FIRST LOOK: 

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IRA Could Save US $1.9 Trillion In Avoided Climate Impacts: The climate pollution cuts enabled by the Inflation Reduction Act could prevent or reduce damages by climate impacts by as much as $1.9 trillion over the next 28 years, a new White House analysis finds. The analysis, published Tuesday by the Office of Management and Budget — based on modeling from Princeton, Energy Innovation, and Rhodium Group, as well as using social cost calculations to estimate longer-term savings — finds the "cumulative climate-related benefits" of the IRA would be at least $700 billion. The law includes approximately $375 billion of climate spending. (Axios, E&E $, Protocol, The Hill)

Still-Incomplete MVP Gets FERC Extension: Backers of the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline, already far behind schedule and well over budget, will have four more years to complete the controversial project, FERC said Tuesday. The pipeline was supposed to begin operations in 2018. The pipeline, reportedly a priority for West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin III in IRA negotiations, would carry methane-based gas from his state more than 300 miles to southern Virginia. Many in the path of proposed pipelines, including Indigenous groups who have fought the MVP for years, say they were used as a bargaining chip and sacrificed to secure passage of the IRA. “They didn’t have all the players at the table,” Crystal Cavalier-Keck, an enrolled citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation in what is now North Carolina where her family has lived since before the Declaration of Independence, told the Washington Post. In addition to failing to meet environmental justice requirements and failing to obtain proper legal permits, the pipeline's construction operations have been repeatedly cited for failure to control runoff pollution in the steep mountain terrain. “I went through the stages of grief — anger, sadness, depression, hopelessness, and then I was like ‘We’ve got to stand up. We’ve got to do something,’” Cavalier-Keck said. They are now working to recruit other members of Indigenous, Black, and Appalachian communities to meet with lawmakers and attend a rally in Washington DC on September 8. (FERC extension: Politico Pro $, WDBJ-7; Appalachian BIPOC opposition: Washington Post $; Runoff pollution: Roanoke Times)

European Drought Worst Since Execution Of Thomas Cromwell: Europe's drought is the worst in almost 500 years, the European Drought Observatory reported Tuesday. The assessment, based on preliminary data to be confirmed at the end of the season, finds 47% of the continent is under warning conditions with 17% in a state of alert. In addition to fueling wildfires and cutting agricultural yields, the drought has also restricted hydroelectric production and, perhaps ironically, reduced coal and oil shipments along rivers like the Rhine. The summer's heatwave and drought have "created an unprecedented stress on water levels in the entire EU," said Mariya Gabriel, a Research Commissioner with the European Commission. "We are currently noticing a wildfire season sensibly above the average and an important impact on crops production. Climate change is undoubtedly more noticeable every year." (BBC, Reuters, Al Jazeera, CNBC, Bloomberg $; Climate Signals background: Drought, Extreme heat and heatwaves, Wildfires)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Groups call on Michigan Public Service Commission to reject DTE’s proposed rate increase on grounds of exorbitant profits, ‘utility redlining,’ harm to home solar owners (Planet Detroit), Sanitation problems have plagued Black residents of an Alabama county for decades. The government might finally do something about it (TIME), The Biden administration may detain immigrant youth at a toxic site (Prism Reports)

• SYSTEMIC SLEEP INJUSTICE: Sleep more, save the planet? (Atmos)
• MEDIA: People of color at 'New York Times' get lower ratings in job reviews, union says (NPR, Wall Street Journal $), The New York Times reviews its review system. Sounds like a nightmare for Black and people of color (The Root)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: As Ukraine war drags on, Europe's economy succumbs to crisis (Reuters), Germany touts possible 'major role' for Canadian LNG in shift away from Russia (Reuters)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: 3 ways the new climate law will help clean up dirty US ports (Canary Media), Inflation Reduction Act benefits: clean energy tax credits could double deployment (Forbes), Texas’ power woes could get an assist under the Democrats' sweeping Inflation Reduction Act (Houston Chronicle)

• NEWS YOU CAN USE: Best induction ranges and cooktops in 2022 following the signing of the Inflation Reduction Act (CBS), You can get a $7,500 tax credit to buy an electric car, but it's really complicated (NPR)

LONG-TERM IMPACTS: Children of climate change come of age in ‘Katrina Babies’ (AP)

EAST AFRICA: Children enduring drought in Africa are ‘one disease away from catastrophe’: UNICEF (The Hill), For clean energy, financial growth, Africa looks to UN talks (AP)

CHINA HEAT & DROUGHT: As drought dries up the Yangtze River, China loses hydropower (Grist), China battles forest fires as fears linger over harvest (Reuters), Climate change in China hikes price of rare mushroom, a delicacy in Asia (Washington Post $), China’s summer heat wave is breaking all records (Washington Post $), Drought changes landscape in southwest China (AP photos)

