Ambitious Biden Budget Comes for Oil and Gas: President Biden’s 2024 budget proposal includes eliminating oil and gas subsidies, raising taxes on the wealthy, and investing in clean energy. House Republicans have already come out against the proposal. Ending fossil fuel subsidies could generate $31 billion in savings for American taxpayers. The White House’s budget also includes a politically ambitious $24 billion to build communities’ resilience to disasters like flood, hurricanes, and fires — the number of billion dollar disasters hitting the U.S. has increased sharply in recent years. The 2024 proposal also includes funding for federal agencies, electrification, remediating orphaned oil and gas wells, and clean energy innovation. Despite the plan’s intent to reduce the deficit by $2 trillion, an onslaught of Republican reactions to the proposal decry it for increasing spending, as the party claims to focus on austerity measures. While the plan is doomed to fail in the GOP-controlled House, it acts as a political statement for the White House’s priorities ahead of a 2024 campaign. (E&E News, CNBC, Reuters, OilPrice, Washington Post, New York Times, E&E $)

Householder, Borges Convicted In $60 Billion FIrstEnegy Bribery Scheme: A federal jury convicted the former Ohio House Speaker and the ex-GOP party chair for their parts in a $60 million racketeering and money laundering conspiracy that included taking bribes from FirstEnergy in exchange for passing and defending HB6, which included a $1.3 billion bailout of two nuclear power plants owned by the utility. The convictions, which Larry Householder and Matt Borges say they will appeal, are possibly the end of the beginning of one of the largest public corruption cases in state history. FirstEnergy has admitted its part in the bribery conspiracy, and utility watchdog Energy Policy Institute called on regulators in multiple states to "conduct investigations and refund FirstEnergy customers for the money they were forced to pay for these corrupt schemes." The nuclear bailout provisions of HB6 were repealed in light of the scandal. However, the law's bailout of two coal plants owned by the Ohio Valley Electric Corporation and provisions gutting energy efficiency and renewable energy remain on the books. “After so many years of utility-controlled energy policy that favored fossil fuels," Rachael Belz, head of Ohio Citizen Action, said in a statement. "Ohio must now move toward equitable, forward-looking solutions that will protect our air and water, the health of Ohioans, and provide clean energy jobs to keep Ohio competitive in the 21st-century economy." (AP, Columbus Dispatch, WOSU, Ohio Capital Journal, Cincinnati Enquirer, Dayton Daily News, Axios, The Hill, CNN, Reuters, USA Today, New York Times $)

Solar Stumbled in 2022, But is Set to Make a Comeback: For the first time since 2018, solar installations fell in the US last year, according to a recent report by the Solar Energy Industries Association. The U.S. ban on importing of products manufactured with forced labor impacted solar panel availability, and was a key factor in the drop in projects, many of which were large-scale solar developments designed to provide power to the grid while a record 700,000 residential rooftop solar installations. The solar industry is optimistic that supply chain improvements and other measures will boost solar expansion over the next 10 years. Today, 6% of US homes have solar, and the report says that number is expected to rise to 15% by the end of the decade. The future of solar developments may be bright, but current infrastructure has caused a backlog in deploying solar infrastructure to the grid. “Our ability to decarbonise in this country and to hit our goals is 100% tied to our ability to improve grid infrastructure,” lead author Michelle Davis told the Financial Times. The DOE recently estimated that the US’s transmission system needs to grow 57% to meet the energy growth laws like the IRA are promoting. (FT, Reuters, OilPrice)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Calls for climate reparations have grown following recent severe weather events (Truthout), White drivers are polluting the air breathed by L.A.’s people of color (LA Times $), Climate change affects people of color most. But TV news lacks representation, report finds. (USA Today)

FREEPORT: The US town swallowed by Big Oil’s ‘chemical soup’ (The Guardian), Freeport LNG receives regulatory approvals to return to full production capacity (Houston Public Media)

9:37 🚂 TO THE PETROCHEMICAL DYSTOPIA: Ohio moms fight for clean air (News Nation Now), Senators express frustration with Norfolk Southern CEO’s noncommittal answers during tense hearing (The Hill), Why the Ohio train derailment’s environmental impacts remain unclear (Prism Reports), Railroad CEO ‘sorry,’ but avoids specifics at Senate hearing (AP), The anxiety is real': East Palestine residents on how derailment has impacted them (MSNBC)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: First COP15, now the high seas treaty: There is hope for the planet’s future (The Guardian)

CERAWEEK: Don’t let China control clean energy supply chain, US officials warn (Reuters), Keystone pipeline oil flows won't change after US order to cut pressure, CEO says (Reuters), Clean energy 'carrots' could put Europe behind in decarbonization race, execs say (Reuters), Oil leaders give the 'energy trilemma' a reality check in Houston (S&P Global), Big oil gushes cash because it doesn’t know where to invest (Wall Street Journal $), Shell CEO sees tighter oil supply (Bloomberg $), The energy transition to disaster (Axios), Ukraine’s leading campaigner against Russian fossil fuels refused entry to top US energy conference (The Independent)

