FIRST LOOK:

A new report from the CIEL, CBD, and Earthworks, investigates and analyzes Formosa Plastics Group’s long history of environmental and human rights harms, along with the myriad risks posed by the petrochemicals and plastics industry.

 Climate's Back In NEPA: Proponents of major projects like pipelines, highways, and dams will once again be required to account for climate change in the permitting process, the Biden administration announced Wednesday. The move to restore climate protections to NEPA reverses actions by the previous administration to weaken environmental protections. Under the administration's proposed changes to the National Environmental Protection Act, the country's bedrock environmental law, federal agencies will consider the direct, indirect, and cumulative climate impacts of permitting decisions, which the administration says will reduce confusion caused, and litigation induced, by the previous administration's rule. Environmental advocates generally praised the move, while some argue it does not go far enough. "The Biden administration must move urgently and go much further to begin breaking down systemic environmental injustice and addressing climate chaos and the extinction crisis," Randi Spivak, of the Center for Biological Diversity, told E&E News. "Otherwise the catastrophic oil spills, wildfires and mass extinctions that appall us today will become frighteningly commonplace.” (E&E News, AP, New York Times $, Washington Post $, CNN, Bloomberg Law, Argus Media, Politico Pro $, Roll Call, Reuters, HuffPost, The Hill)

Mississippi River Mayors, Duck Hunters Unite To Prevent Flooding: Cities and towns along the Mississippi River and Ducks Unlimited, a major hunting and conservation group, are teaming up to reduce flood dangers, made worse and more frequent by climate change, by restoring wetlands, the Wall Street Journal reports. By creating wetland along the river and its tributaries, the partnership between hunters and about 100 mayors from the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative are moving toward a longer-term, and less parochial view of flood protection. “In the past, what everybody tried to do was build a Great Wall of China around whatever they owned," Phil Stang, mayor of Kimmswick, Missouri told the Journal. "That may work slightly for them in the short term, but for other people, it doesn’t work at all,” because it just sends more water downstream. The impetus for the project was catalyzed by the devastating floods across the Midwest in 2019, coupled with research showing the impact of wetlands restoration. More than 1 million acres flooded across the Midwest in 2019, causing $6.2 billion in damages, but just 60,000 acres of wetlands near Davenport, Iowa, St. Louis and Cairo, Ill. at about $150 million could cut the chances of a once-in-a-century flood overtopping levees in those cities by a full 10%. “It’s part of our new normal under the climate-change conditions we’re facing,” Larry Weber, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Iowa and co-founder of the Iowa Flood Center, told the Journal. (Wall Street Journal $; Climate Signals background: Flooding, Extreme precipitation increase)

Greek Island Hurries To Stave Off Compound Climate Disaster: Just over a month after raging wildfires turned the sky red over the Greek island of Evia, crews are scrambling to bolster flood barriers, Reuters reports. Normally, vegetation would absorb the autumn rains, but what is left of that vegetation is now mostly a thick layer of ash on the forest floor. About 300,000 acres burned across Greece this summer during the country's worst heatwave in three decades. Heatwaves, the extreme wildfire conditions they induce, and extreme precipitation are all worsened by climate change caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels. "This is dangerous. If rains start now and go on for 15 or 20 days then all the rivers will overflow," said worker Giorgos Diakomopoulos. "We have to make [flood protections ready] in time for the winter. We did not have to mourn any victims during the wildfires, and it is very important that we don't have that problem with the floods," Limni mayor George Tsapourniotis told Reuters. (Reuters; Climate Signals background: Wildfires, Extreme precipitation increase, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Black families passed their homes from one generation to the next. Now they may be lost (The Guardian), [Benton Harbor] Michigan urged to use bottled water due to lead risk (AP), voices from global south muted by climate science (BBC)

COP26: What is COP26 and why is it important? (Earther), US demands something for nothing at Glasgow (American Prospect), what the initial UN Climate Summit attendance list reveals (Axios), energy crisis adds to the COP26 headwinds (Axios), EU to back five-year targets at COP26 climate talks (Reuters), can carbon's price finally match its value at COP26? (Reuters), EU countries agree on COP26 mandate (Politico Pro $), COP26: climate summit or superspreader event? (Atmos)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: These are the countries historically responsible for the climate emergency (CNBC), Turkey ratifies Paris climate agreement; last G20 country to do so (Reuters, AP, Climate Home, The Hill), Australia must increase 2030 emissions target to help avoid ‘catastrophic’ heating, Samoan PM says (The Guardian), UK’s 2035 zero-carbon electricity goal is a diplomatic trendsetter, analysts say (Climate Home)

