XPost: alt.global-warming   
      
   SEC opens review of corporate climate change disclosures   
   Dieter Holger and Kimberly Chin, Wall Street Journal via Carbon Brief   
      
   The American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will review   
   decade-old guidance on how companies disclose their risks from climate   
   change, the Wall Street Journal reports. The SEC will review the   
   extent to which companies are currently "complying" with existing   
   guidance, the paper adds. It notes that the original guidance - issued   
   in 2010 - "suggested" that companies disclose how their business could   
   be affected by climate change, "including from severe weather, demand   
   for carbon-heavy products and environmental regulation", but that few   
   companies did so in their SEC filings. Acting SEC chair, Allison   
   Herren Lee, says that "now more than ever, investors are considering   
   climate-related issues when making their investment decisions", the   
   Hill adds.   
      
   West Virginia's Democratic Senator Joe Manchin III has announced his   
   support of Deb Haaland to head the Interior Dept, "most likely   
   ensuring" that she will be confirmed to office, according to the New   
   York Times. The paper notes that Manchin "could be crucial" to   
   Haaland's confirmation, as he is "from a fossil fuel state" and often   
   sides with Republicans on energy issues. It adds that Haaland "would   
   make history as the first Native American to head a cabinet agency"   
   and would be charged with enacting Biden's "controversial" ban on   
   future leases for hydraulic fracturing on fracking on public land. The   
   New York Times notes that in her second day of questioning yesterday,   
   Republicans "expressed concerns" about her history of pushing to close   
   fossil fuel drilling and pipelines - positions that "go further than   
   those of Mr Biden". During questioning, Haaland emphasised that   
   Biden's pause on new oil and gas leasing is just a pause and won't be   
   a "permanent thing", the Hill reports. A separate piece in the Hill   
   adds that Haaland "discussed the importance of finding a `balance'   
   between fossil fuels and fighting climate change". Politico reports   
   that Manchin is "the most pro-fossil fuels Democrat in the Senate" and   
   is "seen as a crucial vote" in Haaland's appointment. It adds that   
   Manchin called Haaland "a secretary of the interior for every   
   American" and stated that he "will vote to confirm her". The   
   Washington Post adds that Manchin praised Haaland's "bipartisan   
   accomplishments and sincere willingness to work collaboratively on   
   important issues".   
      
   Meanwhile, there is ongoing coverage of the power outages in TX   
   last week. The Guardian reports that the power outages have set up   
   renewable energy as the next US "culture war", noting that while the   
   power outages were largely due to failures in coal, nuclear and gas,   
   Republican leadership "sought to pin the crisis on wind turbines and   
   solar panels freezing". According to Reuters, the low temperatures   
   were "reasonably forseeable" and the power outages were caused by   
   "failures to winterise generating units". The governor of TX has   
   promised to "overhaul" the state's electric grid operator, according   
   to Reuters, while the Wall Street Journal analysis has found that   
   "deregulated TX residential consumers paid $28bn more for their   
   power since 2004 than they would have paid at the rates charged to the   
   customers of the state's traditional utilities".   
      
   Meanwhile, US trade groups have urged Biden to "declare a gas emergency" and   
   put a cap on the price of gas, according to Reuters, while the Guardian runs   
   the headline, "`I had to pay $500 a day': freeze shows Texans true cost of   
   unregulated power".    
   Reuters also notes that more than 1.3m Texans are "still facing disrupted   
   water supplies". According to Bloomberg, the frozen pipes are "warnings of yet   
   another climate threat". Meanwhile, the New York Times reports that "what   
   happened in TX is a warming    
   for the rest of America". On a similar note, an opinion piece in the Wall   
   Street Journal by the CEO of Bloom Energy argues that the blackouts   
   "demonstrated the fragility of the nation's electricity infrastructure" and   
   that there are no "incentives for    
   resiliency". Justin Gerdes in Energy Monitor states that the state should   
   focus on building a more "resilient, interconnected and diverse power grid".   
   Meanwhile, columnist Megan McArdle in the Washington Post says that "we should   
   be spending a lot more"    
   on preventing disasters, but that until now, we have "done the opposite,   
   demanding the lowest price right now".   
      
   In other US news, Bloomberg reports that Canada and the US are working   
   together on environmental plans that "could include singling out   
   countries with weaker climate laws", according to an interview with   
   Trudeau. The paper says that this could include carbon taxes on the   
   exports of high-emitting countries, and that more details will be   
   unveiled in the coming months. BBC News also has the story. Meanwhile,   
   the New York Times reports that the phrase "climate change" is "once   
   again appearing on [US] govt websites and in documents". The Los   
   Angeles Times notes that the Biden administration is deciding whether   
   to accept the request from a San Diego company to send 5m tonnes of   
   natural gas per year across the US-Mexico border, saying that Biden's   
   decision will "offer an early preview of how aggressively it will   
   confront the climate crisis." Finally, the San Francisco Chronicle   
   reports that California has "overstated" its emissions reductions.   
      
      
   --   
   SolarWinds hack was work of 'at least 1,000 engineers', tech executives tell   
   Senate   
   The Guardian, 24 Feb 2021 10:54Z   
   True scope of the breach, which affected 100 companies and several federal   
   agencies, is still unknown.   
      
   China's Mars craft enters parking orbit before landing rover   
   The Associated Press, 24 Feb 2021 06:15Z   
   Beijing. China says its Tianwen-1 spacecraft has entered a temporary parking   
   orbit around Mars in anticipation of landing a rover on the red planet in ...   
      
   CDC report: 68% of people who exercised indoors at one Chicago gym   
   contracted COVID-19   
   WGN TV Chicago, 25 Feb 2021 02:32Z   
   A new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests   
   that some indoor exercise facilities may have trouble preventing the spread of   
   ...   
      
   Parker Solar Probe Offers Stunning View of Venus   
   NASA, 24 Feb 2021 20:17Z   
   NASA's Parker Solar Probe captured stunning views of Venus during its close   
   flyby of the planet in July 2020.   
      
   Moderna to begin clinical trials of Covid booster shots for variant from   
   South Africa, sends to NIH for study   
   CNBC, 25 Feb 2021 0:16Z   
   Moderna said it has shipped to the NIH doses of a new Covid-19 vaccine   
   designed to provide better protection against the variant from South Africa.   
      
   'I'm the only person she's revealed her beliefs to': How QAnon followers are   
   dealing with being wrong   
   ABC/The Signal, 24 Feb 2021 15:28Z   
   The QAnon conspiracy movement is moving the goalposts on its bizarre   
   predictions once again, promising Donald Trump will be inaugurated on   
   March 4. Why do supporters stick with the conspiracy theory when the   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)