FIRST LOOK: 

In their new podcast ModeShift, co-hosts Andrei Greenawalt and Tiffany Chu bring together historical examples, personal stories, and timely case studies to explore the future of transportation in the U.S. The first episode is out today!

Ian Hits Cuba, On Track To Deluge Tampa Bay: Hurricane Ian – now a Category 3 and set to strengthen into a Category 4 storm – made landfall near La Coloma in southwest Cuba around 4:30 am this morning, bringing with it sustained winds of 125 mph and storm surge pushing water as much as 14 feet above normal tide levels. The storm is forecast to churn slowly northward toward Tampa Bay, Florida where officials have issued evacuation orders and residents are preparing for catastrophic storm surge, excessive rainfall, and winds from what could be the first direct hit to the area by a hurricane in over a century. Ian will be the first major hurricane to hit the U.S. this year — Fiona was a Category 1 storm when it hit Puerto Rico.  “I’m stressed,” Mark Luther, a University of South Florida expert on the physics of oceanography, told the Washington Post. Projected storm surge of up to 10 feet could push houses off their foundations and “The street in front of my house floods during a bad high tide,” Luther said. (AP, Washington Post $; Cuba: (CNN; Tampa Bay: Washington Post $, AP, CNN, Reuters, Gizmodo, The Hill, Bloomberg $, NBC, CBS, ABC; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes, Storm surge increase, Coastal flooding increase)

Carlyle Group Left Heavily Polluting Investment Out Of Climate Report: The Carlyle Group, one of the world's largest private equity firms, omitted its largest oil and gas investment from regulatory filings on its exposure to greenhouse gas pollution risk earlier this year, an AP investigation finds. The firm, which holds $376 billion in assets, claims to be better on climate than the rest of its peers despite having one of the biggest portfolios of fossil fuel companies , but left the emissions from Texas-based energy specialist NGP Energy Capital out of its report — mentioning it only as a footnote and claiming the relationship is only passive. “They are telling one story to investors and doing something else that gets results,” Sean Field, of the Centre for Energy Ethics at University of St. Andrews in Scotland, told the AP. NGP, which boasts its own portfolio of oil and gas companies, accounted for 8% of Carlyle earnings over the last five years, bringing in $512 million in the first half of this year alone — 49% of Carlyle's profits — thanks to high oil and gas prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. “The private equity people I talk to are making money hand over fist in a way they weren’t a couple of years ago,” Field said. “Of course they want to be in this space.” Private equity-owned oil and gas operations in the Permian Basin are frequently extremely polluting. NGP-owned Blackbeard Operating emitted nearly double the methane pollution as Chevron last year. While Carlyle's omission of climate pollution from its biggest oil and gas investment in its financial risk report may not technically violate any law, it raises serious questions about corporate and private equity emissions transparency and corporate citizenship. “Given their massive fossil fuel exposure, private equity firms like Carlyle have an urgent responsibility to address the significant role they play in propelling the climate crisis,” Jim Baker, head of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project, told the AP. (AP)

Misogyny A Frequent Tactic Against Climate Leaders: The insults hurled by a sitting member of Congress at an expert witness testifying on environmental racism perpetrated by the petrochemical industry typifies the misogyny – often intertwined with racism – leveled at women in the environmental movement, 19th* News reports. The mid-September testimony of Raya Salter, founder of the Energy Justice Law and Policy Center and member of the New York State Climate Action Council, before a House committee on the climate crisis and fossil fuel industry was overshadowed by Rep. Clay Higgins (R., La.) yelling at her, repeatedly addressing her as "young lady", and calling her "boo". “Climate leadership is pretty rich in leadership from girls. Not just women, but girls, women, nonbinary people, which makes it ripe for bad-faith actors,” Kristina Wilfore, cofounder of #ShePersisted, told The 19th*.  Misogynistic attacks against women climate leaders is not a new phenomenon – in the 1960s, Rachel Carson was depicted as a witch in a chemical industry magazine and disparaged as "hysterically overemphatic." Tucker Carlson, on whose show Higgins later doubled down, has also attacked Greta Thunberg as an "emotionally damaged child." "It’s a playbook to come after our competence," Salter said. “I’ve got all the degrees and everything hanging on a wall and that’s still the playbook. … [But] you have a right to stand your ground and in your competence: lean into your superpower.” (The 19th* News)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Civil rights law targets 'Cancer Alley' discrimination (AP), NAACP: Miss. spending plans could 'hobble' Jackson water (E&E $), UK accused of funding environmental racism with subsidies to Drax (The Guardian)

