Good morning friends and climate advocates,

This newsletter shares the details of two major victories in the fight against pipeline projects and provides a bit of insight into Facebook's perpetuation of climate misinformation campaigns. Fossil fuel organizations are bolstered by government aid even as oil and coal experience unprecedented declines in valuation due to demand. And if you haven’t spoken to your state leaders in support of Illinois CEJA, please see the resources we’ve provided right below!

- The 350 Chicago Team

Support the Illinois CEJA (Clean Energy Jobs Act)

Help pass the Clean Energy Jobs Act and spark our clean energy recovery by contacting your lawmakers. Simply enter your information into this form, and your message will automatically be sent to your state legislators and Governor Pritzker.

350 Chicago along with coalition partners at the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition are working to get all 177 legislators in the Illinois General Assembly to support this important bill.

Thank you for pitching in!

Two Major Wins Against Pipeline Projects

Duke Energy and Dominion Energy have canceled construction plans for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, which was expected to span hundreds of miles from West Virginia across Virginia into North Carolina. The companies cited increasing costs and legal uncertainty around large-scale energy infrastructure.

In a decision against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) on Monday, a federal judge ruled that the DAPL must be emptied within 30 days and be subjected to an environmental review by the Army Corps of Engineers. This was partially due to the lack of a comprehensive review of the risk of oil spills and the impact on the surrounding people and lands before the project began.

Both pipeline defeats were celebrated by climate organizations and activists across the country.

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Actor and activist Jane Fonda marches during the “Fire Drill Fridays” climate change protest and rally on Capitol Hill on January 10, 2020, in Washington, DC.
Source: Paul Morigi/Getty Images

Elections matter: Democrats Have Plans

The big news last week was the massively-detailed climate action plan released by the House Democrats. While we often lament that Congress does so little, sometimes we see things like this that evidence strong behind-the-scenes work – in this case by the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis. The comprehensive report is over 500 pages long and follows a year-long effort by the Select Committee that included over 1,000 meetings with various stakeholders. If Democrats can win control of the House and Senate in November, this action plan will be the blueprint for legislation on a broad array of climate issues. The plan is designed to meet these key targets:

• Net-zero GHG emissions (not just CO2) by 2050, at the latest, with negative emissions thereafter

• Net-zero new buildings by 2030

• 100% zero-emission new vehicle sales by 2035

• Doubling the funding for public transport

• Net-zero electricity by 2040

Here is a review of the plan by David Roberts at Vox, with a special focus on the politics of making it real. And here is another favorable review from Julian Brave NoiseCat, with a special focus on the many environmental justice provisions that are part of the plan.

The release of this report comes on the heels of a Pew survey that shows fairly broad public support for climate action. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has announced that he would use presidential powers to reject any future pipelines or construction of other fossil-fuel infrastructure. If you want to encourage Biden in his climate ambitions, here is a link to a petition by Evergreen Action.

Facebook Falsehoods: Tackling Online Climate Misinformation

Last week, HEATED's Emily Atkin and Popular Information's Judd Legum teamed up to reveal that fossil fuel interests are exploiting a loophole in Facebook's fact-checking policy to spread climate denial. Facebook allows "opinion" content to appear on the platform without being fact-checked first, opening the door to climate denial op-eds. An open letter from a group of prominent activists, including Stacey Abrams and 350's North American president Tamara Toles O'Laughlin, calls on Helle Thorning-Schmidt and the other members of Facebook's Oversight Board to close the loophole and apply rigorous fact-checking standards to climate misinformation. (Scroll to the bottom of the letter to add your own signature.)

CarbonBrief offers a helpful explanation of how climate change misinformation spreads online. The article distinguishes between misinformation and disinformation and identifies strategies for counteracting misinformation before and after it has been disseminated. Minnesota and Washington D.C.'s attorneys general are currently putting some of these strategies into action: They have filed lawsuits against Exxon, the American Petroleum Institute and other fossil fuel interests, calling them out for breaking consumer protection laws by hiding the harm caused by their products.

Trouble in the Fossil Fuel Business

As the pandemic rages worldwide, few industry sectors have been left untouched. Among the hardest hit is the energy sector powered by fossil fuels, especially coal, as many of its players report grim financial news in an economy already expected to contract compared to prior years. Chesapeake Energy, an Oklahoma City-based energy company that is known as the “fracking pioneer” for its unconventional techniques that led to the fracking boom in the United States, has filed for Chapter 11 protection because its $9 billion debts have become unmanageable. Royal Dutch Shell has written down $22 billion in assets and British Petroleum has written down $17 billion in assets because of an expected drop in future oil prices due to falling demand. And BP has sold its petrochemical business for $5 billion citing that its efforts could be better diverted to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. As the energy transition continues, oil giants face a major turning point as valuations plummet.

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