Climate Point: Deepwater Horizon a decade later, and Virginia commits to clean energy

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and environment news from across the Golden State and the country. From Palm Springs, Calif., I’m Mark Olalde.

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed some hard truths in our markets and society. One of which is this — fossil fuels are highly subsidized. World leaders are hard at work trying to shore up prices and keep drilling companies out of bankruptcy (more on that later), but now the Trump administration is considering paying oil companies to simply not pump their product, Bloomberg revealed.

The idea is that by subsidizing the lack of production, supply would artificially meet depressed demand and prices would rise. But the plan could cost the country $7 billion. While environmentalists have long called for the fossil fuel industry to "keep it in the ground," perhaps this isn't what they meant.

Here's some other important reporting....

MUST-READ STORIES

Deepwater Horizon, 10 years on. April 20 marks a full decade since British Petroleum's Deepwater Horizon oil drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded, killing 11 people and releasing an estimated 210 million gallons of crude into the environment. Our Paste BN network partners at Florida Today mark the anniversary, bringing readers details from a new report by conservation organization Oceana, which predicts another such disaster could well be in our future "because little has changed in terms of industry oversight and plans for expanded oil and gas exploration."

The death of the freshwater mussel. In 2016, biologists discovered an unexplained die-off of freshwater mussels in Ohio, Undark reports. But what was killing them? The mystery remains, but this deep-dive into the fascinating creatures tells us that in North America "more than 70% of the mussels are imperiled or have been driven to extinction by pollution, habitat destruction, and other human-made hardships." Take a read to learn more than you thought you'd ever know about mussels, and meet the "strike force" that's fighting to save them.

Protecting the Joshua tree. In a win for conservationists, one of the West's iconic — if not gangly and weird-looking — plant species took a big step toward legal protection this week when the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recommended the western Joshua tree be protected as an endangered species. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service rejected protection for both species of Joshua trees last year under the federal Endangered Species Act, and some say the listing would go too far in slowing development in Joshua tree habitat. But, climate change threatens the tree and its ability to reproduce, while tourism around the eponymous national park brings tens of millions of dollars to Southern California every year. I've got the details in The Desert Sun.

POLITICAL CLIMATE

Virginia is for (clean energy) lovers. On Sunday, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, signed the Virginia Clean Economy Act, mandating deadlines by which the largest utilities operating in the state need to transition to 100% renewable energy. The legislation also decrees that most coal-fired power plants in the state must shut down by the end of 2024, pushing an increasingly blue state towards aggressive clean energy goals, NBC reports.

When renewable electricity mandates go ignored. On the other end of the spectrum, former Energy Secretary Rick Perry "delayed clean energy grants, slow-walked hiring and left staffing levels in the nation’s clean energy programs far below what they were at the end of the Obama administration," the Houston Chronicle writes. Although the Texas Republican echoed the Trump administration's so-called "all-of-the-above" energy policy, the newspaper found that he appeared to play favorites, with renewables losing out.

Hunting in wildlife refuges. Debra Utacia Krol at The Arizona Republic recently reported that a federal agency is looking to either expand or newly open hunting and fishing in 106 national wildlife refuges and national fish hatcheries. The plan represents the federal government's single largest expansion, by land area, of hunting and fishing opportunities in U.S. history, a move that environmentalists are opposing. But, Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said hunters "have something significant to look forward to in the fall as we plan to open and expand hunting and fishing opportunities."

BLACK GOLD NO MORE AS VALUE TUMBLES

Art of the oil deal. Earlier this week, Bloomberg reports, the world's major oil-producing countries struck a deal to cut global oil production nearly 10%, in large part because so much less fuel than normal is currently needed. President Donald Trump played a significant role in brokering the agreement, as the U.S. oil and gas industry is getting pummeled by low prices that are exposing companies drilling without profits. But even this historic deal, with its main objective of rallying oil prices, has so far failed to do so.

When bankers drill for oil. And Reuters recently broke the news that, as oil prices tumbled in response to a Russia-OPEC price war and decreased demand due to the coronavirus, American banks are considering taking over and running some oilfields. The oil and gas industry owes more than $200 billion to lenders, meaning many companies will have trouble paying back their debts, leaving their drill sites and mineral rights as their only assets worth anything to the banks.

"Today is an impossible day." In 2017, the small town of Firestone — just a few miles north of Denver — had its reality blasted apart when an explosion caused by leaking gas from a disused pipe blew up a house and killed two people. The state on Monday announced that it hit a subsidiary of Occidental Petroleum with an $18.25 million fine, Westword reports. Erin Martinez, whose husband and brother were the two men killed, said it was impossible to put a dollar value on that loss. "For my family and I, today is an impossible day," she said.

AND ANOTHER THING

Most likely to be endangered. Environmental group American Rivers on Tuesday released its annual list of the country's most threatened rivers. Paste BN digs into the findings, including how climate change is leading to intense precipitation events, giving the Upper Mississippi River this year's top spot. Impacts of the river's changing behaviors are already being felt in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin. In other areas, the mining industry has caused significant downstream pollution. Check out the whole list here to see which waterways in your region are at-risk.

Scientists agree that to maintain a livable planet, we need to reduce the atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration back to 350 ppm. We’re above that and rising dangerously. Here are the latest numbers:

That’s all for now. Don’t forget to follow along on Twitter at @MarkOlalde. You can also reach me at molalde@gannett.com. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here. And, if you’d like to receive a daily round-up of California news (also for free!), you can sign up for USA Today’s new In California newsletter here. Cheers.