FIRST AND FOREMOST:

Portland Police stood by and watched Saturday as far-right paramilitary and anti-democratic groups, including the Proud Boys, wearing tactical gear and carrying assault rifles terrorized the city's streets. Police forces have consistently declared unlawful assemblies and riots at Black Lives Matter protests in recent weeks, but declined to do so on Saturday until after far-right extremists had left and the crowd was largely peaceful. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, Oregon Public Broadcasting)

If you are able, we encourage you to support the Western States Center, PDX Action Medics, Don't Shoot Portland, the Portland Bail Fund, and Snack Bloc Portland.

While protests against police brutality continue across the country, over the weekend police shot two Black men. Trayford Pellerin, 31, was shot and killed by Lafayette Police in Louisiana on Friday evening, prompting marches and clashes between protesters and police. Jacob Blake, 29, is in critical condition after being shot in the back multiple times by Kenosha Police in front of his children yesterday afternoon in Wisconsin. Both families are being represented by attorney Benjamin Crump. 

Unhoused Californians Are Breathing Ash: Californians experiencing homelessness are being forced to choose between breathing unhealthy air, and potentially exposing themselves to COVID-19, HuffPost reports. As more than 500 fires engulf California, including the second- and third-largest fires in the state's history, unhoused people have nowhere safe to go. Outside, prolonged exposure to smoke increases the risk for respiratory problems, while shelters increase the risk of exposure to COVID-19. People experiencing homelessness also face acute danger from the fires themselves. "Remember there are people who are unsheltered, many of them sheltering in places most susceptible to these wildfires,” Colleen Berumen, who runs a small shelter in Vacaville, which was forced to evacuate because of the fires, told HuffPost. “I had people pounding on my front door. Who’s pounding on their front door under the bridge?" (HuffPost)

Children Exposed To Smoke In Utero Experienced Respiratory Problems: Researchers studying the impacts of a major coal mine fire in Australia found children who were in utero at the time were more likely to suffer respiratory infections in early childhood. The findings of study surprised scientists because “inhalation is presumed to be the primary route of exposure to air pollutants.” In 2014, a fire at an open-cut coal mine engulfed the town of Morwell in smoke for two months, and a separate study of children under two years old at the time of the fire also found reduced lung function when examined three years later. The new findings carry warnings for pregnant mothers, the Australian authors warned, as climate change drives increasing risk for bushfires, which will expose more people to smoke. “The study is important because it tells us we can’t ignore what happened to these children and their families. Also it tells us this is an Australia-wide problem because that short and sharp impact happened to people all over Australia with the most recent fires,” Dr. Jo McCubbin, told The Guardian. (The Guardian)

Gas Pipeline Explosion Kills At Least Two In Corpus Christi: Two Coast Guardsmen were killed and another two remain missing following a gas pipeline explosion in the port of Corpus Christi, Texas on Friday. The U.S. Coast Guard suspended its search for the two missing crew members Saturday night. At approximately 8:00 a.m. Friday, a dredging vessel triggered the explosion when it struck a submerged gas pipeline. Six additional crew members were hospitalized, including five airlifted to a San Antonio hospital for severe burns. The explosion caused numerous fires on the ship, which was carrying about 6,000 gallons of diesel fuel, before it broke apart and sank approximately 14 hours later. Texas environmental regulators said air quality tests showed no air pollution, and testing of the waterway is planned. (AP, Wall Street Journal $, New York Times $; Hospitalizations and add'l info: AP, CNN, Reuters)

BANKRUPTCIES: U.S. oil and gas industry sheds 118,000 jobs during pandemic (Houston Chronicle $), Arena Energy files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, latest offshore casualty of coronavirus (Houston Chronicle $

FED: The Fed isn’t lending out much of this money (Bloomberg $) 

OPINION: Boeing's Fed backstop leaves workers in lurch (Bloomberg, Brooke Sutherland op-ed $), what the 2009 financial crisis can teach us about going green (OilPrice, Haley Zaremba analysis), carbon capture offers hope and confidence (Casper Star Tribune, Terry Manning op-ed), more oil and gas bankruptcies coming (AP, Buddy Clark Q&A)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Alleging ‘environmental racism,’ residents protest plan to remove scores of mature trees in Roxbury (Boston Globe $), Black Hills treaty defender appears in court (Indian Country Today), Black-owned bookstores want action after influx in business (AP), report: lack of diversity in conservation police agencies (AP)

