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| Message From the Editor It’s been a quieter week on the U.S. and International side of DeSmog as we gear up to publish some exciting new pieces. So for today’s newsletter, I want to highlight a powerful story from last Friday that we co-published with ExxonKnews. We took a close look at the fossil fuel industry’s growing use of strategic lawsuits against public participation — or SLAPPs, as they are known — to silence and intimidate critics. They’ve been used against a wide range of organizations and people, from Greenpeace, to Dakota Access Pipeline activists, to a middle-school math teacher. Fighting this type of corporate “lawfare” not only takes vast amounts of money, but also time and energy. Greenpeace USA’s deputy general counsel, Deepa Padmanabha, estimated said that since mid-2016, her career has been almost entirely dedicated to advocating against corporations’ use of the legal system to attack opponents. “The next decade is so critical in our fight against climate change. And if we didn’t have to deal with these lawsuits, we would really be putting every penny and every minute we have into fighting the existential threat of climate change,” she said. A wide range of concerned groups, from community organizers to members of Congress, are taking up the fight against SLAPPs. Currently, 32 states have varying anti-SLAPP laws, but Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) recently introduced the SLAPP Protection Act of 2022 — the first federal legislation that would “establish a procedure to dismiss, punish, and deter strategic lawsuits against public participation.” The bill’s fate could depend on the outcome of midterm elections, but most state anti-SLAPP laws have passed with bipartisan support. Stay tuned as we continue to follow the rise of — and fight against — SLAPPs. Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmog.com. Stay on top of developments in the new Truss government with our UK newsletter. Thanks, P.S. DeSmog has been investigating webs of climate denial and delay for over 15 years. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support our climate accountability reporting and research? Image credit: Protect the Protest How Fossil Fuel Corporations Are Trying to Sue Their Critics Into Silence— By Emily Sanders (8 min. read) —In 2018, Krystal Two Bulls received notice that she was being sued for criminal conspiracy. Two Bulls, who is Oglala Lakota and North Cheyenne, has been organizing for environmental justice for much of her life. She was raised on the North Cheyenne Indian Reservation of Lame Deer, Montana, part of a community that had resisted coal developments for nearly 40 years. In 2016, she helped defeat Arch Coal’s plans to build a massive strip mining operation on the reservation’s border. The project would’ve been one of the largest coal mines in the United States. READ MOREWorld Bank Continues Financing Fossil Fuels Despite Climate Crisis— By Nick Cunningham (5 min. read) —The World Bank Group has funneled $14.8 billion into fossil fuel projects around the world since the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2015, undercutting global efforts to combat the worsening climate crisis. That money has helped build gas pipelines, refineries, liquefied natural gas import terminals and gas-fired power plants, according to a new report from the Big Shift Global, a coalition of NGOs from both the Global North and Global South. The report analyzed the financial flows from the World Bank in recent years, and identified the top 10 fossil fuel projects moving forward with the help of the development bank. READ MOREUK Climate Minister Pulls Out of Event with Climate Science Deniers— By Adam Barnett (5 min. read) —The UK’s new climate minister has pulled out of an event hosting two of the world’s most prominent climate science deniers, DeSmog can reveal. Graham Stuart MP was listed as a keynote speaker on Tuesday at the four-day Global Investment in Sustainable Development conference in London, hosted by the CC Forum, a company which touts itself as the “green Davos”. READ MORECOP27 Farming Coalition Under Fire for Links to Climate Science Denial— By Rachel Sherrington (4 min. read) —A U.S. government-led sustainable farming initiative has been criticised for its association with a prominent meat industry group that questions the extent to which climate change is man-made. The North American Meat Institute (NAMI) is a “knowledge partner” of the Agriculture Innovation Mission for Climate (Aim4C), an initiative launched by the United States and United Arab Emirates at the Glasgow climate summit last year to fund research into technologies to tackle the climate crisis. READ MORETruss’s Chief of Staff Lobbied for Company Powering ‘Green’ North Sea Oil Rigs— By Christopher Deane and Rich Collett-White (6 min. read) —Liz Truss’s chief of staff has been providing lobbying services to a wind energy company accused of “greenwashing” new North Sea oil and gas production, DeSmog can reveal. The news comes as the government begins issuing a new round of drilling licences, in a move slammed by climate campaigners. READ MOREFrom the Climate Disinformation Database: Marc MoranoMarc Morano is the executive director and chief correspondent of ClimateDepot.com, a project of the Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). Morano is also the Communications Director at CFACT, a conservative think-tank in Washington D.C. that has received funding from ExxonMobil, Chevron, as well as hundreds of thousands of dollars from foundations associated with Richard Mellon Scaife. According to 2011 IRS Forms, Morano was the highest paid staff member with a salary of $150,000 per year. Morano’s blog Climate Depot regularly publishes articles questioning man-made global warming.
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