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<p><i><font size="+1"><b>February 25, 2021</b></font></i></p>
[controversial confirmation hearings]<br>
<b>The Oil and Gas Money Behind the Republicans Who Will Help Decide
Deb Haaland's Fate</b><br>
Brian Kahn - Feb 24, 2021<br>
<br>
Rep. Deb Haaland just finished a historic confirmation hearing to
run the Department of Interior. If her nomination is pushed through
committee, she will in all likelihood be confirmed as the first
Indigenous person to ever serve on a presidential cabinet.<br>
<br>
If confirmed, Haaland would be in charge of more than 500 million
acres of federal land. There are a variety of things the secretary
of the interior oversees, including national parks, recreation,
wilderness areas, wildfire management, and more. All valid areas for
senators on the Energy and Natural Resources committee to ask
Haaland about. If she’s appointed, it would also open the door to
repairing centuries of injustices done to tribes and the
dispossession of their lands and neglect of services provided
through the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Understanding her views on how
to fix multiple broken systems serving Indigenous communities is
also crucial.<br>
<br>
The Department of Interior also oversees federal oil and gas
drilling leases. And it certainly stands to reason that her hearing
would at least, in part, focus on it. But Republicans have obsessed
over oil and gas drilling and pipelines in their lines of
questioning, all but ignoring the other aspects of the role.<br>
<br>
Among the questions they’ve asked is one from Sen. John Barrasso,
the ranking chairman on the committee, about Haaland’s support
during her 2018 campaign for the House end oil and gas production
and make up for lost royalty revenue by legalizing weed, creating a
one-two boogeyman punch. (For the record, both winding down fossil
fuel extraction and legalizing cannabis are both very popular,
according to Data for Progress polling.) Then there’s Sen. John
Hoeve, who asked why Haaland would go to Standing Rock to protest
the Dakota Access Pipeline. (For the record, tribal leaders weren’t
properly consulted nor did they consent to the pipeline, which was
one of the key points of contention that gave rise to the protest.)
Sen. Bill Cassidy, who referred to the Biden administration’s
“politically driven, non-science agenda” of putting a temporary halt
of oil and gas leasing. (For the record, oil and gas extraction is
scientifically incompatible with a habitable planet.)<br>
<p>Many Republicans also invoked oil and gas workers and communities
near extraction sites that provide services. Which is fair—we
should be talking with those communities and workers about how to
preserve their livelihoods and the planet. But there’s another
important constituency Republicans members of the committee have
assiduously failed to mention: The Big Oil donors who have pitched
in millions to committee members’ campaigns. Campaign finance data
from Open Secrets shows the committee received a collective $4.6
million in oil and gas money in the 2020 election cycle, and 87%
of that money has flowed to Republicans.</p>
Campaign finance data from Open Secrets showing who took money from
oil and gas donors. Democrats are in blue, Republicans are in red.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_965/x9i3jhyzye9mm8jbctq0.png">https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/c_fit,f_auto,g_center,pg_1,q_60,w_965/x9i3jhyzye9mm8jbctq0.png</a>
<p>Barrasso, the anti-weed, pro-drilling ranking member, received
$584,487. Sen. Steve Daines, who has said in a press release ahead
of the hearing that he was “deeply concerned” about Haaland’s
“radical views,” raked in $631,551 for the 2020 election cycle.
(For comparison, Daines praised Trump’s nominees—an oil state
representative and a fossil fuel lobbyist—about how tribes would
be lucky to have them, but didn’t ask a single question or offer
any praise for what Haaland would mean for tribes despite being a
member of the Laguna Pueblo.) Cassidy pulled in $592,327 from the
industry. You can get the gist in the graph above (which doesn’t
include Democratic Sen. John Hickenlooper due to data not being
immediately available).<br>
</p>
Research shows that oil and gas donors give to politicians who do
their bidding. And it appears they’re getting their money’s worth in
this hearing. Republicans on the committee have collectively
received more than $4 million from the industry and have spent their
question time largely pushing unfounded claims and red herrings.
