Former House Oversight chairwoman breaks silence on Big Oil probe
Happy Hump #HappyHump
Good morning and welcome to The Climate 202! Happy International Women’s Day and happy hump day. Today we’re reading about why airlines want to charge you for flying on french-fry oil. 🍟
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here.
In today’s edition, we’ll cover President Biden’s expected designation of a new national monument in Nevada and a Senate hearing on the climate impact of cryptocurrency mining. But first:
Former congresswoman Maloney says her Big Oil probe should be able to continue 
During a sprawling investigation last year, Democrats on the House Oversight Committee obtained a trove of internal emails about climate change from executives at major oil companies including BP, ExxonMobil and Shell.
But the investigation has been frozen, and the documents have been in limbo, since Republicans took control of the House in January. That’s because former congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), who chaired the Oversight Committee, never sent the documents to the Senate, meaning Senate Democrats may lack the authority to continue the probe.
For more than two months, Maloney’s motivations have remained a mystery, frustrating climate activists who say the documents could help reveal the oil industry’s alleged efforts to stall the transition to clean energy. Maloney has not given any interviews on the topic since losing her primary race after redistricting.
But in a phone interview Tuesday, Maloney broke her silence on the issue, saying she believed — and continues to believe — that Senate Democrats have the authority to examine the documents.
“The documents are available,” she said. “We’re not hiding them from anyone. They are, as they have always been, available to Senate Democrats. They can go over and look at them today.”
Maloney also alleged that she had been the target of a “smear” campaign by Senate Democrats, although she declined to name people.
“If they’re sincere, then they should be over there working and reviewing the documents instead of trying to smear me,” she said. “I’m not stopping them.”
An initial batch of documents released in December revealed that some oil company executives remain privately skeptical about the transition to clean energy, even as they publicly portray their firms as partners in the cause. But Oversight Committee staffers said they lacked the time and resources to finish combing through the communications, which total more than a million pages.
Different understandings
Maloney said she had discussed the issue with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who has expressed interest in continuing the investigation as the new chair of the Senate Budget Committee, as well as Rep. Jamie B. Raskin (Md.), the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee.
“If Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and his staff cannot get access to these documents, let me know, because it was my understanding — and I wrote him and told him — that he has access to the documents,” she said. “I know that Jamie Raskin will allow that.”
In an interview last month, however, Whitehouse said he lacked access to the documents because “it obviously was not approved for dissemination under Chair Maloney.”
Joseph Brazauskas, who served as counsel on the Oversight Committee until September, said he didn’t see anything in the panel’s rules that would prohibit Raskin from sending the documents to the Senate.
At the same time, he said it would be highly unusual for the Oversight panel to share subpoenaed documents with the Budget Committee, which lacks subpoena power.
“I have not seen a lot of sharing of information when the documents have been in response to a subpoena,” said Brazauskas, who is now senior counsel at the law and lobbying firm Bracewell. “That would be a very rare circumstance.”
In an emailed statement, Whitehouse pledged to continue probing the fossil fuel industry’s climate record.
“House Republicans should not be allowed to hide documents already produced by their fossil fuel overlords,” Whitehouse said. “It matters to get to the bottom of their campaign of deception. I intend to work as chairman of the Budget Committee with other committees of jurisdiction to shine light on the fossil fuel industry’s pattern of deceit and greenwashing.”
A spokeswoman for Raskin and other Oversight Committee Democrats did not respond to a request for comment.
Alleged ‘greenwashing’
The debate over the documents comes as some major oil companies scale back their climate commitments.
Maloney said she wasn’t surprised by these developments because the initial documents showed the oil giants had engaged in “greenwashing,” the practice of making a company seem more sustainable than it really is.
“They’re scaling down their climate pledges?” she said. “Well, they weren’t keeping the pledges they made. That was very clear.”
Pressure points Biden to designate Avi Kwa Ame a national monument 
President Biden is expected to designate a sacred tribal site as a national monument during his visit to Nevada next week, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe plans that are not yet public, Jessica Hill reports for the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
The president could sign a proclamation that puts up to 450,000 acres surrounding Avi Kwa Ame — pronounced ah-VEE-kwah-may in Mojave — off-limits to development. The Washington Post reported in November that the Biden administration would designate the national monument under the 1906 Antiquities Act, and the White House has been working to finalize details of the proclamation ever since.
The move, which will probably rank as the largest act of land conservation of Biden’s presidency, comes as the administration seeks to protect 30 percent of the nation’s public lands by 2030.
On the Hill Democrats say crypto is ‘like digital coal.’ Republicans disagree. 
Democrats and Republicans clashed Tuesday over the environmental impact of cryptocurrency mining during a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing on the industry’s massive energy consumption.
Sen. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), who chairs the panel’s Clean Air, Climate and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee, said the climate impact of crypto mining deserves far greater scrutiny from Congress and the Biden administration. He has introduced legislation, dubbed the Crypto-Asset Environmental Transparency Act, that would require crypto operations to disclose their emissions and direct the Environmental Protection Agency to study the issue.
Cryptocurrency is “more like digital coal than digital gold,” Markey told reporters Monday ahead of the hearing.
However, several Republican senators slammed the legislation, saying it would overburden crypto facilities that bring revenue and jobs to rural areas.
Sen. Pete Ricketts (Neb.), the top Republican on the subcommittee, said aggressive regulation of the crypto industry could have “caustic consequences,” including by forcing it overseas, where it would be subject to less stringent environmental standards.
Sen. Cynthia M. Lummis (R-Wyo.), one of the biggest advocates for the crypto industry on Capitol Hill, questioned why the legislation targeted crypto operations instead of electric vehicle chargers.
“If that EV charging station is powered by electricity from natural gas or coal shouldn’t it also have the same monitoring that is being requested by this bill?” she asked.
In the states Carbon ‘allowance’ auction raises $300 million 
Washington state’s first auction of “allowances” for carbon pollution generated an estimated $300 million, the state Department of Ecology announced Tuesday, Isabella Breda reports for the Seattle Times.
Under a 2021 law known as the Climate Commitment Act, Washington established a “cap-and-invest” program that sets a limit on overall greenhouse gas emissions in the state and requires businesses to buy allowances for their emissions.
The allowances, which each represent one metric ton of carbon dioxide, cost $48.50 in the first auction last week and will become increasingly expensive over time. The state will invest the revenue from the auctions, which could total an estimated $1.7 billion over the next two years, in efforts to further reduce greenhouse gas pollution.
In the atmosphere Viral
Thanks for reading!