KOCHED UP CHEMICAL PLANTS: Any way the wind blows (Grist)
9:37 🚂 TO THE PETROCHEMICAL DYSTOPIA: The Ohio train derailment is a disaster of misinformation (Gizmodo), After toxic train derailment, Ohio residents report rashes and worries (Washington Post $, The Hill, Axios), Norfolk Southern skips East Palestine town hall (Axios), Ohio derailment prompts calls to investigate federal oversight of trains (Axios, Politico Pro $), White House: Norfolk Southern will be held accountable for Ohio train derailment (Axios), EPA chief promises results after Ohio train crash (Politico, AP, The Hill), Environmental health expert says he would not feel safe returning to a home in East Palestine (The Hill), Sherrod Brown calls on Ohio governor to declare disaster over East Palestine derailment (The Hill, Axios), The East Palestine, Ohio, train wreck didn’t have to be this bad (Vox)
FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Putin is staring at defeat in his gas war with Europe (Politico EU), Soaring fuel bills may push 141m more into extreme poverty globally – study (The Guardian), France’s need to burn gas pushed power emissions to five-year high (Bloomberg $), Notorious drug trafficking hub used for Russian oil shipments (OilPrice), Sanctions on Russian oil are having the ‘intended effect,’ IEA says (CNBC), Why the war in Ukraine is pushing Europe's militaries to decarbonize (E&E $)
CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: G20-backed standards body approves first global company sustainability rules (Reuters)
GOP vs. ESG: Influential local US banks fight back against Republicans’ ESG attacks (FT $), Groups, lobbyists line up to influence the ESG debate (E&E News), Republican AGs want Congress to sink federal ESG rule (E&E $)
WORLD BANK: World bank president to resign early amid backlash to climate crisis denial (Democracy Now, The Guardian, Climate Home), Climate advocates urge World Bank overhaul as leader exits (AP), US leads search for new World Bank chief with climate at heart (FT $), With Malpass out, World Bank looks to 'evolve' on climate (E&E $), World Bank may loosen loan ratio to free up $4 billion a year (Reuters), World bank head denies climate controversy spurred resignation (Washington Post $, Reuters)
HISTORY!: What the New Deal can teach us about how to electrify everything (Bloomberg $)
WHICH SIDE ARE YOU ON?: Tesla fired Buffalo workers seeking to organize, union says (New York Times $, Bloomberg $, FT $, Wall Street Journal $), Tesla recalling 362,000 vehicles due to crash risk caused by self-driving software (The Hill, CNBC)
AGENCIES: Biden orders agencies: Do more on racism, environmental justice (E&E News)
EPA: Biden EPA proposes restoring pesticide protections for farmworkers rolled back under Trump (The Hill, E&E $), 24 red states sue Biden over WOTUS rule (E&E $)
DOE: DOE cyber center crucial as attacks rise, grid official says (E&E $), DOE grid transformer rule draws fire (E&E $), Energy Department eyes ways to hasten LNG permits (Politico Pro $), Meet the millennial scientist leading the Biden administration’s push for a nuclear power revival (Inside Climate News)
WHITE HOUSE: The Biden administration aims to make EV charging as easy as filling up (Grist), Biden admin wants federally funded EV chargers to be made in US and work with any vehicle (EcoWatch), Biden offers rare praise for Musk as Tesla opens charger network (Bloomberg $)
THE HILL: GAO floats climate incentives for crop insurance (E&E $)
HOUSE: Meet the GOP leaders in charge of critical House environmental committees (CNBC), Oversight Republicans probe EPA hydrofluorocarbon rule (E&E $), Republicans take aim at food stamps in growing fight over federal debt (Washington Post $), GOP trumpets fossil fuels in second Permian Basin hearing (E&E $)
SENATE: Takeaways from the Senate Budget panel's climate hearing (E&E $), Sen. Fetterman checks himself into hospital for clinical depression (Washington Post $), Utah senator seeks allies in push to keep EVs out of US biofuel program (Reuters), 'Crisis is not over': Hearing mulls global energy future (E&E $)
CITIES AND STATES: Can cities be saved from the climate crisis? (Bloomberg $), How Indiana’s flood map went from acclaimed to attacked (E&E News), NJ governor orders 100% clean power. Is it doable? (E&E $), Rising power costs help fuel Gov. Mills’ plan to speed transition to renewable electricity (Portland Press Herald), Virginia governor blocks bill banning police from seeking menstrual histories (The Guardian), Why New Englanders should get ready for high energy prices over the long term (Washington Examiner)
