FIRST LOOK: 

Distributed Renewables Are Cheaper, More Reliable For Puerto Rico: Dramatically expanding rooftop solar and battery storage is necessary for Puerto Rico to meet its renewable energy goals and doing so would make the territory's grid more reliable, resilient, and affordable, a new DOE and FEMA report says. Despite the island's obvious solar and wind energy potential, 97% of its power generation comes from fossil fuels. Distributed renewables can help keep lights and refrigerators on after major storms — as they did after Hurricane Fiona last September — and actually cost less to build than Puerto Rico's troubled, "existing fossil fuel capacity" costs to operate. During a DOE webinar on Monday, many Puerto Rican residents raised concerns about individual affordability, highlighting the need for broader renewables investment. “We want to have a solar community, but there is (no) program available for us!” Wanda Ríos wrote during the webinar. (AP, E&E $, San Juan Daily Star, NPR, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Fox News)

PHMSA To 'Strongly Consider' Changing Pipeline Blast Zone Formula Described As 'A Fantasy Story': A federal safety watchdog is calling for expanding the distance from a methane gas pipeline that is considered "safe." The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) — which regulates major methane gas transportation pipelines — told the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) it would "strongly consider" expanding what it calls the "potential impact radius," which others call the “blast zone,” "hazard area" and “incineration zone.” A major leak from a gas pipeline is reported to federal regulators more than every other day. The formula used to calculate a 600-foot "safe distance" for a campsite 675 feet away from a pipeline buried 8 to 15 feet underground exploded, creating what E&E News described as "a blowtorch 2 ½ feet wide" that incinerated the families' campsite, melting tents and sleeping bags, and killing all 12 people. "The only reason we could tell it was a tent was the geometric design of the poles," police officer John Balderston told the LA Times at the time. The formula for determining what area would be "severely impacted" by an explosion is based on numerous assumptions, including that any person within the area, even if they were asleep, could — within five seconds of a blast — comprehend what is going on, decide to flee, run at about 5 mph for 25 seconds, and then find shelter within 200 feet. Royce Deaver worked as a pipeline consultant for ExxonMobil for over three decades. "The whole thing was a fantasy story," he told E&E News. "Like a fairy tale." (E&E News)

Montana Group Busy Building Beaver Dams: Montanans are working to alleviate the impact of the region's climate-fueled drought by building faux beaver dams, and they're hoping to attract beavers back to the region in the process, Yale Climate Connections reports. European colonizers wiped out local beaver populations. Now, the Big Hole Watershed Committee is building replica beaver dams to slow runoff-fed streams and hold moisture in the soil. The group is hoping the dams attract beavers [which this writer's child would insist on pointing out are the largest member of the rodent family in North America — Ed.] back to the area. “Eventually the beaver will find that place and take over what we’ve started,” says Pedro Marques of BHWC. “That’s really the end goal.” (Yale Climate Connections; Climate Signals background: Western megadrought)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Why were millions of Pakistanis without electricity? (Reuters Factbox), Coal power stations fired up and customers paid to cut energy use in UK cold snap (The Guardian), UK's National Grid says back-up coal plants stood down for Monday evening (Reuters), UK's National Grid to pay people to use less power as cold snap bites (Reuters), Ukraine war upended energy markets forever (Axios)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Here’s what we know about Kerry’s offset gambit (E&E News), Portugal agrees to swap Cape Verde's debt for environmental investment (Reuters)

DENIAL & MONETIZED DELUSION: Fox News' defense in defamation suit invokes debunked election-fraud claims (NPR), Myths about fossil fuels and renewable energy are circulating again. Don’t buy them. (Yale Climate Connections)

COP CITY: Forest-saving plan takes a violent turn in Georgia (E&E News), 'Cop City' chaos unfolds further with domestic terrorism charges (The Root, NewsOne), ‘Assassinated in cold blood’: Activist killed protesting Georgia’s ‘Cop City’ (The Guardian), Cop City goes national (The Intercept), Mother of activist fatally shot by law enforcement at Atlanta police training facility says she feels angry and powerless (CNN), 

PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS: How to build a better bike-share program (Grist)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Biden’s next climate hurdle: Enticing Americans to buy green (AP), Biden’s green subsidies are attracting billions of dollars to red states (Wall Street Journal $), Big winners from Biden's climate law: Republicans who voted against it (Politico)

EPA: Depleted under Trump, a ‘traumatized’ EPA struggles with its mission (New York Times $), EPA strikes deal to update oil and gas air rules (Politico Pro $), EPA considers tougher regulation of livestock farm pollution (AP)

DOE: DOE launches $10M prize to increase community solar in underserved communities (Utility Dive)

