Spencer Platt/Getty

Amid the cacophony of other crises, the climate crisis ticks on. As the president’s mob stormed the Capitol on January 6, leaving unmasked members of Congress sheltering with their colleagues at the height of the pandemic, the Trump administration was also holding the first-ever lease auction for drilling rights in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Nick Martin wrote about it this week: While the auction was a dismal failure, with only two private bidders showing up and only 11 of the 22 offerings sold, the fact that it occurred at all is still a huge blow to decades of conservation attempts to keep drilling out of the ANWR, not to mention commonsense arguments that, global warming being what it is, it’s time to slow down new drilling projects in general. And as Nick pointed out, the ANWR auction is one of many the Trump administration has pushed through at the Interior Department, on its way out:

Beginning in late 2020, as Biden’s victory became more imminent, companies submitted over 3,000 drilling permits to the [Bureau of Land Management], with close to 1,400 gaining approval—the highest rate of any period during the Trump administration, per the AP. With these permits in place, both [Biden interior secretary pick] Haaland and Biden will be limited in terms of what they can do to prevent companies from drilling on these lands, even with the Senate, House, and White House under Democratic control.

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So those wheels continued to turn while rioters trashed the nation’s legislative building. And as the full extent of the Capitol riot became clear—including how close the country came to a much more violent outcome—fossil fuel companies were among many brands attempting to distance themselves from the assault on democracy. “The violence in Washington, D.C. tarnishes a two-century tradition of respect for the rule of law,” tweeted Chevron. Several others announced they would be suspending political donations.

The whole thing, as Kate Aronoff pointed out, was profoundly ironic, given the fossil fuel industry’s history of being A-OK with authoritarianism and even coups so long as it makes for a good business environment. The brand statements, Kate argued, should be seen as part of the process of political transition:

With Trump on his way out of office and a Democratic Congress and White House on their way in, the world’s biggest polluters have every incentive to come out against either Trump or more militant elements within the GOP. Furrowed brows look good right now, as companies prepare to deal with more Democrats over the next few years. When the moment passes, it’s hard to imagine they won’t continue showering Republicans and Democrats alike with campaign donations.

The violence at the Capitol, and the nation’s response to it, aren’t in tension with other crises, so much as a brutal reminder of the necessity of broader political reforms. Democratic reform is, among other things, climate policy. Apocalypse Soon will have more on this subject shortly.

—Heather Souvaine Horn, deputy editor

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Global insect populations remain in bad shape, declining 1 to 2 percent annually, according to new research reported by E&E News.

David Legates, a climate denialist the Trump administration inexplicably appointed as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s “deputy assistant secretary of commerce for observation and prediction” (come again?) back in September, seems to have used his position primarily to put a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy stamp on a bunch of debunked climate denial reports. As New York Times reporter Christopher Flavelle summarized Tuesday on Twitter: “For months, [Lisa Friedman] and I have been looking into what the Trump White House sought by installing climate deniers in its science office. It looks like we may have an answer. And the answer is bizarre.”

Sabrina Imbler’s Times feature on shipworm sex isn’t a climate story, strictly speaking, but it’s very weird and a good distraction from the day’s political news:

Documenting shipworm sex with a GoPro is not part of Dr. Shipway’s core research, but something he felt was his duty as a scientist when the opportunity presented itself. At the time, Dr. Shipway was a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of the marine biologist Dan Distel at Northeastern University, part of which is safely housed in a former World War II bunker. 

Sabrina Imbler | The New York Times 

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