FERC: FERC approves new winter standards for power plants, rejects New England renewables complaint (Politico Pro $), FERC, states weigh solutions to ‘multiplying’ grid attacks (E&E $), DC Circuit upholds FERC decision on Broadview solar-battery PURPA project in blow to NorthWestern, EEI (Utility Dive)
IMPACTS: Beware a climate ‘doom loop,’ where crisis is harder to solve, report says (Washington Post $, The Guardian), Water carved New Zealand’s stunning landscape. Now too much is risking lives (CNN), Climate change-linked heat worsened Argentina drought impact, scientists say (Reuters, Bloomberg $), DC cherry blossom tree showing signs of early bloom (E&E $), Free program helps Gulf Coast communities assess climate risk (Yale Climate Connections), The world’s largest outdoor ice rink is closed due to lack of ice (CNN), More than 15 mln Colombians suffer food insecurity - UN (Reuters), Soros says melting Arctic is threat to our survival (Bloomberg $, Bloomberg $), Warm water melts weak spots on Antarctica's 'Doomsday Glacier,' say scientists (Reuters, Gizmodo, Axios, CNN, E&E $, Democracy Now), Great Lakes ice cover plummets to record mid-February low (Washington Post $)
RENEWABLES: BP goes on offshore wind power global hiring spree (Reuters), In scramble for clean energy, Europe is turning to north Africa (Yale Environment 360), The US plan to become the world’s cleantech superpower (FT $), US solar surge collides with higher rates and shifting economics (Bloomberg $), Vestas has a new way to keep wind turbine blades out of the dump (Canary Media)
BATTERIES: Microvast’s $200 million US grant under review; shares plunge (Bloomberg $), Nomad’s mobile batteries deliver utility-scale power where it’s needed (Canary Media)
BUILDINGS: Home heating prices are at their highest in years. Here’s how to reduce your heating bill in Philadelphia (Philadelphia Inquirer)
LNG: Shell: European demand is set to dominate LNG trade in the long term (OilPrice), US LNG producers poised to leapfrog rivals with three new projects (Reuters)
OIL & GAS: What’s fueling California’s high natural gas prices (New York Times $), Oil stampede is on in one of the emptiest places in the Americas (Bloomberg $), Uri fallout sent natural gas spending for electricity sky-high in 2021; inflation piled on last year (Natural Gas Intel), Why are BP, Shell, and Exxon suddenly backing off their climate promises? (Grist)
PLASTICS: Bacteria and the sun can destroy ocean plastic—but is it the fix we need? (Gizmodo)
HYDROGEN: Australia warned it could lose out to ‘huge and aggressive’ green hydrogen support in US and Middle East (The Guardian), Chile puts green hydrogen ambitions on display (Bloomberg $)
UTILITIES: New board in place, US utility [TVA] turns to clean energy study (AP), Amid high energy prices, SCE VP, other experts push to reduce California’s reliance on natural gas (Utility Dive), Extreme cold weather events prompt new rules for US power plants (Bloomberg $)
DOG BITES MAN?: Georgia nuclear plant again delayed at cost of $200M more (AP)
GRID: Proposed distribution transformer standards ‘could significantly impact’ grid reliability, utilities warn DOE (Utility Dive)
EVs: For GM, the EV race is a marathon (Utility Dive), Scholz visits Volkswagen, works council confirms e-SUV in Wolfsburg (Reuters), Tesla Model Y sold out following massive price cuts (OilPrice)
CRYPTO: Crypto is here to save the grid. Or crash it. (E&E News)
ART: Artists in residence at national parks use their work to reckon with settler colonialism (Prism Reports)
BOOKS: Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton — an explosive climate-change thriller (FT $), We asked lovers of Black literature to curate a Black resistance reading list. Here’s what they chose. (The 19th* News)
CARBON STORAGE: Colorado ponders storing carbon in defunct oil and gas wells (AP)
CARBON CAPTURE: Exxon taps Honeywell for massive Texas CCS project (E&E $)
FINANCE: BlackRock's president faces climate questions at New York event (Reuters)
INTERNATIONAL: Canada cautions court against climate 'quantum leap' (E&E $), India to blacklist renewable firms for missing project deadlines (Reuters), Italy transport minister calls European ban on fossil fuel cars a 'suicide' (Reuters), UK financial watchdog hit with claim over prospectus climate risk disclosure (FT $), What are the challenges to a just energy transition in Colombia? (Energy Monitor)