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Mudslides Kill 100+ After 'An Extraordinary Amount Of Water' Poured North Of Rio de Janeiro: Mudslides set off by torrential rain killed more than 100 people, destroyed homes, and swept away trees and cars as they ripped through Petrópolis, a mountain city north of Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. Ten inches fell in three hours on Tuesday, almost as much as in the last month combined. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, increases the potential for extreme rainfall. “What we saw was a really extreme event,” said Cássia de Castro Martins Ferreira, a researcher at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, told the New York Times. “It didn’t rain — it was an extraordinary amount of water that poured down.” (BBC, New York Times $, Al Jazeera, Reuters, AP, NBC; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

Wildfires Burning More Overnight, Increasingly Threatening SoCal: Climate change is increasing the likelihood of catastrophic wildfires in Southern California and enabling fires to burn longer by increasing their ability to burn in 'unfavorable' conditions, two new studies show. Research published Wednesday in Nature found increasingly hot and dry conditions increase fires' ability to keep burning overnight, when firefighters used to be able to rely on cooler nighttime temperatures lowering fire intensity. Climate change, caused mainly by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is worsening droughts, and making hot nights (and days) hotter and more frequent, both of which supercharge wildfires. A separate paper published today in Communications Earth & Environment found climate change could double the number of "large fire days" in the region by 2100 without immediate emissions cuts. “It’s a roll of the dice," Glen MacDonald, a professor of geography at UCLA and the lead author of the study, concurred, " but we are loading them with more and more days where you have this high probability of a fire and that spark has a greater opportunity to occur when it’s really going to cause damage.” (Night fires: Washington Post $, CNN; Southern California: The Guardian; Climate Signals background: Wildfires, Drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves)

Airport Fire Burns Uncontrolled, Fueled By Dry Brush: The Airport Fire, fueled by wind and dry brush ignited Wednesday near a regional airport just outside Bishop, California. The fire burned 1,800 acres in about seven hours – more than three football fields every minute — on Wednesday and was completely uncontained Wednesday night. It is now the state's biggest fire of 2022. (LA Times $, AP, KOLO, USA Today, KEYT; Climate Signals background: Wildfires)

Students Up University Divestment Ante, File Legal Complaints: Students in multiple legacy universities filed complaints Wednesday to their respective attorney's general seeking to force their schools to divest from the fossil fuel industry. The novel legal strategy, developed with the Climate Defense Project, escalates long-running efforts across the country to persuade and pressure school officials that, with some notable exceptions, have been largely unsuccessful so far. The complaints, filed by students at Princeton, MIT, Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Yale (which hold $150 billion in their combined endowments), seek state investigations into whether the schools' investments violate state laws governing investments by nonprofit institutions, and a federal law requiring universities to invest their resources consistent with socially beneficial ends. They also argue the investments in fossil fuels are poor financial investments. (Washington Post $, The Guardian, Grist, Yale Environment 360)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Brooklyn residents protest pipeline that passes white neighborhoods but beelines through Black ones (The Root)

COP26: A first-hand account: lessons learned from artists at COP26 conference (Yale Climate Connections)

ENERGY GEOPOLITICS: Putin’s threats against Ukraine could reinvigorate the US oil and gas industry (CNBC), Russia ready to re-route energy flows if hit by new sanctions (Reuters)

DENIAL & DISINFORMATION: PR firms are facing a backlash for ‘greenwashing’ big oil — and the pressure on them is growing (CNBC), oil firms’ climate claims are greenwashing, study concludes (The Guardian)

OLYMPICS: China makes Olympian effort to cut pollution but remains short of WHO standards (FT $)

WELL, THAT'S CONVENIENT: Coal plant won't pay its rent, but can pay Joe Manchin (Gizmodo)

HOOROO: Australia’s largest coal-fired power station, Eraring, to close in 2025, seven years early (The Guardian, Reuters), Aussie coal exits put dithering government on spot (Reuters)

SCOTUS: Calif. Sen. Padilla on climate, wildfires, solar and clean school buses (Canary Media, Sen. Alex Padilla interview)

EPA: [CEI] asks EPA to nix fuel rule that relied on [Social Cost of Carbon] (E&E News)

• COMING SOON: EPA to expand Calif. clean car authority — and the nation’s (E&E News, CNN, Axios, CNN, Bloomberg $, Ars Technica)

DOE: DOE to offer $6B to keep struggling nuclear reactors online (Utility Dive), Granholm talks DOE next moves on power lines, infrastructure (E&E $)

DOI: Ryan Zinke broke ethics rules while leading Trump’s Interior Dept., watchdog finds (Washington Post $, The Hill, E&E News, Politico Pro $), US investigators: Zinke misused his Interior secretary job (AP)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: US EXIM Bank's first Black leader faces challenges on China, climate, equity (Reuters)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden, lawmakers warn of sanctions-fueled energy pain (E&E $), Biden: ‘I’m going to work like the devil’ to cut energy prices (E&E News), Biden's ocean wind target comes into view (Axios), Biden’s petrol problem: president eyes gas tax cut as pump prices soar (FT $), NEPA reviews moving faster under Biden (E&E News)