PAKISTAN: Pakistan floods raise fears of hunger after crops wrecked (AP)

TYPHOON NORU: Powerful typhoon floods northern Philippines (Axios, Democracy Now), Photos show Typhoon Noru’s devastation in the Philippines (Washington Post $), Typhoon heroes: 5 Filipino rescuers drown in flooded village (AP)

HURRICANE FIONA: About 746,000 still without power in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona (Reuters), Puerto Ricans were already angry about the power grid. Then came Hurricane Fiona. (Grist), Canadian navy vessel headed to areas hit hardest by Fiona (AP), Hurricane Fiona rips apart Canada's east coast (Gizmodo)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Droughts, Ukraine war push global grain stocks toward worrying decade low (Reuters), France announces €45bn effort to shield country from energy cost increases (The Guardian), Germany considers price caps as energy crisis worsens (OilPrice), Lights out, ovens off: Europe preps for winter energy crisis (AP), Russian crude is slowly being squeezed out of Europe (Bloomberg $), European gas prices jump after damage to idled Russian pipelines (Bloomberg $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: EU climate chief says climate damages need defining (E&E $), Rich nations can’t dodge climate damage demands anymore, Germany says (Politico Pro $), Gap to 1.5C yawns, as most governments miss UN deadline to improve climate plans (Climate Home)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: ‘Deploy, deploy, deploy:’ renewable sector energized but anxious about Inflation Reduction Act funding (Utility Dive), Transmission development key to Inflation Reduction Act’s climate potential: Report (Utility Dive)

• SIDE DEALS: Manchin makes push for bipartisan support of permitting reform: We must ignore ‘all or nothing’ approach (The Hill), Manchin’s permitting-reform bill splits Dems, pro-renewables groups (Canary Media), Senate GOP leadership whipping against Manchin permitting bill (The Hill), Congress again races to avoid shutdown as key vote at risk of failing (CNN), Republican AGs call on Senate leadership to oppose Manchin permitting reform bill (The Hill), Sen. Manchin: 'We have a great opportunity' on energy permitting bill (MSNBC), Senate Democrats release short-term government funding bill (The Hill), Utilities lobbying to kill Manchin permitting bill (Politico Pro $)

WORKERS: Stuck at work during a climate disaster? A new bill could change that. (Grist), Levin’s staff becomes first Capitol Hill office to unionize (The Hill, Bloomberg Law, MarketWatch), Democrats urge support for EPA union, testing Biden's pro-labor pledge (Washington Post $, The Hill, E&E $)

SCOTUS: The Supreme Court’s new term could be even more consequential than its last one (Vox), Landowners ask Supreme Court to curb pipeline eminent domain (E&E News), Oil industry seeks SCOTUS lifeline amid mounting setbacks (E&E News)

AGENCIES: Federal government’s $20 billion embrace of ‘climate smart’ farming (New York Times $), Forest Service seizes PG&E equipment as part of fire probe (AP)

EPA: EPA assembles experts to probe benefits of air rules (E&E News), EPA preparing plan to help fix Jackson’s water system (AP), EPA’s new environmental justice office pledges ‘billions’ for ‘those who need it the most' (NewsOne, Reuters, E&E News), EPA Administrator: "We're going to focus on pressing the state and the city to move with a sense of urgency." (MSNBC)

DOE: At a global conference on clean energy, Granholm announces billions in federal aid for carbon capture and emerging technology (Inside Climate News), Who’s in Granholm’s agenda-setting ‘AM Huddle’ (E&E News)

