Mountain Valley Pipeline Granted Permit To Cut Through National Forest: The $6.6 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline would send methane gas 300 miles from the Marcellus shale fields in West Virginia to Virginia, crossing almost 1,000 streams and wetlands, and now a national forest. Earlier this week the Agriculture Department granted the pipeline company’s request to cut through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest, one of the last federal hurdles the project needed to overcome. "The Forest Service’s preferred alternative to allow [the pipeline] to rip through the Jefferson National Forest grossly underestimates the lasting environmental harms from the project, ignores the overwhelming public opposition to sacrificing this treasured land and shirks the agency’s responsibility to steward forests," said Jessica Sims with Appalachian Voice. This is the third time the Agriculture Department has tried to allow the pipeline to be constructed through the national forest. The previous two attempted rulings were rejected by federal judges for failing to adequately consider "the actual sedimentation and erosion impacts of the pipeline." This latest ruling is also expected to be litigated. (AP, Reuters, Common Dreams, Seeking Alpha, Fox News, New York Times $)

Biden Vetoes Attempt To Reinstate Solar Tariffs: The resolution thumbed down by Biden had passed both the House and Senate, and would have reversed a Commerce Department decision to waive tariffs on solar panels imported from Southeast Asian countries for two years. Biden explained the tariff waiver was necessary to establish a “bridge” for continued solar deployment as US manufacturing ramps up to meet the increasing demand for the clean energy technology. “Passage of this resolution bets against American innovation,” Biden said in a statement. “It would undermine these efforts and create deep uncertainty for American businesses and workers in the solar industry.” Less than 30 percent of the solar panels and cells installed in the U.S. are made in the country, though domestically-produced solar content is rising as U.S. manufacturers take advantage of the manufacturing tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act. A two-thirds majority in both the House and Senate would be needed to override the President’s veto. (CNN, The Hill, Reuters, AP, Fox News, Washington Post $, New York Times $)

Fossil Fuels To Blame For Western Wildfires - New Study: The work published in Environmental Research Letters is the first to quantify how fossil fuel company emissions have worsened wildfires in the western U.S. and Canada. A huge swath of recently burned forests - as much as 20 million acres - can be directly traced to major fossil fuel companies like Chevron, ExxonMobile, BP and Shell, the study finds. “These companies should be held accountable for their fair share of the damages that they’ve caused,” coauthor and research scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists Carly Phillips told Grist. “They lied and engaged in this orchestrated campaign of deception for years, and it didn’t have to be this way, right?” Phillips and the other researchers found that 37 percent of forests burned since 1986 across the areas studied can be linked to the carbon pollution from 88 of the world’s largest oil, gas, and coal companies. The research contributes to a growing body of climate "attribution" studies, which quantify how fossil fuel pollution is directly tied to global temperature increases, sea level rise, and ocean acidification, and other climate impacts. Attribution research has underpinned many climate lawsuits brought by impacted communities. (CNN, The Hill, Grist, Truthout, Phys.org, E&E $, Sac Bee $, LA Times $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Forever chemicals are disproportionately polluting Black and Hispanic neighborhoods (The Verge), Communities of color disproportionately exposed to ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water: study (The Hill), Without Black representation in climate tech, ‘the planet will burn’ (Tech Crunch)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) INJUSTICE: Nearly $700K in public art installations on climate change and environmental justice to be revealed across Chicago (Chicago Tribune), Climate change is erasing Black Cemeteries in the South. Here’s what you need to know (MassLive), Louisiana teacher and students examine the complexities of environmental injustice in their community  (Yale Climate Connections), Minneapolis climate equity action plan: How is the city approaching climate justice? (MinnPost), Near a polluting California port, a teen’s path to studying climate health (Grist)

COP28: UAE invites Syria’s Assad to COP28 in latest rehabilitation push (Climate Home), Pacific Island leaders say rich countries are not doing enough to control climate change (AP), COP28 host UAE’s approach is ‘dangerous’, says UN’s ex-climate chief (The Guardian)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: A lawsuit to protect streams could take away a prime firefighting tool (Grist)

MOCHA: Myanmar and Bangladesh begin cleaning up, counting casualties after devastating Cyclone Mocha (AP), Early warning, preparedness likely saved thousands of lives during Cyclone Mocha (AP)

EPA: EPA finally wakes up with stiff new climate rules: ‘They’ve hit full throttle’ (The Guardian)

BLM: BLM defends sweeping revamp of public lands rule (E&E $), Biden plan to sell land leases for conservation gets pushback (AP)

THE HILL: Manchin, Wyden, Kaptur blast Biden guidance on solar panels (The Hill), Manchin clashes with Biden administration over climate law (New York Times $), Climate group with GOP roots a go-to for tariff push (E&E $), What Graves' role as debt negotiator means for permitting (E&E $)

HOUSE: GOP bill to block Biden’s anti-gas stove regulations advanced by House panel (Washington Times)

PFAS: Soft contact lenses may contain toxic ‘forever chemicals,’ research finds (The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: Vermont is moving from fuel oil to clean heat (Canary Media), Hochul’s climate law fumble roils budget talks (Politico), Montana’s new anti-climate law may be the most aggressive in the nation (Inside Climate News)

~CALIFORNIA: Marin County water rates could see huge jump under proposal being considered tonight (San Francisco Chronicle), Historic snowmelt poses severe flood risk to California communities (NBC News)

IMPACTS: Pacific Northwest heat wave shatters records (Axios), How extreme heat impacts your brain and mental health (TIME), UN reports extensive flooding damage in central Somalia (AP), Surging Alaska rivers leave behind huge chunks of ice, damaged homes (AP), Pacific northwest heat wave breaks records for May (Grist), When disaster strikes, is climate change to blame? (Scientific American)

