 (E&E News)

FERC: FERC approves PJM’s ‘first-ready, first-served’ interconnection reform plan, steps to clear backlog (Utility Dive), FERC backs plan to fix renewables backlog in 13 states (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Dust Bowl created extreme heat in Europe, Asia (E&E $), How rising sea levels could damage building foundations (Yale Climate Connections), Mild November keeps UK on track for warmest year on record (The Guardian)

WE'LL ALWAYS HAVE PARIS?: How we can limit Earth's warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius — if we act fast (Washington Post $)

HURRICANES: Hurricane season was tamer than expected and horrific all at once (Washington Post $), Population growth is making hurricanes more expensive (New York Times $)

DROUGHT: Drought-hit California cities to get little water from state (AP), Officials fear ‘complete doomsday scenario’ for drought-stricken Colorado river (Washington Post $), Whirlpools, Blackouts, predator fish: what happens on the Colorado river’s descent to ‘dead pool’ (Washington Post $), Lagoon dries up as drought grips Peru’s southern Andes (AP)

WATER: Water thieves abound in dry California. Why are they so hard to catch? (Grist)

AIR POLLUTION: Air pollution is linked to stillbirths—especially in poorer countries (TIME)

INSURANCE: Florida developers are holding off on big projects as insurance costs surge (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON (OFFSETS): Satellites detect no real climate benefit from 10 years of forest carbon offsets in California (The Conversation)

RENEWABLES: Solar coalition wants to put equity front and center in Xcel’s Minnesota rate case (Energy News Network), Beyond the spa: Geothermal bubbles up to heat Hungary's homes (Reuters), Beyond solar: Here’s what the clean energy future might look like (Grist), Energy crisis highlights need to broaden renewables' supply chain (Reuters), Indian farmers turn to solar-powered fridges to fight food waste (Context), These whales are on the brink. Now comes climate change — and wind power. (Washington Post $), Wind energy industry struggles to find qualified workers: NREL (Utility Dive), Coal-fired power plant in NJ to be imploded for clean power (AP), Indian coal magnate Gautam Adani goes green (AP)

BATTERIES: Former Trump DOE official joins battery company (E&E $)

LNG: Tellurian chief Charif Souki is selling new style LNG business, but so far no one's buying it (Houston Chronicle), Sempra’s Port Arthur LNG lands deal with INEOS, bringing the project closer to reality (Houston Chronicle), The new battleships in Europe’s energy war are in short supply (Wall Street Journal $), Wilkinson: US is ‘biggest barrier’ in the way of LNG exports to Europe (Politico Pro $)

OIL & GAS: Fracking company to pay for public water system in rural Pennsylvania town (Inside Climate News), Fracking firm agrees to pay a small town’s water bills for 75 years (Truthout), How can fossil fuel producers balance demand with an urgent need for change? (NPR), Oxy and Enbridge to explore carbon pipeline and sequestration near Corpus Christi (Houston Chronicle)

ORPHANED WELLS: The US has more than 120,000 abandoned oil wells, research shows (Washington Post $)

PLASTICS: Future global treaty on plastics must cut production to ease pollution, some states say (Reuters)

PIPELINES: Court: Enbridge, tribe must draft Line 5 spill prevention plan (E&E $)

NUKES: A small nuclear reactor with off-the-shelf parts: Can it work? (Canary Media)

HYDROGEN: Winter warmer? Dutch homeowners put hydrogen heating to the test (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Study: Hotter weather leads to utility shutoff for low-income homes (Axios)

GRID: A giant clean-energy transmission line to New York City is now underway (Canary Media), NYISO warns of narrower reliability margins in the next 10 years as gas plants retire, electrification advances (Utility Dive)

EVs: Car companies are now bundling EVs with home solar panels. Are customers going to buy? (Inside Climate News), Musk set to finally take wraps off Tesla truck - to tough crowd (Reuters, Canary Media), Tesla set to deliver semi truck to PepsiCo, expanding beyond passenger vehicles (Wall Street Journal $)

MOWERS: Swapping gas mowers for electric could help solve Colorado’s ozone problem: report (The Hill)