POLLUTION IN YOUR KITCHEN: We need to talk about your gas stove, your health and climate change (NPR)

MINISTERING TO MINISTERS: Mennonite leader helps other pastors speak up on climate change (Yale Climate Connections)

EUROPEAN GAS: EU calls for relief funds to help energy price hit consumers (AP, Reuters), Timmermans: Markets, not EU carbon price, driving high energy prices (Politico Pro $), British wholesale gas exceeds 3 pounds/therm for first time (Reuters), EU countries look to Brussels for help with ‘unprecedented’ energy crisis (Politico EU, Bloomberg $), EU sounds alarm as spiking energy prices threaten recovery (Bloomberg $), natural gas price surge puts new focus on LNG (Axios, Axios), turbulent gas prices show need for clean energy, Blinken says (Bloomberg $), record gas prices slow LNG investment in Asia; N.America scrambles on exports (Reuters), could a 'strategic reserve' ease Europe's gas crisis? (Reuters explainer)

THE KIDS ARE NOT ALRIGHT: Young adults worldwide have blunt message for governments: ‘We don’t trust you.’ (Yale Climate Connections)

MISINFORMATION AND GREENWASHING: States, tribes, and NGOs hold polluters accountable in a ‘tidal wave’ of greenwashing lawsuits (Grist), the danger of letting Facebook off the hook like Big Oil (Earther)

SOCAL OIL SPILL: Fossil fuels are astonishingly harmful. The Orange County oil spill is just a reminder (LA Times $), federal documents reveal timeline of California oil spill (NBC, E&E $), Coast Guard calls California oil spill ‘major marine casualty’ (ABC), America's offshore oil infrastructure is aging. 'We don't know there's a problem until there's a problem.' (CNN), could California spill spur soaring bird casualties? (E&E News), Why do we still have offshore oil wells? How do they work? (LA Times $)

METHANE: The cheap and easy climate fix that can cool the planet fast (Bloomberg $)

AGENCIES: DOJ investigating Trump’s car emissions probe (E&E News, Politico Pro $)

EPA: Aerial and satellite imagery can find methane leaks. Will EPA bake the tech into new rules? (Canary Media), EPA might finally regulate the plastic industry’s favorite kind of ‘recycling’ (Grist), EPA: [industrial] greenhouse gas emissions dropped 9% in 2020 (E&E $), source: Durbin ally to get nod for EPA Chicago job (Politico Pro $)

THE HILL: GOP lawmakers roll out alternative to Biden conservation plan (E&E $), the always-looming debt ceiling apocalypse is a ‘totally manufactured crisis’ (The Real News)

HOUSE: House committee pledges response to Calif. oil spill (E&E News), House Republican suggests SEC needs more climate expertise (E&E $)

SENATE: Senate nears agreement to stave off debt crisis until December (New York Times $), Senators oppose 'zealous' mine reforms, reconciliation plan (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden eyes a trim and slash approach for cutting down his reconciliation bill (Politico), Biden: pass climate plan to prevent Chinese dominance on EVs (E&E $), US risks losing its 'edge' without big infrastructure spending, Biden says (Reuters), White House labor task force meets Thursday to discuss key report that boosts unions (Reuters)

INFRASTRUCTURE BILL(S): Dems fear chopping block for EJ, lead pipes, climate corps (E&E News), Final reconciliation bill likely to include energy efficiency funding, but some cuts possible: Rep. Welch (Utility Dive)

POLITICS: US Chamber changes course on infrastructure bill (E&E $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Army environment nominee talks PFAS, energy resilience (E&E $), Republican senator [Mike Lee] blocks quick confirmation of DOE nominee (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Louisiana has joined international climate change campaign (AP), Maine program puts home energy tools back in the hands of library patrons (Energy News Network), North Carolina to mandate 70% cut in electricity CO2 emissions by 2030 (Canary Media, E&E News), new protections for California's aquifers are reshaping the state's central valley (NPR)

SCOTUS: Historically disadvantaged communities have a lot at stake this SCOTUS term (Prism Reports), it’s not just Roe—conservatives are looking to overturn gay marriage and more (The Real News)

FERC: Energy companies urge FERC to throw out 'unlawful' grid rule (E&E $), PJM, Exelon, Calpine, others urge FERC to revise decision on capacity offer caps (Utility Dive)

