FIRST LOOK:

The Environmental and Energy Study Institute will hold its second congressional climate camp on Federal Policies for High Emitting Sectors TOMORROW at 2:00 p.m.

Rep. Debra Haaland Set To Be First Native American To Lead Interior: After a second day of Senate hearings, Representative Deb Haaland (D-NM) is poised to become the first Native to serve as Secretary of the Interior (or any such high-ranking cabinet position.) It was clear the GOP appeared to hold her to a standard far different from the unqualified or corrupt Trump nominees it approved, with incendiary language and attacks “premised on settler colonialism.” While Indigenous groups and others, like Senator Elizabeth Warren sang her praises, it was moderate Democratic Senator Joe Manchin who stood as the potentially undecided vote. Coming from fossil-fuel-friendly West Virginia, Manchin’s initial reluctance suggested Haaland’s nomination might be in trouble. But after her second day of hearings, in which she repeatedly stated she would push the Biden administration’s agenda, Manchin released a statement signaling his support for her nomination, virtually ensuring Haaland will have the votes to make history. (Indian Country Today, Indian Country Today,  Indian Country Today, E&E $, The Hill, E&E $, New York Times $, New York Times $, AP, Politico, Politico Pro $, E&E $,The Hlil, Vox, Earther, CNN)

Deregulation Made Texas Electricity More Expensive: Not only did the deregulated Texas electricity market fail its customers, leaving millions without power and some freezing to death last week, it also made electricity more expensive for its customers, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of federal data. Texas deregulated its electricity market in 2004, moving away from regulated utilities that both generated and delivered electricity to customers. The move to force customers to buy electricity directly from retailers would allow them to shop around for lower prices and save them money, then-Gov. George W. Bush promised at the time. Since 2004, however, Texas residential consumers paid $28 billion more for electricity than they would have paid under the state's previous system — and that doesn't include the customers who didn't lose power and are now being hit with five-digit electricity bills. The events of last week exposed the insufficiency of American infrastructure in the face of a changed climate. "What we saw in Texas was a case of cascading failures, where when you have a climate extreme like severely cold weather, that extreme weather doesn't just affect one infrastructure system in isolation," Sarah Fletcher, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Stanford University, told E&E. "It hammered multiple infrastructure systems at the same time." (Deregulation: Wall Street Journal $; Infrastructure: E&E, Bloomberg $, Bloomberg $)

New USPS Fleet Not All Electric — Yet: The Postal Service is updating its massive fleet of mail carrying vehicles, heralding a significant step toward reducing carbon pollution from its massive fleet while also helping to protect its workforce from climate impacts. The Next Generation Delivery Vehicle, made by Oshkosh Defense of Wisconsin, will start delivering mail in 2023, the USPS announced Tuesday. The fleet will include high efficiency gasoline-powered vehicles as well as electric vehicles. The gasoline-powered new vehicles will have the ability to be retrofitted with new electric systems in the future. Environmental advocates criticized the decision to include internal combustion-powered vehicles in the contract, which they said contradicted the Biden administration's goal to electrify the U.S. fleet. Crucially for postal workers, disproportionately Black and female, who are especially vulnerable to hyperthermia as climate-fueled extreme heatwaves become more common, the NGDV will feature air conditioning (as well as airbags and collision avoidance systems). The majority of the current Grumman LLV (Long Life Vehicle) are between 25- and 32-years-old and get 10 miles per gallon, worse than a 2010 Hummer. In a separate hearing before the House Oversight and Reform Committee on Wednesday, Rep. Cori Bush criticized the USPS board of governors, which is composed of six white men including three investment bankers and coal lobbyist, for looking "like a millionaire white boy's club." (NGDV announcement: CNN, Bloomberg $, AP, E&E $, CBS, USA Today, New York Times $, Ars Technica, The Verge, Motor Trend; USPS demographics: Washington Post $; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Get On The E-Bus: Montgomery County public schools approved a $1.3 million annual contract on Tuesday to lease electric buses from Highland Electric Transportation, replacing its full fleet of over 1,400 buses by 2035. While electric buses are generally more expensive than conventional ones, Montgomery County isn’t spending any additional money because it is leasing the buses instead of purchasing outright. That means Highland Electric takes on that initial higher cost of the Thomas Built buses with Proterra batteries, which the company will then recoup over the life of the lease through lower costs of use. Electric buses require less upkeep and fewer spare parts, so upkeep is only half the cost of a conventional fleet, making them cost-effective over the long term. Meanwhile in the UK, First Bus announced a trial of electric buses produced by Arrival in “microfactories”, as part of their work to meet a pledge to stop buying diesel buses after 2022 and be fully clean by 2035. (Washington Post $, Washington Examiner, Bloomberg $; UK: CNBC)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: InvestigateWest: Cascadia mapping shows climate inequities (AP), what Biden could learn from Bill Clinton’s unfinished work on environmental justice (Grist)

