A dare to be great situation
PREPA, LNG, Whole Home Repair, glacier collapse redux
PRESENTED BY CRAB CUSACK
I promise, I didn’t set out to link only to stories written by women today, they’re just the good ones.
Maria Gallucci has a must-read on how Puerto Rico’s corrupt utility, PREPA, is pushing hard to addict the island to liquified natural gas instead of building renewable-powered independence in the wake of Hurricane Maria. The New York City-based New Fortress Energy runs an unpermitted LNG terminal in San Juan, and PREPA is converting oil- and coal-burning power plants to gas and to planning a new 400-MW gas plant. This climate injustice is tied to an effort to privatize the power system—and New Fortress is in the bidding. Earthjustice is working with the local climate justice coalition El Puente to fight these ticking climate bombs.
By the way, New Fortress executives are bullish on the candidacy of Alex Lasry, the son of fracking junk bond billionaire Marc Lasry, for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Wisconsin on August 9th, and have been backing other carbon Democrats like Henry Cuellar, Kyrsten Sinema, and Joe Manchin in addition to money for the GOP. Lasry, unlike his primary opponents Mandela Barnes and Tom Nelson, has avoided signing the No Fossil Fuel Money pledge.
GREEN RENEWED HOMES: Via Rachel Cohen, the Pennsylvania legislature has passed the Whole Home Repair Program, legislation by Green New Dealer Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia) that supports weatherization and other home repairs for low to moderate-income households.
BUILD BACK BIDEN: President Biden established the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity at the Department of Heath and Human Services last year, but it doesn’t have any funding from Congress, oops! HHS officials told CNN’s Ella Nilsen that they’ve scraped together a team of staffers to try to deal with the rising heat waves, floods, drought emergencies, and other health disasters caused by greenhouse pollution, while pushing the health-care sector to reduce its fossil-fuel use.
The Department of Energy’s Atmospheric System Research program has made $14 million in grants for extreme weather and climate science, Gianna Melillo reports.
Two research organizations and faculty at 18 universities will conduct the research, taking place in 11 different states and Canada. Researchers will investigate how clouds and aerosols like volcanic ash interact, along with their effects on solar energy in the Arctic and Antarctic regions.
Emily Sanders interviews Sharon Eubanks, the DOJ lawyer who beat the tobacco industry, about going after Big Oil:
All is not lost because the Supreme Court refused to recognize the value of its own precedents. What is left is what we learn from that decision and how we mobilize and get it done. Litigation plays an important part in moving forward, and we should press forward, full steam ahead. The bottom line for these companies is not the health of our people, it’s money. And that’s what they will understand when they’re pushed to the wall in court case after court case, where they are being defeated. We need to keep the pressure on.
More Emily: In West Virginia v. EPA, Big Oil got what it paid for.
GOOD JERBS: The Sunrise Movement is hiring a finance lead to manage the finances of the Sunrise hubs ($50K+$2K per year of experience, remote). The British Embassy is seeking a senior climate policy advisor ($85,686, D.C.). The Sierra Club is looking for a federal deputy campaign director for its energy campaigns ($90K-$95K, D.C.). The smart-grid advocacy group Rewiring America is hiring a federal senior policy manager ($110-$140K, D.C.). And Ed Carley has a lot more listings in his newsletter.
BAD JERBS: Shell is recruiting a manager for its TikTok channel. Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin “used an executive order to create the Office of Regulatory Management” and named Trump’s coal-lobbyist-EPA-chief Andrew Wheeler to run it.
Federal Transit Administrator Nuria Fernandez is testifying this morning before the Senate Banking Committee on the state of public transit. Ridership is still only 60 percent of its pre-pandemic high, but billions of dollars in federal funding are providing hope for the future.
Hearings on the Hill:
10 AM: Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Advancing Public Transportation under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: Update from the Federal Transit Administration
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