(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Indigenous protests are blazing a new trail for how to beat big oil (Gizmodo), CDC data reveal another racial disparity for COVID-19 victims — age at death (LA Times $), marine biologist helps 'connect the dots' on race, climate (E&E $)
CORONAVIRUS: From COVID-19 to climate: what's next after the global oil and gas industry crash? (The Guardian), has COVID-19 created a blueprint for combating climate change? (New York Times $), pandemic-hit nations urged to hold nerve on climate finance for the poor (Thomson Reuters Foundation), oil refineries in COVID hotspot of Texas grapple with outbreaks (Bloomberg $), study: pandemic cut US greenhouse gases, but at high cost (Politico Pro $)
LITIGATION: Big Oil: Judges ignored key issues in Calif. climate ruling (E&E $)
AGENCIES: Brouillette dismisses 100% renewables at climate summit (E&E $), 3 years after shooting, NPS promises 'expeditious' probe (E&E $), 350 facilities skip reporting water pollution under temporary EPA rule (The Hill), 9th Circuit backs Interior in NEPA Alaska oil reserve case (E&E $), D.C. Circuit orders fast fixes on EPA smog designations (E&E $), Democrats direct [US Forest Service] research facilities to stay open (E&E $), EPA poised to release ozone proposal (E&E $), 'Mr. Pendley must go': Group urges senators to reject [BLM] nominee (E&E $), sources: White House personnel office interviewing DOE appointees (Politico Pro $), Wheeler: House Democrats blackmailing EPA (E&E $), EPA air official accused of conflict over payments via gas giant (Bloomberg Law)
EXECUTIVE BRANCH: [Center for Biological Diversity] sues Trump over permitting executive order (E&E $)
THE HILL: [House Appropriations] Committee votes to block Trump's 'secret science' EPA rule (The Hill), Democrats direct [US Forest Service] research facilities to stay open (E&E $), Dems try to thaw FWS grants frozen by human rights claims (E&E $), House Democrats target EPA 'secret science' rule (E&E $), House Dems look to rein in [EPA] on oversight, rules (E&E $), House Dems see new role for Interior in racial justice (E&E $)
POLITICS: Biden says fracking jobs won't be 'on the chopping block' if he's elected (Newsweek), meet Biden's climate rainmakers (E&E $), [Wyo. Rep.] Cynthia Lummis bets on fossil fuels in seeking return to Congress (Washington Examiner), Biden features energy R&D in economic push (Axios), Bullish on Texas: Dems see a clean energy path for Biden (E&E $)
CITIES AND STATES: How Denver is tackling food waste to fight hunger, climate change (PBS NewsHour), North Carolina lawmakers’ dispute over VW funds is finally settled — for now (Energy News Network), Va. joins RGGI as Pa. lawmakers step away (E&E $)
FERC: Court urged to keep door shut on FERC delay tactic (E&E $), ‘enormous step’ for energy storage as court upholds FERC order 841, opening wholesale markets (Greentech Media), Court backs FERC energy storage order (Politico Pro $, The Hill)
IMPACTS: Can a new kind of insurance take the place of FEMA? (Politico Pro $), American climate video: the driftwood hotel had an ‘old Florida’ feel, until it was gone (InsideClimate News), China raises flood alert to second highest level (Reuters), what Antarctica’s ‘doomsday glacier’ means for the planet (FT $)
HURRICANES: After deluging the northern Mid-Atlantic coast, Tropical Storm Fay heads inland and weakens (Washington Post $), Fay floodwater batters New Jersey coast (AccuWeather), Historic Fay makes landfall 24 hours after forming (AccuWeather), Tropical Storm Fay brings heavy rain, flood warnings to East Coast (CBS), Tropical Storm Fay flooded streets, knocked down trees (Weather Channel)
RENEWABLES: Clean energy industry adds jobs in June (Politico Pro $), can the clean energy industry deliver on the Biden-Sanders climate plan? (Greentech Media), wind is emerging as a leader in the renewable race (OilPrice)
BATTERIES: Is the battery metal boom finally here? (OilPrice)
OIL AND GAS: 'We aren’t going away': Oil drilling inside city limits remains thorny issue for many Texans (Houston Chronicle), analysis: associated gas plays lead US production higher despite steady fall in rig count (Platts), this is what it looks like when a Texas oil boom busts (Wall Street Journal $)
PIPELINES: Pipeline project losses raise questions about industry's future (US News & World Report), do activists have the upper hand against US pipelines? (Al Jazeera), is proposed pipeline through [N.C] Triad in trouble? (Greensboro News & Record), the people killed the pipelines (New Republic)
DAPL: Judge rejects Dakota Access pipeline request to stop closure (AP, E&E $), Dakota pipeline shutdown could constrain crude exports (OilPrice)
PLASTICS: Soap makers are cleaning up amid the pandemic, but can’t get enough hand pumps (Wall Street Journal $)
COAL: Can Duke Energy make the case for its coal plants? (Charlotte Business Journal), environmental groups sue over W.Va. coal reclamation fund (AP)
NUKES: Federal judge approves $192 million shareholder settlement over failed SC nuclear project (Charleston Post and Courier $)
HYDROGEN: Hottest new fuel proves hard to handle (Bloomberg $)
BUSINESS: Amazon’s Climate Pledge Arena set to change the game rules on green stadium design (CNBC), Microsoft, striving for zero CO2, steers millions into oil (E&E $)
CARS: Electric vehicle startup Fisker could go public (Axios), electric vehicle startup Rivian lands $2.5 billion in new funding (Axios)
FINANCE: US asset managers set to fight proposals on ESG investments (FT $)