AVIATION: Airlines' next struggle? Where to plug in their planes (Axios)

AGRICULTURE: A farmer adapts to climate change and spreads harvest throughout the year (NPR)

KIDS? Should you not have kids because of climate change? It’s complicated. (Washington Post $)

FINANCE: Credit Suisse aims to halve emissions intensity of investments by 2030 (Reuters), Zambia finalises guidelines for issuing green bonds (Reuters)

WILDLIFE: EU’s new climate change plan will cause biodiversity loss and deforestation: Analysis (Environmental Health News), Nature needs $384 billion annually by 2025, U.N. says (Reuters)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia on track for upgraded emission reduction targets, government says (Reuters), What is Prince William’s earthshot prize? (New York Times $), Royals tour US green tech incubator, meet at-risk youth (AP)

• My community doesn’t exist just to absolve you of your climate sins (New York Times, Levi Sucre Romero op-ed $)
• After COP27, a plea—and a pathway—for urgent corporate action (Atmos, Ayana Elizabeth Johnson op-ed)
• Endless debates about soup and paintings serve those who’d prefer we ignore the climate crisis (The Guardian, Zoe Williams op-ed)
• Qatar’s World Cup is a lavish exercise in sportswashing (Democracy Now, Amy Goodman and Denis Moynihan column)
• Australia is on track … sort of: Official expert advice urges a ‘big upward shift’ on emissions cuts (The Guardian, Adam Morton analysis)
• It’s time to re-think the United Nations’ COP climate negotiations (Environmental Health News, Ruth Greenspan Bell op-ed)
• Electrifying US long haul trucks will require 504 TWh a year. But that won’t be the hardest part. (Utility Dive, Will Sierzchula op-ed)
• Our views: Macron, carrying the banner of France, is a treasured visitor in Louisiana (NOLA Editorial Board)
• An energy showdown with Mexico (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)

Lawyer Says Lawsuits Are Bad (So Stop Suing His Fossil Fuel Funders, Please?)

What kind of lawyer says that lawsuits aren't a way to seek justice? 

One representing Big Oil, of course, with the dozens of lawsuits seeking to hold the industry accountable for its decades of deceptive business practices concealing what it knew to be the harmful effects of its products. 

Specifically, Phil Goldberg, who is running Public Relations efforts for the industry through the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), and recently told former Mitch McConnell advisor and Trump's FERC chair Neil Chatterjee that courts and lawsuits just aren't the way to make climate policy. 

Which is true, and also completely irrelevant to most of the actual lawsuits, which Goldberg does his job by misrepresenting throughout his 15-minute interview on Chatterjee's Washington Examiner podcast.

Having spent a few years now giving interviews and writing op-eds about the lawsuits, you would think Goldberg would understand that they're not about making new climate policy, or addressing how renewables need to replace fossil fuels in generating energy, which is the impression you'd get from listening to him. 

You would think Goldberg would know that the lawsuits concern Big Oil's years of climate denial, hiding the damages of its products behind millions of dollars of disinformation produced by lawyers like Goldberg at front groups like NAM. 

So what Goldberg describes as plaintiffs' aims to make energy more expensive should really be that they seek to recover costs of disposing of products that fossil fuel companies passed on to consumers by hiding how use of their product raises sea levels and worsens extreme weather. 

In explaining the jurisdictional issues that have lawsuits bouncing back and forth through courts as the industry tries desperately to make it a federal issue about policy and not a local issue about recovering damages and violating state consumer protection laws about false advertising, Goldberg does just that, bringing his benefactors' legal strategy to the podcasting public. 

You might think that, when confronted by two dozen lawsuits seeking to hold the industry accountable for its disinformation and climate damages, Big Oil might tone down the disinformation and try to do its part to reduce future climate damages. 

But it can't help itself! Disinformation is such a core feature of the corporate public relations toolbox that these companies don't know how to be honest about the damage they cause. 

Which leaves the big question: When will the disinformation Big Oil's front group workers like Phil Goldberg produce get used as evidence in one of these cases about Big Oil's front groups and disinformation? 

Maybe it'll be in the investigation the House Oversight Committee will soon release! 

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