FIRST LOOK

Major wildfires are burning across the West with the air quality impacts across the Lower 48. Check out this wildfires and smoke plumes map, and stay safe out there!

Senate Passes Infrastructure Bill, Budget Resolution, Progressives Take Stand For Climate Action: The Senate passed a $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill on Tuesday, and a $3.5 trillion budget resolution early this morning that, combined, could represent the last major opportunity for Democrats to enact President Joe Biden's promised action on climate change. The bipartisan infrastructure package contains just $550 million in new spending and primarily focuses on making American infrastructure more resilient to climate change. The non-binding budget resolution lays out priorities for Senate committees to set funding levels, which Democrats plan to enact using the budget reconciliation process to avoid lockstep GOP opposition. Both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the House Progressive Caucus have said they will not vote on the smaller bipartisan package until the Senate passes the finalized budget which, in addition to fighting climate change, will also include, among other Democratic priorities, early childhood education, tuition-free community college, and potentially a pathway to citizenship for millions of immigrants. (Bipartisan infrastructure bill: Washington Post $, New York Times $, CNN, E&E $, Politico, Washington Post $, New York Times $, The Hill, Bloomberg $; Budget resolution: AP, New York Times $, HuffPost, Politico Pro $; Progressive demands: New York Times $, NPR, Politico Pro $, USA Today, Forbes; Process and politics: Politico, E&E $)

Line 3 Drilling Lubricant Spills Greater Than Previously Known: Minnesota regulators said Monday more drilling lubricants have been spilled during the construction of the Enbridge Line 3 pipeline than what was previously reported. The revelation comes after a summer of Indigenous-led water protectors demanding a halt to construction of the tar sands oil pipeline across what is now northern Minnesota and warning spills from the pipeline would contaminate culturally- and environmentally-important waterways. Water protectors have endured mass arrests, rubber bullets, pepper spray, helicopter flybys, and surveillance by police paid by the Canadian pipeline company. “It’s a climate crime,” Winona Laduke, executive director of Honor the Earth, who lives on the White Earth Reservation in Minnesota, told the Guardian. “This is the largest tar sands pipeline in the world being built in the time of drought in Minnesota and catastrophic fires in Ontario and Manitoba.” (Drilling spills: AP, MPR, Star Tribune $; Protests: The Guardian, InsideClimate News)

Chevron Refineries Pump Black Smoke Into California Skies: A huge plume of black smoke belched into the sky from the Chevron refinery in Richmond, California on Tuesday, the second such incident at a Chevron refinery in the state in three days. The refinery blamed an "unplanned" release of "an unknown amount of SO2 [sulfur dioxide] … causing smoke to come out from the flares." Chevron insisted the cloud of black smoke posed no threat to public health. "This is Chevron's 13th flaring incident of the year. That is more than the number of flaring operations conducted by all other Bay Area refineries combined so far in 2021," KQED senior editor Ted Goldberg wrote on Twitter. The incident comes just days after flaring at another Chevron refinery in El Segundo, California, lit up the night sky and produced smoke plumes visible for miles. (Richmond: (ABC-7 KGO News, SFGate, NBC Bay Area, KTVU; El Segundo refinery: LA Times $)

IPCC REPORT: 'Hours on a footnote’: Scientists felt joy, frustration in making UN climate report (Reuters), cutting methane emissions could make a big dent in climate change, major UN report says (Canary Media), geoengineering marks scientific gains in UN report on dire climate future (Reuters), humans have pushed the climate into ‘unprecedented’ territory, landmark UN report finds (Washington Post $), UN report ignites fight for funds to build climate defences (Reuters), UN report places new emphasis on climate tipping points (Grist), we are running out of time to stop runaway climate change (The Real News), five key excerpts from the United Nations’ climate change report (Washington Post $)

UNEQUIVOCAL CAUSATION: IPCC's journey from "probable" to "unequivocal" on human-caused warming (Axios), Penn State's Mann: climate report connects the dots like nothing before (Bloomberg $), what it means when climate scientists say they're certain (Bloomberg $), charted: how we know humans cause global warming (Axios)

COP26: Climate scientists have done their bit. Now the pressure is on leaders for COP26. (CNN), COP26 president: IPCC report is 'wake-up call for the world' – video (The Guardian)

