FIRST LOOK: 

GAO Warns Propane Group Is Illegally Lobbying, Paying Influencers: A propane industry group is paying DIY influencers to promote propane and oppose building electrification using funds the GAO has repeatedly warned are not permissible for those purposes, the New York Times reports based on a public information request by the Energy and Policy Institute. The Propane Education and Research Council uses the $40 million it raises annually as a federally-sanctioned trade association to pay influencers hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote its product as part of its planned $13 million 2023 anti-electrification campaign. It also spent nearly $900,000 to support a campaign against electrification in New York state. The Government Accountability Office has, has repeatedly warned PERC is misusing its funds and may be violating statutory prohibitions on lobbying. (New York Times $) 

EPA Seeks Applications For $100 Million In EJ Grants: The EPA on Tuesday announced $100 million is now available for environmental justice grants, with $30 million available to community-based nonprofits and $70 million available to state, local, and tribal governments. The EPA is hosting "pre-application" webinars on January 24 and 26 to aid applicants in the application process. (E&E News, Bloomberg Law, AP, Washington Post $, The Hill, Politico Pro $)

Four Agency Transportation Plan Gets Rolling: The Biden administration launched a multi-agency effort to decarbonize the transportation sector by 2050 on Tuesday. The first-of-its-kind plan, developed by DOE, DOT, HUD, and EPA, seeks to implement funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law so as to both encourage the transition from ICE-powered cars to EVs as well as reduce Americans' dependence on cars by making communities more walkable and bikeable and by improving the availability, convenience, and efficiency of public transportation. (Washington Post $, E&E $, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Utility Dive)

18 Disasters Killed 474 People, Cost US $165 Billion In 2022: Extreme weather disasters fueled by climate change killed at least 474 people and caused more than $165 billion in damages across the U.S. in 2022, NOAA scientists said Tuesday. The annual billion-dollar disaster report is a key indicator of the present costs of inaction to address the climate crisis and the 2022 total, adjusted for inflation, is the third-most expensive year since NOAA began compiling data 43 years ago. Also Tuesday, Munich Re reported insured losses from hurricanes and flooding totaled $120 billion worldwide in 2022. Last year was the fifth-warmest on record and the last eight years have been the hottest eight years on record. (U.S.: AP, The Guardian, Bloomberg $, The Conversation, CNN, Politico Pro $, The Hill; Munich Re: Reuters, Climate Home, The Hill, Bloomberg $; Years: Bloomberg $, Washington Post $, New York Times $, The Hill, CNN, FT $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Baltimore residents increasingly frustrated with water conditions (NBC)

EACOP: China brushes off environment fears over East Africa pipeline (Nikkei Asian Review)

GAS STOVES: Gas stoves are linked to childhood asthma — and advocates want them out of public housing (The 19th* News), There’s a secret pollution source in 40 million homes. The US may try to ban it. (Washington Post $, E&E News, The Conversation, CBS)

CALIFORNIA STORMS: Southern California faces another day of punishing rains: ‘We are definitely not out of the woods yet’ (LA Times $, AP, CNN, LA Times $, Axios, Reuters, Gizmodo, CNN, Washington Post, photos $), Major atmospheric river lashes California: 90% of state under flood watch (Axios), California storm death toll reaches 16 as more rain, winds hit state (LA Times $, Washington Post $), Battered coastline, flooding rivers trap residents, bring misery in Santa Cruz County (LA Times $, Washington Post $), Maps and charts show the awful impact of the California storms (Washington Post $), When will it stop raining in Southern California? A storm timeline (LA Times $)

• UNHOUSED PEOPLE: What we know about homeless people killed in Sacramento storms; one had five kids (Sacramento Bee $), Advocates say San Francisco is still sweeping homeless camps against court order (San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post $), As storms hammer California, homeless campers try to survive outside (New York Times $), 14 people rescued from flooded homeless encampment in Ventura (KTLA), Amid more rain, how is LA trying to protect people living on the streets? (KCRW)
• LEVEES: Levee breaches cause additional flooding in Monterey County; New evacuations ordered (CBS)
• COMPOUND IMPACTS: Atmospheric rivers over California’s wildfire burn scars raise fears of deadly mudslides – this is what cascading climate disasters look like (The Conversation)
• SO. MUCH. WATER.: California’s dilemma: How do you harness an epic amount of rain in a water-scarce state? Let it flood, scientists say (CNN), California’s paradox: confronting too little water, and too much (Washington Post $), How much will the rain help California’s drought? (AP explainer)

