HISTORY & PROGRAMMING NOTE:

On January 1st, 1863, Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, technically freeing enslaved people in Confederate states. Unsurprisingly, Southern plantation owners largely refused to honor it. Instead, it took another two years and six months for the Civil War to be won and for Union troops to enforce the order in Galveston Texas, where on June 19th, 1865, the last enslaved Black people in the United States were finally able to enjoy their independence under the law.

Climate Nexus will be closed tomorrow in recognition of the Juneteenth Holiday. Hot News will return on Monday the 21st.

[An earlier version of Hot News described the events above as taking place 100 years later than they occurred. We regret this obvious and embarrassing error.]

Temps Soar, Grids Strain In West: Mutually worsening heat and drought, both fueled by climate change, are stifling the American West, stoking wildfire fears and straining electrical grids — and the worst is far from over. “We could have two, three, four, five of these heat waves before the end of the summer,” Park Williams, a UCLA climate and fire scientist, told the AP. A record-breaking heatwave trapped by an area of high atmospheric pressure, known as a heat dome, is pushing temperatures as much as 30°F above normal and subjecting 40 million people to temperatures over 100°F. Doctors in Arizona and Nevada warned touching pavement could cause third degree burns. The extreme heat is also straining electrical grids. California grid operators called for voluntary demand reduction and, for the second time in four months, Texas grid operators are asking their customers to reduce their energy usage — including using less air conditioning and putting off cooking and washing their clothes — prompting jokes that Sen. Ted Cruz would soon be flying to Alaska. The intense heat and drought are fueling wildfires across the region and stoking fears that more will come as the season is just starting. And so is the warming. “We’re still a long way out from the peak of the wildfire season and the peak of the dry season,” Daniel Swain, a UCLA climate scientist, told the New York Times. “Things are likely to get worse before they get better.” Jonathan Overpeck, a climate scientist at the University of Michigan, agreed. “As bad as it might seem today," he told the Times, "this is about as good as it’s going to get if we don’t get global warming under control.” (Heatwave: New York Times $, AP, Washington Post $, Reuters, CNN, San Francisco Chronicle, Bloomberg $, Axios; Burns: AP; Grid crunch: The Guardian, Bloomberg $, Reuters; Ted Cruz memes: Buzzfeed; Fires in: North Dakota: AP; Montana: AP; Idaho: AP; Nevada: AP; Arizona: AP; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves; Drought; Wildfires)

Indigenous Groups In Brazil Worry Covid Will Exacerbate Wildfire Smoke Harms: Indigenous groups in Brazil are worried the health impacts of the inescapable smoke from the upcoming fire season will be even worse than normal as many struggle with the after-effects of COVID-19, Thomson Reuters reports. Climate change is making wildfires worse and a report from the Global Climate and Health Alliance finds exposure to wildfire smoke was linked to more emergency room visits. All of this compounds the vulnerability of indigenous communities in the Brazilian Amazon, which suffered COVID-19 death rates nearly 250% higher than the overall population. "Our community has 700 families, over 3,000 people. A lot (of those infected) ended up with respiratory problems. Their recovery was not 100%," Joilson Karapana, a leader at an urban indigenous settlement in the capital of Amazonas state, told Thomson Reuters. When the wildfire smoke comes, breathing will only get harder for them, he worried. "Only preserving the environment could stop that." (Thomson Reuters Foundation; Climate Signals background: Wildfires)

EU Considering Tighter Biomass Carbon Accounting: In response to evidence that it may be worse for the climate than burning coal and gas, the EU is considering tightening rules governing the classification of wood and wood pellets as "renewable energy." About 20% of EU energy comes from renewable sources, and biomass, including wood pellets, accounts for nearly two-thirds of renewable energy generated in the EU under current rules. Biomass has been considered climate neutral because trees will eventually grow back, but that accounting fails to address the complexity of the carbon cycle and reality of the timber industry. Wood pellet manufacturing in the American South to satisfy UK and EU demand based on that carbon accounting loophole, is primarily located in Black and poor communities. The highly-polluting industry, cultivating plantations (of trees), and harming Black bodies, primarily for European benefit, has drawn obvious parallels to the cotton trade and slavery. (Reuters, Energy Monitor, FT $)

