PSA:

The CPSC has the best Instagram account of any government entity. Though, of course, if you know of a better one, please share ASAP.

Calif. PUC Makes Big Changes To Solar Panel Incentives: The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday dramatically altered the structures by which new solar customers are compensated for the energy their solar panels produce. The commission slashed net metering rates for new solar panels by about 75%, replacing the old rates with varying payment rates based on the time of day and electricity demand. The solar industry, which opposes the changes, warns the changes will be devastating to the sector and will hamper the expansion of clean energy. Climate and consumer groups also argue the changes would undermine the statewide benefits of increased renewable energy generation, including improved grid resiliency and greenhouse gas pollution reductions. For their part, proponents of the changes say the more effective way to displace fossil fuel-generated electricity from the grid is to increase storage capacity so that the surplus solar electricity generated during the day can be used in the evening, when grid operators are currently forced to rely on fossil-fuel generation to meet demand as solar generation goes down with the sun. Utilities, which view distributed solar as a threat to their bottom line and supported cutting net metering rates even further, claimed the old net metering regime disproportionately burdened low-income Californians who can't afford to install solar panels — climate and consumer groups disagree. The new rules apply to customers of SCE, PG&E, and SDG&E. Rooftop solar currently supplies about 10% of the state’s energy, more than hydro and nuclear power. The changes may have ripple effects as many states look to California for guidance on energy regulation. (AP, LA Times $, Sacramento Bee $, LAist, CAL Matters, Canary Media, NPR, Seeking Alpha, The Hill, CNBC, PV Magazine, Reuters, New York Times $, Inside Climate News, Bloomberg $)

CPSC To Investigate Health Dangers Of Gas Stoves: The Consumer Products Safety Commission will begin soliciting information in the coming months on the dangers posed by gas stoves to human health. Citing the pollution emitted by stoves, Commissioner Richard Trumka Jr. said, "We need to be talking about regulating gas stoves," and called phasing out new gas stoves "a real possibility." Gas stoves can produce dangerous levels of indoor air pollution, and even when turned off can leak significant amounts of heat-trapping methane as well as numerous other toxic and carcinogenic pollutants including “BTEX” chemicals (​​benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene). Minutes from a CPSC meeting in late October show the Commission directed staff to obtain public input on hazards associated with gas stoves. Trumka's remarks came during a webinar hosted by U.S. PIRG, which published a report this week finding retailers do not inform customers of the dangerous health impacts of gas stoves. (Trumka & stores: The Hill; CPSC: The Hill)

Twitter Suspends Reporters Critical Of Musk: Twitter abruptly suspended the accounts of journalists from multiple outlets who were reporting on or critical of Elon Musk on Thursday. The company, in chaos since Musk took it over in late October, offered no explanation for the suspensions. Musk himself basically accused them of aiding his potential assassination because some of the journalists had reported on his decision to permanently ban an account that tracked his private jet using public information. The suspensions come as Musk is under increasing pressure for his reduced focus on Tesla, the market cap of which is less than half of what it was when he first indicated his interest in buying Twitter this summer. Musk has also sold off about $23 billion of Tesla stock this year, most of it after he promised to stop doing so in April. Twitter abruptly disbanded its Trust and Safety Council on Monday night, and climate denial and a wide variety of other conspiracies and disinformation have flourished on Twitter since Musk took over the company. Media outlets and journalists reacted with alarm to the arbitrary suspensions Thursday night. "The impulsive and unjustified suspension of a number of reporters, including CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan, is concerning but not surprising,” that outlet said in a statement. Twitter's increasing instability and volatility should be of incredible concern to everyone who uses the platform. We have asked Twitter for an explanation, and we will reevaluate our relationship based on that response." (Twitter Suspensions: AP, Axios, Rolling Stone, The Verge, CNN, Hollywood Reporter, Washington Post $, New York Daily News, Deadline, Vice, CNET, Forbes, New York Times $, Variety, Mashable, Reuters, The Wrap, Fox News, Daily Beast, NBC, Philadelphia Inquirer, HuffPost; Tesla upheaval: (Washington Post $, New York Times $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: New data show Houston-area communities are being flooded with chemicals (Grist), Historic redlining has enduring impact on power plant siting (Axios)

IS THIS … QUIET QUITTING?: Signed, sealed, delivered: Idaho officials copy-pasted a fossil fuel industry letter (HuffPost) [See the Denier Roundup below for more — Ed.]