EPA: EPA takes bold steps to curb toxic wastewater from coal-fired plants (OilPrice), Why EPA's huge social cost of carbon might fail to halt CO2 (E&E $)

DOE: DOE, partners announce agreement to speed commercialization of long-duration energy storage (Utility Dive), Energy Department offers $6B to decarbonize industrial manufacturing (Utility Dive)

FEDERAL RESERVE: Powell: Fed won’t be a climate policymaker (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: The White House changes its tune on big oil (Bloomberg $), Biden admin paradox: Boost oil — and cut CO2? (E&E $), Biden admin urges, oil companies to speed up low-carbon efforts (Axios)

HOUSE: GOP questions Russia's role in oil price spike (Houston Chronicle), House GOP votes to overturn Biden rule on water protections (AP)

SENATE: Romney predicts no drop in emissions for decades (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Will Daniel-Davis ever get confirmed at Interior? (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Texas legislation would hamper renewables, boost gas (E&E $), Minnesota regulators approve $256M solar farm for farmland in Dodge County (Star Tribune $)

IMPACTS: Kentucky struggles to rebuild after 600-year flood (E&E $), Many coastal residents willing to relocate in the face of sea level rise (Yale Climate Connections), Our winters are warming faster than our summers (Axios), Sharp cold blasts punctuate one of the warmest, wettest U.S. winters on record (Yale Climate Connections), What is an atmospheric river? (CNN), Out-of-towners head to ‘climate-proof Duluth’ (New York Times $)

WILDFIRES: How wildfires enlarge the ozone hole (E&E $)

CYCLONIC STORMS: Freddy could become longest-lasting tropical cyclone (New York Times $)

WATER: In California, a race to capture the water before it escapes (Wall Street Journal $)

RENEWABLES: One state generates much, much more renewable energy than any other—and it’s not California (Inside Climate News), 

BUILDINGS: Energy-saving smart windows could help combat climate change (CBS), What’s holding up New York’s climate progress? apartment buildings. (New York Times $)

STOVES: The biggest winner of the gas stove fight is induction ranges (Bloomberg $), Gas stoves pose health risks. Are gas furnaces and other appliances safe to use? (Yale Climate Connections)

METHANE: Your local sewage plant is probably spewing methane (Gizmodo)

OIL & GAS: US won’t reach a new record in oil production ‘ever again,’ says Pioneer Natural Resources CEO (CNBC)

PLASTICS: 171 trillion plastic particles floating in oceans as pollution reaches 'unprecedented' levels, scientists warn (CBS), Study shows ‘a growing plastic smog’ in the ocean of 171 trillion particles (The Hill)

COAL: With coal in demand, governments raise taxes and royalties on miners (Wall Street Journal $)

HYDROGEN: Oil execs call on governments to simplify hydrogen rules (OilPrice)

NUKES: Georgia's years-delayed nuclear plant finally starts splitting atoms (Gizmodo)

UTILITIES: NREL to test real-time utility meter data as resilience solution amid rising renewable energy adoption (Utility Dive)

GRID: ERCOT, PUC and energy industry say the power grid needs to be fixed. They just can't agree how. (Houston Chronicle), Sunshine, heat and bitcoin will reshape electricity in Texas (Bloomberg $)

AI: Artificial intelligence is booming—so is its carbon footprint (Bloomberg $)

ACTIVISM: Mountain Valley Pipeline protest: Activists want to stop a new pipeline in Appalachia (Teen Vogue)

AVIATION: Delta Air Lines lays out its plan to leave fossil fuels behind (The Verge)

AGRICULTURE: Rising temperatures in tropics to lead to lower coffee yields and higher prices, study suggests (The Guardian), What’s the real cost of mezcal? (Atmos), The Indigenous congressional climate push (Axios)

BUSINESSES: Can Bangladesh 'climate proof' garment jobs in a warming world? (Context)

CONSUMPTION: Deinfluencers are sharing the things that people should stop buying, and i'm absolutely loving it (Buzzfeed)

CARBON CAPTURE: A huge city polluter? Buildings. Here’s a surprising fix. (New York Times $)

EL NIÑO: La Niña has ended and El Niño will form during hurricane season, forecasters say (CNN), La Niña has ended, and El Niño may be on the way (New York Times $), La Niña is gone. These were the deadly storms during its run (AP)

HEALTH: ‘Zombie’ viruses are thawing in melting permafrost because of climate change (Washington Post $)

PUBLIC LANDS: Carole King: Logging is contributing to carbon emissions (MSNBC)

TECH: Venture capital is obsessed with climate tech (OilPrice)

TRADE: EU opens subsidy race with US to fight exodus of green projects (FT $), EU to compete with US clean-tech tax breaks by loosening subsidy rules (Wall Street Journal $), How climate change became central to US-Europe relations (TIME)