FOSSIL FUELS: Engine 1’s Exxon insurgency suggests the bottom line is the key to a big oil revolution (Grist), half of China-backed overseas coal projects shelved (Bloomberg)

EXCHANGE TRADED FUNDS: FTSE Russell threatens to expel 208 ESG offenders from FTSE4Good (FT $), ETF providers have been leading buyers of new fossil fuel bonds, finds study (FT $)

OPINION: Miners shouldn’t fight to keep climate data buried (Bloomberg $)

JUNETEENTH: Congress makes Juneteenth a federal holiday, House passes bill after Senate (The Grio, Washington Post $, ABC, CNBC, CBS, Today Show, AP, NBC), here are the 14 House Republicans who voted against a bill making Juneteenth a federal holiday (CNN, The Hill, USA Today), Juneteenth 2021: Ebony’s guide to Juneteenth celebrations happening in Black America (Ebony)

CLIMATE GENTRIFICATION: Higher-elevation New Orleans neighborhoods have gentrified. The Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center is pushing back. (Yale Climate Connections)

IMPACTS' IMPACTS: 'The ocean is coming.' A chieftess sees her islands sink (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: ‘Petrolhead’ who beat Shell shows how law can fight climate change (Bloomberg $), Climate activists take Norway to human rights court over Arctic oil plans (The Guardian)

FEDERAL JUDGES: Biden’s climate agenda is colliding with Trump’s judiciary (HuffPost)

ACTIVISM: Audubon staff rally for union (E&E $), Sunrise Movement co-founder to depart group (E&E $)

PUBLIC OPINION: Study: extreme weather may not lead to increased support for climate action (Yale Climate Connections)

HOUSEHOLDER OUT: Ohio House passes historic resolution to expel indicted former leader Larry Householder (Toledo Blade, Cincinnati Enquirer, AP, Daily Beast, Axios, The Hill)

AGENCIES: FEMA criticized for sidelining front-line communities (E&E $), Vilsack briefs lawmakers on hiring, climate plans (E&E $)

EPA: Wanted: Environmental justice grant reviewers (E&E $)

DOE: 4 takeaways from Granholm's Senate appearance (E&E $), DOE picks top renewable, electricity, press officials (E&E $)

DOI: Haaland grilled on ANWR, leasing moratorium (E&E $, Politico Pro $), Interior faults major drilling company on worker safety (E&E $), Interior secretary recommends Biden restore national monuments Trump trashed (Grist)

DOT: TSA working on additional pipeline security regulations following Colonial Pipeline hack (The Hill, E&E $)

SENATE: Senate Democrats start playing their climate cards (Axios), US Senate's reconciliation process: it's not the way it sounds (Reuters explainer), Sen. Whitehouse calls on Democrats to battle conservative groups waging war on progressive policies (MSNBC)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden policies would help unwind destructive forces of Inequality, Climate Change, Yellen Says (Wall Street Journal)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Biden pressed to keep climate measures in infrastructure plan (Bloomberg $), green group heads insist infrastructure deal must include climate (Politico Pro $), Democratic patience runs out on bipartisan talks (The Hill), Bipartisan infrastructure pitch gains steam on Capitol Hill as Biden weighs in from Europe (Washington Post $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Senate confirms Radhika Fox to lead EPA water office (E&E $), top Interior, EPA picks poised for Senate votes (E&E $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: US pledges more money for poorer nations to cut emissions (Bloomberg $) 

CITIES AND STATES: After months of secret talks, sweeping energy bill unveiled in North Carolina (Energy News Network), US cities put trust in community hubs to counter climate, social shocks (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Arizona lawmakers advance $100M fire fund in special session (AP)