WATER: Starving the Mekong (Reuters), Drought emergency declared for all of Southern California by nation's largest water supplier (CBS)(The Hill), Upper Colorado River states announce voluntary cutback program (The Hill)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: EU methane law gets renewed attention as energy security saviour (Energy Monitor), France’s restart of nuclear reactors eases Blackout fears (Wall Street Journal $), Germany's half-a-trillion dollar energy bazooka may not be enough (Reuters)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: How Pruitt nudged Trump to dump the Paris climate deal (E&E News)

• COP15: COP15 nature summit snag on money matters, 30% conservation goal (Reuters), Are Indigenous protected areas the key to COP15's '30 by 30' goal? (Context)

GOP vs. ESG: Financial executives and Texas Republicans spar over climate actions (Reuters)

YEAR AHEAD: Fossil fuels, fairness, finance: Climate fights to watch in 2023 (Context)

MEDIA: Semafor hired a climate writer. Then Chevron ran ads on his stories. (Washington Post $)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: How to hand out billions in climate subsidies? Very carefully. (New York Times $), New clean energy investments have topped $40B since the IRA passed, report says (Utility Dive)

• SIDE DEALS: Biden endorses Manchin's revised permitting bill (Houston Chronicle)(E&E $), Transmission keys Dems’ last-gasp push on climate agenda (E&E News), Senate rejects Manchin’s energy permitting amendment to defense bill (The Hill)(AP)

AGENCIES: Alex Padilla prepares to battle Biden admin for new drought funding (Politico Pro $), US farm agency to spend $600 million on rural clean energy projects (Reuters), Why the government fails to limit many dangerous chemicals in the workplace (NPR), Biden wants ‘green’ economy, but talks fail to revive key aluminum plant (Washington Post $)

EPA: EPA revokes Trump-era air permitting policy (E&E News), EPA to finalize truck rule next week that disappoints some advocates (Washington Post $)(E&E News), US biofuels proposal would lift near-term greenhouse gas emissions, EPA says (Reuters)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden announces US support for African Union joining G20 (Reuters)

THE HILL: How Democrats got climate spending in everything from NASA's budget to the CHIPS Act (TIME), Democrats press Amazon on ‘failure to improve safety’ of tornado-struck warehouse (The Hill), Bills would set national building performance standards (E&E $)

HOUSE: 'Climate smart' grants in House Republican crosshairs (E&E $), Race for top House Oversight Democrat hits home stretch (E&E $)

SENATE: Markey probes Keystone operator over major spill (E&E $), Western senators seek more USDA help on drought (E&E $)

POLITICS: Poll: Americans want compromise, but have no confidence Congress will work together (NPR)

ELECTIONS: Virginia could elect Black Woman to congress for first time as candidates line up to fill Rep. McEachin’s seat (NewsOne)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Why women are rallying behind stalled Interior nominee (E&E News)

CITIES AND STATES: Maine Public Utilities Commission approves lower rates for heat pumps and EVs (Maine Public Radio), Texas has an obvious, affordable fix for its electricity problem (Wall Street Journal $), Eight states, 30 cities team up to reduce flooding threat along the Mississippi River (Yale Climate Connections), Fla. lawmakers force homeowners to buy flood insurance (E&E News), How states and utilities can lower consumer bills and accelerate the clean energy transition (Utility Dive)

FERC: FERC climate reviews in limbo as Glick departs (E&E News), FERC Chair Glick says he'll exit at end of the year (Politico Pro $), FERC floats new transmission authorities, cracks down on pipeline affiliates (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: The Arctic is heating up, disrupting the planet and local communities, NOAA report shows (TIME)(Wall Street Journal $), Storm lumbering into Northeast after unleashing a blizzard and tornadoes (Washington Post $)(Axios)

WILDFIRES: Restoring watersheds, and hope, after New Mexico’s record-breaking wildfires (Inside Climate News), Canadian town struggles with climate ambitions as it rebuilds after fire (Washington Post $)

RENEWABLES: ‘Firmageddon’: Oregon conifers suffer record die-off as climate crisis hits hard (The Guardian), Bill Gates-backed startup plans large solar power component plant (Wall Street Journal $), Utility-scale solar installations forecasted to decline 40% in 2022 as supply chain challenges persist (Utility Dive)

"RENEWABLES": Electricity generated by burning native Australian timber no longer classified as renewable energy (The Guardian)

BATTERIES: American Battery Factory to open first in planned series of gigafactories (Utility Dive), $3.5B EV battery-recycling plant is coming to South Carolina (E&E $)

BUILDINGS: High-rise buildings are not the future of housing. Low-rises are. (Atmos) The 4 best induction cooktops, with recommendations from chefs (Insider) LA mandates all new buildings be all-electric in major milestone (Archinect) (EC&M)

LNG: Freeport LNG still aims for year-end restart despite new FERC hurdles (Houston Chronicle)

OIL & GAS: Rising natural gas prices offer new incentive for methane capture (Houston Chronicle)(E&E $)

PLASTICS: Exxon launches new recycling facility in Baytown as it aims to recycle 1B pounds of plastic per year (Houston Chronicle)