GOP vs ESG: DeSantis amps up ESG attack, banning strategy for [Florida] state pensions (Bloomberg $), GOP AGs target billion-dollar financial firm for alleged anti-Semitism in ESG push (Fox Business), Texas demands documents from BlackRock, other financial service firms in ESG probe (Fox Business)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: Tiny island nation lays out big plans for climate change (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Is NEPA a winning strategy to fight oil and gas? (E&E News)

DENIAL & GREENWASHING: How greenwashing fools us (New York Times $)

A LITTLE TOO ON THE NOSE, TBH: Sunken Nazi WWII warships resurface in Danube river as drought worsens (HuffPost, CBS, Washington Post $, Reuters, Newsweek)

BEST JUDICIARY MONEY CAN BUY: New conservative group gets $1.6 billion donation from Chicago businessman (Wall Street Journal $)

GAS EXPLOSIONS: A year after deadly explosion, study warns of danger from gas lines (Coolridge Examiner)

EPA: EPA bolsters congressional, engagement offices (E&E $), EPA warns staff of rising anti-government threats (E&E $), Will the EPA crack down on pollution from buildings? (Grist)

DOE: DOE announces $60M for hydrogen tech, grid resilience (E&E $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden admin eyes funding Canadian mining (E&E News), Will Biden follow Obama and designate new monuments? (E&E $)

SENATE: Bennet: US shouldn’t dictate Colorado River water cuts (E&E News)

POLITICS: NBC News poll: Split between GOP and Democrats over federal climate action widens (NBC), Why doesn’t America build things? (Vice)

ELECTIONS: Why is Herschel Walker so angry about planting more trees? (The Root)

(Black Wall Street Times)

TRIBES: Native groups seek to repair lands damaged by colonization (AP)

CITIES AND STATES: Clean energy cost study leaves many questions about [NJ Gov. Phil] Murphy's climate goals unanswered (Politico Pro $), Okefenokee Swamp mine is back on as Army Corps of Engineers settles lawsuit (Savannah Now, E&E $), In Virginia’s internet corridor, climate targets and data center growth collide (Energy News Network), Nevada officials want drought details from feds (Las Vegas Review Journal), New York City is forcing some cars to slow down (Axios), Residents and environmentalists say a planned warehouse district outside Baltimore threatens wetlands and the Chesapeake Bay (Inside Climate News)

• CALIFORNIA: California Gov. Gavin Newsom races to keep state’s nuclear plant running (Wall Street Journal $), The future of California’s last nuclear power plant (New York Times $)

• TEXAS: Lawmakers say lack of Railroad Commission transparency rules hurts response in weather emergencies (Houston Chronicle)

FERC: 3 states tell FERC: Western gas project violates climate laws (E&E News)

IMPACTS: Five 1,000-year rain events have struck the US in five weeks. Why? (Washington Post $), As many as one in six US tree species is threatened with extinction (Washington Post $), Dozens of tree species face extinction from insects, diseases and climate change: research (The Hill)

SOUTHERN RAIN: Five-year-old child drowns crossing Rio Grande as weather intensifies (NBC, AP, CBS), 3 million under flood watch after deadly rainfall in Dallas (NBC), Wettest 24 hours in nearly a century for Dallas-Fort Worth (Yale Climate Connections), Record-breaking storms move east, dumping torrential rain on deep South (ABC)

WEATHER WHIPLASH: Summer lurches from drought to flood (AP), Climate change fueling summer's extreme weather (AP video), Flash floods wreak havoc in US south-west – but are no salve for drought (The Guardian)

HEAT: Hot classrooms: students struggle to learn amid heat waves, lack of AC (Teen Vogue), One city searches for new ways to beat triple-digit heat (Wall Street Journal $), This D.C. summer is so hot, even the dogs want to stay in (Washington Post $)

DROUGHT: How drought threatens electricity producing, coal-fired power plants (NPR), 

WILDFIRES: California’s timber industry is calling on the military to help control fires (Washington Post $), Fire is responsible for a quarter of US forest loss since 2021 (Grist), Record-setting wildfire in New Mexico declared contained (AP), What plant sweat can tell us about wildfires (Gizmodo)

HURRICANES: What would happen if Category 5 Hurricane Andrew hit Florida today (Washington Post $)

WATER: California’s water from Colorado River could be crippled by a big earthquake. Drought makes fixes vital (LA Times $), Celebrities warned for excessive water use during California drought (NBC), Maya village's water, future threatened by Mexican train (AP)

RENEWABLES: Chart: America's surge of spending on clean energy (Axios), Gulf [of Mexico] oil industry embraces offshore wind — to a point (E&E News), These floating 'leaves' make energy from sunlight and water (Gizmodo)

"RENEWABLES": Cow manure can be turned into renewable energy (Yale Climate Connections)