FOSSIL FUELED WAR & ENERGY CRISES: Norway replaces Russia as germany’s top gas supplier (OilPrice), Gas heating and cooking are going to get more expensive this winter (Vox), War and weather (New York Times $)

• GERMANY: Climate activists ‘prepared to risk lives’ to stop German coalmine (The Guardian), German police drag away activists protesting coal mine expansion (Reuters), German coal mine clash pits laws against climate (AP), Germany set to avoid gas shortages this winter, group says (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Judge dismisses lawsuit about big oil conspiracy (OilPrice)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: G-20 central bankers confront limits of mandates on climate (Bloomberg $), Governments urged to confront effects of climate crisis on migrants (The Guardian)

🐦🗑️🔥: Tesla's stock lost over $700 billion in value. Elon Musk's twitter deal didn't help (NPR), Laid-off Twitter workers feared meager severance deals. Elon Musk just set the bar even lower (LA Times $)

US EMISSIONS: US still off-track for climate goals as greenhouse gas emissions rise for second straight year, new report says (CBS, E&E News, The Hill), US power use to slide in 2023 from record high on weaker economic activity (Reuters)

CENTRAL BANKS: Federal Reserve's Powell says central bank will not be a "climate policymaker" (Axios, AP, Bloomberg $, New York Times $, E&E $, CNN, Reuters, FT $, CNBC, The Hill), Inflation fighting central bankers air climate role doubts (Reuters)

EPA: After a decade, federal officials tighten guidelines on [PM2.5] air pollution (Inside Climate News), EPA soot proposal gets mixed reviews on Capitol Hill (E&E $)

DOE: DOE’s cybersecurity accelerator to focus on industrial control systems with 2nd cohort (Utility Dive)

DOI: Critic of fossil fuels [Elizabeth Klein] to lead key off-shore oil agency for Biden (Washington Post $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden nears now-or-never point for cementing new climate rules (Bloomberg $), Biden White House climate officials to watch in 2023 (E&E $), White House puts a 'thumb on the scales' for green energy (E&E $)

• NORTH AMERICA: Biden makes climate promises with North American leaders (E&E $), Biden to focus on semiconductors, climate at summit (Bloomberg $)

HOUSE: What the House Speaker’s deal with ultraconservatives means for climate (Grist), ‘87,000 IRS agents’ is the zombie falsehood setting the House agenda (Washington Post Fact check $), 4 deals Kevin McCarthy made to become speaker, explained (LA Times $), GOP revives rule allowing lawmakers to target federal agencies, staffers (Washington Post $), Meet the new GOP chair of the House Science Committee (E&E News, E&E $), House Republicans name chairs for energy-related committees (Politico Pro $, E&E $)

SENATE: Cantwell demands review of Keystone pipeline permit (E&E $)

POLITICS: Amid concern about extreme weather events, most want Congress to fight climate change (CBS)

ELECTIONS: Democratic Rep. Katie Porter announces she's running for California Senate — and she's not waiting for Sen. Dianne Feinstein to step aside (Business Insider, LA Times $, Jezebel, San Francisco Chronicle, SFGate, Mercury News, Washington Post $, Rolling Stone, People, USA Today, NBC, Deadline, The Hill, MarketWatch, Politico, Reuters, CNN, Axios, HuffPost, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $, Fox News)

TRIBES: Cherokee tribes turn to K Street to fulfill a 187-year-old promise for a seat in Congress (Politico)

CITIES AND STATES: New York’s Hochul proposes banning gas in new buildings (Bloomberg $), Hochul advances cap-and-trade program to reduce emissions — with rebates (Politico Pro $), Renewable energy usage has doubled in the last decade. Hawaii is leading the charge. (CBS), [Penn. Gov.-elect Josh] Shapiro names picks for ag, parks and environmental agencies (AP), State supreme court orders South Carolina legislature to draw new map (NewsOne)

FERC: FERC approves Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric membership in Southeast Energy Exchange Market (Utility Dive)

OZONE: Why the ozone hole is on track to be healed by mid-century (Vox)