PIPELINES: TC Energy restarts part of Keystone pipeline after spill (Politico Pro $)

FUSION: Nuclear fusion energy: What to know about the latest scientific breakthrough (Wall Street Journal $), What in the world is nuclear fusion — and when will we harness it? (The Verge)

COAL: Australia’s coal exporters made windfall gain of $45bn last year, report estimates (The Guardian)

UTILITIES: Eversource continues pitch for gas pipeline during public hearing despite unrelenting community pushback (MassLive)

GRID: EVs and crypto mining seen as emerging risks for US power reliability (Reuters)

EVs: US reaches 140k public EV charging ports as key federal official says $90B infrastructure investment needed (Utility Dive)

CARBON CAPTURE: Coming soon: Public shares of natural gas CCS company (E&E $)

TRASH: Green, clean and hated by locals: Inside Brazil's biggest landfill (Context)

WILDLIFE: How Arizona’s border wall could stop animals escaping from climate change (TIME), Want to save the planet? Saving whales could help, scientists say. (Washington Post $)

• TOOK THEM LONG ENOUGH TO FIND IT: Snakes have clitorises: Scientists overcome ‘a massive taboo around female genitalia’ (The Guardian)(The Conversation)(The Atlantic)(BBC)(CNET)(CBS)(CNN)(New York Times $)

• Big Oil companies are bullies who “want to be seen as good guys” (New York Times, David Wallace Wells column $)
• These Indigenous women are fighting Big Oil—and winning (TIME, Nemonte Nenquimo and Nonhle Mbuthuma op-ed)
• Jurisdiction delays lawsuits against Big Oil: the Biden administration can help (The Hill, Delta Merner op-ed)
• Here is what is really strangling the energy transition (New York Times, Justin Gillis and Tyler Norris op-ed $)
• Companies need to fix, not ignore, crypto’s growing climate impact (The Hill, Annie Leonard op-ed)
• The atmosphere doesn’t negotiate (The Hill, William Becker op-ed)
• Protect the oceans to protect food security (Context, Surangel Whipps op-ed)
• A plasma physicist explains what’s next after this week’s nuclear fusion breakthrough (The Verge, Tammy Ma interview)
• Europe can’t afford to name its gas price (Wall Street Journal, Carol Ryan column $)
• The EU goes rogue on climate policy with CBAM (Wall Street Journal, Sen. Kevin Cramer op-ed $)

Idaho Republicans: Lazy Corrupt Fossil Fuel Industry Lackeys and Proud Of It

Are Republicans finally "thinking about what kind of world, what kind of Earth they're leaving for their children, for their grandchildren, and where their responsibility lies," as professional GOP greenwasher Heather Reams recently told the Washington Examiner? Or are they just pretending to care because, as Reams says, "if any candidate is serious about winning" the Presidential race in 2024, they "gotta be there on climate change. Gotta have a plan." 

Smart money's on the latter. Chris D’Angelo recently revealed in the Huffington Post that Idaho's entire Republican congressional delegation and Republican governor "copy-pasted a fossil fuel industry letter."

TC Energy Corporation, reeling from the rupture of the Keystone Pipeline (you know, the one they tried to expand despite concerns about exactly such a spill), was probably not thrilled to see the news that its PR ploy has been uncovered. But the Republicans involved? Shamelessly proud of it! 

Back in August, California, Washington, and Oregon asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject TC Energy's proposal to expand their fracked Gas Transmission Northwest pipeline. TC Energy then fired up its ghostwriting machine, met with Idaho Republicans, and wrote a "draft letter" for the Republicans to send to FERC. 

Sens. Risch and Crapo, Reps. Simpson and Fulcher, and Gov. Little, then signed their names to the company letter and sent it to FERC. 

And while you might think they'd be ashamed of being caught lazily letting the fossil fuel industry write on their behalf to try and block regulations, Little's spokesperson simply dodged the questions from HuffPost and said the governor "is proud to work with members of Idaho's congressional delegation and other partners in supporting the expansion of the Gas Transmission Northwest Xpress project." 

Sen. Risch's spokesperson said that it's "well within the norm" for senators to sign industry-written letters. 

Not only is obvious corruption the norm, but Republicans are proud of it! 

And the quids are certainly pro quo, so to speak. As D'Angelo notes, "The fossil fuel industry has been a Top 10 contributor to Risch, Crapo and Simpson over their careers, according to data compiled by OpenSecrets.org."

So the next time someone from one of the organizations funded to greenwash the GOP tells you that the Republican Party is totally serious about climate change now, just wait a day or two. Because before long, an elected Republican or five will no doubt, loudly and proudly, tell you that they're still very much in the pocket of the fossil fuel industry. 

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