• INDUSTRIAL DECARBONIZATION: Biden administration launches industrial decarbonization initiative, targets $9.5B for clean hydrogen (Utility Dive), construction industry groups oppose Biden's executive order in letter to White House (Reuters, The Hill)

THE HILL: Congressional Democrats ask Biden to review treatment of Black migrants (New York Times $), 

HOUSE: Democrats’ climate hopes are riding on a new environmental justice bill (Grist), Blumenauer: 'Make sure mitigation is not just for the rich' (E&E $), Republicans champion Alaska drilling project that poses major climate test for Biden (Washington Post $)

SENATE: Gasoline tax holiday struggles for Senate support (E&E $), Republicans seek answers on missing Keystone XL report (E&E $), Senate nears amendment deal for stopgap spending bill (E&E $), Senators wrestle with the future of biofuels program (Politico Pro $)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Republican blockade prompts partisan brawl over Fed pick (E&E News), Senator [Bill Cassidy] blocks Biden EPA nominees over carbon capture (Reuters)

CITIES AND STATES: Low-income energy efficiency bill passes [NM state] Senate, heads to Governor’s desk (New Mexico Political Report), Wisconsin bill would grant utilities a monopoly on building transmission (Energy News Network)

• CALIFORNIA: A handy guide to Calif. climate bills (there's a ton) (E&E $), California companies’ pollution credits risk climate aims (AP), Rising sea levels pose perilous threat to California coast as study raises new alarms (LA Times $)

ABLEISM & VOTER SUPPRESSION: Texans with disabilities fear new restrictions on voting help could mean criminal charges at the polls (Texas Tribune)

IMPACTS: Flowers growing in Antarctica are the latest sign of environmental catastrophe (Gizmodo), the Midwest defined itself by its winters. What happens when they disappear? (Grist)

• SEA LEVEL RISE: US sea level to rise by 2050 as much as in past century, NOAA says (Reuters, Inside Climate News), 'we can prevent the worst' Climate expert on sobering new sea level rise report (MSNBC)

IMPACTS' IMPACTS: Climate migration fuels conflicts in Bay of Bengal region (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

DROUGHT: Experts say the term 'drought' may be insufficient to capture what is happening in the West (CNN), no end in sight: California drought on course to break another record (CAL Matters)

WATER: Marijuana bill spurs water rights debate in arid New Mexico (AP), Nevada town in canal fight seeks another chance in US court (AP)

JUST LEAVE IT TO THE KIDS: A staggering picture of the net-zero challenge (Axios)

PUBLIC OPINION: How hot will the planet get? Public opinion is key factor, finds study (The Guardian)

RENEWABLES: China’s solar giants power up new panels to drive profits (Bloomberg $), debate intensifies over solar panels as 'universal waste' (E&E $), Europe braces for hurricane gusts spurring wind power records (Bloomberg $), renewable industry sees installations drop, prices rise (E&E $)

KING CORN: Corn-based ethanol may be worse for the climate than gasoline, a new study finds (Inside Climate News), US biofuel industry defends record as Biden administration mulls policy reform (Reuters)

LNG: Why the LNG ‘gold rush’ could soon turn to dust (Energy Monitor)

OIL & GAS: Key energy agencies diverge as demand and oil prices climb (AP), NextEra to help power proposed natural gas-to-fuel plant in Texas (Bloomberg $)

ORPHANED WELLS: How New Mexico abandoned 1,000 oil and gas wells overnight (Grist)

HYDROGEN: How clean is hydrogen? Platts, others seek to give fuel a score (Bloomberg $), Germany to transfer hydrogen technology to Africa -govt official (Reuters), India to waive transmission costs for green hydrogen manufacturers (Reuters), North Sea green hydrogen project to harness offshore wind and use existing pipeline (CNBC)

GRID: Texas could connect to national power grids without losing autonomy, former grid regulator says (Texas Tribune)

EVs: 100% EVs isn't enough to meet carbon goals — report (E&E $), India wants Tesla to buy $500 million of local auto parts (Bloomberg $), what being in the 'messy middle' of EV adoption means for trucking (Utility Dive)

AGRICULTURE: Global nature pact urged to reform harmful subsidies of $1.8 trillion a year (Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Guardian), how to keep crops alive in a warmer, dryer world (Bloomberg $)

CARBON PRICING: Key EU lawmaker proposes new way to tame carbon price shocks (Bloomberg $)

MUSIC: A musical interpretation of climate change pays tribute to [Ludwig van] Beethoven (Yale Climate Connections)

FINANCE: French insurer CNP to stop financing new oil and gas projects (Reuters), green savings bond interest rates doubled following demand fears (FT $), US banks urge regulators to be flexible on climate-risk rules (Reuters)

SKIING: Facing the effects of climate change, skiers want to save their snow — and their sport (Washington Post $)