BUILDINGS: Meeting emissions mandates in New York’s buildings, explained (New York Times $), England’s housing strategy would blow entire carbon budget, says study (The Guardian)

LNG: Endless demand spurs US natural-gas prices to shale-era highs (Wall Street Journal $), US natural gas futures hit $10 for first time since 2008 (Bloomberg $)

• DELAYED FREEPORT RESTART: Freeport LNG delays restart, sending natural gas prices lower (Politico Pro $, Bloomberg $, Reuters), Freeport’s delay to restart sends natural gas futures tumbling; cash remains strong (Natural Gas Intel)

METHANE: It’s happened before: paleoclimate study shows warming oceans could lead to a spike in seabed methane emissions (Inside Climate News), Video probes methane emissions from Siberian sinkholes (Yale Climate Connections), Report of an ancient methane release raises questions for our climate future (Washington Post $)

OIL & GAS: Saudis, allies open door to oil-output cut to keep prices high (Wall Street Journal $), Exxon plans January coker, crude unit work at Louisiana refinery -sources (Reuters), Last oil company exits ANWR lease (E&E $), Norway eyes high gas output until 2030, says energy minister (Reuters), Climate law seen driving ‘demand destruction for fossil fuels’ (E&E News)

PIPELINES: An offshore oil terminal would put a pipeline under Surfside Beach. Thousands of people want to stop it. (Houston Chronicle), Lawsuit: Pipeline build-out clashes with N.Y. climate goals (E&E $), West Coast attorneys general urge federal regulators to deny natural gas pipeline expansion (KTVZ, Politico Pro $)

UTILITIES: Con Ed dumps hot, dirty water from River Park pier, records show (New York Times $), The top 10 emitting power plants in America (E&E News)

GRID: Federal appeals court denies LS Power lawsuits seeking to expand competition in MISO (Utility Dive), New software can find more room for clean energy on transmission grids (Canary Media), This power line could save California — and forever change the American West (LA Times $)

EVs: Climate disasters risk putting a damper on making electric cars (E&E $), Volkswagen makes big battery bet in Canada (Axios)

LIKE UBER, BUT FOR GOOD THINGS: Can Uber be useful and do us good? (New York Times $)

SCIENCE GUY: Bill Nye highlights urgency of protecting Earth in ‘The End is Nye’ (Today Show)

EDUCATION: Report card: Science teachers and climate change (WNYC)

BOOKS: Books by Black authors we can't wait to read this September (The Root), This former GOP hatchet man didn't support Trump — but still enabled him (NPR)

BUSINESS: The easy fix Google Maps could make to help cut transportation emissions (Protocol)

FASHION: Sustainable fashion comes to US open with Rothy’s x Evian collection (Bloomberg $)

AN OK BOOMER: It’s never too late to become an activist (New York Times $)

FOOD: Insects could give meaty taste to food – and help environment – scientists find (The Guardian), Sulfuric acid: the next resource crisis that could stifle green tech and threaten food security (The Conversation)

WILDLIFE: Epaulette sharks able to walk on land evolving to better survive climate crisis (The Guardian), Extreme warming a dire threat to nearly all marine life (E&E $)

INTERNATIONAL: Flash mobs and YouTubers boost India anti-coal mining protest (Thomson Reuters Foundation), France mulls regulations on private jets (Axios), Shanghai switches off iconic skyline to save energy amid heat wave (Wall Street Journal $), A tale of two climate policies: India’s UN commitments aim low, but its national policies are ambitious – here’s why that matters (The Conversation), India, a dairy titan, studies how to keep milk flowing in a hotter world (New York Times $)

• The Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t get around the Supreme Court’s climate ruling in West Virginia v. EPA, but it does strengthen EPA’s future abilities (The Conversation, Patrick Parenteau analysis)
• Biden’s legacy will be transforming the Rust Belt into the EV Belt (The Hill, Akhil Ramesh op-ed)
• Inflation Reduction Act is a ray of light in the darkness of climate ignorance (The Hill, Ben Santer op-ed)
• The Inflation Reduction Act’s modest impact on oil and gas (The Hill, Brad Handler and Morgan Bazilian op-ed)
• Weakening environmental safeguards won’t help renewable energy (The Hill, Brett Hartl op-ed)
• Liberal states like California are also failing to make progress on climate (Truthout, C.J. Polychroniou op-ed)
• Climate hypocrites are all tell, no show (Washington Examiner, Editorial Board)
• The Inflation Reduction Act won’t reduce inflation. Or climate change. (Washington Post, Marc Thiessen column $)

Eric Worrall at WUWT asks the Dumbest Question Ever About WSJ's Climate (Opinion) Coverage

It's never fun to have to issue a correction, but a few weeks ago we said that the only non-disinfo outlet to take notice of Anthony Watts' Heartland-funded attempt to cast doubt on thermometer readings was in the form of a letter to the editor that Tony sent to the Chico Enterprise-Record. It was true when we wrote it, but now, another mainstream outlet has taken notice, so that's no longer technically true. Unfortunately, though, for Tony and his "our once-primary funder gave his $1.6 billion company to someone else" sponsors at the tobacco-loving Heartland Institute, that outlet is PolitiFact. 

