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Republicans stand for nothing but burning it down

Also: fully renewable dunk generators and abandoned mega-mansions

Author

Brad Johnson
January 20, 2022

PRESENTED BY AMICABLE AXOLOTLS

In his press conference yesterday, Joe Biden blasted Republicans for not having a platform other than opposing his presidency. He raised climate policy as an example:

“The American public is outraged about the state of the environment. What have they done to ameliorate climate change other than deny that it exists?”

The corporate political press corps did not seem to think that the nihilism of the GOP is a story worth pursuing, though.

Biden also noted there seems to be enough votes for the $500 billion in climate and energy spending in Build Back Better, and said he’d be willing to have that be passed as a stand-alone bill.

As expected, Sinemanchin joined the GOP to block voting rights legislation last night, upholding the Senate’s traditional role of defending the rich and racist against democracy.

Rep. Raul Grijalva’s (D-Ariz.) Natural Resources Committee is investigating the Biden administration’s unnecessary continuation of opening the Gulf of Mexico to further oil and gas leases in a hearing this morning, in an admirable case of putting the fate of civilization above party.

My favorite thing about crypto is that it is a fully renewable generator of sick dunks and self-owns. Unfortunately, it is very much not a sustainable enterprise in terms of the massive energy costs required to fuel the bizarrely inefficient distributed databases that are blockchains. Coal plants around the world are even being turned back on for crypto miners.

Today, the Energy and Commerce Committee’s oversight subcommittee chaired by Rep. Diana DeGette (D-Colo.) is holding a tackling this important issue, giving crypto executives the opportunity to attempt to defend their looks-a-lot-like-a-pyramid-scheme industry’s energy footprint.

The Institute for Self Reliance has a great webinar this afternoon with citizen advocates who are “electric utility monopolies with the aim of accelerating the shift to clean energy and winning democratic community control.”

Insurers are starting to abandon California’s mega-mansions worth $10 million and up, as the risk of fossil-fueled wildfires increases, despite the state approving rate increases of 17.5%. “AIG is the first high-net-worth carrier to say ‘we’ve had it, we’re divorcing ourselves from California’s regulated market.’” AIG is asking for 42% increase in rates. And Chubb executives have announced that “someone else will have the pleasure of writing” business for which “we cannot charge an adequate price for the risk.”

Meanwhile, twenty-one petroleum pipeline projects were completed in 2021, notably including Enbridge Line 3 (760,000 barrels per day), Enbridge Line 61 (1.2 million barrels per day), and the Energy Transfer DAPL Expansion (750,000 barrels per day).

Sixteen Minnesota cities, representing 1.6 million residents, have declared a climate emergency. Corpus Christi is going from a high of 78° yesterday to a low of 35° tomorrow, as a massive Arctic front pours into the eastern half of the country.

I’m sorry to report that climate scientist Lisa Goddard, the third Director of Columbia University’s International Research Institute for Climate and Society and a tremendous force behind bringing climate science into policy making, has passed away.

Hearings on the Hill:

Climate Action Today:

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