YOUR MORNING RAGE: A Vietnamese refugee served as one of California's inmate firefighters. Then the state gave him to ICE (San Francisco Chronicle)

DENIAL: The far-right view on climate politics (The Atlantic)

COMING HEATWAVE: Dangerous heat, humidity set to assail millions across US this week (Today Show), heat wave engulfs much of US, as wildfires rage in West (Axios), Texas power demand to hit 2021 highs this week during heat wave (Reuters), Heat index could soar to near 110 degrees Thursday in D.C. (Washington Post $)

• PNW: Pacific Northwest braces for another multiday heat wave (AP), Seattle braces for another heat wave, and Portland declares an emergency. (New York Times $)

DIXIE FIRE: The Dixie Fire is moving too fast for California’s emergency alert systems (Grist), more than 870 structures have been destroyed in California’s Dixie Fire, and thousands remain threatened (CNN, AP), the Dixie Fire is now the largest single wildfire in California history (Earther), extreme heat worsens Dixie Fire in Northern California (NBC, NBC)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: $26B opioid settlement may foreshadow Big Oil climate payout (E&E $)

EPA: EPA launches outreach on toxic gas exposure risks (E&E $), will the Supreme Court take on EPA's climate rule? (E&E $)

DOE: Biden officials push to hike lightbulb efficiency after Trump reversal (The Hill)

DOI: NPS doles out $17M for urban park projects (E&E $)

DOT: Feds hit Cheniere with $2M fine over LNG leak (E&E $)

HOUSE: Bill would mandate federal purchases of nuclear energy (E&E $)

SENATE: The power of 10: Inside the 'unlikely partnership' that sealed an infrastructure win (Politico Pro $), three GOP senators who backed bipartisan framework oppose resulting infrastructure bill (Politico Pro $), Wyden asks White House for details on jet fuel shortage amid wildfire season (The Hill)

WHITE HOUSE: Greens needle White House to deliver on climate finance (E&E $)

POLITICS: As Washington wrestles with climate legislation, scientists warn that time is running out (Washington Post $), UN climate report raises pressure on Biden to seize a rare moment (The Guardian), Biden finds a bipartisan victory, but Democratic unity may prove more elusive (New York Times $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden appoints former oil and gas executive to oversee energy security policy amid growing climate catastrophe (Business Insider)

CITIES AND STATES: State regulators poised to set Georgia Power’s toxic coal ash storage legacy (Energy News Network and Georgia Recorder), feds and states not taking radioactivity from fracking seriously, environmental group says (Ohio Capital Journal)

CALIFORNIA: California's Aliso Canyon review could offer key lessons on transition from natural gas, analysts say (Utility Dive), can California reduce dairy methane emissions equitably? (InsideClimate News)

FERC: FERC has more questions for Duke, Dominion on Southeast energy market proposal (Utility Dive), FERC requests more evidence of reliability impacts as Spire STL pipeline seeks temporary approval (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: Heat, drought and fire: how climate dangers combine for a catastrophic ‘perfect storm’ (The Guardian), bleak future feared for Asia's disaster-prone poor after UN climate report (Thomson Reuters Foundation), climate change report points to rise of flash flooding (Wall Street Journal $), global food supplies will suffer as temperatures rise – climate crisis report (The Guardian), irregular rains, prolonged dry seasons threaten Cameroon's cocoa economy (Reuters), In an age of worsening fires and floods, museums are reinventing themselves — and their mechanical rooms (Washington Post $)

HEAT: Spain, Portugal brace for wildfire threat as temps soar (AP)

DROUGHT: California water district pays millions over ‘unauthorized diversion’ from federal canals (Sacramento Bee $), Chile's record-breaking drought makes climate change 'very easy' to see (Reuters)

WILDFIRES: Wildfires in Algeria: dozens of civilians and soldiers reported dead (The Guardian, AP), exploding California wildfires rekindle debate over whether to snuff out blazes in wilderness areas or let them burn (InsideClimate News), southeastern Montana towns evacuated as wind pushes wildfire (AP)

