FIRST LOOK:

Join Leah Stokes and Energy Innovation’s Power Sector team for a deep dive into the current cost dynamics between coal and clean energy, and the benefits of an ambitious federal clean electricity standard for a webinar on Monday, June 14 at 2:00 pm MT. Register HERE.

In Tug-Of-War Over Infrastructure, Rope Begins To Fray 

Negotiations on the American Jobs Plan and infrastructure took one step forward but two steps back as talks between President Biden and one group of Republicans collapsed and another bipartisan group came to an agreement almost certain to be rejected by the White House. The group of five Democrat and five Republican senators said Thursday they struck a deal to spend $1.2 trillion over eight years, about half of which was to be new spending. But the framework relies on indexing the federal gas tax to inflation – which the White House indicated would violate its red line against a tax increase on those making less than $400,000 – and would far exceed the limit of $75 billion the president has said to be willing to take from as-yet unspent funds that were part of a previous COVID package. Over recent weeks, all eyes have been on Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., a key holdout among Democrats against either eliminating the filibuster or using the budget reconciliation process to pass legislation with just the Democrats’ 50-vote majority. Progressive Democrats have grown increasingly vocal in their concern that the negotiations appear to be moving away from including substantial climate and clean energy provisions in the package. “It’s time to fish or cut bait,” Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, among the chamber’s fiercest climate advocates, tweeted Wednesday, one of a number of Senate Democrats who vowed not to vote for a bill without climate provisions in it. Al Gore piled on, calling Biden directly this week to urge the president to hold the line. Meanwhile, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced its $547 billion surface transportation bill overnight Wednesday. Committee Chair Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., said the bill is meant to lay the foundations for passing the infrastructure package. (Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, Washington Post on negotiations, on House T&I, on Gore $, Politico, The Hill, Gizmodo)

UN: Climate Change And Biodiversity Crises Actually One Big Crisis

To address climate change without also protecting biodiversity, or vice versa, is to court failure in both fights, two UN bodies warned Thursday. Jointly issued by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, the report for the first time declares that climate change and biodiversity losses compound one another, warning the interconnectedness of the two issues means policies must simultaneously tackle both. While most efforts to protect biodiversity also have positive impacts for climate, some climate policies can actually accelerate biodiversity loss: For example, crops grown in monoculture for biofuel, like corn, or trees planted to pull carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere could contribute to ecosystem collapse, threatening food and water supply. Ultimately, that means not only is it simply not possible to plant enough trees to counteract the effects of greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel consumption, doing so could actually accelerate the loss of wildlife and habitats. “Some people are out there selling this message that if we cover the whole planet with trees, that will solve the climate problem,” said Dr. Paul Leadley, one of the report authors. Dr. Hans-Otto Pörtner, co-chairman of the IPBES-IPCC steering committee said: “A clear first priority is emissions reductions, emissions reductions and emissions reductions.” (New York Times $, AP, BBC, The Guardian, FT $, Gizmodo, Report)

Hoover Dam Reservoir Hits Record Lows Amid Extreme Drought In The West

The severe drought in the American West, a result of this winter’s historically bad snowpack, has worsened after another dry week, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Huge swaths – 88% – of the western U.S. are in drought conditions, with 26% experiencing “exceptional” drought, a figure expected to grow as summer gets underway. Forecasters warn the lack of water and above-average temperatures are likely to lead to another extreme fire season. “Much of the western snow melted one to four weeks early, including three to four weeks early in the Sierra,” NOAA forecasters reported Thursday. “Low snowpack, rapid melt out, and poor runoff efficiency have led to significant water supply concerns going into summer of 2021.” More than a week before summer officially arrives, Nevada’s Lake Mead – the nation’s largest reservoir by volume – is at its lowest level recorded since it was created by the construction of the Hoover Dam in the 1930s, exceeding a record low set in July 2016. Drought conditions have prompted a tense standoff between farmers and Indigenous tribes over dwindling resources in the Klamath Basin, near the California-Oregon border. Citing the law under the Endangered Species Act, the federal Bureau of Reclamation announced in May it would cut off water to the more than 1,200 farmers who rely on the basin’s water – and now, some farmers are threatening to reopen the canal by force. Low water levels are endangering the survival of two native suckerfish – already threatened by agricultural runoff into the basin – that are sacred to Oregon’s Klamath Tribes. “We're here today because those fish were here," said Don Gentry, the chairman of the Klamath Tribes. "The C'waam creation story says, 'if those fish die, the people die.'" (CNN, Reuters, The Verge, The Hill, Axios, Klamath fight: CNN.)