IMPACTS: Ocean heat surged to another record-high temperature in 2022 (Washington Post $), After comeback, southern Iraq’s marshes are now drying up (Yale Environment 360), DC, Philly and New York have seen no snow this winter. What’s going on? (Washington Post $), Rediscovered 19th-century records help show impact of climate change on plants (Yale Climate Connections), Scientists study how wavy jet stream plus ‘extra warmth’ fuels extreme weather (FT $), You may miss these parasites when they’re gone (New York Times $)

• EUROPE: It’s gettin’ hot in here: Europe’s year of climate extremes (Politico EU), Europe had second-warmest year on record in 2022, EU scientists say (Reuters), Twelve European countries broke temperature records in 2022 (The Guardian)
• ADAPTATION: Inside plans for Copenhagen's divisive artificial storm-absorbing peninsula (CNN)

HURRICANES: Will hurricanes produce more wealthy landowners in Florida? (E&E News)

DEFORESTATION: Uganda takes to the courts to stop land grabs and protect forests (Context)

BOOZE: Winemakers champion the next ‘perfect grape’ for climate change (Bloomberg $)

RENEWABLES: Could floating solar farms survive out at sea? (BBC), BP signs deal to sell solar power to Meta from Ohio farm (Bloomberg $), Dead whales in N.J. fuel debate about offshore wind impacts (E&E $), Green industries could be worth $10.3 trln to economy by 2050 - study (Reuters), Round-the-clock clean power doesn’t cost a fortune, study shows (Bloomberg $), Solar program aims to cut energy costs for lower-income Rhode Island residents (Energy News Network), UAE's Masdar to develop renewable energy projects in Kyrgyzstan (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Form Energy to build first US battery plant in West Virginia (Utility Dive), Korean solar company plans to build $2.5 billion plant in georgia (New York Times $)

BUILDINGS: More NYC high-rises to be outfitted with novel carbon-capture system (Canary Media)

HEALTH CARE: Mass General tries performance reports to cut greenhouse gas use in anesthesia (WBUR)

METHANE: Methane’s life, death, and secret second life (Grist)

OIL & GAS: Natural gas explosion forces road closures, injures 2 bystanders (Palm Desert Patch), A myriad of uncertainties are set to keep oil prices volatile (OilPrice), High volatility frustrates US efforts to refill oil reserves (Bloomberg $), Oil and gas are back and booming (Wall Street Journal $, Bloomberg $), Record US oil output seen leading non-OPEC growth next year (Bloomberg $)

PLASTICS: Plastic forks become rarer as england joins global effort to ban them (Washington Post $), UAE to ban single-use plastic shopping bags starting in 2024 (AP)

HYDROGEN: Why critical minerals won’t hamper the green hydrogen revolution (Energy Monitor)

NUKES: Holtec International seeks $7.4 billion federal loan for small modular reactor build-out (Utility Dive), Nation's leading small reactor project clears major hurdle (E&E $)

UTILITIES: TVA announces switch to gas, bypassing climate concerns (E&E $)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Utility corruption questions continue as HB 6 trial nears (Energy News Network)

GRID: Bill Gates-backed group boosts transmission expansion plan (E&E $)

EVs: China’s EV sales broke record in 2022 as overall auto market stalled (Wall Street Journal $, Bloomberg $), GM, Ford, Google partner to promote 'virtual' power plants (Reuters), India’s foray into the EV battery market lacks some key ingredients (Bloomberg $), Mercedes enters the fray for electric-vehicle charging spots (Bloomberg $), Several top Rivian executives depart the electric-vehicle startup (Wall Street Journal $), Surveillance footage of Tesla crash on sf’s bay bridge hours after Elon Musk announces “self-driving” feature (The Intercept), Tesla considers $775 million Texas factory expansion (Wall Street Journal $), Toyota leasing unit warns of ‘unprecedented’ challenge to boost EV sales (FT $), We drove around New England looking for EV chargers (and the best doughnuts). It was easier than we expected. (Boston Globe $)

ALUMIN(I)UM: Bumper green aluminium output is good news for carmakers, and climate (Reuters)

DAVOS: Davos expects record turnout as resumes winter slot (Reuters, AP)

