Message From the Editor

Eric Hofmann, a gas industry union leader, opposes San Luis Obispo, California’s proposal to switch from natural gas to electricity in new buildings. Hofmann is also the board chair of a “sleazy Astroturf group” with funding ties to the state’s largest gas utility. In March, he threatened to bus in hundreds of protesters with “no social distancing” amid the pandemic to oppose a city council vote on the policy. The council canceled the vote indefinitely.

A recent ruling overturned critical permits for the Keystone XL pipeline in Montana, but this judge’s decision could mean the end of easy permits for many other oil and gas pipelines in the U.S., reports Steve Horn.

And this week a group of House Democrats hosted a discussion calling out how the Trump administration’s favoritism to the fossil fuel industry during the COVID crisis affects average Americans, reports Dana Drugmand.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmogblog.com.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. Don’t forget to check out our COVIDeniers report on the climate science deniers now using the same tactics to downplay the pandemic.

Leader of Gas Industry Front Group Used Public Health Threat to Cancel Climate Policy Vote in California

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

A gas industry union leader and chair of a group funded by California’s largest gas utility threatened to protest with “no social distancing” a vote last month on a city policy in San Luis Obispo that would support electrification in new buildings, according to emails obtained by Climate Investigations Center and first reported in the Los Angeles Times. That threat to bus in hundreds of protesters, “potentially adding to this pandemic,” apparently worked as San Luis Obispo city officials have postponed the April 7 vote on its Clean Energy Choice Program indefinitely.

And while the March 16 protest threat preceded right-wing reopen groups protesting stay-at-home orders across the country, both have something in common — an appearance of grassroots organizing with underlying ties to big funders including fossil fuel interests.

Big Oil Fears Keystone XL Ruling Means End of Easy Pipeline Permits

— By Steve Horn (8 min. read) —

On April 15, Judge Brian Morris nullified water-crossing permits in Montana that were granted for the Keystone XL, a major setback for the long-embattled tar sands oil pipeline. The ruling came just days after Keystone XL owner TC Energy, formerly known as TransCanada, obtained billions of dollars in subsidies from the Alberta government as global oil prices plummeted.

The oil and gas industry has taken notice. Seemingly just a ruling on Keystone XL — the subject of opposition by the climate movement for the past decade — the ruling could have far broader implications for the future of building water-crossing pipelines and utility lines.

House Democrats Highlight Impacts of Trump Admin's Favors for Fossil Fuels During Pandemic

— By Dana Drugmand (5 min. read) —

On Tuesday, May 5, several Democratic members of the House Natural Resources Committee hosted a virtual discussion calling out how far the Trump administration has gone to cater to fossil fuel interests during the COVID-19 crisis and how that favoritism affects average Americans. 

The discussion, titled “Behind the Curtain: The Trump Administration's Fossil Fuel Agenda During the Pandemic,” was part of an ongoing series of live-streamed forums hosted by the Committee on coronavirus impacts on at-risk populations. The conversation, which included several guest speakers, highlighted how vulnerable communities are hit with the simultaneous impacts of the virus, industrial pollution, and the climate crisis. In addition, the discussion voiced concerns over the way federal agencies have been bestowing favors upon fossil fuel corporations while restricting public input.

Colorado Plans to Eliminate Emissions from Road Transportation

— By Dana Drugmand (4 min. read) —

Colorado is moving ahead with a plan to get nearly 1 million electric vehicles (EV) on its roads by 2030 and, for the first time, has adopted a long-term goal of transitioning to 100 percent electric and zero-emission vehicles.

The state’s Energy Office recently released the Colorado Electric Vehicle Plan 2020, an update to the 2018 EV plan that established a target of 940,000 EVs by 2030. The new plan retains that target and lays out a vision for a “large-scale transition of Colorado’s transportation system to zero emission vehicles.” That vision includes electrifying all light-duty vehicles and making all medium and heavy-duty vehicles zero-emission (including electric, hydrogen, and other zero emissions technologies).

Irish LNG Plan That Would Allow US Fracked Gas Imports ‘Dead in the Water’

— By John Gibbons (6 min. read) —

It is increasingly unlikely that Ireland will develop new infrastructure to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) produced from fracked wells in the US, after the plans suffered a series of potentially fatal legal and political setbacks.

First, the European Court of Justice advocate general, Juliane Kokott, ruled that An Bord Pleanála, Ireland’s planning appeals body, erred in not requesting an up-to-date environmental impact study for the proposed Shannon LNG terminal before extending planning permission for a planned project. The decision means the case would have to be referred back to Ireland’s High Court.

EPA Has Been Captured by Fossil Fuel Interests, Democratic Senators Tell Court

— By Dana Drugmand (6 min. read) —

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Trump administration is run by fossil fuel allies determined to do polluters’ bidding, U.S. senators are telling the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. The group of Democratic senators calls out this extensive fossil fuel industry influence in a recent friend-of-the-court brief filed in a lawsuit challenging the Trump EPA’s replacement of the Clean Power Plan meant to regulate carbon emissions from power plants.

Trump’s EPA replaced the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with what it calls the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, which requires only minimal emissions reductions by individual power plants rather than a systemic approach to cleaning up climate pollution from the power sector. 

Fossil Fuel Firms Linked to Trump Get Millions in Coronavirus Small Business Aid

— By Emily Holden, The Guardian (6 min. read) —

U.S. fossil fuel companies have taken at least $50 million in taxpayer money they probably won’t have to pay back, according to a review of coronavirus aid meant for struggling small businesses by the investigative research group Documented and the Guardian.

A total of $28 million is going to three coal mining companies, all with ties to Trump officials, bolstering a dying American industry and a fuel that scientists insist world leaders must shift away from to avoid the worst of the climate crisis.

EPA Decides to Reject the Latest Science, Endanger Public Health and Ignore the Law by Keeping an Outdated Fine Particle Air Pollution Standard

— By H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University (5 min. read) —

The COVID-19 pandemic and economic shutdown have temporarily produced clearer skies across the U.S. Meanwhile, however, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been busy finding reasons not to pursue long-lasting air quality gains.

On April 30, 2020, the agency published a proposed new rule that retains current National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Particulate Matter without any revisions. It took this action after a five-year review process, in which scientific evidence showed unequivocally that these standards are not adequate to protect public health.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Alex Epstein

Alex Epstein is the director of the Center for Industrial Progress, a for-profit think tank he founded in 2011. Epstein is a past fellow of the Ayn Rand Institute, an organization that has received funding from the Koch Foundations, and is also listed as a former adjunct scholar at the Koch-funded Cato Institute. While in 2016 he said he doubted the possibility that humans could warm the planet by 2 degrees Celsius, he said in 2019 he is “actually an outspoken global warming affirmer” and that “the real point of contention” about climate change is “a) whether warming is a problem and b) whether fossil fuel energy should be restricted.” In 2020, Epstein has downplayed the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and cast doubt on the epidemiological models as he has about climate models.

Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database or our new Koch Network Database.