Climate Point: War oil roils markets, California fuels dairy methane gold rush

Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. I'm Janet Wilson in Palm Springs, where it was a record-breaking 93 degrees on March 1. Lots of energy news this week, due to war in the Ukraine, and more dire warnings from the world's scientists. But first, the poop on a manure-fueled gold rush. 

I recently interviewed Darvin Bentlage, 66, a fourth-generation Missouri farmer whose Angus beef and crop farm is now surrounded on three sides by gigantic hog and cattle feed lots owned, he says, by the Irish government and a Brazilian subsidiary. His home and land are clouded by flies, and the springtime scent of wildflowers has been replaced by the stench blown by huge fans from the animal feeding operations. 

"This isn't normal farm smells. It's a real heavy sulfur and ammonia smell that'll burn your eyes, burn your nose," he said.

Bentlage is furious that supposedly environmentally conscious California is now adding to independent farmers' woes by paying large livestock operations millions in subsidies to turn manure into methane gas, as I wrote about with Joshua Yeager at the Visalia Times-Delta.

Regulators and backers say the program turns dangerous methane from waste lagoons into an endless supply of renewable gas for heavy-duty trucks, buses and power plants. Amazon, Chevron and major power companies are jumping in. But neighbors and environmentalists say it wrongly props up big polluters with public funds and does little to nothing to slow climate change. 

"They stink," said Bentlage of the subsidies.

Must-read stories: Oil at 11-year high

Nyet now. As oil prices surged to an 11-year high, the White House said Wednesday that while the United States is open to imposing sanctions on Russian oil and gas, embargoing its exports now could help Moscow while sending prices at gas pumps even higher. Reuters' Doina Chiacu and Timothy Gardner report. 

BP, Shell and even Exxon may have made government sanctions a moot point, announcing they'll no longer provide billions for Russian oil partners, per The New York Times and others.

Spiking. By midweek, with traders also refusing Russian supplies, global commodity markets surged, as Bloomberg's Will Kennedy and Alex Longley report. Oil passed $110 a barrel, aluminum hit a fresh record and wheat rose to its highest price since 2008. In Europe, natural gas prices and coal set all-time highs, deepening its energy crisis. Russia and fellow OPEC members declined to cut prices, while the U.S. and 30 other nations agreed to release 60 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

In the U.S., petroleum producers urgeed President Joe Biden to repeal the 1920 Jones Act and allow foreign-flagged ships to deliver crude. Some experts said it would immediately reduce oil prices, as Craig Harris reports for USA Today. But enviros are pushing back.

Wind in your sails. Meanwhile, European and U.S. renewables stocks are rising, and boosters say Russia's invasion could accelerate wind and solar energy. But can it happen fast enough, particularly in Germany, long dependent on Russian supplies? Reuters' Michele Tantussi explores.

Political Climate

Unbearable. Life in some parts of the planet is rapidly reaching the point where it will be too hot to survive, international climate scientists said in their latest grim U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, released Monday.

The report documents devastating effects of human-caused climate change on people and ecosystems worldwide, as USA Today's Dinah Voyles Pulver and Doyle Rice write. It also includes findings on how we can slow the emissions driving global warming and adapt, if we choose to. 

Included. Indigenous people and their perspectives were included in the report in major ways for the first time, as Deb Krol reports for the Arizona Republic.

Omitted. But Biden barely mentioned climate change in his State of the Union address, and then only in the context of half a million new EV charging stations and other job growth measures.

Test case. The Supreme Court wrestled Monday with one of the most significant climate cases to reach its docket in years, writes John Fritze with USA Today, wrangling over whether the EPA  has authority to regulate carbon emissions from power plants.

While the court’s three liberal justices signaled support for the government’s power to impose sweeping restrictions on greenhouse gasses, the court’s six-member conservative bloc was harder to read after hours of oral argument. Nineteen states, led by West Virginia, are challenging the regulations. A decision against EPA could hobble federal efforts to rein in dangerous greenhouse gases from a key polluting sector.

Tested. Ketanji Brown Jackson, Biden’s pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, would bring deep environmental expertise to the bench. E&E News' Pamela King writes she is expected to be confirmed in time to hear Sackett v. EPA, a case that asks the court to rein in the federal government’s jurisdiction over the nation’s waters.

Hot takes

Shakedown. Winter road salt is triggering "massive" harm to lakes, contaminating drinking water and potentially harming popular trout, walleye and other species. Kyle Berganstose tells the tale. USA Today 

Ramp up. Dry docks and exposed rocks reveal the cost of Colorado River drought, in a take-out by Brandon Loomis on the likely losses to summer fishing and boating at Lake Powell. The Arizona Republic

In or out? AES Indiana plans to leave coal power behind by 2025, yet says it will keep its most polluting coal plant open until 2040. Sarah Bowman lays it out. IndyStar

Pay up. Colorado regulators approve "strongest in the nation" oil well clean-up requirements, per Chase Woodruff. Colorado Newsline

Phoenix rising. Joan Meiners writes about how climate change impacts the city where she grew up, and where she's now reporting. Arizona Republic

And another thing

Making waves. Polls show most teachers and parents believe climate change should be taught in school. Yet one survey found most educators weren’t teaching about it at all. In Hawaii, where iconic beaches are already disappearing due to rising seas, educators are aiming to change that. 

Alia Wong with USA Today writes that as Hawaii declares a climate crisis — the first U.S. state to do so — schools hope Indigenous knowledge will save the islands. Both emotion and "pathways to collective action" take center stage in lessons on the environment and sustainability. Students are taught about native plants, traditional mountain and sea ecologies and more in classrooms and outdoors.

"Our relationship with land and place is really grounded in a Hawaiian worldview, and we're surrounded by so much physical beauty," said Amber Strong Makaiau, who directs the Hanahau‘oli School Professional Development Center. In Hawaii, she says, people are good at "overcoming differences and being able to listen to multiple perspectives. We do our best to relate to one another and solve problems as a community."

Aloha and amen to that.

Correction: In Climate Point two weeks ago, I misspelled reporter Alleen Brown's name. I regret the error, and invite you again to read her great Intercept package on prisons and climate change.

That's all for this week. For more climate, energy and environment news, follow me on Twitter @janetwilson66. You can sign up to get Climate Point in your inbox for free here.