FIRST LOOK(s): 

Enbridge Paid Minn. Cops To Act As Private Police Force Against Line 3 Protesters: Enbridge paid more than $8.6 to Minnesota police and other agencies to clear the way for the expansion of its Line 3 tar sands oil pipeline by quelling protests and acts of civil disobedience, Grist reports. The pipeline violates and threatens treaty-protected lands where several Anishinaabe tribes hold rights to hunt, fish, and gather nutritionally and culturally important wild rice. Invoices obtained via public records laws show Enbridge paid what amounted to its private security forces nearly $80,000 on June 7, 2021 for services that included a sound cannon and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter blowing away protesters with low-altitude rotor wash. The Minneapolis Police Department also performed public relations work for Enbridge — the MPD press flack behind the infamous press release claiming George Floyd "physically resisted officers" also sent press releases and answered press queries on behalf of state agencies during the Line 3 protests. Enbridge — which is also fighting the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa, and the state of Michigan, over its potentially catastrophic Line 5 petrochemical pipeline — also paid nearly a quarter-million dollars in response to the increased sexual violence and human trafficking connected to Line 3 construction. Fossil fuel extraction and pipeline construction is inextricable from the continued violation of Indigenous sovereignty and perpetuation of sexual violence upon the Indigenous women who live near fossil fuel projects. (Line 3: Grist; Line 5: Prism Reports)

Freeport LNG Approved To Load Ships, Gas Futures Rise: Freeport LNG received FERC approval to begin loading ships at its export terminal shut down by a massive explosion last June, Reuters reports. Gas futures rose on the news, as they have on previous indications the export terminal accounting for about 20% of U.S. LNG Export capacity was nearing restarting operations, underlining the degree to which LNG exports are raising energy prices for American families and businesses. Analysts expect Freeport LNG will not return to full operating capacity until mid-March at the earliest. (Reuters)

Shell Board Of Directors Personally Sued For Firm's Climate Failings: A coalition of environmental attorneys is suing Shell’s board of directors to hold them personally liable for failing to implement a sufficient strategy to transition the oil major off fossil fuels and act on the climate crisis. ClientEarth, which holds a small amount of Shell stock and has the support of institutional investors and pension funds that collectively hold 12 million shares, is bringing the lawsuit under the UK Companies Act. “Shell is seriously exposed to the risks of climate change, yet its climate plan is fundamentally flawed,” Paul Benson, a senior lawyer at ClientEarth, told the Wall Street Journal. Shell — which is already facing an SEC complaint in the U.S. for allegedly misleading investors and another UK lawsuit over the devastation of two Nigerian communities by its drilling operations there — pulled down a record $39.9 billion profit in 2022. “Shell may be making record profits now, but the writing is on the wall for fossil fuels long term,” Benson told The Guardian. (Wall Street Journal $, The Guardian, Reuters, Politico Pro $)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Arsenic found in London air raises fears over use of waste wood as fuel (The Guardian)

DEBT: Why a debt tsunami is coming for the global economy (NPR)

FINE ARTS: Composing climate change: The radical legacy of Black musicians (Atmos)

CALIFORNIA TREES/FIRE/HOUSING: In a dramatic spike, 36.3 million trees died in California last year. Drought, disease blamed (LA Times $, Gizmodo, Washington Post $, CNN, NBC Bay Area, Sierra Daily News), Wildfires tear through structures at record pace — study (E&E $), The west’s new climate is exacerbating housing inequality in the quintessentially blue state of California (Washington Post $)

SCIENTIFIC MISOGYNY: As Antarctic fieldwork ends, a sexual harassment reckoning looms (Undark)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Greenpeace to sue EU over 'green' label for gas and nuclear (Reuters)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Brussels backtracks: EU prepares to quit dirty energy club (E&E $)

PETROCHEM TRAINS: Derailed train in Ohio carried chemical used to make PVC, ‘the worst’ of the plastics (Inside Climate News), Photos show aftermath of toxic train derailment in Ohio (Gizmodo), Wary residents return home after toxic train derailment (AP)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: ‘They’re not ready’: Cities scramble to implement climate law (E&E News), Manchin 'raising hell' over White House handling of marquee Dem bill (Politico), New US climate law could make Midwest water contamination worse (Circle of Blue), What climate law? Voters clueless about Biden's top achievement (Politico Pro $)