CORONAVIRUS: Researchers show that COVID-19 racial disparities aren’t inevitable (LA Times $), climate change, wildfires and COVID-19 are creating a hellish combo for California prisons (HuffPost), [COVID-19] infection rates at least 3.5 times higher for Native Americans; young especially at risk (Indian Country Today)

CALIFORNIA FIRES:Climate change is driving wildfires, giving ‘rocket fuel’ to tropical storms (PBS NewsHour), what makes California’s current major wildfires so unusual (Vox), why does California have so many wildfires? (New York Times $), massive California wildfires expected to get worse as lightning, wind storms move in (LA Times $, New York Times $), the fight to save one Northern California town from a fiery monster (LA Times $), Trump declares major disaster as [California] braces for worsening conditions (The Guardian), lightning-sparked wildfire in Sequoia National Forest grows as thunderstorms loom (Sacramento Bee), California's oldest state park has been extensively damaged by wildfires (CNN), in California’s wine country, a familiar threat of smoke and flame (New York Times $)

HEAT: California battalion chief on the challenge of fighting wildfires during a heat wave (NPR)

LIGHTNING: ‘Fires of hell’: How dry lightning has sparked some of California’s biggest infernos (LA Times $, CBS), as California wildfires rage, new round of lightning-ignited blazes are forecast into Monday (Washington Post $)

DEPLETED RESOURCES: Coronavirus limits California’s efforts to fight fires with prison labor (New York Times $), California governor asks Australia and Canada for help fighting devastating wildfires (CBS, BBC, Al Jazeera), as 560 California wildfires burn, spreading firefighters thin, residents warned to stop helping (Desert Sun), California seeks help as wildfires threaten communities (Reuters), Northern California ‘drastically short’ of firefighters while an onslaught of blazes rages (San Francisco Chronicle)

COVID: California wildfires send evacuees scrambling toward another threat: COVID-19 (Washington Post $), evacuees brave heat, pandemic to flee California's lightning-caused firestorms (Reuters), pandemic adds risk to already dangerous job of firefighting (AP), wildfires rage in California as fire crews and evacuees grapple with COVID-19 risks (NPR)

FARMWORKERS: ‘An impossible choice’: farmworkers pick a paycheck over health despite smoke-filled air (The Guardian), with smoke overhead, farmworkers hit by COVID-19 work through compounding crises (Capital Public Radio), as smoke fills air, California farmworkers labor to put food on the table (San Francisco Chronicle), Monterey County equips farmworkers with N95 face masks to work through wildfires (KSBW)

BLACKOUTS: Why California keeps having Blackouts (Wall Street Journal $), bad policy, not renewables, to blame for California Blackouts (Clean Technica), California regulators plan post-mortem to examine cause of rolling blackouts (Utility Dive), what really caused California’s blackouts (Greentech Media), California is rushing to add solar power. Did recent blackouts just shade our green future? (Sacramento Bee), California shut off power grids this week, but not because of clean energy (Popular Science), clean energy is not to blame for California blackouts, state agencies tell governor (Reuters), the day California went dark was a crisis years in the making (Bloomberg $)

PHOTOS AND VIDEO: California looks like a nightmare from space right now (Mashable), firefighters trapped by flames of Northern California wildfire rescued by helicopter (Sacramento Bee)

AGENCIES: DOE approves proposed Alaska export terminal (E&E $), [Backcountry Hunters and Anglers] presses GOP senators to oust Pendley (E&E $), Mont. governor asks judge to remove Pendley from BLM (E&E $), giant Florida methane plume probed by EPA as possible violation (Bloomberg $, E&E $), [Science Advisory Board] flag[s] concerns with EPA plan to gauge rules' benefits (E&E $)

PEBBLE MINE: Trump set to block controversial Alaska gold mine (Politico, Axios)

THE HILL: Schumer on nixing the filibuster: 'Nothing is off the table' (The Hill), Sen. Manchin: I do not support getting rid of the filibuster and Chuck Schumer knows that (Fox News), Senate lawmakers endorse [bipartisan] energy storage strategy (E&E $)

POLITICS: In Mass., two Democrats chase generational change from opposite corners of the movement (Washington Post $), Trump attacks Biden by blaming Democrats for California blackouts (Washington Post $), Trump wields California power woes to attack Biden (Politico Pro $)

