Debt Deal Will Greenlight Mountain Valley Pipeline: A measure slipped into the debt limit deal reached in principle by lawmakers over the weekend would legislate the approval of the controversial methane gas pipeline that would carry methane gas over 300 miles from West Virginia to Virginia. The project is currently in limbo after a federal court rejected a permit for it to cross a national forest. The deal also would shorten how much time the federal government has to assess the impact an infrastructure project would have on the environment, limiting the most thorough reviews to two years and the less rigorous reviews to one year. Both of these provisions that were championed by Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia could face resistance from fellow Democrats in the must-pass bill. Environmental advocates blasted inclusion of the pipeline approval. Jean Su, energy justice program director at the Center for Biological Diversity told Bloomberg that the poison pills included in the debt deal would “dramatically roll back bedrock environmental laws that give voice to frontline communities and sabotage agencies whose job is to protect the environment and working families.” Both chambers of Congress are expected to take up the bill this week. (The Hill, Inside Climate News, Fox News, Axios, Common Dreams, Reuters $, Bloomberg $, Politico $)

Climate Change Forces State Farm Insurance To Stop Insuring New California Homes: One of the biggest car and home insurers in America will no longer offer new home insurance policies in California, citing the rising risk of wildfires and home construction costs. “The factors driving State Farm’s decision are beyond our control, including climate change,” said Michael Soller at the California Department of Insurance. State Farm joins multinational insurer American International Group in refusing to offer home policies to Californianas as the state has continued to struggle with wildfires over the past several years. California had nearly 7,500 wildfires in 2022, and in the past six years has suffered eight of the largest fires in US history and three of the top five deadliest. The United Nations recently found that nearly 12,000 disasters were attributable to extreme weather and climate-related events from 1970 to 2021, costing the world over $4 trillion. Experts warn this season’s wildfire risk could be especially acute as the new plant growth driven from this heavy rainfall over the winter could dry up, creating more fuel for fires. (The Guardian, USA Today, Axios, HuffPost, NPR, CNN, ABC News, Washington Post $, Wall Street Journal $: Climate Signals: Wildfires)

Shippers Establish Green Corridors To Accelerate Clean Shipping Technology: The maritime shipping industry creates nearly 3 percent of all global climate pollution but has struggled to reduce emissions from the sector and maritime trade volumes are expected to triple by 2050. Now shipping companies and international regulators are trying to accelerate the switch to cleaner shipping technology through creating green corridors among the world’s busiest container shipping routes, including between Los Angeles and Shanghai. Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles told AP that “the vision is that a container will leave a factory on a zero-emissions truck (in China)...arrive at the port of Shanghai, be loaded onto a ship by a zero-emissions cargo handling equipment unit, and move across the Pacific Ocean on a vessel that emits zero carbon. Once it gets to Los Angeles, the reverse happens.” The Paris accord exempts maritime shipping, partly because vessels do international business, and less than half of all major shippers have agreed to meet international climate pollution goals. However, the Cargo Owners for Zero Emission Vessels group secured commitments from major retailers like Amazon, Michelin and Target to push their shippers to transition to zero-emissions shipping by 2040. (AP)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Faces of the Farm Bill: Why BIPOC farmers need more protection from climate change (Civil Eats)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Court sides with Arkansas on air pollution plan blocked by EPA (The Hill)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: COP28 president’s team accused of Wikipedia ‘greenwashing’ (The Guardian), Brazil’s Amazon region to host UN climate summit in 2025 (Bloomberg $), Brazilian president says UN will hold 2025 climate conference in Brazil (PBS NewsHour), Colorado River drought crisis is fostering a more collaborative US-Mexico relationship (TIME), How the US wants to pressure China to help avert climate catastrophe (Washington Post $)

DENIAL:‘Murderers’ and ‘criminals’: Meteorologists face unprecedented harassment from conspiracy theorists (CNN), Christian curriculum using textbooks that deny climate change and say evolution is impossible (Sky News), Climate change misinformation and the struggle to limit cars in Oxford (Rappler)

GOP vs. ESG: Insurers quit climate club in droves after threats from GOP (Bloomberg $), Insurance industry turmoil over climate alliance exodus (FT $)

DOI: Tribes call on Haaland to push increased protections for the Grand Canyon (Grist)