IMPACTS: Double whammy of heat, toxic algae bedevils [Iowa] water sector (E&E $), Earth is now trapping an ‘unprecedented’ amount of heat, NASA says (Washington Post $, E&E $), salad will survive climate change. But at what cost? (Grist), to understand how warming is driving harmful algal blooms, look to regional patterns, not global trends (InsideClimate News), climate crisis to hit Europe’s coffee and chocolate supplies (The Guardian)

HEAT: Heat deaths in the UK could triple to 7,000 per year without more climate action, report warns (CNN)

DROUGHT: How bad is the drought? These maps tell the story. (New York Times $), a mission to rescue 469 doomed trout at the Arroyo Seco fans Pasadena water war (LA Times $), California farmers told drought could cut off their water (AP), a problem Silicon Valley can’t solve: drought, quake risk (LA Times $)

WILDFIRES: The West has all the ingredients for another terrible wildfire season (Vox), how to help prepare your home for the threat of wildfires (New York Times $)

HURRICANES: Tropical Disturbance in Gulf of Mexico may become Tropical Storm Claudette by Friday (Yale Climate Connections), tropical storm likely to form in Gulf and bring flooding rain to Louisiana (Washington Post $)

EMISSIONS: “Back to normal” puts us back on the path to climate catastrophe (Vox)

RENEWABLES: Siemens Energy swarmed by nations after wind-turbine plants (Bloomberg $), Solar sector heats up despite shortage of raw materials (E&E $), Solarpack shares soar on $1 billion bid from EQT (Reuters)

STORAGE: Texas adding energy storage ahead of risky summer months: S&P analysis (Utility Dive)

EFFICIENCY: Efficiency upgrade rebates help damaged Minneapolis businesses reopen (Energy News Network)

METHANE: Study: pneumatic controllers, wellbore liquids unloading make Hilcorp the top methane emitter (New Mexico Political Report)

NUKES: Bezos-backed fusion startup picks UK to build first plant (Bloomberg $) 

COAL (COUNTRY): Florida utility company implodes its last coal plant in shift to clean energy (NBC, Politico Pro $, AP), seeking justice in reclamation: Dems tout mining rehab (E&E $)

UTILITIES: Advocates say zero carbon energy from southern utilities is possible by 2035 (WABE), how the Southeast can achieve 100% clean energy (PV Magazine), ConEd 'uniquely positioned' to lead clean energy transition, CEO says, laying out broad path (Utility Dive), Maine utility regulators can’t consider climate in their decisions. A bill headed to the governor can change that (Energy News Network)

GRID: As California steels for summer months, storage and demand response efforts could avert blackouts (Utility Dive), global power grids pushed to breaking point (Bloomberg $)

EVs: GM increasing spending on electric vehicles, opening two battery plants (The Hill, Axios), GM ups spending on EVs and autonomous vehicles by 30% to $35 billion by 2025 on higher profits (CNBC), unpacking the Lordstown Motors fiasco (Axios)

STEEL: Volvo to build steel cars without fossil fuels by 2026 (The Guardian, Bloomberg $, Reuters)

OPTIMISM: How the US made progress on climate change without ever passing a bill (The Atlantic)

SHIPPING: Pacific islands make lonely case for carbon price on shipping (Climate Home), global shipping summit all at sea over carbon emissions (FT $)

BOOKS: How Women Can Save the Planet by Anne Karpf review – clear and invigorating (The Guardian)

CHEERS: Heineken wants to link executive pay to green targets (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: A $213 billion investor targets whole nation over climate change (Bloomberg $), how climate change is impacting retiree portfolios (CNBC), green SPACs struggle after years of success (Wall Street Journal $)