DNC: Convention fails to close rifts in Democratic climate plans (Wall Street Journal $), Biden on energy: Climate change is an 'enormous opportunity' (E&E $), Biden emphasizes climate change during his biggest moment (Axios, E&E $, The Hill), Newsom addresses DNC from site of California wildfires: "Climate change is real" (Axios, The Hill)

CITIES AND STATES: Maryland approves world's largest [wind] turbines after NIMBY protests (E&E $), environmental groups challenge Ohio gas storage permits (AP), New Mexico Gov. Lujan Grisham on Biden's green jobs and fracking plans (Axios), New Jersey considers test to determine cost effectiveness, benefits of energy efficiency programs (Politico Pro $)

CLIMATE CHANGE IS HERE: Heat is turbocharging fires, drought and tropical storms this summer (Washington Post $, Axios), 2020 is proving another disastrous year for our earth’s climate (HuffPost), ‘a bit surreal’: the lonely plight of the Great Barrier Reef (New York Times $), China’s Three Gorges dam hits highest level amid torrential rain (FT $), climate change likely to hit hard on the North Shore, new report finds (Boston Globe $, WWLP, AP, NBC Boston), Earth has lost 28 trillion tonnes of ice in less than 30 years (The Guardian), record ice loss in Greenland is a threat to coastal cities worldwide (Bloomberg $, CBS), Record-breaking heat continues grip on Nevada statewide (AP)

WILDFIRES: New Columbia River Gorge fire starts [in Oregon], prompting evacuations (AP)

HURRICANES: Recipe for busy hurricane season: Warmer water, cleaner air (E&E $), rain, surge and wind: how to understand your hurricane risk (NPR), Bavi becomes a typhoon as Korean Peninsula, China prepare for impacts (AccuWeather)

LAURA & MARCO: Laura's death toll mounting in Caribbean as storm sets course toward US (AccuWeather), hurricane warnings issued as Gulf Coast prepares for back-to-back strikes from Marco and Laura (Washington Post $, AP, Reuters, The Hill, Bloomberg $, Reuters, CNBC), Death and destruction in Haiti, Dominican Republic as Tropical Storm Laura batters Caribbean (Miami Herald, Washington Post $), Marco downgraded to a tropical storm as 'unprecedented' back-to-back threats target Louisiana (CNN)

RENEWABLES: Coalition supporting [New England] offshore wind development set to launch (AP), solar panels are starting to die, leaving behind toxic trash (Wired), New York's Hudson Valley: future offshore wind hub? (Greentech Media), solar windows could turn skyscrapers into power plants (E&E $), Swarthmore, Bryn Mawr named as top colleges for renewable energy use in U.S. (Philadelphia Inquirer)

BATTERIES: World's biggest battery connects to Calif. grid in crisis (E&E $)

OIL & GAS: DOE approves LNG export license for dormant Alaska project (Politico Pro $), natural gas prices are on fire, but producers are holding back (Wall Street Journal $), where U.S. fossil fuel companies are shedding jobs (Axios)

PIPELINES: Pennsylvania issues a new round of penalties against Sunoco Pipeline for Mariner East mishaps (Philadelphia Inquirer)

COAL: Coal plant closures spark unusual Wyo. probe (E&E $), in Appalachia, he’s helping former miners dig into new opportunities (Grist), Murray Energy bankruptcy exit plan prompts environmental, valuation pushback (Reuters)

PLASTICS: NY’s plastic bag ban survives lawsuit, but not unscathed (AP)

GRID: How a plan to save the power system disappeared (The Atlantic)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Judge allows ex-Ohio House speaker more time to find lawyer (AP)

WATER: Interstate Stream Commission: Intrepid water rights could make or break Pecos River settlement agreement (New Mexico Political Report), U.N. water rights expert questions Chile's avocado and energy priorities (Reuters)

ACTIVISM: Climate activists claim three seats on Harvard alumni board (Reuters)

BUSINESS: Climate-friendly companies can still be polluters by association (Bloomberg $), preserving trees becomes big business, driven by emissions rules (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON PRICING: Carbon trading: the ‘one-way’ bet for hedge funds (FT $)

CARS: GM's new charging network is less than it seems (E&E $)

EMISSIONS: U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions drop to record in April: EIA (Reuters)