Democrats and the two Independents who caucus with them on the
committee have received $587,122 from the industry. Most of that
($200,445 to be exact) went to West Virginia’s Sen. Joe Manchin, the
chairman and Democrat most likely to hold up Haaland’s nomination
based on his public statements. Ironically, though, Haaland’s
nomination could also hinge on the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the
biggest oil and gas recipient on the list who also has strong ties
to the Alaska Native community.<br>
<br>
As Haaland’s hearing wraps up, we’ll have to wait to see how the
committee votes on her nomination. But no matter how many
Republicans invoke workers in their reasons against (or possibly
for) voting to advance Haaland’s nomination to the Senate floor,
it’s important to keep in mind the subtext of who they’re actually
beholden to.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-oil-and-gas-money-behind-the-republicans-who-will-h-1846345607">https://earther.gizmodo.com/the-oil-and-gas-money-behind-the-republicans-who-will-h-1846345607</a><br>
<br>
<p><br>
</p>
[John Kerry]<br>
<b>Biden’s Climate Envoy, at U.N., Likens Global Inaction to a
‘Suicide Pact’</b><br>
John Kerry’s remarks stood in sharp contrast to the American stance
under the previous administration, which tried to block even general
mentions of global warming at the world body.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/climate/john-kerry-united-nations.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/23/climate/john-kerry-united-nations.html</a><br>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
[Serious studies of the future -- Upcoming Webinars]<br>
<b>The International Committee on New Integrated Climate Change
Assessment Scenarios</b> (ICONICS) is starting a series of
webinars to discuss recent work on the Climate Change Scenarios
Framework.<br>
<br>
The first webinar will take place on Monday 22 February 2021, at
15:00 CET / 9:00 EST. We will kick the series off with a tutorial on
the SSPs and RCPs followed by a Q&A session with Kristie Ebi
(UW), Brian O’Neill (JCGRI), and Bas van Ruijven (IIASA).
Participants will learn about the SSP-RCP scenario framework and the
matrix architecture, SSP regional and sectoral extensions and
available resources for learning about and working with the SSPs.<br>
The second webinar is scheduled for 6 April (15:00 CET / 9:00 EST),
and will discuss achievements and plans forward for the SSPs and
RCPs based on the Achievements and Needs of the Scenarios
Framework. We hope to see many of you in the upcoming webinars!<br>
You can register for the webinar here.<br>
ICONICS aims to organize the process of developing new socioeconomic
scenarios to facilitate interdisciplinary research and assessment on
climate change mitigation and adaptation.<br>
<br>
Mission<br>
The International Committee On New Integrated Climate change
assessment Scenarios (ICONICS) develops, facilitates, and promotes
the use of socioeconomic development pathways to support
interdisciplinary research and assessment of climate change-related
risks, and to support exploration of the effectiveness of adaptation
and mitigation policies and actions across spatial and temporal
scales to reduce those risks within the context of the Sustainable
Development Goals.<br>
<br>
ICONICS facilitates this mission through:<br>
<br>
Vertical integration: developing and applying integrative,
cross-scale, and cross-sectoral scenarios;<br>
Horizontal integration: fostering interaction across scientific
disciplines engaged in climate change research to develop, apply,
and evaluate integrated scenarios bridging climate change, projected
risks, adaptation, and mitigation; and<br>
Broadening the scope: promoting adaptation and mitigation research
to support achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://depts.washington.edu/iconics/">https://depts.washington.edu/iconics/</a><br>
<p> - -</p>
[discussion across 4 videos]<br>
<b>CONICS - Inaugural webinar - Tutorial 1 - SSP/RCP framework</b><b><br>
</b>Feb 22, 2021<br>
ICONICS SSP<br>
Brian O'Neill (JCGRI) presents the SSPs and RCP framework in the
first tutorial of the inaugural ICONICS webinar held on 22 February
2021.<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://youtu.be/Dy6MRDHytKM">https://youtu.be/Dy6MRDHytKM</a><br>
<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 -
February 25, 2005 </b></font><br>
<p>In a piece on state-level efforts to address carbon pollution,
the Boston Phoenix's Deirdre Fulton notes:<br>
<br>
"Though the United States accounts for almost 25 percent — more
than any other single country — of the world’s global-warming
emissions, advocates say there’s been little federal action on
this issue since at least 2001. That’s when George W. Bush,
echoing concerns that had also been voiced by his predecessor Bill
Clinton, opted out of Kyoto, citing national economic concerns and
calling on developing nations to commit to greater sacrifices than
they do under the current agreement. No wonder China, India,
Mexico, and Brazil signed on, say US and Australian leaders. They
have much less to lose as more stringent emissions regulations go
into effect for other nations worldwide.<br>
<br>
"The US position may or may not be fair, but we do know this much:
it doesn’t move us very far toward addressing the looming problem
of global warming. And that makes regional and state-level efforts
all the more important."<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://web.archive.org/web/20050315235150/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi_3/documents/04495072.asp">http://web.archive.org/web/20050315235150/http://www.bostonphoenix.com/boston/news_features/other_stories/multi_3/documents/04495072.asp</a><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
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