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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>January 22, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[Western Environmental Law Center]<br>
<b>As President Biden takes office, groups double down on legal push
to end fracking on public lands</b><br>
Jan 21, 2021 | News Release<br>
As Joe Biden prepared to assume the presidency this week, a
coalition filed a lawsuit to overturn the Trump administration’s
sale of more than 1 million acres of public lands in the American
West for fracking.<br>
<br>
Filed in federal court by WildEarth Guardians, Physicians for Social
Responsibility, and the Western Environmental Law Center, the
lawsuit targets the Trump administration’s failure to address the
climate and public health consequences of leasing public lands to
the oil and gas industry for drilling and extraction. The case
targets the sale of public lands across Colorado, New Mexico, Utah,
and Wyoming.<br>
<br>
“While the Trump administration attempted to illegally cede our
public lands and climate to the oil and gas industry and recklessly
ignore climate science, we’ve been there to challenge them in court
at every step of the way,” said Shiloh Hernandez, Staff Attorney for
the Western Environmental Law Center. “The time has come for the
Bureau of Land Management to take stock of the monumental danger
caused by its entire oil and gas program.”<br>
<br>
President Joe Biden has pledged to end the sale of public lands to
the oil and gas industry, and the lawsuit aims to ensure the new
administration follows through with bold climate and health action
to keep fossil fuels in the ground...<br>
- -<br>
This week, on behalf of a coalition of plaintiffs, the Western
Environmental Law Center filed an amended lawsuit to overturn the
sale of nearly 45,000 acres of public lands in New Mexico’s Greater
Chaco region.<br>
Last week, WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law
Center filed suit to overturn the sale of nearly 60,000 acres of
public lands in Montana. And earlier this month, WildEarth Guardians
called on a federal appeals court to block the sale of nearly 70,000
acres of public lands in New Mexico.<br>
- -<br>
Science supports winding down and ultimately phasing out fossil fuel
production as an essential strategy to confronting the climate
crisis.<br>
<br>
A 2018 U.S. Geological Survey report found that oil and gas produced
from public lands and waters contributes 10% of all U.S. greenhouse
gas emissions. And a 2018 report by the Stockholm Environmental
Institute confirmed that ending public lands fossil fuel production
could significantly reduce nationwide greenhouse gases.<br>
<br>
Ending the sale of public lands for fracking would also yield
enormous health benefits. A report in June 2019 released by
Physicians for Social Responsibility and Concerned Health
Professionals of New York confirmed extensive health risks
associated with oil and gas extraction, including cancer, asthma,
pre-term birth, and more.<br>
more at -
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://westernlaw.org/president-biden-takes-office-groups-double-legal-push-end-fracking-public-lands/">https://westernlaw.org/president-biden-takes-office-groups-double-legal-push-end-fracking-public-lands/</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[casting about]<br>
<b>Elon Musk announces $100 million prize for new carbon capture
tech</b><br>
It would be his single largest philanthropic effort to date.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-announces-100-million-prize-for-new-carbon-capture-tech-001130681.html">https://www.engadget.com/elon-musk-announces-100-million-prize-for-new-carbon-capture-tech-001130681.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[youth]<br>
<b>A million young people urge governments to prioritise climate
crisis</b><br>
World leaders will meet for Climate Adaptation Summit to consider
how to adapt to extreme weather<br>
- -<br>
Thousands of scientists from around the world, including four Nobel
prize winners, have signed a separate call to world leaders at the
summit, demanding that adaptation be prioritised.<br>
<br>
They said in their statement: “As our failed response to the
Covid-19 pandemic has demonstrated, the world is simply not ready to
face the investable impacts of our climate emergency. Unless we step
up and adapt now, the results will be increasing poverty, water
shortages, agricultural losses and soaring levels of migration with
an enormous toll on human life.<br>
<br>
“We must avoid inaction where those who are not rich lose out, and
cannot react in the timeframe necessary and without resources to
make the required changes.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/a-million-young-people-urge-governments-to-prioritise-climate-crisis">https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/jan/22/a-million-young-people-urge-governments-to-prioritise-climate-crisis</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Paris Agreement simple explanation in video - from GRIST[<br>