GREEK WILDFIRES: ‘We fought a great battle’: Greece defends wildfire response (AP), firefighters battling wildfires to save homes on Greek island of Evia (The Guardian), Greek prime minister apologizes for wildfire response (The Hill), Greek villagers try to save homes as fire crews brace for winds whipping flames (Reuters), raging fires in Greece burn hundreds of thousands of acres (ABC)

SIBERIAN WILDFIRES: Siberia’s wildfires are bigger than all the world’s other blazes combined (Washington Post $, Washington Post $), volunteers rescue cats caught in Siberian wildfires (Reuters)

HURRICANES: Tropical storm Fred nears Dominican Republic (New York Times $, Washington Post $, AP)

FOSSILS: Climate report exposes fault lines within fossil fuel industry (Bloomberg $)

BATTERIES: Ambri's liquid metal battery digs up $144 million in storage investment gold rush (Canary Media, Reuters), billionaire-backed mining firm to seek electric vehicle metals in Greenland (Reuters)

ELECTRIFICATION: Kill your gas stove (The Atlantic)

OIL & GAS: How to sell ‘carbon neutral’ fossil fuel that doesn’t exist (Bloomberg $), Big Oil wants to keep drilling in the North Sea. The backlash is growing (CNN), 

PLASTICS: No, hermit crabs are not trying to bone plastic trash (Earther)

PIPELINES: Nearly 100 protesters block work on Mountain Valley Pipeline; some are arrested (The Roanoke Times)

COAL: EIA predicts CO2 spike this year as coal rebounds (Politico Pro $, Bloomberg $)

UTILITIES: PNM customers concerned Avangrid acquisition could lead to increased rates, outages (New Mexico Political Report)

GRID: The biggest US electrical grid braces for green energy (Bloomberg $)

EVs: 'An enormous lift': Biden's goal of 50% EV sales by 2030 will test supply chains, utilities, experts say (Utility Dive), BMW has fallen behind in the electric vehicle race. Can it catch up? (New York Times $), gas stations face tough, costly choice on EV chargers (Wall Street Journal $)

CAR CULTURE: Car-free "Open Streets" — a pandemic favorite — are drawing pushback (Axios), how to win the war on car idling (Bloomberg $)

AVIATION:  U.S. weighs 2050 target in bid to wean airlines off fossil fuels (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: Empowering Oregon’s Black farmers (Atmos), an inconvenient truth (about weed) (Politico)

BUSINESS: How much carbon comes from a liter of coke? Companies grapple with climate change math (Wall Street Journal $), meaningful ways individuals can put pressure on corporations to solve the climate crisis (CNN)

FINANCE: UN climate report increases urgency for green investment funds (Reuters), ESG investors question their own methods after grim climate report (Bloomberg $)

INTERNATIONAL: ‘No place to hide’: pressure on Australia to end support for new fossil fuel projects after IPCC report (The Guardian), Australia’s Parliament House graffitied after release of IPCC climate change report (CNN), Canada's Heliene opening its second US solar panel factory (Reuters), how China plans to become carbon-neutral by 2060 (Bloomberg $)

• If Dante had filmed the Inferno on his iPhone, it would look like this (The Guardian, Francine Prose op-ed)
• Let’s say it without flinching: the fossil fuel industry is destroying our future (The Guardian, Simon Lewis op-ed)
• Time to demolish old ideas about infrastructure (Reuters, Gina Chon op-ed)
• Adaptation and Migration: The human face of climate change (The Hill, Ama Francis and Kate Desormeau)
• To fight the climate crisis, support smart farming (The Hill, Amalie Lipstreu and Lori Stern)
• When jet and gulf streams run amok, we’re in for it (Bloomberg, Andreas Kluth op-ed $)
• With climate imperiled, the Salton Sea needs us (Press-Enterprise, Conchita Pozar op-ed)
• Three reasons why Democrats and Republicans should love Biden’s clean electricity standard (Forbes, Daniel Esposito op-ed)
• The rainy day strategy to fight global climate change (CNN, Don Lincoln op-ed)
• Same climate report, different day (Wall Street Journal, Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. op-ed $)
• Are progressives paying attention? (Washington Post, Jennifer Rubin column $)
• Stop blaming yourself for the climate crisis (CNN, John Sutter op-ed)
• IPCC’s stark warnings are no reason for resignationJoin Our Newsletter (Energy Monitor, Justin Gerdes op-ed)
• Special interests are last barrier to fixing climate change (Bloomberg, Noah Smith column $)
• Refrigerator pact shows climate partisanship can thaw (Bloomberg, Peter Orszag column $)
• Tech can’t fix it (New York Times, Shira Ovide commentary $)
• Climate change brings a flood of hyperbole (Wall Street Journal, Steve Koonin op-ed $)
• Amid devastating climate report and heat waves coming our way, we need courage (Philadelphia Inquirer, Gaurab Basu op-ed)