INTERNATIONAL: Chinese central bank governor backs push for climate risk disclosure (FT)

FOSSIL FUEL LOBBY: Environmental groups call on members to leave Chamber of Commerce over climate stances (The Hill)

CLEAN UP OUR MESS: How bankruptcy lets oil and gas companies evade cleanup rules (Grist)

BIG OIL: The retreat of Exxon and the oil majors won’t stop fossil fuels (Bloomberg), Big Oil’s political clout wanes as governments embrace green energy (FT)

CORONAVIRUS: Hard-hit by COVID-19, Latin America seen skimping on climate cash (Reuters)

LIP SERVICE: Big Oil funds anti-trans lawmakers while flying rainbow flag (Heated)

BUCK, PASSED: Shell’s CEO pens LinkedIn blog blaming you for climate change (Gizmodo)

DENIAL: Russian climate scientists upset by ministry’s call for ‘alternative’ research (Science)

EPA: EPA to review rules on soot linked to deaths, which Trump declined to tighten (New York Times $, Reuters), EPA to reverse Trump-era clean water deregulation (Modern Farmer), EPA reverses Trump guidance it said weakened 'forever chemicals' regulations (The Hill)

DOI: Interior proposes withdrawal of Trump rule that would allow drillers to pay less (The Hill)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: Biden looks at financial rules to deprive oil of capital, shift country on climate (Houston Chronicle)

HOUSE: House committee passes $547 billion transportation bill with focus on climate after marathon meeting (Washington Post $), Democrats move to undo Trump's methane rule rollback (Houston Chronicle, Politico Pro $)

AMERICAN JOBS PLAN: Next stop, Scranton? Biden’s infrastructure plan could make it happen (Reuters)

CES OPPOSITION: Gas treatment, infrastructure tensions hamper clean electricity standard efforts (S&P Global)

VIP PARTY: Biden opens overseas trip declaring ‘United States is back’ (AP), world leaders are meeting to tackle climate change and pandemic recovery (NPR), G7 leaders face make-or-break moment in climate crisis (The Guardian), G7 eyes ambitious shift to electric cars and away from oil (Bloomberg $), G7 leaders poised to turn spotlight on green finance at summit (Bloomberg $, Reuters), UK's Prince Charles says private sector needed to stand chance of solving climate crisis (Reuters, The Guardian), G7 leaders depicted in Mount Recyclemore e-waste sculpture (The Guardian), the G7 want to save the world from climate change. But are they willing to pay for it? (TIME), 4 climate obstacles facing Biden at the G7 (Politico), interview: António Guterres on climate crisis: ‘We are coming to a point of no return’ (The Guardian)

CALIFORNIA: Why a California oil workers union is getting behind clean energy (LA Times $, Truthout)

IMPACTS: Here's how you’re already paying for climate change (US News & World Report), why warm temperatures at nighttime can be dangerous (Yale Climate Connections), what the Ottoman Empire can teach us about the consequences of climate change (Ohio Capital Journal), will climate change cause another Dust Bowl? (Greenbiz)

DROUGHT: Nearly all the Bay Area is now in 'exceptional' drought category - and the outlook's grim (San Francisco Chronicle), Bolivia's 'people of the water' face loss of way of life after lake dries up (photos) (Weather Channel)

WILDFIRES: Wildfires smolder across dry, drought-stricken Southwest (AP), why California is building new houses in the path of wildfires (Grist, Reuters), PG&E says it’s better prepared than ever for looming fire season (Bloomberg $)

RENEWABLES: Solar panel prices are rising, but don’t panic (InsideClimate News), how green bottlenecks threaten the clean energy business (Economist), Sempra Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory collaborate to advance future net-zero energy systems (Yahoo)

BLOW WIND: N.C. sets first offshore wind target (E&E $), Miss. approves first wind turbine electricity facility (E&E $)