STIMULUS: COVID recovery packages should include climate solutions, researcher says (Yale Climate Connections)

TEXAS: As Texas went dark, power flowed in America's coldest place (E&E $), following mass power failures in Texas, over half of voters say state needs to connect its grid to others (Morning Consult), left out of boil water orders, some Texans may need to test wells (The Verge), Texas plants released nearly as much pollution during winter storm as during Hurricane Laura (Texas Tribune), when the grid went dark, Texans faced 3.5M pounds of excess air pollution (Grist), Texas’s disaster is over. The fallout is just beginning. (The Atlantic)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Maryland’s capital city joins a long line of litigants seeking climate-related damages from the fossil fuel industry (InsideClimate News)

DENIAL, DISINFORMATION, AND EXTREMISM: In attacks on environmental advocates in Canada, a disturbing echo of extremist politics in the US (InsideClimate News), journalists and the looming superstorm of climate disinformation (The Nation), Facebook says it cracked down on climate change lies. Then came false power outage claim during Texas winter storm (USA Today)

ELECTRIFICATION: Cities' goal to lower climate emissions could be blocked by gas utilities (NPR)

FAIR SHARES: What’s your “fair share” of carbon emissions? You’re probably blowing way past it. (Vox)

AGENCIES: Corporate climate disclosures to get aggressive scrutiny by SEC (Bloomberg $)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: SEC to revise climate disclosure guidelines (Politico Pro $, Reuters)

THE HILL: Manchin: VAT may be ‘only tool’ to pay for infrastructure (Politico Pro $), Romney: 'I'm very open to a carbon tax' (E&E $), Senate panel starts looking at next big package: stimulus update (Bloomberg $), House Republicans held secret climate summit in Utah (Washington Examiner)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Granholm confirmation vote set for midday Thursday (Politico Pro $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Biden and Trudeau address climate change in joint news conference (New York Times $, Bloomberg $), Baker Hughes, AXA Group, 16 others quit Nord Stream 2 pipeline - U.S. (Reuters)

TRANSITION, PERSONNEL: Biden to tap tribal water expert to oversee Army Corps (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: How does a state use 40 percent less water? (New Republic)

CALIFORNIA: Newsom pushes private seawater desalting plant over local and environmental opposition (LA Times $), audit: climate agency overestimates emission cuts (E&E $), California environmentalists sue state over fossil fuel permits (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: A huge red flag just popped up in a little-studied region of Antarctica (Earther), Alaska thunderstorms could triple if climate trends continue, scientists warn (Reuters), hot houses: the race to save bats from overheating as temperatures rise (The Guardian), pests are hurting European forests. Climate may be a factor (E&E $)

WILDFIRES: Wildfire victims sue former PG&E executives alleging neglect (AP), mental health issues haunt Camp Fire victims — study (E&E $)

EMISSIONS: How measuring and reducing emissions has become its own business (Bloomberg $) 

RENEWABLES: Fragile countries call for investment in rooftop solar to expand energy access (Climate Home), on U.S. east coast, has offshore wind’s moment finally arrived? (Yale Environment 360), one of India’s biggest renewable energy groups joins Spac craze (FT $), renewable advocates bristle at Biden's move to preserve California desert land use plan (Utility Dive)

BATTERIES: Former Tesla exec inks new recycling deal as battery costs soar (CNBC)

OIL & GAS: Cheniere to offer LNG cargo emissions data amid climate pressure (Bloomberg $), Western Energy Alliance loses a third of its members (E&E $)

(POTENTIAL) OIL SPILLS: Houthis again delay expert examination of tanker off Yemen (AP)

PIPELINES: Canadian oil pipeline Trans Mountain seeks to shield insurers from pressure (Reuters)

COAL: Federal government strikes deal with coal firm over $61 million in unpaid royalties (Casper Star-Tribune)

UTILITIES: How 35 utilities plan to hit net zero (E&E $), Dominion proposes ending its South Carolina coal generation by 2030 (Utility Dive, E&E $), Exelon to split generation business from its regulated utilities (Greentech Media, Reuters), should California link electricity bills to customer incomes? (Greentech Media)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Former SCANA CEO Kevin Marsh pleads guilty to fraud charges in SC nuclear fiasco (Charleston Post and Courier $)

GRID: The U.S. needs a supergrid (Earther)

EVs: Biden to order EV battery, mineral supply chain review (E&E $)

AVIATION: Major U.S. airline CEOs to meet Friday with White House on reducing emissions (Reuters, Politico Pro $)

BOOKS: The new politics of climate change (FT $)

FOOD: A new link tracing beef from Amazon rainforest to grocery stores (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Show us the plan: Investors push companies to come clean on climate (Reuters), Big Oil’s biggest banker is pledging to change its ways (Bloomberg $), climate change is not priced into markets but its effect could be substantial, experts say (CNBC)

