** Two top Republican lawmakers are probing Sher Edling, a California-based law firm, over its dark money-fueled climate litigation against oil companies, Fox News Digital has learned. In a letter sent to Sher Edling partners Vic Sher and Matt Edling on Monday morning, Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., expressed concern about their firm’s activities in targeting major energy companies nationwide.
** The state of California is looking seriously at instituting or allowing local governments to institute zero-emission zones in the near future. In preparation for such a move, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) reportedly is gathering information about classic cars and how their owners use them.
** President Biden is making the case that fighting climate change can create jobs, countering a key Republican narrative surrounding the autoworker strike. The president’s GOP opponents have sought to paint climate action as a job-killer, seizing on concerns over worker pay in the transition to electric vehicles in light of the ongoing United Auto Workers (UAW) strike.
** The Biden administration announced Monday that it has awarded more than $1.4 billion to projects that improve railway safety and boost capacity, with much of the money coming from the 2021 infrastructure law.
World
** A protest march by the group Just Stop Oil brought traffic to a standstill in the centre of Bristol on Saturday afternoon. An estimated 50 people took part in the march. The group said it was protesting against the government’s decision to issue new oil and gas licences.
** With two months left until the U.N.’s COP28 summit, countries are far from bridging the gap between those demanding a deal to phase out planet-warming fossil fuels and nations insisting on preserving a role for coal, oil and natural gas.
** The U.N. human rights office has expressed concern about the arrest of a Vietnamese green energy expert, who had collaborated with U.N. and U.S. agencies, just days after President Joe Biden signed business and human rights deals with Hanoi on a visit.
** President was preparing to unveil Monday how France plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and meet the country’s climate-related commitments within the next seven years.
** The world’s richest oil states should pay a global windfall tax to help poorer nations combat climate change, ex-PM Gordon Brown has said. He said countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar and Norway benefited from a “lottery style bonanza” last year, as the price of oil soared.
** The heads of Russian energy giants Gazprom and Rosneft, Alexei Miller and , will join ‘s retinue during his visit to China next month, sources familiar with the plans told Reuters.