WHEN THE SUN DON’T SHINE: German power grids say coped well with solar eclipse (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Mining for lithium, at a cost to Indigenous religions (High Country News)

STORAGE: Why U.S. energy storage is increasing  (Marketplace)

EFFICIENCY: Why ‘overlooked’ energy efficiency will aid our journey to net zero (Energy Monitor)

OIL & GAS: Earthquakes in oil fields becoming 'more frequent,' 'larger' (Houston Chronicle), tar sands companies aim for ‘net zero’ by 2050 – with no plan to extract less oil (Climate Home), natural gas in transition: Sun is setting on shale gas-driven pipeline building boom (S&P Global), Permian Basin increasing natural gas pipeline capacity (Fort Worth Business Press)

KEYSTONE IXNAY: The Keystone XL pipeline is dead. But the fight against similar projects is far from over. (Vox, AP), Big Oil ‘never lost a fight like this’: McKibben on the death of the Keystone XL pipeline (MSNBC), Keystone XL’s demise shows hard road for new pipelines (Wall Street Journal $)

LINE 3: Protests over pipeline through tribal lands spark clashes and mass arrests (The Guardian), cops are using Facebook to target Line 3 pipeline protest leaders, new documents reveal (Gizmodo)

COAL: Alabama’s coal miners are striking for their lives (The Nation), coal plants in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Ohio to shut down (AP), West Virginia coal plants need upgrades. Three states will decide their fate. (Ohio Valley Resource), (WV) House delegates form work group aiming to revitalize coal communities as Mon County mine layoffs announced (Charleston Gazette-Mail), state officials look to reignite coal demand through new facility (Wyoming Public Media)

HYDROGEN: Wind turbine giant Siemens Gamesa lays out plan to drive down cost of ‘green’ hydrogen (CNBC), the green hydrogen puzzle is starting to fall into place (Wall Street Journal $)

WATER: America’s failing water infrastructure - if you don’t know, now you know (The Daily Show)

GRID: National Grid encourages FERC to provide better incentives for grid-enhancing technology (Utility Dive)

EVs: Peak internal combustion engine may already be years behind us (Bloomberg $), a California startup now offers a full EV battery in just 10 minutes (Bloomberg $), Apple hires former BMW executive for its rebooted car project (Bloomberg $)

ACTIVISM: We have history: Saving Kenya's last sacred forests (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: Greenhouse gas emissions from food production are far greater than previous estimates suggest (InsideClimate News), more farmers are changing their practices to reverse effects of climate change (ABC-7 Denver, Politico EU), Tyson sets net-zero emissions goal (Arkansas Online), the message in a reusable wine bottle: Combat climate change (New York Times $)

(ERODING) BEACH READS: 12 books to get your summer reading started (Yale Climate Connections)

BUSINESS: The chipmaking factory of the world is battling Covid and the climate crisis (CNN Business)

… BUT MAKE IT FASHION: Fashion label Chanel invests $25 million in new climate adaptation fund (Reuters)

CARBON CAPTURE: Carbon storage offers hope for climate, cash for farmers (Agrinews)

FINANCE: U.S. firms should disclose more climate risk data to investors—lawmakers (Reuters)

BITCOIN: Pipeline investigation upends idea that Bitcoin is untraceable (New York Times $)

IF IT AIN’T BROKE: Solar geoengineering: Scientists decry a 'foolish' idea (Environmental Health News), Indigenous peoples urge Harvard to scrap solar geoengineering project (Reuters)

OPTIMISM: ‘Glimmers of hope’ in the effort to stop climate change (PBS NewsHour)

PUBLIC LANDS: What climate change means for America's national parks (WBUR)

TRASH: Md. landfills emit much more greenhouse gases than state estimated, environmentalists find (Washington Post $, DCist)

INTERNATIONAL: Queensland (Australia) commits $2bn to boost local renewable energy jobs (The Guardian), China inspects for coal hoarding at Northern ports - sources (Reuters),  German gas pipeline operator Thyssengas put up for sale - sources (Reuters), grandpa joins Polish activists in court over climate change failures (Bloomberg $)