TREASURY: Automakers rebel against Treasury's SUV rules for EV tax credit (Politico Pro $), Janet Yellen pushes China on debt relief for Zambia (Wall Street Journal $), US wants to see quicker progress on World Bank reforms- Yellen (Reuters)

WHITE HOUSE: How Biden can meet his 100% clean electricity goal (Washington Post $), How Biden’s incoming top aide tried to overhaul government (E&E News), Biden admin looks to overseas mining for EV, renewable needs (E&E $), Granholm: Biden would veto House GOP's latest Strategic Petroleum Reserve bill (Politico Pro $)

THE HILL: Manchin, other lawmakers defend climate bill at Davos (E&E $), Rough road for farm bill as divided Congress takes hold (E&E News)

HOUSE: Energy to dominate House agenda this week (E&E $), What to know about House Republican committee assignments (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: 3 Republicans who could topple Manchin (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate takes up judicial nominees, DOD energy pick (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: How Texas’ electricity plan could change the grid (E&E News), Kamala Harris, in Florida, takes aim at abortion restrictions as attacking ‘the very foundations of freedom’ (The 19th* News), [Virginia's] Republican governor nixes thousands of green energy jobs, fearmongers about communism (Gizmodo), Bill advances in New Mexico to gird against climate crises (AP) A lot more than gas stoves: A deep dive into what NY must do to meet its climate law (Gothamist) 

• CALIFORNIA: Calif. zero-emission vehicle sales hit record high (E&E $), California PUC proposal would order an additional 4 GW of clean energy resources to bolster grid reliability (Utility Dive), 

FERC: FERC acting Chairman Phillips says priorities are reliability, transmission and environmental justice (Utility Dive), Constellation, NRG and other generators urge FERC to reject PJM’s mid-capacity auction rule change (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: ‘It used to be like heaven’: the Iraq wetlands decimated by the climate crisis – in pictures (The Guardian), New study reveals Arctic ice, tracked both above and below, is freezing later (Inside Climate News), What 5,000-year-old skeletons tell us about living with climate change (Grist), FAO: Rising prices, food insecurity add to ranks of hungry (AP)

(LACK OF) FLOOD INSURANCE: In soaked California, few homes have flood insurance (E&E $), Insurance startup aims to pay flood claims within hours (E&E $)

WATER: A California town’s wastewater is helping it battle drought (Grist), How Arizona, California and other states are trying to generate a whole new water supply (The Hill)

DEFORESTATION: Logged forests may be carbon emitters for years (Gizmodo)

RENEWABLES: 3 big advances coming as distributed energy resources take newer, bigger roles in 2023 (Utility Dive), Offshore wind build-out will require $22B in investments, report says (E&E $), Trouble in Himalayan town swells scrutiny of India's hydropower push (Context), Wetstone to exit American Council on Renewable Energy (Politico Pro $)

PREINDUSTRIAL GAP-FILLERS: Wood banks are filling in America's heating gap this winter (Gizmodo)

BATTERIES: Albemarle sees quarterly earnings above estimates on tight lithium supply (Reuters)

BUILDINGS: What to Know About The Risks Of Gas Stoves And Appliances (ProPublica), NYC mayor dishes on gas stoves (and says he’s a fan) as governor considers statewide ban (Gothamist), Should you replace your gas stove with an induction cooktop? Here’s what you need to know (FastCompany), Gas stoves spark health and safety debate (NBC Boston), Gas stoves are not being banned, but studies show they may be harmful (Yahoo Life), Fact check: TV station tweet about gas stoves and cardiovascular events is fabricated (USA Today)

STORAGE: 5 reasons why thermal storage may finally be set to take off (Canary Media)

EFFICIENCY: We still use appliances like it’s 1970. There’s a better way. (Washington Post $)

OIL & GAS: Guyana in talks with Qatar, UK, UAE and India on oil blocks (Reuters)

PIPELINES: CO2 pipeline developer withdraws Illinois application (E&E $)

COAL: ‘It was a set-up, we were fooled’: the coalmine that ate an Indian village – podcast (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: Gascade and Fluxys step up plans for North Sea hydrogen pipeline (Reuters)

NUKES: A small modular nuclear reactor just got US approval — a big milestone (Canary Media), French nuclear safety needs review ahead of reactor lifespan extensions, newbuilds - ASN (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Affordable, reliable and sustainable: Report compares utility performance (Minnesota Reformer)

GRID: PJM generator average interconnection costs soar 728%, driven by network upgrades: DOE Lab (Utility Dive)

EVs: Tesla is still Wall Street’s favorite car company (Wall Street Journal $)

TV: ‘The Last Of Us’: where mycology and climate apocalypse collide (Atmos)

AGRICULTURE: How pesticides intensify global warming (Grist)

SLEEPING SOUNDLY ON A BED OF MONEY: WoodMac wins: The consultancy giving cover to fossil fuel projects (Climate Home)