AGENCIES: [DHS] joins influential government climate program (E&E $)

EPA: EPA's proposal to raise the cost of carbon is a powerful tool and ethics nightmare (NPR), Why the EPA puts a higher value on rich lives lost to climate change (NPR), EPA's refinery exemptions denial not subject to Congressional Review Act, GAO says (Politico Pro $), Louisiana slams EPA over lack of urgency on carbon-project approvals (Reuters), Midwest lawmakers urge EPA to implement E15 rulemaking (Politico Pro $), Republicans move to undo EPA truck emissions rule (E&E News)

• LIMETREE BAY: EPA approves chemicals removal from St. Croix refinery (E&E $)

DOE: Biden administration grants $2 billion loan for electric vehicle battery materials Nevada battery recycler wins $2B loan from Energy Department (AP, E&E News, New York Times $, Politico Pro $, The Verge, Canary Media)

DOI: Interior floats engineering fixes for a shriveled Colorado River (Politico Pro $)

TREASURY: Yellen wants bolder World Bank steps on climate change, global issues (Reuters)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Explaining the Fed’s climate test (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: Climate envoy Kerry concerned as oil companies back off renewables (Politico Pro $), Despite Biden's ambitious climate goals, he's supporting new oil and gas export projects (Houston Chronicle), Harris visit to Minn. highlights EVs' mining complexities (E&E $)

• SOTU: Biden's State of the Union defines climate action as common sense (TIME)
• LULA VISIT: Biden, Lula to put focus on democracy, climate during visit (AP, Reuters, E&E $), US eyes joining Amazon Fund during Biden-Lula visit (Reuters)

THE HILL: Mining law has barely changed since 1872. Can Congress agree on a fix? (Grist)

HOUSE: GOP chair: 'Difficult choices' coming for energy-water budget (E&E $), [Rep. John Duarte (R-Calif.)] paid $1 million for destroying wetlands. Now he’s fighting clean water rules in Congress. (HuffPost), Permitting push sees bipartisan interest at House hearing (E&E $), 'SCOTUS before WOTUS': House Republicans rage over water rule (E&E $)

POLITICS: Biden, Democrats rage as Big Oil touts record profits (The Hill)

NERD PROM: Climate activists to blockade White House Correspondents' Dinner (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: A million-strong ‘army of environmental super voters’ seeks new recruits in 2 red states (HuffPost), Seeking motivated voters, an environment-focused nonprofit turns to red states (NBC), Trump vows 'team of warrior lawyers' to destroy energy regs (E&E $)

TRIBES: To protect marine areas, Canada must include First Nations (Grist)

CITIES AND STATES: California declared war on natural gas. Now the fight is going national (LA Times $), Minnesota has passed a landmark clean energy law. Which state is next? (Inside Climate News), 3 ways Maryland trifecta may boost clean energy (E&E $), Georgia lawmakers seek to regulate solar panel installers (AP), New homes undermine buyout program in N.C. flood zones (E&E $), Rhode Island climate goals may require statewide ban on new gas hookups (Energy News Network), States push for worker heat-protection rule (E&E $), These DC trees were thriving. Then they were poisoned. (Washington Post $)

• CALIFORNIA: Calif. grid would go regional under new proposal (E&E $), California beach towns try to rebuild after atmospheric river storms (Wall Street Journal $), California legislator takes a swing at milestone groundwater law (Politico Pro $), Ventura County, California, offers wildfire alerts in four languages often spoken by farmworkers (Yale Climate Connections), L.A. is shutting down its largest gas plant — and replacing it with an unproven hydrogen project (LA Times $)

IMPACTS: Widows of Nepal's Sherpa guides fear rising climate-fuelled risks (Context), Auckland just had its wettest month in over 170 years, and more rain is on the way (Yale Climate Connections), Antarctic sea ice shrank to lowest extent on record in January (Democracy Now), How a predicted polar-vortex disruption could spur winter’s revenge (Washington Post $), When plants get sick, we do too (Axios), Cholera outbreak is spreading exponentially in Africa, who warns (Bloomberg $)