WILDLIFE: Arctic ice loss forces polar bears to use four times as much energy to survive – study (The Guardian), climate change altering how trees produce seeds — study (E&E $)

INTERNATIONAL: Australian sport stars call for more action to combat climate ‘havoc’ (The Guardian), Canada vows new 2030 climate target will be 'as ambitious as we possibly can be' (Politico Pro $), concerns raised about Green Climate Fund flood defence project in Samoa (Climate Home), Indian environmental activist Disha Ravi freed from jail (FT $), Japan advisers urge quick adoption of carbon pricing to hit emissions goal (Reuters), Pakistan faces an unexpected dilemma: too much electricity (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• On climate, Wall Street out-Orwells Orwell (The New Yorker, Bill McKibben column $)
• Navajo Nation President Nez: 'Confirm Deb Haaland for Secretary of the Interior'(Indian Country Today, Jonathan Nez op-ed)
• Texas needed power and leadership. It got neither. (Austin-American Statesman, Katharine Hayhoe and Daniel Cohan op-ed)
• Electric cars are the future. Here's how to get American drivers interested in them. (USA Today, Paul Bledsoe op-ed)
• Air pollution kills. Making that official can help us tackle it. (Grist, Richard Marcantonio op-ed)

Offshore Driller Took $9.7 Million Bailout, Declared Bankruptcy, Gave Execs $9.7 Million Bonus, Then Laid Off Quarter Of Workers

We and others have talked about Cara Daggett’s concept of petromasculinity a lot since she coined the term in 2018 to describe the way that the fossil fuel industry has been imbued with testosterone. Even if you aren't familiar with the phrase, you know what it means —  like truck nuts rolling coal and gushing oil rigs symbolizing the patriarchal dominance of the natural world. Beyond justifying, and perhaps even glamorizing, brutally dangerous working conditions, it’s also a key entry point into the culture wars. It gives the industry natural backers in the patriarchy to help reinforce the narrative of elite, emasculated environmentalists shrilly nagging the noble, rugged, hardworking blue collar everyman of the oil field out of a job.

That story is designed to conceal the truth: it’s Big Oil that’s currently killing jobs in oil. Specifically, it’s oil company executives who, for example, received millions of dollars in aid during the pandemic and, instead of using that money to keep workers employed, declared bankruptcy, laid off workers, and gave the government handout to themselves as a bonus. (And who says they don’t deserve it? Firing people as you drive a company into the ground is hard work, after all.) 

We wish that were an exaggeration or oversimplification. But BailoutWatch recently revealed that Diamond Offshore Drilling got $9.7 million in a tax bailout as part of the CARES Act, filed for bankruptcy protection anyway, paid $9.7 million out to executives as bonuses, and then this month, “disclosed it has laid off nearly a quarter of its workforce.” 

And it’s not the only one. Seadrill Limited got a $3 million bailout last year, yet that did nothing to stem its layoffs or bankruptcy for the London-based drilling company and its various affiliates. 

Superior Energy Services was even worse. In May of 2020, it announced $115 million in payroll cuts, layoffs and furloughs. Two months later, it got a $30.5 million tax bailout. Then, in September, apparently impressed with having saved so much money by laying off its workers, the board paid $7.3 million to each of its six top executives.  

Three months later, Superior Energy Services filed for bankruptcy. Apparently $42 million in executive bonuses wasn’t quite enough to save the company, and all those jobs. 

What’s petromasculinity got to do with this? Well, when pressed about how they steered millions of dollars of public funds into the private profits of polluters, people like Ted Cruz are “proud to defend jobs in Texas.” Cruz is supposedly a fiscal conservative who claims to care deeply about government spending and interference in the energy industry. So why isn’t he mad about the fact that these companies took that money, gave it to executives, and slashed jobs anyway? 

First and foremost, because the industry didn't give him millions of dollars so that he would be mean to them. Secondly, because he probably just hasn’t figured out a way to blame it on his wife or children. 

But part of the reason why he’s so supportive of corporate socialism is because petromasculinity blends fossil fuels with the patriarchy. Therefore, you can look like you’re helping the regular Joes keep their manly jobs, while in reality you’re actually just helping elite millionaires keep their caviar and champagne stocks topped up. 

If the fossil fuel industry had never waged sustained and decades-long campaigns to make the public feel certain ways about its products, including that it comes from big strong sweaty men who support loving families with a generous paycheck, then people might actually stop and think about whether handing over millions of dollars to executives at these companies actually does anything to “defend jobs in Texas.” But they did. It's just a shame they paid someone as bad ad delivering thinly-veiled patriarchal, homophobia (with a good dose of anti-semitism thown in for good measure) as Ted Cruz.

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