SCIENCE: She’s an authority on Earth’s past. Now, her focus is the planet’s future. (New York Times $)
TREES: A casualty of Trump’s immigration policy: Millions of trees (Politico)
WATER: Parts of England could run out of water within 20 years, warn MPs (The Guardian)
INTERNATIONAL: Climate spending objective increased from 25 to 30 percent in revised EU budget proposal (Politico Pro $), already in financial meltdown, Lebanon endures blackouts of around 20 hours a day (CNBC), at least 10 killed, 30 missing in Nepal landslides (AP), Brazil Amazon deforestation up in June, set for worst year in over a decade (Reuters), China’s energy policy is a darker shade of green (Wall Street Journal $), France ordered to fight pollution or pay millions in fines (AP), gas curse: Mozambique’s multi-billion dollar gamble on LNG (Climate Home), Germany’s fallen ‘Solar Valley’ sees new life as Meyer Burger buys former Solarworld factory (Greentech Media), Venice tests long-delayed flood barrier months after waters swamped city (Reuters)
SIBERIA: The Russian whistleblower risking it all to expose the scale of an Arctic oil spill catastrophe (CNN), Russian company behind arctic fuel spill reports pipeline leak (Bloomberg $)
GO LOOK AT THE SKY: Jupiter to dominate the night sky on July 13-14 (AccuWeather)
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Followed To The Letter: Mapping How Deniers And Delayers Use Rhetoric To Stall Progress
If you were on Twitter last week, you were likely bombarded by takes on The Letter. If you weren’t on Twitter, good. Read this if you really want the context, otherwise forget about it.
Because if you’ve been paying attention to climate deniers, the whole complaint about “cancel culture” should be immediately clear as not about any sort of real debate or free speech, but about people wanting the privilege to say ridiculous things without being criticized for it. They want consequence-free speech, and want their critics to be quiet and let them get away with saying false, hateful, misleading or just plain stupid things without consequence.
No better case can be made for the value of supposed “cancel culture” than Steve Milloy, the man who has for decades used his free speech to protect powerful industries--first the tobacco industry and now the fossil fuel industry--from facing any consequences for killing its customers and the climate. On Thursday, Milloy tweeted “climate bedwetters have been trying to #cancel climate skeptics for decades.” Included is a picture, his “response circa 2007,” of a globe with the words “I’m more worried about the intellectual climate. demandDEBATE.com”
Here's the really important point: For someone like Milloy, there’s nothing more valuable than debate. Because as long as we’re debating, we’re not doing. But at some point, even the staunchest self-proclaimed champions of free speech have to recognize that a debate has been settled, because if not, what’s the point of debating in the first place?
Well, if you’re a denier, it’s to keep delaying action. And they’ve got a lot of different ways to appear to be debating in good faith, while in fact doing nothing more than buying time for the fossil fuel industry.
A new study in Global Sustainability charts a map of these “discourses of climate delay,” with four big categories of rhetorical approaches to making sure the debate never ends. The first they refer to as “redirect responsibility,” when someone invokes the free rider excuses or whataboutism that suggest that it’s always someone else’s job to take action. (“What about China’s emissions?” is a popular example right now.)
The next section lead author Dr. William Lamb describes in a Carbon Brief post as “Look Squirrel,” the sorts of pseudo-solutions that are more formally referred to as “non-transformative solutions,” like that fossil fuels will somehow play a role in reducing emissions, or that at some point technology will innovate itself into reality. These are distractions that pull focus from the real problem with fake, or half-measure attempts at solutions.
Then there’s the approach of warning that maybe the cure will be worse than the disease, where people “emphasize the downsides” by claiming that poor people need fossil fuels, or that a policy needs to be perfect and universally supported to be worth implementing. While all policies should be carefully designed, with input from all relevant stakeholders, at some point they need to actually be implemented or else all that negotiation was for nothing.
Finally there’s the darkest takes, those of surrender. Doomers argue it’s too late now, our fate is sealed, so we may as well just strap in and enjoy the ride. This sort of cynicism may be tempting to those who know the science well enough to grasp the enormity of our dilemma, but to accept climate change is inevitable is to stand by and party while millions of people, disproportionately poor people, working class people, and people of color, die. And that’s simply unacceptable.
Once you recognize these tactics, and see the quotes provided by the authors of deniers, delayers and doomers using them in action, you may start seeing them everywhere that regressive forces want to hold back policy while appearing to support it.
Sort of like if a group of people upset about being held accountable for their actions by people exercising their free speech to criticize them all got together to sign on to a letter about how important it is to protect (their own) free speech from their critics (who should stop being so mean to transphobes).
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