<b>Biden rejoining the Paris Agreement, explained</b><br>
Here’s what that means for the U.S., the world, and climate change.<br>
view the video
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQQdzELKzV0&feature=emb_logo">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQQdzELKzV0&feature=emb_logo</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://grist.org/politics/biden-rejoining-the-paris-agreement-explained-climate/">https://grist.org/politics/biden-rejoining-the-paris-agreement-explained-climate/</a>
<p>- -</p>
[political action]<br>
<b>The Climate Action Tracker</b><br>
The Climate Action Tracker is an independent scientific analysis
that tracks government climate action and measures it against the
globally agreed Paris Agreement aim of "holding warming well below
2°C, and pursuing efforts to limit warming to 1.5°C." A
collaboration of two organisations, Climate Analytics and New
Climate Institute, the CAT has been providing this independent
analysis to policymakers since 2009.<br>
CAT calculates global warming consequence and emissions gaps<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://climateactiontracker.org/global/temperatures/">https://climateactiontracker.org/global/temperatures/</a>
<p>- - </p>
[more carbon awareness]<br>
<b>The Global Carbon Project</b><br>
The Global Carbon Project (GCP) integrates knowledge of greenhouse
gases for human activities and the Earth system. Our projects
include global budgets for three dominant greenhouse gases — carbon
dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide — and complementary efforts in
urban, regional, cumulative, and negative emissions.<br>
The Global Carbon Project is a Global Research Project of Future
Earth and a research partner of the World Climate Research
Programme. It was formed to work with the international science
community to establish a common and mutually agreed knowledge base
to support policy debate and action to slow down and ultimately stop
the increase of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.<br>
<br>
The overwhelming realization that anthropogenic climate change is a
reality has focused the attention of the scientific community,
policymakers and the general public on the rising atmospheric
concentrations of the main greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). The GCP has approached this
challenge by focusing comprehensively on the global biogeochemical
cycles which govern these three greenhouse gases, including their
natural and human drivers, and opportunities for low carbon
pathways.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm">https://www.globalcarbonproject.org/index.htm</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[propaganda battlefield]<br>
<b>Oil Industry’s Public Climate Denial Campaign Dates Back to at
Least 1980, Nearly a Decade Earlier Than Previously Thought</b><br>
By Nick Cunningham • Friday, January 15, 2021<br>
The American Petroleum Institute (API), the leading oil and gas
industry trade group, publicly pushed misleading information on
climate change as early as 1980 – much earlier than previously
thought – according to newly discovered archival documents.<br>
<br>
API “was promulgating false and misleading information about climate
change in 1980, nearly a decade earlier than previously known,”
wrote Benjamin Franta, a JD/PhD candidate at Stanford University’s
Law School and Department of History, in a new peer-reviewed paper
published this month in Environmental Politics.<br>
<br>
An organized campaign of climate disinformation is generally thought
to have begun around 1989 with the formation of the Global Climate
Coalition, an industry front group aimed at protecting fossil fuel
interests, before it coalesced into a more active campaign of
climate denial in the 1990s, which included attacking climate
scientists, muddying the waters on climate science, and promoting
climate deniers. API was one of the coalition’s leading members,
along with Exxon (later ExxonMobil). <br>
<br>
But Franta points to a policy booklet published by API in 1980 as
evidence that the lobby group not only knew then about the negative
impact fossil fuel combustion had on the climate, but actively
sought to obscure that fact to the public.<br>
<br>
“This contradicts the idea that the industry was a good-faith player
at that time, and only later turned to disinformation efforts,”
Franta told DeSmog of his findings, which he stumbled across when
doing archival research.<br>
<br>
In API’s booklet, “Two Energy Futures: A National Choice for the
80s,” the industry acknowledged that carbon dioxide was a
“pollutant,” but cast doubt on the role of CO2 in global warming by
misrepresenting what prominent scientists said at the time.<br>
<br>
For instance, API pointed to popular astronomer Carl Sagan who wrote
about global warming in science journals and in his 1980 book
“Cosmos.” “Other scientists are more sanguine about the presence of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Some scientists, including Dr.