RENEWABLES: Rural clean energy to get $11B Inflation Reduction Act boost (The Hill), Biden administration announces nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural communities (AP), White House to invest nearly $11 billion for renewable energy in rural areas (CNBC)

OIL & GAS: US backs Indonesian oil refinery despite pledge to end fossil fuel finance (Climate Home), The ‘skeletons’ in big oil’s closet (New York Times $)

ORPHANED WELLS: 14,000 Inactive Oil and Gas Wells Are Unplugged in the Gulf of Mexico (Smithsonian Magazine)

WIND: As the wind power industry looks to super-sized turbines, disruptors are betting on radical designs (CNBC), How inflation, dead whales and Snooki could sink New Jersey’s offshore wind plans (Politico $)

STEEL: Green steel could help rebuild America’s Rust Belt (Canary Media)

FOOD: Which fruits and vegetables are best to plant for the environment (Washington Post $)

FARMING: How is climate change affecting farming? (PBS NewsHour)

UTILITIES: Elliott Management urges leadership, operational changes at NRG after ‘meaningful underperformance’ (Utility Dive)

GRID: ‘Superlab’ will test US power grid against climate disasters (Scientific American)

CARS: Ex-Audi chief pleads guilty in automaker’s diesel emissions scandal (AP)

ACTIVISM: German court convicts, fines Jesuit priest over climate protest (AP), Kenyan campaigner 'locked out' of African oil And gas event in London (DeSmog)

MINING: The green energy transition has a Chilean copper problem (Bloomberg $), Latin American leaders shift strategy on massive lithium reserves (Axios)

EVs: Electric vans, delayed by production problems, find eager buyers (New York Times $)

CARBON REMOVAL: European carbon removal pioneer lured by US subsidies (Energy Monitor)

FINANCE: Barclays, Morgan Stanley lead banks nearing CO2 disclosure deal (Bloomberg $), Fed official says climate change is not 'serious risk' to banks (OilPrice), JP Morgan investors say no to climate proposals at annual meeting (Bloomberg Law)

GOOGLE: Google zeroed in on these 3 categories of climate companies to boost (CNBC)

SPUTNIK: Weather intelligence company aims to revolutionize forecasting with a constellation of radar satellites (CNBC)

GREENWASHING: How corporations use greenwashing to convince you they are battling climate change (Salon), Inside the little-known group setting the corporate climate agenda (MIT Technology Review)

AI: Get ready for AI climate action (Forbes)

HOTELS: Your hotel stay may be bad for the environment. Here are 8 ways to fix that. (HuffPost)

UNI: Is your university profiting from climate change? (CBS)

YUM: Meals on wheels delivers food and climate resilience for seniors (Yes Magazine)

INTERNATIONAL: Zimbabwe plans takeover of carbon credit trade, voids past deals (Bloomberg $), Air pollution transparency rules among EU laws to be scrapped by UK (The Guardian)

• How to strategically de-risk the push for electric vehicles (The Hill, J. Peter Pham)

• False choices and climate security (The Hill, John Conger)

• How federal dollars can help ease the rural water crisis (Civil Eats, Michael Prado & Celina Mahabir)

Anti-EV Pollster Recycles Op-Eds In Virginia, Delaware and RealClear Telling Dems To Be Nice To Gas Cars

Everyone should be encouraged to recycle, but recycling your own work without noting it's not new is called self-plagiarism, and it's the kind of thing that can get you expelled from college. 

Apparently, though, when it comes to selling anti-EV opinions though, it's no big deal. We recently found a RealClearEnergy piece claiming that polling suggests Democratic politicians campaigning in 2024 shouldn't propose ending the gas engine. Upon looking for more information about its author, pollster Stefan Hankin, we instead found that he'd basically already written this piece — twice! 

One was published in Delaware Online in March as part of the USA Today Network, and the first was published in February by the Richmond Times-Dispatch. All three share the same message, structure, and talking points, as well as many, many copy-pasted sentences. 

All three articles include the introduction line that Hankin "was hired by a group called Centrist Democrats of America," though the RealClear and Delaware versions preface that with "With that in mind," while Virginia's does not. Both DE and VA versions continue with the phrase "to conduct a survey to determine how [Delawareans/Virginians] feel about EVs." The RealClear version states that he was hired "to gauge people's views across the country on what policies Democrats should – and should not – embrace to speed the adoption of electric vehicles, or EVs." The similarities go on from there. 

All three articles make the same main point: Sure, EVs are necessary for staving off climate catastrophe, but apparently you shouldn’t talk about requiring them in order to avoid political risks. Hankin writes, "But for Democrats, politically speaking, could they pay a price for pushing policies that would prevent [Americans/Delawareans/Virginians] from purchasing cars and trucks that run on fossil fuels?" 

Sure, maybe gas cars are killing us, but voters like 'em so guess we better drive ourselves into climate calamity! No attention is given to the idea that maybe the polling suggests that Democratic candidates need to improve their messaging on the issue, or that maybe the constant barrage of car ads and EV disinfo poses a hurdle to the climate policy that they acknowledge is vital. 

Instead, Hankin runs through the poll findings in exactly the same way in each of the three articles, describing firstly a "hesitancy about the government banning the sale of new vehicles that use gas or diesel… a strong believe that the automotive market is heading in the right direction already…And second, there are other priorities for [Virginia/Delaware/Virginia] in general as well as for the environment/that they feel should receive time and focus." 

Per RCE and Delaware Online, talking about transitioning away from gas-powered cars "creates a real risk of alienating centrist voters," which apparently got edited out of the VA version. But all three articles pick up in unison with the line that it risks "undermining environmental progress already [being] made."

Got that? Don't talk about making environmental progress, or you'll undermine environmental progress. Incredible advice, apparently needing to be repeated thrice!

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