LAWSUITS: How the Supreme Court’s wetlands ruling could impact pollution, flooding (The Hill)

THE HILL: You’ve never heard of him, but he’s remaking the pollution fight (New York Times $)

ELECTIONS: DeSantis accused of ‘catastrophic’ climate approach after campaign launch (The Guardian)

CITIES AND STATES: Colorado River deal brings relief, but is it a short-term solution to a long-term crisis? (The Hill), As rising oceans threaten NYC, study documents another risk: The city is sinking (AP), Louisiana’s landmark climate adaptation program is running out of time (Grist)

~CALIFORNIA: California may ban fossil fuel investments by pension giants (Axios), California’s impressive winter snowpack means dangerous rushing rivers this summer (Gizmodo), California is still at risk of flooding. Maybe rivers just need some space (NPR), California’s epic melting snowpack means cold, deadly torrents ahead of Memorial Day weekend (AP)

IMPACTS: Global warming fueled both the ongoing floods and the drought that preceded them in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region (Inside Climate News),  Flood-battered Italian region may see more violent and frequent storms (New York Times $), Strong earthquake shakes eastern Japan; no tsunami warning (AP), UN agencies warn of starvation risk in Sudan, Haiti, Burkina Faso and Mali, call for urgent aid (AP), Up to 70% of California beaches could disappear by end of the century (The Guardian)

MAWAR: Guam ‘very blessed’ with no early reports of major damage in the messy aftermath of Typhoon Mawar (AP), Thousands evacuated as Philippines warns of flooding, landslides from approaching Typhoon Mawar (AP)

HEAT: How extreme heat causes cascading crises (New York Times $), Shanghai records its highest May temperature in more than 100 years (CNN)

WILDFIRES: Climate change is increasing the fire risk on the mostly treeless great plains (NPR)

HURRICANES: Hurricane season wild cards (Axios), Struggles continue for thousands in Florida 8 months after Hurricane Ian as new storm season looms (AP), Hurricane season could bring 12 to 17 named storms, forecasters say (New York Times $), Hurricanes and climate change: What's the connection? (CBS)

RENEWABLES: In Texas, a clean-energy pioneer, the tide turns against renewables (Wall Street Journal $), Siemens energy orders ‘overflowing’ as green shift gains speed (Bloomberg $)

SHIPPING: Mechanical sails? Batteries? Shippers forming ‘green corridors’ to fast-track cleaner technologies (AP)

OIL & GAS: It will cost up to $21.5 billion to clean up California’s oil sites. The industry won’t make enough money to pay for it. (Grist), Reparations for climate change? Some think oil companies should pay (The Hill), Mobile home explodes in Chesterfield Township (Detroit News)

UTILITIES: Eversource sells 50% stake in offshore wind lease to partner Ørsted as it seeks a buyer for 3 other sites (Utility Dive)

BUILDINGS: This new training program will put people to work as heat-pump installers (Canary Media)

EVs: What Ford's backing of Tesla chargers means for the future of EVs (Axios), Electric vehicles have an efficiency problem (Axios), Hyundai and LG announce $4.3 billion plant in Georgia to build batteries for electric vehicles (AP), As electric cars boom, locals fear Chinese battery plant will harm land in drought-stricken Hungary (AP), The US doesn’t have a law mandating EV battery recycling. Should it? (Grist), Rivian R1S: a startup EV, now debugged (Wall Street Journal $), Tesla, Ford team up in EV charging deal (Wall Street Journal $)

CARS: Gasoline prices, a source of pain last year, have come way down (New York Times $)

TRANSMISSION: Sunzia southwest transmission project receives final federal approval (Inside Climate News)

WIND: Ukraine built more onshore wind turbines in past year than England (The Guardian)

GRID: How dueling PDFs explain a fight over the future of the grid (Inside Climate News), Frustrated by outdated grids, consumers are lobbying for control of their electricity (Grist)

EVEREST: Climbers celebrate Mount Everest 70th anniversary amid melting glaciers, rising temperatures (AP), Mount Everest was first scaled 70 years ago. Climbers celebrate the milestone as climate change concerns grow (PBS NewsHour)

COAL: Glencore loses more support for climate plan as coal questioned (Bloomberg $)