WILDLIFE: What is the COP15 biodiversity summit, and why is it so important? (Thomson Reuters Foundation), climate change threat: Mount Rainier white-tailed ptarmigan (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: Fire-ravaged ship sinks, prompting Sri Lankan pollution fear (AP), Britain 'not prepared' for climate threats, from heat to food shortages (Thomson Reuters Foundation, BBC, AP), European Commission mulls 60 percent emissions cut for cars by 2030 and 100 percent by 2035 (Politico Pro $), poorer households in UK should get free heat pumps, say experts (The Guardian)

• There’s no Black liberation without climate reparations (Atmos, Tamara Toles O'Laughlin op-ed)
• What the South needs after COVID-19: a new Reconstruction (Washington Post, Randall Woodfin, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, Frank Scott Jr., Steven Reed, and Adrian Perkins $)
• To truly build back better, we need a Justice 100 solution (The Hill, Denise Fairchild op-ed)
• Climate risk disclosures must be transparent (The Hill, Phillip Duffy, Robert Litterman, and Joseph Majkut)
• The California and Texas greenouts (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)
• Don’t miss the significance of the Biden-Putin discussion of the Arctic (Washington Post, Philip Bump analysis $)

Even Fox’s “Real” “Legitimate” “Journalist” Brett Baier’s “News” Show Is Full Of Climate Denial

Fox News anchor Bret Baier recently got flack from his audience for daring to get the COVID-19 vaccination (and admit it publicly), and unlike most other Trumpophantic Fox personalities, his pro-Trump bias was only expressed “very slyly.” He’s one of Fox News Channel’s more respectable journalists, covering the hard news, and leaving the political commentary to others.  

But a new analysis of over a decade of Bret Baier’s Special Report shows its treatment of climate change is virtually indistinguishable from the opinion programming that’s too toxic for mainstream advertisers. Media Matters examined 972 segments of Baier’s show, and found misleading narratives in 851 of them — over 87%. The same professional disinformers who turn industry money into political propaganda in part by going on Fox’s opinion shows, like Marc Morano, were regularly booked for Baier’s supposedly straight news show. 

Media Matters found the correspondents and guests Baier has had on his show “undermined, doubted, misrepresented, or otherwise dismissed climate science and the urgency of climate action at least 1,333 times.” 

And it's not like this is some sort of new, Trumpian-audience-influenced development. In fact, denial was down during the Trump years, compared to when Obama and Biden were in the White House. During the first year of President Obama’s first term, Baier ran four times more “false or misleading narratives attacking climate science” than it did in Trump’s first year.

Now that President Biden has put climate action back onto the national agenda, Special Report has ramped up it’s denial as well, putting out three times more climate denial than it’s weekly 2020 rate. 

Allison Fischer, director of climate and energy at Media Matters explained to Jeff Dembicki for VICE News the report shows "Special Report is situated firmly within the broader climate denial machine, which is really good at ramping up and pushing misinformation at moments when climate action is most possible.” 

In defense of their straight news anchor being revealed as no different from their other partisan hacks, neither Fox nor Special Report responded to Dembicki with a comment on the record. But, Dembicki notes, “Fox News insists that anchors like Baier do legitimate journalism and the network shouldn’t be judged by its more well-known opinion hosts like Carlson and Ingraham.” 

Fox News has always pretended that there is a difference between it’s incendiary and partisan opinion programming like Tucker Carlson, who Fox admits in Court you shouldn’t take to be “stating actual facts,” and it’s news side, where honest reporters like Chris Wallace supposedly just read the news to viewers without bias or commentary. That’s always been a lie, but for some reason it’s one that even otherwise smart mainstream media critics seem to readily accept. 

For the past few years, advertisers have been dropping slots during Fox’s opinion shows like Tucker Carlson, leaving the news-side programming relatively unscathed. But as Rupert Murdoch’s propaganda channel continues its purge of any lingering non-Trump voices, it can likely expect even more pressure. 

And it’ll try to hide behind anchors like Baier, but as this report makes clear, Fox’s opinion and news distinction has always been one without meaning.

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