IMPACTS: UN weather agency says world ill-prepared for ‘looming water crisis’ (Washington Post $, InsideClimate News, The Hill), Earth is dimming. Climate change could make it worse (E&E News, Earther), 'sleeping giants': climate worsens Alaska's toxic algal blooms (E&E $), how climate change alters impact of volcanic eruptions (The Guardian),

SOMETHING WE DO NOW: Fall foliage flopping: how climate change is dulling and delaying your leaf peeping (Washington Post $)

DROUGHT: The Colorado River is drying up. Here’s how that affects Indigenous water rights (Grist), as Nepal runs dry, communities tap water harvesting (Thomson Reuters Foundation), Los Angeles shifts water supplies as drought hammers State Water Project (LA Times $), from rural drought to urban shortages: Afghanistan’s new hungry (The New Humanitarian)

WILDFIRES: The hazy link between smoke and climate change (Grist)

HURRICANES: 11 people drowned in 'minimal' flood zone during Ida (E&E $)

EXTREME RAIN: Birmingham inundated by heavy rainfall, flash flooding (WBRZ, WBRC), Flooding concerns high in parts of Alabama; flash flood emergency for Birmingham metro area (AL.com, WVTM, CNN), water rescues underway in Birmingham as flash flooding hits Alabama (CNN)

TRANSIT: Before interstates, America got around on interurbans (Bloomberg $), the cities reinventing public transit (New York Times $), summer storms were a climate-change wake-up call for subways (AP), the environmental benefits of bike sharing (Axios)

EMISSIONS: EIA projects global CO2 emissions growing through 2050 (Politico Pro $)

RENEWABLES: Why Tesla’s solar business has not yet taken off as Elon Musk promised (CNBC)

OIL & GAS: Big oil courts US clean-energy startups in bid to speed green transition (Reuters), Saudis cut oil prices after OPEC+ restraint fuels rally (Bloomberg $)

PLASTICS: Recycled plastic won’t solve tech’s waste problem (The Verge)

PIPELINES: Canada invokes 1977 treaty with US as dispute over pipeline intensifies (The Guardian)

COAL: ‘Historic’ Ariz. plan for coal towns may ripple nationally (E&E News)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen, ammonia can help ensure power security in energy transition - IEA (Reuters)

(ALLEGED) UTILITY CORRUPTION: Ohio regulators made ‘utility-friendly’ edits to audit of coal plant bailout, emails show (Energy News Network and Ohio Capital Journal)

GRID: China looks to apply flexible time-of-use electricity tariffs nationwide (Energy Monitor)

EVs: GM sets ambitious revenue target, challenges Tesla with $30,000 electric SUV (Wall Street Journal $, Axios, Reuters), GM, General Electric to study rare earth supply projects for EVs (Reuters, The Hill), Michigan plans to build the country’s first wireless EV charging road (Grist), pick-up trucks and climate politics: will American drivers go electric? (FT $), Volvo says shift to electric cars is the reason behind its $2.9 billion IPO (CNBC), for longer-range EVs, a cousin of silicon makes a material difference (Wall Street Journal $)

XR: A climate activist walked in the Louis Vuitton fashion show (New York Times $) 

BIG GREENS: Environmental Defense Fund picks new executive director (E&E $), Greenpeace calling for end to carbon offsets amid 'climate emergency' (The Hill)

AVIATION: US states push to surpass world emissions norms on aviation (Reuters)

AGRICULTURE: ‘Digital farming’ aims to cut emissions, toxic runoff (E&E News), water is scarce in California. But farmers have found ways to store it underground (NPR), the future farmers of France are tech savvy, and want weekends off (New York Times $)

BUSINESS: Walmart commits to 15 percent reduction in plastic by 2025 (The Hill)

CARBON REMOVAL: Carbon capture strikes out Down Under (Canary Media)

FINANCE: The tiny fund that took on a US giant and won (FT $), putting climate funds' growth in perspective (Axios), the latest VC money for cleaner concrete (Axios)

INTERNATIONAL: An ambitious ethanol plan spurs food security fears in India (Bloomberg $), Russia considering more ambitious climate targets (Reuters)