And far from the sort of coverage Heartland was hoping it was paying Watts to generate, this one isn't going to help them lie about climate change, as it looks at the claim that "96% of U.S. climate data is corrupted" and finds it glaringly "False." 

The story quotes Zeke Hausfather's assessment: "The correct approach is to write a scientific paper and submit it to a scientific journal. In this specific case, the author of the report, Anthony Watts, submitted a paper on the topic around 10 years ago, but was unable to successfully convince other scientists of the validity of his findings and to pass the peer review process."

And there's NOAA’s John Batemen, who pointed out that Watts is, at best, a modern Christopher Colubus, in that he's pretending to discover something plenty of people already know about, as scientists are well aware that asphalt is hotter than grass and have "developed techniques to account for and correct these potential problems."

Amazingly though, this isn't even the dumbest thing to appear on Watts' website lately. That dubious honor goes to guest poster Eric Worrall (one of the regulars Watts has posting in his stead because he's clearly lost whatever passion he once had for this stuff) who asks "Is WSJ quietly practicing more balanced reporting on climate change?" 

Worrall said that "a scattering of surprisingly climate skeptic stories has started appearing lately in the pages of America’s premier financial journal. But there may be an important deeper reason which explains why this is suddenly happening." 

Except Worrall, in addition to being ignorant or intentionally stupid about climate change, also apparently needs some basic media literacy help, because of the three examples he cites, not are actually "stories" written by WSJ reporters. Instead, the pieces are all from the Journal's opinion page: two are op-eds, and the third a column by James Freeman. All are bog-standard WSJ opinion page disinformation. And, yes, those are more of what Worrall would consider "balanced" than the actual stories published by the WSJ's reporters, which thanks to journalistic norms like fact-checking, doesn't run disinfo like the opinion page does. But that's always been the case! So whatever Worrall thinks "explains why this is suddenly happening" is surely wrong, because nothing has suddenly happened! 

And we bring this up, not only because we keep a close eye on the WSJ's opinion page as the premier source of climate disinformation, and have documented how they ran more fossil fuel propaganda during the first month of the Ukraine war than they have ever before, but because it shows how the Watts and Worrall crew are, at best, intellectually lazy and stupid, and at worst, intentionally decieving their audience even in one-off posts like this to advance a narrative. 

Worrall says he has "a theory that something changed when HSBC martyred senior executive Stuart Kirk," and that has led to some sort of reckoning with bankers, who … apparently control the Wall Street Journal? Worrall doesn't make that leap himself, and instead just puts the conspiracy theory under the header "Why is this happening?" and lets his equally lazy readers fill in the blanks themselves. 

Now, if he had even the smallest amount of intellectual integrity or scientific acumen, he would, y'know, test his theory before publishing it online. Crazy idea, right?

Worrall could have slapped the rest of the WSJ's opinion page coverage of climate change into a spreadsheet, and done a quantitative analysis to see if there have been changes over time. That's what we've done! (Have we mentioned that we're hiring a research assistant since the top of this newsletter? No? Well, here's the link!) Take a quick scroll through those 1,000+ op-eds, columns and editorials, and see if it seems like the tone has been notably more critical of climate science and policy than the ones that preceded the July 8th news about Stuart Kirk. We've even done you the favor of highlighting climate-accurate pieces in green. 

Of the 33 opinions published, how dramatically would you think the ratio of "alarmist" to "skeptical" content would need to change to justify Worrall's theory that the WSJ's opinions have gotten more "balanced" since then? If the WSJ reflected the 97% consensus in 97% of its opinion content, how far would it need to drop to make one search for "an important deeper reason which explains why this is suddenly happening"? To 75% correct, 25% "balanced", in the way Worrall uses the term? Or more like 50/50? 

Because in reality, a place Worrall apparently fears to tread, the WSJ has published 33 pieces of climate opinion content, and a grand total of one (1) of them was accurate and honest about the reality of carbon pollution and climate change. Of the 33 pieces that came before it? Zero! 

So maybe it's not that Worrall is lazy and unwilling to actually do something resembling science and testing a hypothesis before publishing it. Maybe he did do some counting, and found that actually, if anything, the WSJ's opinion page ran less "surprisingly climate skeptic stories" after Kirk's outburst, as 1/33 is more than 0/33, but still wanted to give readers his "important deeper reason which explains why this is suddenly happening" anyway, because, well, he had to post something, and it's not like Tony Watts is actually contributing to his blog any more!

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