WILDLIFE: Officials: Florida plan has fed manatees 25 tons of lettuce (AP)

INTERNATIONAL: British households face fuel poverty as energy prices skyrocket (Thomson Reuters Foundation), development needs delay Nigeria’s energy transition (FT $), prepare for mass migration to cities in climate crisis, UK mayors warn (The Guardian)

• Racial gerrymandering stands in the way of free and fair elections for Black Americans (The Grio, Donna Brazile op-ed)
• Los Angeles lags on building electrification. Now is the time to ban new gas hookups (LA Times, Editorial Board $)
• Maryland must move swiftly to regulate harmful ‘forever chemicals’ (Baltimore Sun, Editorial Board)
• Tory MPs fear that net zero is hurting poor people. Ignore their crocodile tears (The Guardian, Caroline Lucas op-ed)
• The disaster of philanthropy and capitalism (Yes Magazine, David Orr op-ed)
• Book bans are the result of white fear of a changing world (Prism Reports, George Johnson op-ed)
• News Corp claims coal and gas moratorium would be a revenue ‘black hole’. How much would it really cost? (The Guardian, Graham Readfearn op-ed)
• Without mapping tools, environmental justice investments could be just a shot in the dark (Utility Dive, Michelle Solomon op-ed)
• As climate change worsens, Republicans insist we must do nothing (Washington Post, Paul Waldman column $)

Bjorn Lomborg Plagiarizes Himself, Industry Front Groups, And Tony Heller, The Warming Denying Sandy Hook Truther and Obama Birther 

Having written some 1,800 of these columns since 2014, we are certainly sympathetic to the urge to reduce one's workload by reusing past drafts to recycle content. But that’s lazy, disrespectful to our readers, can often be a copyright violation for the original publisher, and in most contexts, is just plain unethical, which is probably why it’s known by the ugly name of self-plagiarism. 

So while we may, like everyone, be occasionally tempted by the sin of self-plagiarism, we abstain. It’s actually not all that difficult to write something new about climate change every day. But that’s only because we’re lucky enough to have all of reality to choose from.

For deniers, it’s a bit harder, because they have their standard disinformation talking points, which must be repeated ad nauseam in order to become part of the background noise of the political debate. (Emphasis on “noise.”) 

But since their whole job is to think up new ways to say the wrong things, you’d think they’d be good at it. Alas, they are not! 

Case in point is Bjorn Lomborg, who seems to publish a new op-ed every couple of weeks in some mid-tier publication. Not total blog spam stuff, but less than the WSJ pages he (dis)graced last fall. Apparently it’s gotten way too hard to find new ways to pretend to care about climate change while enabling fossil fuel consumption, because last week UK outlet CityAM published what it headlined an “exclusive” oped from Lomborg about “50 years of misguided climate panic” that was actually just a lightly edited version of a New York Post op-ed Lomborg got published last November, about “50 years of spurious scaremongering”!

One text-compare website showed an 86.7% match between the two pieces. They're not identical, but the editing is certainly minimal, especially given that CityAM’s preface read that Lomborg was “writing exclusively for City A.M. today.”   

[We reached out to CityAM, and they confirmed it was offered to them as an exclusive by Lomborg’s team. — Ed.]

Billing itself as “London’s Business Newspaper,” City A.M. apparently thought Lomborg had something worthwhile for their audience, but apparently he just couldn’t be bothered to write anything new. But why didn’t City A.M. catch it? Clearly their fact checking leaves something to be desidered, and it’s not like Lomborg’s the sort of author you’d be wise to take at his word. 

After all, Lomborg has a long history of making false claims that have been critically fact checked. And this list is no different, essentially a mix of bad reporting from the past with misinterpretations, cherry-picking and other context-defying disinformation meant to make past warnings that often went heeded look like predictions that never came true (even though many parts warned about in the past 50 years, from hunger to heat waves and extreme weather, already have happened, with deadly results, as warned). 

What’s worse? This disinfo narrative that Lomborg is self-plagiarizing isn’t even his own! He lifted the idea and examples from perhaps the only people more cravenly dishonest-  industry-funded CEI’s Myron Ebell and tobacco-turned-fossil-fuel lawyer Steve Milloy, who themselves pulled most of the examples from Tony Heller, back in 2019! 

Heller, as you may recall from his regular appearances here, is full of climate disinfo, but is also multifaceted, and has been banned from twitter for spreading COVID disinfo, while in the past he’s also spread conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting and Barack Obama's birthplace.

He's not exactly a particularly credible source, so it’s not surprising that Lomborg failed to mention Heller and CEI as the inspiration for the op-ed he published with the NYPost and CityAM. What may be more surprising is that Lomborg apparently didn’t bother just citing himself to CityAM to make it clear the op-ed wasn’t exclusive to them- that’s all it would take for it to not have been committing the sin of self-plagiarism! 

But apparently citing Bjorn Lomborg is too much of an embarrassment, even for Bjorn Lomborg!

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