Hey, that's not a skunk
Greens in Houston, techies in Boston, storms in Arkansas
PRESENTED BY HAY FEVER FEVER
The nation’s environmental journalists and climate hawks are gathering in Houston, Texas, for the first in-person Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference in years. Today is field trip day—fishing in Galveston Bay, talking prescribed burns at nature reserves, visiting the Houston Advanced Research Center, going to neighborhoods deliberately flooded during Hurricane Harvey, and touring the toxic Houston Ship Channel and San Jacinto Waste Pits.
The SEJ2022 speaker list is a bit different from Houston’s recent CERAWeek oil & gas conference, I guess all the Big Oil executives are partied out. I’m sincerely sad to be missing out on this gathering of many of my favorite people.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is the main arm of the federal government engaging with this conference; strikingly, no representatives from the government’s top polluters—the Department of Energy and Department of Defense—despite their growing work on clean tech and climate resilience—will be in attendance.1 To be clear, the EPA is showing precisely how important they think the SEJ conference is by sending chief Michael Regan, who attended CERAWeek in person, to SEJ in the form of a pre-recorded video.
Across the river from Boston, the MIT Energy Conference begins today, with IEA head Fatih Birol (remote) and White House climate lead Gina McCarthy (in person) offering keynotes, and ARPA-E officials Jack Lewnard and Scott Litzelman on panels. One pleasing development is that the clean-tech conference, which until recently was sponsored by fossil-fuel giants like Shell, Chevron, and Saudi Aramco, has dropped the big-oil sponsors. Keep up the pressure, MIT Divest!
Reps. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Katie Porter (D-Calif.), Don McEachin (D-Va.), and Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) are pushing for the quick passage of the End Oil and Gas Tax Subsidies Act (H.R. 2184). Shadow president Joe Manchin has not yet announced his veto.
As fossil-fuel carbon dioxide rises in the atmosphere and temperatures increase, the pollen season will start earlier, last longer, and be more intense, with total pollen increasing 16–40% over the United States.
Looking at the polls, one would think Democrats should be doing everything they can to bash Republicans on climate change, health care, and Social Security:
Let’s Read the Headlines!
Because Oil Drilling Isn’t Destructive Enough, ExxonMobil Is Getting Into Bitcoin Mining, Too.
U.S. Company Devises Method to Use Coal Waste to Power Crypto.
Possible Arkansas Tornado Injured 7 as More Potential Twisters and Severe Weather Threaten Southeast
Rain Falls on Destructive Tennessee Wildfire, But Evacuations Remain
Boy, that greening-crypto effort has its work cut out for it, huh.
Hearings on the Hill:
10 AM: Senate Energy and Natural Resources
Domestic Critical Mineral Supply Chains10 AM: House Natural Resources
Energy and Mineral Resources
Benefits of the Legacy Pollution Clean-Up Programs in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law10 AM: House Agriculture
State of the CFTC1 PM: House Natural Resources
Indigenous Peoples of the United States
Udall Trust Fund Reauthorization, Quapaw Tribal Landowner Settlement Act, Advancing Equality for Wabanaki Nations Act
Climate Action Today:
All Day: Society of Environmental Journalists
SEJ 2022 in Houston
9 AM: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MIT Energy Conference Day One9 AM: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Joint Meeting of FERC and NRC11 AM: EcoAmerica
American Climate Leadership Summit, Day Four: National Faith and Climate Forum
Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. DMs are open—@climatebrad
Fact-checking myself here: With the exception of Kelly Burks-Copes, Chief, Program Support Branch, Mega Project Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District.