AGRICULTURE: Coming soon: Beef, coffee, and chocolate, without a side of environmental destruction (Vox), India wheat harvest could hit record on higher planting area, favourable weather (Reuters)

BUSINESSES: Shareholders bring US abortion battle to the boardroom (FT $)

INTERIOR DESIGN: Designers look to nature, landfills for new decor materials (AP)

BUT MAKE IT FASHION: Digital vs slow: The future of sustainable fashion (Atmos)

FINANCE: Dozens of companies ejected from FTSE4Good indices (FT $), Goldman Sachs raises $1.6 bln private capital for climate fund (Reuters), Goldman draws over $1.6 billion to strictest ESG fund class (Bloomberg $)

WILDLIFE: Where the bison could roam (New York Times $), Advocates say caring for the Everglades isn’t about restoration, it’s about respect (Prism Reports)

INTERNATIONAL: Australia lays out plan to make biggest polluters slash emissions (Reuters, Bloomberg $), Cut in energy support to firms ‘threatens UK decarbonisation’ (The Guardian), EU needs more ways to support firms through energy transition -Gentiloni (Reuters), India expects utilities' annual coal demand to surge about 8% after renewables shortfall (Reuters), Rishi Sunak’s RAF jet flight to Leeds ‘mocks climate pledges’, MPs say (The Guardian)

• BRAZIL: ‘Funai is ours’: Brazil’s Indigenous affairs agency is reclaimed under Lula (Mongabay), Amid Brazil uprising, indigenous Amazon bucks growing CO2 trend (Context), Bannon on Brazil riots: ‘I’m not backing off 1 inch’ (Politico), Everyone saw Brazil violence coming. Except social media giants (Politico EU)

• California’s weather is what climate change looks like (Washington Post, Philip Bump column $)
• I worked at a government lab and was fired for my climate activism (New York Times, Rose Abramoff op-ed $)
• As Pakistan looks to flood recovery, help for children is key (Context, Abdullah Fadil op-ed)
• How Congress forces us to cause climate change (The Hill, William Becker op-ed)
• Can we stop global warming? (The Hill, William Fletcher and Craig Smith op-ed)
• Europe’s carbon border tax proposal needs work (Bloomberg Editorial Board $)
• President Biden, creating a resilience corps will maximize our investments in climate and clean energy (Utility Dive, Emily Andrews, Kristen Bennett, Kevin Coyle, Trevor Dolan, Kaira Esgate, Karishma Merchant, and Mary Ellen Sprenkel op-ed)
• McCarthy’s mysterious deal with the hard right (Washington Post, Aaron Blake analysis $)
• The concession McCarthy shouldn’t have made (Bloomberg, Jonathan Bernstein column $)

As the Professional Anti-ESG Campaign Enters Year Three, a New, Amateur Anti-ESG Campaign Seeks Funding

Is Bitcoin the future of currency or a polluting ponzi scheme? Is the Metaverse the future of the internet or a desperate bid to keep Facebook profitable? Is the latest bid to oppose Environmental, Social, and Governance standards in finance a worthwhile investment, or is it a transparent money grab surfing the wake of the years-long professional anti-ESG efforts? 

Bitcoin is a ponzi scheme, the metaverse is uninhabited, and the latest bid to fundraise for an anti-ESG campaign is just as much of a scam as the others. But boy is it an entertaining one!

Meet David Siegel and his "Cutting Through the Noise" dot net website, which is one of the most visually unappealing websites we've seen this side of Y2K. With a white font on bright blue and fuchsia backgrounds, it's a veritable assault on the eyes. And with claims that the "UN Environmental, Sustainability, and Governance goals" are "nothing more than a Trojan Horse to control people via one world government" and that "Wokeism and cancel culture have drawn a tighter and tighter noose around markets, businesses, individual freedoms, and expression," it's also an assault on one's brain. 

Such is the result of optimizing your website design for display on tin foil hats, but that's apparently the audience David Siegel is targeting. His other projects include Pillar, the virtual wallet for your fake digital currency and NFTs, and something about the metaverse, so clearly Siegel is on the cutting edge of technology that efficiently separates fools from their money. 