PAKISTAN: UN budget cuts hindered response to Pakistan’s extreme floods (Climate Home)

POLLUTION: Scientists link pollution to high blood pressure in teens (The Hill)

RENEWABLES: Coal and natural gas give way as renewable power generation grows in Texas (Houston Chronicle), Fighting climate change was costly. Now it’s profitable. (The Atlantic), Largest US offshore wind project ‘on track’ after cost fight (E&E $), 3 takeaways for Houston on the decline in solar jobs (Houston Chronicle), England’s tallest wind turbine prepares to rise against the odds (The Guardian), Solar energy is booming. So why are jobs down? (Houston Chronicle), Solar firm Nextracker's shares soar in US debut as IPO market 'thaws' (Reuters), Watershed, Ever.green launch first fixed-price virtual PPA in US with planned 10-MW Texas solar farm (Utility Dive)

BATTERIES: Africa gears up to keep more of the profits from lithium boom (Reuters), Volvo in advanced talks on possible lithium mining (Wall Street Journal $)

MINERALS: Botswana warns of dangers in dash for African minerals (Reuters)

BUILDINGS: These New York City apartments are affordable — and sustainable (Canary Media), Gas stove battles heat up with new laws across the country (Yahoo), Heat pump wars in Maine (CleanTechnica), Heat pump sales boost (Cooling Post), Heat pump sales rise 120% in Poland (Cooling Post)

OIL & GAS: As natural gas prices tumble, new worries for US shale patch (Reuters), Exxon plans to cut costs, reorganize units after record profit (Wall Street Journal $)

• OIL SPILLS: Firm: Faulty weld, pressure on pipe led to Kansas oil spill (AP), Companies agree to pay $45M over California oil spill (AP)

PIPELINES: Hungary and Croatia seek to expand Adriatic oil pipeline (Reuters)

COAL: Australia rejects open-pit coal mine near Great Barrier Reef (AP)

UTILITIES: Decarbonization by most utilities ‘uneven’ as they expand emissions targets: report (Utility Dive), Duke Energy hikes five-year capital plan to $65 bln, focus on low carbon energy (Reuters)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Householder trial: New evidence shows depth of long-suspected scheme (Energy News Network)

GRID: More transmission would have prevented winter outages — report (E&E $)

EVs: EV startup Lucid offers $7,500 credit on some air sedans (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON REMOVAL: Peatland restoration in temperate nations could be carbon storage bonanza (Mongabay), The next offset: 'Super' poplars that suck up more CO2 (E&E $), In Australia’s outback, a controversial cash crop is booming: carbon (Washington Post $)

FINANCE: Investors call on five European banks to end new oil and gas finance (Reuters), Norway wealth fund: we won't back boards who fail on climate (Reuters), Why anticipatory insurance is the next frontier for climate aid (Energy Monitor)

GRETA: Greta Thunberg's 'The Climate Book' urges world to keep climate justice out front (NPR)

WILDLIFE: 18 whales have been found dead along East Coast (Wall Street Journal $), Greening food systems will help COP15 nature deal grow (Context), Corruption endangers world’s shrinking fisheries (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: What is causing South Africa's power crisis? (Reuters, explainer), Canada to not permit sea floor mining without 'rigorous' regulations (Reuters), Dead chicks and rotting meat: South Africa declares ‘disaster’ over power cuts (New York Times $), Switzerland won’t follow EU out of controversial energy treaty: official (Climate Home)