Carl Sagan, Cornell University astronomer, see a cooling phenomenon
as counteracting the greenhouse effect,” API wrote.<br>
<br>
But suggesting that Sagan was “sanguine” about CO2 is false. Sagan
explored the albedo effect from land use change – he proposed that
deforested areas increase the planet’s albedo, which meant that
disturbed land would reflect more sunlight because of its lighter
color, thus potentially causing a cooling effect. Ultimately,
though, Sagan warned that the dangers of warming from fossil fuels
was much more significant than any cooling effect from an increased
albedo. Misrepresenting some of Sagan’s work on albedo, API jumped
to the conclusion that warming from fossil fuels was nothing to
worry about.<br>
<br>
After dismissing the dangers of fossil fuels, API went on to promote
the expansion of fossil fuel production in its booklet, citing the
1980 World Coal Study. The coal study, although published by the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), was funded by the
industry and set out to promote the expansion of coal in order to
produce synthetic fuels.<br>
<br>
API pointed to the coal study to argue that expanding coal would
have “no significant damage to the environment.”<br>
<br>
The lobby group further claimed that doubling coal production would
be “consistent” with the conclusions of the 1979 World Climate
Conference. But, that conference – the first major international
climate conference attended by top scientists from a variety of
fields – recommended no such thing. Far from endorsing coal, it
warned of the dangers of “man-made changes in climate.” In a keynote
address, Robert White, the conference chairman, said that “the
growing dependence of the world on coal may create the most serious
threat to the world's climate.”<br>
<br>
After the publication of the MIT study in 1980, the director of the
study lobbied President Jimmy Carter’s administration. That same
year, the Carter administration adopted a goal of doubling coal
production by 1990 – a policy goal that was also adopted by the G7
in 1980. “So, it does look like that study was very influential, in
shaping the entire energy future of the world, really,” Franta told
DeSmog.<br>
<br>
API, however, wasn’t just mischaracterizing what outside experts
were saying about climate change at the time – it also publicly
contradicted its own knowledge on the issue. According to Franta’s
paper, the industry trade group’s own internal task-force knew at
the time that production trends for fossil fuels put the world on
track for several degrees of warming, which could potentially be
catastrophic.<br>
<br>
Six months before API published its “Two Energy Futures” booklet,
Stanford engineer John Laurmann told API’s climate change task force
that 2.5-degrees Celsius of warming could “bring world economic
growth to a halt,” and that 5-degrees would have “globally
catastrophic effects.” Avoiding such outcomes would require prompt
action, Laurmann said. Despite this information, API made no mention
of this in the booklet, and instead argued that a massive expansion
of coal production would not harm the environment. <br>
<br>
The American Petroleum Institute did not respond to a request for
comment.<br>
<br>
Franta’s report into what API knew about the connection between
fossil fuels and climate change – and when it knew it – adds to a
growing understanding about the industry’s decades-long effort to
discredit the science on climate change.<br>
<br>
In 2015, InsideClimate News revealed that ExxonMobil knew about
climate change in the late 1970s – decades earlier than previously
thought, and yet, starting in 1989, it went on to actively mislead
the public about that fact for more than a decade. InsideClimate
News also showed that API’s task force was aware of climate change
and discussed various responses during the task force’s existence
between 1979 and 1983.<br>
<br>
Over the past five years, additional reporting by news outlets,
including DeSmog, has added more detail to this history. But until
now, it was generally thought that the public disinformation
campaign began around 1989. The newly uncovered API booklet moves
this history back nearly 10 years.<br>
<br>
The booklet shows “the earliest public disinformation about climate
change from the petroleum industry that we know of now,” said
Franta.<br>
<br>
“Big Oil now has another decade of lost time to answer for – and
arguably to pay for,” climate science historian Geoffrey Supran, a
research associate at Harvard University, wrote in a statement to
DeSmog. He added that this new paper shows that “despite all we
already know about fossil fuel interests' history of misleading
Americans about climate change, we're still just scratching the
surface. There are more documents out there – more skeletons in the
closet, waiting to be found.”<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2021/01/15/api-american-petroleum-institute-oil-industry-public-climate-denial-campaign-1980">https://www.desmogblog.com/2021/01/15/api-american-petroleum-institute-oil-industry-public-climate-denial-campaign-1980</a><br>
<p>- -</p>
[clips from the DeSmog research database]<br>
<b>American Petroleum Institute</b><br>
<b>Background</b><br>
Based in Washington DC, the American Petroleum Institute (API) is
the largest trade association for the oil and gas industry,
representing over 600 corporate members “from the largest major oil
company to the smallest of independents, come from all segments of
the industry.” The API says its mission is to “influence public
policy in support of a strong, viable U.S. oil and natural gas
industry.” API describes itself as “the only national trade
association that represents all aspects of America’s oil and natural
gas industry.” [1]<br>
<br>
API was initially established on March 20, 1919 in New York City and
moved to Washington DC in late 1969. According to its website, API
“speak[s] for the oil and natural gas industry to the public,
Congress and the Executive Branch, state governments and the media.
