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In Case of Climate Emergency Break Glass

JP Morgan has poured $394.2 billion into fossil fuels since the Paris Agreement

Author

Brad Johnson
July 20, 2022

PRESENTED BY LAZY GATORS

President Joe Biden, fending off the urge to do anything drastically popular, is not declaring a national climate emergency today as rivers disappear, subways flood, and fires burn, contradicting earlier reports.

“He’s not going to just stop with the actions of tomorrow but I would not plan an announcement this week on national climate emergency,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said yesterday afternoon.

Biden is, however, announcing some climate actions this afternoon in Somerset, Massachusetts, the site of the former coal-fired Brayton Point power plant now being converted to offshore wind manufacturing. Biden will announce “new initiatives to bolster the domestic offshore wind industry as well as efforts to help communities cope with soaring temperatures through programs administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Health and Human Services,” the AP’s Seung Min Kim reports.

In a letter this morning, U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) pressed Biden to declare an emergency:

“Declaring the climate crisis a national emergency under the National Emergency Act would unlock powers to rebuild a better economy with significant, concrete actions. Under the NEA, you could redirect spending to build out renewable energy systems on military bases, implement large-scale clean transportation solutions and finance distributed energy projects to boost climate resiliency. All of these actions would employ Americans in new and emerging industries while securing American leadership in global markets.”

Of course, a declaration of emergency isn’t even required for a surprising amount of progress. If Biden and his team of climate advisors really wanted to, they could take aggressive action against the fossil-fuel industry today, simply by enforcing existing laws.

In Maryland’s primaries yesterday: Wes Moore is leading the returns for the governor’s race on the Democratic side and Trumpist Dan Cox comfortably got the Republican nod. Katie Curran O’Malley lost the attorney general’s race to Anthony Brown, but climate hawk Brooke Lierman won the race for comptroller.

U.S. House of Representatives: Climate hawk Heather Mizeur easily got the nomination in the 1st District to challenge Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), but the AIPAC-backed Glenn Ivey crushed Donna Edwards in the race for Anthony Brown’s current seat in the 4th District.

Criminals In Glass Houses

As the United Kingdom burns in record-shattering, air-clogging, runway-melting heat, climate activists there aren’t waiting for their government to declare a national emergency.

Extinction Rebellion protesters shattered windows at the London headquarters of Rupert Murdoch’s media empire:

Activists targeted the News UK building next to London Bridge station early on Tuesday morning, destroying glass panels and putting up posters reading “tell the truth” and “40 degrees = death” next to the entrance used by journalists at the Sun and the Times.

Doctors for Extinction Rebellion similarly targeted the offices of carbon-financing giant JP Morgan, which has poured $394.2 billion into fossil fuels since 2016:

The medics placed stickers on the windows reading “IN CASE OF MEDICAL CLIMATE EMERGENCY BREAK GLASS” before carefully cracking the panes of glass near the entrance to the building.

JPMorgan Chase’s second-quarter earnings were a “disappointing” $8.65 billion on managed revenue of $31.63 billion, the company’s $34.5-million-dollar CEO and chairman Jamie Dimon announced last week.

Portugal has reported more than 1,000 deaths so far due to the current heat wave. Seventy percent of the crop is gone in Italy’s Po River delta, CNN’s Ben Wedeman reports. “Climate change here isn’t a myth, it’s a reality.”

Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) chairs the markup of the Puerto Rico Status Act, and the Senate Indian Affairs Committee receives testimony on legislation giving Indian tribes more authority over water rights in Arizona and California.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)’s committee will grill Dr. Arati Prabhakar, nominee to be Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy after Biden’s first pick, Eric Lander, resigned in disgrace. Dr. Prabhakar has been the director of both the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and is a long-time venture capitalist.

Ostensibly because Ukraine First Lady Olena Zelenska is delivering remarks to Congress today, Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.)’s committee has postponed today’s planned meeting to confirm Joseph Goffman to be EPA Assistant Administrator of the Office of Air and Radiation. Goffman is the acting head of this key office, which issues air pollution regulations. The nominations of Republican Annie Caputo, a former advisor to climate denier John Barrasso (R-N.D.) and Democrat Bradley Crowell, a former advisor to climate hawk Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) to join the Nuclear Regulatory Commission were also up for a vote.

Hearings on the Hill:

Climate Action Today:

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