• Senator Kyrsten Sinema must stand with Indigenous college students (Indian Country Today, Danelle Jishie op-ed)
• Manchin key to once-in-a-generation boost (Charleston Gazette-Mail, Jeremy Richardson op-ed)
• 7 Ways to Manage Climate Anxiety (Teen Vogue, Danielle Renwick op-ed)
• Carbon gets the headlines. But Texas' methane emissions are root cause of climate change. (Houston Chronicle, Editorial Board)
• On climate change, it's time to lead (The Hill, Edward Mazria and Peter Exley op-ed)
• Todd Kim turns DOJ toward ‘existential’ climate threat (E&E, interview $)
• Should Scott Morrison go to Cop26 in Glasgow? Not if he’s planning a climate con job (The Guardian, Bill Hare column)
• Memo to countries going green: don’t be like the UK (FT, Brooke Masters op-ed $)
• First came global warming. Then hurricanes. Then more migratory bird deaths? (Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, John Morales commentary)
• I call it fire brain': what it's like to photograph the west's biggest wildfires (Gizmodo, Josh Edelson interview)
• US utilities have billions in unpaid customer balances. What should they do? (Utility Dive, Kenneth Costello op-ed)
• Hurricanes and coastal energy development are a dangerous combination (The Hill, Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré (Ret.) op-ed)
• Oil spill: California has flirted with this kind of large-scale disaster for decades (The Hill, Miyoko Sakashita op-ed)
• California oil spill is heartbreaking (CNN, Pete Stauffer op-ed)
• As 2018 majority makers, we know build back better is a winning agenda (Newsweek, Reps. Angie Craig, Colin Allred, Susie Lee, Kim Schrier, Susan Wild, and Tom Malinowski op-ed)
• The mainstream immigrant rights movement is dead (Prism Reports, Ryan Gittler-Muñiz commentary)
• Environmental security of Afghanistan is pathway to regional peacebuilding (The Hill, Saleem H. Ali op-ed)
• It's time for Democrats to choose between limited success and total failure (CNN, Stephen Collinson analysis)
• Forced migration will only get worse — the US needs a long-term strategy (The Hill, Tom Mockaitis op-ed)

Caesars Palace Gambles On Hosting Climate (and Covid) Deniers For Heartland Conference

Las Vegas is famous for bad decisions, but usually it’s the visitors, not the casinos making the risky bets. As, Chris D’Angelo and Alex Kaufman recently reported for Huffpost, however, in two weeks the infamous Caesars Palace is hosting the Heartland Institute’s big climate denial conference, featuring a 52- “expert” lineup, 45 of whom are white men, and likely a similar proportion are funded by the fossil fuel industry to spread climate disinformation. 

It’s somewhat surprising that Heartland could muster such a big event though, as their reputation has been in shambles for years (particularly since their ill-conceived Unabomber billboard back in 2012.) “In 2017,” the Huffpost story recounts, “while goading the new Environmental Protection Agency leadership to host a public debate over climate science, Heartland proposed as one of its debaters a convicted child sex offender.” Whoops! Hate it when that happens! Whomst among us, right? No big deal though, it was definitely just a one-off thing. Right? 

“Within months,” HuffPost revealed “one of Heartland’s top officials had defended the nonprofit’s former marketing chief against charges that he stalked and harassed a young female employee.” Oh.

In 2020, Heartland “attempted to win back relevance by plucking from obscurity a German teenager who, with her blond hair and serious tone, superficially offered deniers their own version of Greta Thunberg...But Naomi Seibt, the so-called anti-Greta, quickly drew more negative attention once the teen’s links to neo-Nazis and white nationalist agitators surfaced. Seibt is also slated to speak at Heartland’s conference in Las Vegas.” Oh no. 

Now, if you can’t afford a $250 ticket to attend the event, or perhaps would rather not go to a place called Sin City and risk exposing yourself to a potential guest list of (potentially) COVID-carrying (alleged) sex pests and (definitely) neo-nazis, worry not!

Because for some reason, Heartland has for months been publishing “previews” of the presentations, 25-60 minute YouTube videos of the speakers polishing the performance they’ll give in Vegas. 

Fortunately, if you’re stupid enough to spend the money traveling to Las Vegas, plus paying $250 for a three-day climate denial convention, you’re probably dumb enough not to mind that all the content is already online for free.

Streaming the event is certainly the safer choice though, given that the event will feature at least one proud anti-vaxxer and anti-masker, Marc Morano, who will no doubt be doing his best to turn the conference into a superspreader event. 

Usually, the House always wins. But by inviting a bunch of COVID-denying nutjobs, it’s Ceasar’s Palace that’s making the risky bet this time. 

The worst, and most serious, part of all this is that while Big Oil and gullible attendees are picking up the tab and Caesar’s will make its money, it's the workers who could end up paying the price with their lives.

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