• Investing in clean energy for good jobs and a stronger recovery (Santa Barbara Independent, Rep. Steven Horsford op-ed)
• Modernizing transportation can help tackle the climate crisis (The Hill, Rep. Jared Huffman op-ed)
• Big Oil gets clean and the world stays dirty (Boston Globe, John Mulliken column $)
• Biden’s 80% by 2030 clean electricity standard would unlock $1.5 trillion across the U.S. (Forbes, Dan Esposito and Mike O’Boyle op-ed)
• The summit that matters more than the G-7 (Washington Post, Max Bergmann and John Podesta op-ed $)
• A modern electric grid is crucial to reach our clean energy climate goals (The Hill, Paul Bledsoe op-ed)
• The limited bipartisan infrastructure bill must be followed by a climate change bill (Forbes, Charles Tiefer op-ed)
• Hey reporters: Let’s get this story straight (Sustainable Waters, Brian Richter op-ed)
• Coal and LNG's surge in Asia plays into renewable energy hands: Russell (Reuters, Clyde Russell column)
• An Indigenous systems approach to the climate crisis (Stanford Social Innovation Review, Jade Begay column)
• Net zero emissions: How Asia’s tech sector can lead the switch to renewable energy (South China Morning Post, Myriam Akhoun op-ed)

GOP Following Lead of Racist 9/11 Truther in Opposing Biden’s 30x30 Public Land Protection Plan

In this week’s Climate:FWD newsletter, John Schwartz at the New York Times takes a look back at a story the paper ran in June 1986, covering comments made by Reagan’s EPA administrator Lee M. Thomas at a Congressional hearing. Thomas acknowledged that “even while there is scientific uncertainty” over the exact role pollutants played in global warming, there should be “some intervention” by the government to address it. On the other hand, others in the administration suggested more research was needed (at least a decade’s worth) because knowledge of the situation was “inadequate for recommending changes in the nation’s energy systems.” 

Schwartz wryly concludes, “it sounds a bit familiar, right?” 

Of course it does. Denial doesn’t exactly require frequent updating, and 35 years later, people are still singing from the same hymnal (though even hymnals are updated more often!) Others, though, are not content to merely wallow in decades-old talking points, and instead try out new lines, no matter how ridiculous. 

Remember (all the way back to yesterday) when Texas, Rep. Louie Gohmert asked a Forest Service official if she would be a dear and just scooch THE ACTUAL MOON back a little bit in its orbit, since replacing fossil fuels with clean energy is just too gosh dern hard. 

Gohmert’s unintentional comedy aside, there’s also a much more sinister strain of denial and disinformation, one that’s coming to the fore out West as the GOP fights President Biden’s 30x30 plan for protecting 30% of US public lands by 2030. 

At the Daily Beast on Wednesday, Kelly Weill explores how officials like Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts are buying into a campaign led at least in part by Trent Loos and the American Stewards of Liberty,  a dark-money group out of Texas.

Loos is apparently a conspiracy collector, still entertaining 9/11 conspiracies in the year 2021, and comparing livestock welfare regulations to prevent the abuse of animals to Nazism. 

Even though Loos (counterfactually) compared the 30x30 plan to Nazi land grab policy, he apparently missed the irony when he told Weil that his objection is that the 30x30 plan’s “key phrase is ‘returning to its natural state.’” And that’s apparently bad, because “The natural state of the United States before Lewis and Clark was a horrific place,” he claims. 

Loos went on to say that when you “look at any of the journals of the early explorers, they talked about how tough it was to find wildlife, to be able to survive and how they were going to live and eat. And even Lewis and Clark had to eat horses to get across mountain ranges. So to return to its natural state is to regress us by 250 years.” 

Like others claiming Europeans “discovered” a continent empty of civilization, either Loos can’t seem to wrap his head around the idea that a cornucopia of Indigenous societies was thriving across North American long before white explorers arrived, bringing horses that ended up as emergency rations when colonizing a land they have no rightful claim over, or he’s aware of the existence of people in pre-Columbian America, and simply doesn’t consider them worth even acknowledging.

Either way, it’s an erasure of Indigenous peoples and an admission that the white people he’s lionizing were actually pretty terrible at their job of mapping the “wilderness” that covered their stolen lands and had supported cultures for thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, who promptly began destroying it. 

If it weren’t for stupid white guys with too much confidence despite their many obvious failings, whose lead would the GOP follow?

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 ($)