INTERNATIONAL: Vulnerable nations set up alliance to prepare loss and damage action plans (Climate Home)

• Big Oil loves the war in Ukraine. But change is coming. (Houston Chronicle, Bill McKibben and Svitlana Romanko op-ed)
• FERC must ensure that customer funds are only used to benefit customers and not political activities (Utility Dive, Priya Gandbhir op-ed)
• To meet climate goals, China needs to phase in electric vehicles much faster (LA Times, Chris Busch op-ed $)
• Homesteaders, libertarians, back-to-the-landers — they adore him. Can he change the G.O.P.? (New York Times, James Pogue op-ed $)
• The Biden administration must take a tougher stance on soot pollution (The Hill, Sarah Millender, Auburn Bell, and Jill Rosenthal op-ed)
• Coal keeps Germany’s lights on (Wall Street Journa Editorial Board $)

Conservative Think Tanks Behind Offshore Wind and Whales Disinfo Support Offshore Oil Drilling

Fortunately, mainstream outlets have been covering how the lie that offshore wind projects kill whales is part of a coordinated campaign to undermine the offshore wind industry. Fast Company reported that anti-wind astroturf groups with innocent-sounding names like “Protect Our Coast New Jersey” and “The Save Right Whales Coalition” are linked to Big Oil through the Caesar Rodney Institute, while right-wing media outlets like Fox News, Breitbart, and The Western Journal continue to spread harmful disinformation blaming offshore wind for whale deaths. Greenpeace oceans director John Hocevar told USA Today that this is “a cynical disinformation campaign” that is “not based in any kind of evidence.” Even NOAA had to come out and say that “there is no evidence to support speculation that noise resulting from wind development-related site characterization surveys could potentially cause mortality of whales.”

In case you had any remaining doubts about whether or not free market fundamentalists actually care about whales, we’re here to inform you that individuals working for CFACT, The Heartland Institute, and The Caesar Rodney Institute have ardently advocated for offshore oil and gas development, which actually threatens whales and other marine species.

As the Center for Biological Diversity explains, “Offshore oil and gas exploration uses deafening seismic surveys that generate the loudest human sounds in the ocean, short of those made by explosives. Seismic testing involves blasting the seafloor with high-powered airguns (a kind of powerful horn) every 10 seconds and measuring the echoes with long tubes to map offshore oil and gas reserves. These blasts disturb, injure and kill marine wildlife [including whales] around the clock for years on end.”

If you're unswayed by the idea that constantly blowing horns harms creatures that rely on sonar to navigate, consider the other impacts of offshore oil drilling. According to the Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals, “the installation of a drilling platform causes long-term effects on the surrounding marine area such as habitat fragmentation, chemical pollution, water quality degradation or even an increase in maritime traffic and the risk of collisions.”

Then there's the fact that expansions to offshore drilling increase the risk of oil spills, which absolutely devastate whale populations, not to mention the whole climate change thing.

Offshore drilling is therefore the last thing that a supposed whale defender should be supporting, and that’s why it is very telling that so many allegedly pro-whale organizations have ardently advocated for offshore oil and gas production.

First off, CFACT has repeatedly used whales to attack wind, but Craig Rucker, CFACT’s Co-Founder and Executive Director, has a decades-long history of supporting offshore drilling. In 2002, Rucker touted “the eco-benefits of off-shore rigs,” and in 2013, he again endorsed the shameless claim that offshore drilling has environmental benefits and will clean up the ocean. In 2017, he once again argued in favor of offshore drilling, saying that “Oil and gas production, done right, does not hurt coastal tourism.” Rucker made his stance on climate change and wind power very clear in a 2020 pro-fracking article, in which he downplayed the “alleged climate dangers from fossil fuels” and rehashed a variety of anti-wind and anti-solar propaganda.

Next up is The Heartland Institute, which has published a flood of articles lying about offshore wind causing “whale hell” since at least 2016. At the same time, Heartland fully embraces offshore drilling. A 2018 Heartland press release criticized wind and solar energy and expressed enthusiastic support for offshore drilling, “state of the art seismic data,” and even blatant climate denial. Heartland Policy Advisor Arthur Viterito wrote, “I wholeheartedly applaud the proposal to increase off shore drilling. In light of the enormous uncertainties surrounding the CO2 – global warming link, U.S. energy independence should be this country’s top priority.”

Last but certainly not least hypocritical is the Caesar Rodney Institute (CRI), which, as mentioned above, funds numerous anti-offshore wind astroturf groups. David Stevenson, Director of CRI’s Center for Energy Competitiveness, member of The Heartland Institute’s Board of Policy Advisors, former Dupont executive, and former Trump advisor, has a clear record of opposing offshore drilling bans, dismissing the risks of seismic testing and oil spills, and advocating for increased offshore oil and gas development.

So, be mindful of who's opposing wind farms, and if it’s actually the genuinely concerned, whale-loving environmentalists, or if it’s really climate deniers whose primary interest in dead whales is turning them into anti-wind disinformation.

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