Which is why it's so amusing that he's now eyeing the anti-ESG racket and has even gone so far as to publish a "road map" detailing how he'll "lead us out of the trap" of ESG in the same way the anti-lockdown Great Barrington Declaration apparently did for Covid. (lol, lmao, rofl) 

First off, Cutting Through the Noise is "looking for agents of change" like "scientists, engineers, business people, marketers, etc" (heavy on the "etc," we assume) from "think tanks, non profits, companies, and retired." (Think tanks are non profits, but okay.) Additionally, what is apparently "most important" is for this new effort to recruit "officers from corporations who want to change." 

What will these “agents of change” do? They "will work in a Slack group to put a plan together, [sic] to craft our platform and launch our strategy." Oh, cool! (If anyone feels like checking out what is certainly an entertaining community of very smart people, the sign-up link for said Slack is at the bottom of every terrible page on the site.) 

They "also need fundraisers who can help us get the resources we need," and the "plan is to create a set of education offerings that companies will pay for to send their people to learn about these issues," since "asking for charity money doesn't work (we tried that)." 

So instead of spending $10 million on ESG compliance and a "greenwashing PR budget and other fake programs," Siegel wants companies to instead give him "$1 million a year to get out of that trap." 

What a bargain! Companies can either spend money on rigorously exploring the potential costs and risks associated with polluting the environment, being hated by society, and being governed by a maniac, or they can just pay this guy a cool $1 million dollars for a 'get out of ESG jail free' card. 

Siegel would "like to have a budget exceeding $10 million per year as soon as possible" because his group "will need officers, trainers, communications, event organizers, fundraising, and more." To this end, he’s hoping to find a few "charter members" (aka "companies to contribute $1 million each"). 

With cash in hand, Siegel can then start creating his checklist for pushing an agenda: a "credible body of evidence… ongoing research… cost/benefit analysis… a proper climate debate… a PR firm… a network of experts… a marketing department… events… a web site…" and “videos, podcasts and other media." And of course he also needs "lobbying to help eliminate many of the useless regulations we have today" as well as "lobbying to change the frameworks governments use to reinforce the status quo." 

"If things go well," Siegel writes, Cutting Through the Noise "can raise money to really build an organization, [which] should be ready for a public launch by sometime in 2024 or 2025." Oh, okay! Good to know he's not rushing things! 

Hopefully, between now and 2025, someone will let poor Dave know that an obscure little newspaper known as The New York Times has exposed the fact that there already IS an organized, billionaire-funded campaign to oppose ESG measures. People like Koch-backed former VP Mike Pence and Peter Thiel-backed Vivek Ramaswamy as well as fossil fuel-backed groups like PragerU, SFOF, the Heritage Foundation, and the Heartland Institute have been attacking ESG for years. 

But perhaps Siegel is well aware of this effort, and that's why he thinks that a "credible body of evidence" against ESG standards has yet to be produced.

We suggest that because we found one very interesting post among his lengthy list of climate disinformation resources. In "An Open Letter to the Heartland Institute," Siegel absolutely roasts the "toxic" fossil fuel and tobacco-backed group that's playing a recurring role in the organized anti-ESG campaign. 

Apparently David went to one of Heartland's annual conferences, and despite being a fan of the speakers and totally buying into climate denial, he was not impressed. 

Here is one of our favorite quotes from the open letter: "I was sad to watch the theater that played onstage. It wasn't a conference, it was a jamboree. It was a scout-troop meeting of old white-haired American men who thought they were winning the argument, the same way they 'won' back in Vietnam."

Siegel goes on to explain, "most of the talks I heard at your event were childish," which is quite a follow-up to the complaint that the conference consisted of a bunch of old men. He was disappointed to see that what he considered "several good, reasonable scientists (Willie Soon and Tim Ball) have become cartoon characters on stage" who were merely "preaching to the sexagenarian choir." 

No wonder Siegel wasn't invited to be a part of the organized anti-ESG campaign and has instead had to resort to trying to crowdfund his own effort, two years after the real one got started! Getting in the good graces of disinfo funders requires lying about pretty much everything, especially how fantastic all your would-be-fellow fundees are. By calling out Heartland as a bunch of sad old losers, Siegel did the one thing that disqualifies you from getting a piece of that easy climate disinfo money: He showed that he's capable of telling the truth! 

Now if only he'd notice that the same "sad" "old white-haired" "childish" he criticized for "preaching to the sexagenarian choir" are singing from the same hymnal he is.

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