FINANCE: Solar, wind, and batteries are all grown up (Bloomberg $), finance pros knock Labor Department plan to limit sustainable investing (Axios), public comments 95% opposed to Trump admin ESG curbs — report (E&E $), a $91 billion asset manager dumps Exxon, Chevron on climate (Bloomberg $)

SHIPPING: What’s the green fuel of the future for shipping? (Bloomberg $)

INTERNATIONAL: Botswana, Namibia set to sign 5-gigawatt solar energy plan (Bloomberg $), climate fund for poor nations [GCF] vows to drive green COVID recovery (Reuters, E&E $), leading climate action investor group turns focus to Mexico's Pemex (Reuters), Over 3.5 billion lack reasonably reliable access to electricity (Axios), UN chief warns against ‘postponement of climate action’ (Politico EU), Mexico tacks on request to Sempra unit's LNG export permit, say sources (Reuters)

2020 IN ONE PHOTO: ‘A sign of the times’: How I got that shot (AP)

• How can we plan for the future in California? (The Atlantic, Leah C. Stokes op-ed)
• The climate crisis has already arrived. Just look to California’s abnormal wildfires (The Guardian, Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano op-ed)
• What will it take for FEMA to take climate change seriously? (The Hill, Alice Hill op-ed)
• Floods, COVID, chaos. China data show it all (Bloomberg, Anjani Trivedi op-ed $)
• California’s Democrats move warily through a season of darkness and fire (Washington Post, Dan Morain op-ed $)
• California’s crises show politicization of climate change and energy (Axios, Amy Harder analysis)
• Another giveaway to polluters from the Trump EPA (Bloomberg, Editorial $)
• California has the cure for the plastic plague. Let’s use it. (LA Times, Editorial $)
• How to reverse course on Trump’s environmental damage (New York Times, Editorial $)
• Melting ice is a reminder of the climate emergency (FT, Editorial $)
• Appeals Court's support for FERC rule ramps up the need for flexible energy programs (The Hill, Jay Zoellner op-ed)
• This small but devastating spill is a big problem for oil (Bloomberg, Julian Lee column $)
• Stop adding (fossil) fuels to the fire (Salt Lake Tribune, Jamie Henn)
• A Biden-Harris presidency would largely end oil and gas production (The Hill, Jason Hayes op-ed)

Kochtopus Grows Another Arm: Center For State Policy Analysis, New Think Tank At Tufts

In March of 2019, Alex de Waal, executive director of the World Peace Foundation at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, wrote a scathing criticism of Charles Koch’s “role in parasitizing America’s free market economy and poisoning its democracy and rule of law” on the foundation’s blog. 

At the time, Koch was “distancing himself from his increasingly toxic public image,” but de Waal wasn’t buying it. “The ‘Kochtopus,’” he wrote, “includes think tanks, supporting charlatans intent on inverting the enlightenment maxim that evidence should guide policy” and who “have been hyperactive in discrediting scientific expertise.” 

Well, it turns out that de Waal wouldn’t have to go far to find an example. In fact, just a few months prior, the Tufts student newspaper had done a four-part series on how the Charles Koch Foundation pledged $3 million to the school’s Center for Strategic Studies. Why would the Kochs care about security and defense? Perhaps because in 2013 the Koch brothers bought a defense technology company!

But Koch influence at Tufts doesn't end there. New reporting by Dana Drugmand at Desmog shows that Koch influence is taking a slightly more circuitous route to Tufts, first passing through Emergent Ventures, a grant program of the Koch’s Mercatus Center at George Mason University, before landing at Tufts’ new Center for State Policy Analysis.  

Though posing as an independent think tank providing budget analyses and the like, the fact that the new center is funded by fossil fuel money means we’re skeptical of their analysis of the Transportation and Climate Initiative to reduce emissions from vehicles, as it would ultimately mean less business for Charles Koch.  

(For those wondering, no, it’s not just a Koch-shop for climate propaganda. One of its other founding funders is the biggest private health insurance company in the state, and one of its first projects is to look at a state ballot question on rising prescription drug costs.) 

Given that its initial projects appear to hew pretty closely to its funders interests, we’ll be interested to see if the materials this group produces support Charles Koch’s material interests. 

But for now, we’ll leave you with the reaction of one displeased alum we spoke to: “WTF, Tufts?”

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