• Fossil fuel companies won’t save us from climate change. We need governments to step up (The Guardian, Adam Morton op-ed)
• ‘Monster profits’ for energy giants reveal a self-destructive fossil fuel resurgence (The Guardian, Oliver Milman analysis)
• We need to get fossil gas out of homes, for the climate and our health (Canary Media, Gaurab Basu op-ed)
• Renewables would provide cheaper energy than 99% of US coal plants, and catalyze a just energy transition (Utility Dive, Michelle Solomon and Mike O’Boyle op-ed)
• Why taxing cow burps isn’t the best climate solution (The Conversation, Kevin Trenberth commentary)
• Melting glaciers show why climate targets below 1.5°C are needed (Truthout, Bruce Melton op-ed)
• Africa can become a powerhouse of renewable energy manufacturing (Context, Damilola Ogunbiyi op-ed)
• New arrests show why the coming MAGA house attacks on the FBI endanger law and order (The Hill, Dennis Aftergut op-ed)
• Let Alaska develop its natural resources (Wall Street Journal, Sarah Montalbano op-ed $)
• Biden’s State of the Union was a bad bet (Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove op-ed $)
• Did Biden forget permitting reform? (Wall Street Journal Editorial Board $)

Facebook Thinks America Needs to See Trump's Disinformation (Because Facebook Sucks)

Recently, Meta decided to undo the one good decision it's ever made and let Donald Trump back on Facebook and Instagram. In case you forgot, Meta is the name Facebook chose for its rebrand to try and escape its connection with the rise of Donald Trump, its role in organizing the Jan 6 insurrection that broke a two-century streak of the peaceful transfer of power, and its role in genocide and giving kids eating disorders.

Now, cynics say that Trump never really used Facebook anyway, and this is mostly just a bid to remain relevant and make some money off Trump's campaign.

The cynics are almost certainly right, but according to Meta, the supposedly high-minded decision is based on the premise that Americans “should be able to hear from a former President of the United States, and a declared candidate for that office again.”

Do Americans really need Trump on Facebook for that, though? Probably not. After all, Trump's got his own social media platform now, and he never really used Facebook himself anyway. 

What's more, there's no need to let Trump back on social media to know what he has to say. While you could examine any number of issues to prove that Trump uses social media specifically to spread hate and disinformation that violates platforms' Terms of Service or Community Standards, we'll use his record on climate change as an example. After all, Facebook set up a Climate Science Center, tells people that it cares about combating misinformation, and gives token amounts of money to fact-checkers to look like it's taking action, while also failing to actually enforce these policies and exempting a ton of disinformation, including Trump's, from fact-checking. 

But let's take a look and see what the American people are missing by not having Trump on Meta's platforms. On Facebook, Trump promoted Marc Morano's second climate denial film (because it praised him) and lied about the Paris Agreement. On Twitter, the platform he actually used personally and not just as a campaign fundraising vehicle, Trump posted much more on climate, mostly to point to low local temperatures and ask what happened to global warming every time it was cold. 

The first time Trump appears to have made this 'joke' was in 2011, and then in 2013 he used it again 6 different times. He was back at it in 2015, again in 2017 and 2018, and in 2019 he used it on at least three occasions. 

That's not all he said on climate, though. In addition to being responsible for popularizing the "winter weather trope" that uses the existence of cold to falsely cast doubt on climate change, Trump also set the standard for climate denial with his 2012 tweet that "global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." 

Then, in 2014 Trump used "hoax" or "HOAXSTERS" at least four times in reference to climate change. Never one to rest on his laurels, Trump lowered the bar even further with his final three climate tweets in 2019, before getting banned. Trump quoted a denier claiming that "there is no climate crisis" and tried and failed to troll Greta Thunberg.

Is denying climate change and attacking political rivals really the sort of thing Facebook thinks Americans need to see more of? Apparently so! 

This makes sense when you remember that great WIRED story by Benjamin Wofford that explained how Facebook is basically run by Joel Kaplan. Kaplan was "a key part" in the "Brooks Bros Riot" that secured the 2000 election for Republicans, and he was rewarded for his efforts with a position in the George W. Bush administration, which he then used to prevent the EPA from acting on climate. 

Meta is letting a violent climate denier back on Facebook and Instagram because Meta is run by a climate denier with no qualms about the strategic use of violence to secure political victory. 

You could call on them to reverse course and protect users (and the world) from Trump's violence and disinformation, or you could just do what everyone else is doing and go back to just not using the disinformation billboard. 

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