We negotiate with regulatory agencies, represent the industry in
legal proceedings, participate in coalitions and work in partnership
with other associations to achieve our members’ public policy
goals.” [2], [1]<br>
<br>
ExxonSecrets reports that API has funded organizations that oppose
regulations aimed at combating global warming including the Cato
Institute and Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE). API is also a
member of the National Wetlands Coalition, a group suggesting
government regulation on wetlands are “burdensome and ineffective
regulations on private property.” According to Sourcewatch, The
National Wetlands coalition has been relatively inactive since the
1990s, but was made up of a group of about 60 municipal
associations, utilities and major industrial concerns, such as
Exxon, Texaco and Kerr-McGee...<br>
- -<br>
API has released a series of print ads espousing the benefits of
fossil fuels, claiming that E15 fuel would damage equipment, and
linking to their project, EnergyTomorrow.org. [their site was shamed
out of business by my succinct rant at NoEnergyTomorrow.org]<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute">https://www.desmogblog.com/american-petroleum-institute</a><br>
<p>- -</p>
[Yours Truly pestered and shamed EnergyTomorrow to shut down because
of my fiery rant]<br>
<b>NoEnergyTomorrow</b><br>
Voices Speaking Contrary to Petroleum Industry Propaganda<br>
<b>Suborning Murder</b><b><br>
</b><b>Suborn 1. To induce (a person) to commit an unlawful or evil
act.</b><br>
<br>
Hey EnergyTomorrow, API and the entire fossil fuel industry - we
have to speak out. You suborn murder by heavily promoting carbon
fuel usage. You actively encourage species suicide.<br>
<br>
You have known for decades that CO2 causes global warming. And you
have long known that fossil fuels are the major source of CO2
greenhouse gasses that cause catastrophic heating.<br>
<br>
You hide it from consumers, you deny the science and you secretly
fund skeptics, and now you seek political support for your carbon
fueled campaign of mass suicide.<br>
<br>
Science pretty much knows now that we are a doomed species. It
will be a tough life for all our grandchildren, and we cannot expect
many humans after that.<br>
<br>
And you continue lying when you could have been educating and
researching and deploying non-polluting energy. Now your momentum
traps us all.<br>
<br>
Your most evil act is to discount the danger and continue promoting
ignorance and doubt. You have pushed the world into total adoption
of carbon based fuels, and like big tobacco you covered up science
and distracted your market, and now you are groveling for political
support to keep your industry going through the chaos ahead.<br>
<br>
More than any other industrial segment, yours - oil, gas, coal, all
the CO2 carbon fuels - are the most directly responsible for the end
of our species. You continue to worsen the struggle and cause an
early death for our progeny.<br>
<br>
It is no comfort that your grandchildren are just as doomed as
mine. Eventually we will all be dying for your sins. But now we
know, and we will neither forgive nor forget this mass murder for
money.<br>
Richard Pauli July 4th 2009<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://noenergytomorrow.org/">http://noenergytomorrow.org/</a>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
[Digging back into the internet news archive]<br>
<font size="+1"><b>On this day in the history of global warming -
January 22, 1970 </b></font><br>
In his State of the Union address, President Nixon declares:<br>
<blockquote>"The great question of the seventies is, shall we
surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with
nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done
to our air, to our land, and to our water? <br>
<br>
"Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and
beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of
this country. It is a cause of particular concern to young
Americans, because they more than we will reap the grim
consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed
now if we are to prevent disaster later. <br>
<br>
"Clean air, clean water, open spaces—these should once again be
the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. <br>
<br>
"We still think of air as free. But clean air is not free, and
neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is
high. Through our years of past carelessness we incurred a debt to
nature, and now that debt is being called...<br>
<br>
"The automobile is our worst polluter of the air. Adequate control
requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition.
We shall intensify our research, set increasingly strict
standards, and strengthen enforcement procedures—and we shall do
it now. <br>
<br>
"We can no longer afford to consider air and water common
property, free to be abused by anyone without regard to the
consequences. Instead, we should begin now to treat them as scarce
resources, which we are no more free to contaminate than we are
free to throw garbage into our neighbor's yard."<br>
</blockquote>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://youtu.be/5LpspwT0ZwA">http://youtu.be/5LpspwT0ZwA</a> <br>
<br>
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