NUKES: Why a new era for US nuclear looks unlikely (Energy Monitor), Third nuclear reactor reaches 100% power output at Georgia’s Plant Vogtle (AP)

MEAT: UN numbers say meat is bad for the climate. The reality is worse. (Vox)

FOOD: Meet the women working to grow local food systems on US island territories (Grist)

ACTIVISM: University of Pennsylvania: students organizing over climate, housing are arrested at homecoming (Teen Vogue), Climate protesters face tear gas at oil giant TotalEnergies shareholder meeting in Paris (AP), German government denies Scholz comments spurred raids on climate activists (AP), More than 1,500 arrested at Extinction Rebellion protest in The Hague (The Guardian), Climate activists indicted for protest at national gallery (DCist), Climate activists rammed by camera while intruding on Swedish dance show (Washington Times), One pastor’s mission to prepare his community for climate change (Yale Climate Connections)

AVIATION: Europe is trying to ditch planes for trains. Here’s how that’s going (CNN), Private jets get a bad rap. This company is trying to make them greener (CNN) 

BOATS: The future of boating is electric (CBS News)

PARKS: A climactic opening (New York Times $)

TRASH: Burning trash for the planet? Climate cash sets off branding frenzy. (Washington Post $)

GREENWASHING: 6 ads banned for greenwashing by the UK’s advertising watchdog (Bloomberg $)

O3: By fighting the ozone hole, we accidentally saved ourselves (Yale Climate Connections)

PUMP: Arnold Schwarzenegger on demanding a cleaner environment: "That's my crusade" (CBS)

PODCAST: Two climate podcasters walk into a bar (Yale Climate Connections)

LOGS: A giant pile of logs is trapping millions of tons of carbon in Canada (Washington Post $)

MOVIES: What to watch this summer: Climate lovers’ edition (Canary Media)

GAMES: Board game designers aim to make tackling climate change fun (ABC News)

DESAL: Drought-struck Barcelona quenches thirst with costly desalination (AP), Uruguay, hot and dry, adds saltwater to public drinking supply (Washington Post $)

COFFEE: El Niño is coming. What that means for your morning coffee (Washington Post $)

INTERNATIONAL: Last-minute green deal hiccups expose EU concerns over political costs (Bloomberg $), Cracks emerging in Europe’s united front to battle climate change (AP), Desert wells help Iraq harvest bumper wheat crop as rivers dry (Reuters), South Korea hosts its first summit with Pacific Island leaders (Reuters), Vietnam's human rights record is being scrutinized ahead of $15 billion climate deal (NPR), Experts call for ‘loss and damage’ fund for nature in developing world (The Guardian)

• The Supreme Court is crippling environmental protections. Where is Congress? (New York Times, Jim Murphy $)

• Whales and offshore wind can coexist — if we give them space (The Hill, Beth Lowell)

• Why I’m leading Pacific Islands students in the fight on climate change (Nature, Cynthia Houniuhi op-ed)

• This year’s Farm Bill needs big changes (The Hill, Alexandra Bookis and Mark Rifkin)

• A new Colorado law makes it a top site for clean hydrogen developers, but it’s not a model for federal rules (Utility Dive, Will Toor)

• How to dig your way out of climate grief (LA Times, Tess Taylor $)

• Education key to our climate future (Connecticut Post, Leigh Shemitz)

• The new climate law is working, clean energy investments are soaring (New York Times, Brian Deese $)

Third to Half of GB News Host Broadcast Climate Disinformation

While we recover from the long weekend, check out this DeSmog analysis: a third of GBNews hosts spread climate denial and half attacked climate action, as the UK news does its best Fox News impression. It's "damning" research, Scottish National Party (SNP) MP John Nicolson told DeSmog, showing how “GB News prioritizes polemicists over journalists…" with broadcasts that "pollute public discourse with right-wing propaganda." Allison Fisher of Media Matters, said GBNews is using "a similar playbook as Fox News," and Nicolson said that "We do not want to go further down the American Fox News route of unchallenged, often scientifically illiterate, culture war propaganda spewing into our homes.” Green MP Caroline Lucas told The Guardian that “Now more than ever, people deserve trustworthy and accurate news from our media – this truly toxic misinformation on GB News is not it. Ofcom cannot allow these statements to go unchallenged and uninvestigated.”

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