Deniers Tap Pielke Jr. To Equivocate On IPCC’s Unequivocal Warning of Warming, But Then Start To Wonder What’s So Bad About Warming, Anyway?

To the extent that climate deniers have gotten organized in responding to this week’s UN IPCC report — unequivocal in stating that climate change is here, now, real bad and our fault — they’ve coalesced around Roger Pielke Jr.’s RCP 8.5 conspiracy theories.  It's mostly just Pielke saying modeling of high-end emission scenarios that show what will happen if we burn all the fossil fuels available is no longer the “business-as-usual” trajectory ... because renewables are increasingly replacing coal and gas. But by talking about that as if it's a secret conspiracy, he turns nuanced equivocating into culture-war fodder for his far-right audience. 

Marc Morano mentioned it obliquely in one of his Fox News hits, CEI’s reaction relied on Peilke’s approach, and he himself tweeted a link to a Koch-funded Reason dot com post picking up Pielke’s premise that  — since the worst possible scenarios where we burn all the fossil fuels are unlikely — there’s no reason to worry about our current trajectory (in which we burn merely most of the fossil fuels, and terrible things still happen, but rich people can buy their way out of it, so the hit to GDP won’t be globally debilitating). 

This approach, however, relies on audiences understanding discussions of various projections based on fossil fuel emission concentration scenarios being described as “business-as-usual” and not “fossil fuel dependence.” And that is probably ... a bit too complicated for their base. So, professional deniers are scrambling to find other ways to downplay the report. 

For example, a post on Watts Up With That gives up on the pretense that we’re not warming, and instead embraces the apocalypse, at least for Australia. Eric Worrall responds to RenewEconomy coverage of the IPCC report, which points out that temperatures in his native Australia have already risen 1.4°C, by wondering what’s the big deal about 1.5°? “My question,” Worral writes, is “when should we expect to see something unusually bad happen?”

He then goes on a short tangent about how Stephen King once advised that suspense is more terrifying than horror itself, that “what’s behind the door or lurking at the top of the stairs is never as frightening as the door or the staircase itself.” 

Worrall compares this to warming, asking “when nothing much happens” after hitting that 1.5°C warming mark, and business as usual resumes, “when life goes on as normal, what then?” 

But these past years at 1.4°C of warming have not been normal for Australia. 

In the 2019-2020 brushfire season, no doubt amplified by record heat of 118°F that is becoming more frequent as the world warms, 34 people’s lives stopped altogether when they were killed by the fires, while 44 million acres of land were burned and one estimate pegged the wildlife loss at a billion animals. “Apocalyptic scenes in Australia as fires turn skies blood red,” read a New York Times headline, followed by “thousands of people fled from their homes as wildfires raged on the last day of the warmest decade on record in Australia.” 

As the wildfire season ended, Australia’s woes didn’t. The droughts that precipitated the fires (pun intended) dried out the ground so much that when a series of strong storms brought heavy rain, it caused massive flooding. 

Maybe we’re biased, but scenes from an apocalypse of drought then fire then floods are generally the sort of thing most people would describe as “unusually bad,” right?  

But, in a way, Worrall is right about life going on as normal, because look how quickly people like him can forget all that. And it’s not just him. The Australian government is still gung-ho on fossil fuels, to the point where protestors spray painted “duty of care” on the country’s Parliament House. CNN’s coverage by Ben Westcott and Angus Watson ends with a quote from the government promising that “action will be taken against those who have committed” the grave offense of spray painting a message, “reiterating that his government,” Wescott and Watson wrote, “had ‘a plan’ to reduce Australia’s climate change emissions but refused to commit to a ‘net zero’ target by 2050.” 

Sigh. Business as usual.

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