Climate Point: The Rockefellers walked away from oil and raked in cash

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 Rockefeller fortune was built on oil, as renowned robber baron John D. Rockefeller built a global empire through Standard Oil that was ultimately split into Chevron, Exxon and other major drilling companies. But his heirs took a different view on hydrocarbon-based fuels, and the philanthropic fund that bears his name and is run by his great-great-granddaughter largely divested from fossil fuels five years ago.

Instead of losing money on that decision, its earnings beat projections and the market, The Washington Post reports. As endowments, pensions and hedge funds look to divest from fossil fuels, this is likely to be held up as a case study for the movement.

Here's some other important reporting ... 

MUST-READ STORIES

Choosing when to regulate. In March, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would relax reporting and monitoring requirements for the more than 1.1 million facilities around the country that dump, spew and pump pollution into the air and water. The agency argued that necessary safety measures to protect workers from the coronavirus would make some monitoring too difficult. Democratic state attorneys general, include Xavier Becerra of California, didn't buy it and sued the EPA on Wednesday. The federal agency clapped back with a letter pointing out similar pandemic-produced regulatory discretion in California.

To drive or not to drive. The car is making a comeback, Bloomberg writes. Well, sort of. The coronavirus pandemic pushed white-collar jobs to work-from-home status and shuttered numerous other businesses, taking cars off the road and reducing miles driven. It's too early to speculate that fear of germs will make people ultimately choose cars over public transportation, but drivers are certainly heading back onto roads and burning gas once again.

Shaking up food service. The coronavirus has ravaged supply chains and thrown uncertainty into the world's food supply, even though farmers continue to churn out crops. In my latest for The Desert Sun, I take you through the Coachella Valley's agriculture sector. It's been hit hard by the virus, but there are also some creative solutions to continue getting fresh produce to markets. These new ideas aren't enough to make up for losses just yet, but they may represent a shakeup in how an industry that's set in its ways thinks.

POLITICAL CLIMATE

Black is the new green. A recent analysis by the Santa Fe New Mexican found that Chevron, one of the world's oil supermajors, accounted for more than half of all lobbying spending In New Mexico so far in 2020. Although increasingly blue, the Land of Enchantment has been largely funded by oil and gas for years. As it tries to break away from the industry, fossil fuel companies are working to maintain their presence in the statehouse. 

Back to the 1990s. Environmentalists are fighting a titanium mine that's proposed to be dug adjacent to the Okefenokee Swamp near the Georgia-Florida border. But the battle to protect the largest federally protected reserve east of the Mississippi River is one they thought had been won in the 1990s when they defeated a similar proposal. An Alabama-based company resurrected the idea, and E&E brings us the latest.

Water world. President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom are locked in a battle over the use of water in California's Central Valley, with large-scale agriculture, environmentalists and fisheries all trying to carve out their own interests. This week, a federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's plans for the extensive water system in question, but no side has won the fight just yet.

THE CORONAVIRUS CARRIES ON

Beef bottleneck. Texas' massive cattle industry is one of many reeling from the supply chain shake-ups brought by the coronavirus pandemic. With thousands of workers at meatpacking plants infected, processing speeds have fallen, leaving ranchers unable to sell their animals on time, and their profits are plummeting. The U.S. beef industry has been built on speed and efficiency, not adaptability, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports.

Don't tell oil it's subsidized. Environment publication the Narwhal reports that, in response to the pandemic, the Canadian government is giving handouts to the oil and gas industry. After the federal government announced it would spend $1.7 billion to clean up orphaned oil wells — putting many unemployed oilfield workers back on the job — and after the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers sent letters asking for relief, provincial regulators decided to temporarily halt industry fees that fund environmental cleanup.

Renewable workforce taking a beating. Meanwhile, the virus has also hammered renewable energy sectors. The Los Angeles Times writes that a new report found 105,000 clean energy jobs in California have evaporated in March and April alone, the highest total in the country. Around the nation, more than 500,000 such workers have been thrown into unemployed during the pandemic.

AND ANOTHER THING

Tacos and trails. Have you ever found yourself through-hiking in a wilderness area thinking how badly you need a chicken taco and a Modelo with lime? Well, Benjamin Spillman of the Reno Gazette-Journal has the odd-but-true story of a pop-up taco stand along the John Muir Trail, not far from the California-Nevada border. Check out his article on Señor Muir’s Taco Hut, which only exists for a few hours every year.

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, and Climate Point will be taking a week off due to my being furloughed. Instead of constantly refreshing your inbox next week in hopes that your favorite environment newsletter will show up, though, I suggest you spend your Friday with your local newspaper and a cup of coffee.

Don’t forget to follow along on Twitter at @MarkOlalde. You can also reach me at [email protected]. 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 In California newsletter here. Cheers.