DAVOS: Big oil comes in from the cold on energy transition (Reuters), Outlook brighter than feared, fraught with risks (Reuters)

FINANCE: Bank funding for renewables stagnates vs oil and gas - report (Reuters), VC firm Fifth Wall to bankroll deployment of carbon-free building tech (Canary Media)

RICH WHITE GUYS: ‘No chance’ of global heating below 1.5°C but nuclear tech ‘promising’ in climate crisis, Bill Gates says (The Guardian)

REAL ESTATE: If you want to sell a home, put gas stove in the listing (Wall Street Journal $)

INTERNATIONAL: Canada oil group says federal, provincial tension blocking carbon capture talks (Reuters), Canada's energy jobs transition bill sparks discord in oil heartland (Reuters), EU's planned reforms aim to better protect power bills from market swings (Reuters), India central bank says no foreign investment cap on sovereign green bonds (Reuters), Low-carbon jobs fell after Cameron’s kibosh on ‘green crap’ policies – study (The Guardian), Portugal to launch first offshore wind auction, eyes 10 GW by 2030 (Reuters), Seeds of change: Nepal's local crops raise hopes for food security (Context), South Africa's Eskom says worst power cuts over for now but urges less use (Reuters)

• California’s power outages are a life-and-death issue (High Country News, Alice Wong op-ed)
• What’s the key to climate action? Better communication (Context, Esa Nikunen and Michael Shank op-ed)
• Creative green finance can go a long way in 2023 (Reuters, Hugo Dixon column)
• ‘No miracles needed’: Prof Mark Jacobson on how wind, sun and water can power the world (The Guardian, interview)
• Please don’t feed the debt scolds (New York Times, Paul Krugman column $)
• Gov. Ron DeSantis defends Florida rejecting ‘radical’ AP African American studies course (NewsOne, Zack Linly op-ed)

Did Someone at Twitter Turn On #ClimateScam on July 19, 2022? 

From October 2021 to July 19, 2022, the Twitter hashtag #ClimateScam was basically dead, seeing essentially zero tweets. Then, as if someone flipped a switch to turn it on, usage jumped, with over 1,000 posts a day in the months that followed. 

This hashtag wasn't outcompeting #ClimateCrisis and #ClimateEmergency, so it’s very odd that in November, during the COP27 UN climate negotiations, #ClimateScam popped up before both "climate" and the more popular #ClimateEmergency when users typed "climate" into Twitter's search bar. 

What happened? Why would something less popular show first? And most importantly, what happened at the end of July 2022 to kickstart #ClimateScam on the platform in the first place? 

The final report from the Climate Action Against Disinformation (CAAD) Coalition's COP27 disinformation project eliminates basically every possible explanation besides someone at Twitter deciding to turn up the volume of #ClimateScam content. 

“This research shows that climate disinformation isn’t going away and, in fact, it’s getting worse," said Erika Seiber, climate disinformation spokesperson at Friends of the Earth U.S., in a press release. "During COP, Twitter’s search engine pushed #ClimateScam as a top result without any justification for the data behind it. Until governments hold social media and ad companies accountable, and companies hold professional disinformers accountable, crucial conversations around the climate crisis are going to be put in jeopardy. To start, Twitter should offer an explanation of how this inexcusable climate denial trend came to be.” 

Searches from signed-out browsers in incognito mode still suggested #ClimateScam, the content wasn't more popular than non-denial hashtags, and this phenomenon wasn't something that was observed on other platforms. Facebook usage of #ClimateScam was minimal, for example, and TikTok didn't even allow the phrase as a search term. 

But that's not to imply that Facebook's got its act together! 

The report also reveals that fossil fuel-linked advertisers spent between three and four million dollars to spread greenwashing climate disinformation on Facebook and Instagram ahead of and during COP27, with a marked increase the month before COP started. 

Most prolific, by far, with more daily ads than the other 86 pages combined, was the American Petroleum Institute's "Energy Citizens" front group, which posted ads the report describes as "citing nationalist arguments around ‘energy security’." 

Another top advertiser was America's Plastic Makers, which is a front for the petrochemical industry that spent $1.1 million on climate-related advertising between September 1 and November 23. 

Jennie King, Head of Climate Research and Response at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, said in a statement, "Our report shows Big Oil continues to invest millions in digital advertising to launder their image as ‘climate champions’, while also promoting the necessity of fossil fuels and building business plans." 

Fortunately, there is some hope. Jake Dubbins, Co-Chair of the Conscious Advertising Network and CAAD member who attended COP27, noted, “Leaders we spoke to from countries Germany to Saint Lucia were all deeply concerned about the disinformation war. If the urgency of the climate crisis continues to be undermined by mis- and disinformation, then the climate action we all so desperately need will continue to be delayed to the point of no return.”

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)