DOI: Interior weighs economics of oil vs. climate in 5-year plan (E&E News)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden team takes a victory lap, issues a clean energy call to industry (Politico Pro $)

THE HILL: Pelosi: US has to do more to help with wildfire recovery (AP)

ELECTIONS: Gallego accuses Sinema of wanting Democrats to lose House, Senate (The Hill), Texas Republican endorses Democrat in race for state's top oil watchdog (Bloomberg $)

CITIES AND STATES: Massachusetts program allows homeowners to share excess solar power (Energy News Network)

• CALIFORNIA: California bans coastal seabed mining (E&E $), California set to ban gas heaters (Gizmodo, E&E News), California’s 2030 ban on gas heaters opens a new front in the war on fossil fuels (Grist)

FERC: Regulators to FERC: Don’t mess with Texas transmission (E&E $)

EMISSIONS: 96% of energy sectors off track to meet climate goals — IEA (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Countries struggle to adapt fast enough to changing climate (E&E $), Arctic sea ice summer minimum in 2022 is ‘joint-10th lowest’ on record (Carbon Brief)

WILDFIRES: As wildfires grow, militaries are torn between combat, climate change (Washington Post $), How New Mexico’s largest wildfire set off a drinking water crisis (New York Times $), Western forests, snowpack and wildfires appear trapped in a vicious climate cycle (Inside Climate News)

HURRICANES: How climate change is fueling hurricanes (Reuters, explainer), A ‘nightmare’ for forecasters: Here’s why hurricanes are getting stronger, faster (New York Times $), How to prepare for a hurricane and stay safe after it hits (Washington Post $), What is storm surge? (Washington Post $)

WATER: To save water in Texas, these nonprofits are paying farmers to leave it in reservoirs (Texas Tribune)

DEFORESTATION: Fires in Brazil's Amazon surge in September, worst month since 2010 (Reuters)

RENEWABLES: Australia - a land of promise and hurdles for offshore wind developers (Reuters), Baltic Sea renewables could be key to defending EU from Putin (Energy Monitor), Iberdrola hires Barclays to sell stake in Spanish renewable portfolio, Expansion says (Reuters), Offshore wind 125 times better for taxpayers compared to oil and gas (Gizmodo), Solar outshines wind to lead China’s clean-energy transition (Bloomberg $), Wanted: Bright minds to design floating wind turbines (E&E $)

BATTERIES: Aluminum-based battery could cut EV costs, researchers say (E&E $)

OIL & GAS: Dregs of US oil patch are more in demand than crude itself (Bloomberg $), Oil export terminal plan exposes energy rift in Texas (E&E News), Why natural gas prices quadrupled in two years (Forbes)

EACOP: What next for East African crude oil pipeline? (BBC)

HYDROGEN: Partners unveil 3.2GW HyMed floater (ReNews)

EVs: Chinese EV maker Li Auto falls after it cuts delivery outlook; Beijing extends tax breaks for electric cars (CNBC), Joshua Aviv founded the first, on-demand electric vehicle charging service to reduce air pollution in Black communities (Ebony)

CARS: Auto suppliers feel the green squeeze as carmakers get clean (Reuters), Traffic is coming back to downtowns across America (Axios)

ALL ABOARD!: American trains aren’t great — but you should still take them anyway (Vox)

KEEP WINTER COLD: How rock climbers and snowboarders became a political force (New York Times $)

AVIATION: Biden admin aims to make jet fuel greener (E&E $), EasyJet to scrap carbon offsetting to focus on cutting emissions (Reuters, FT $, The Guardian)

AGRICULTURE: Reducing beef’s carbon footprint is key to achieving net-zero in Latin America and the Caribbean, new paper shows (Mongabay)

FOOD: He grew up in a sausage-loving country, but now advocates for plant-based diets to fight the climate crisis (CNN)

FILM: Camino to COP26: Climate pilgrims walk 135 miles to promote film (The Guardian)

SHIPPING: Zero-emissions cargo shipping catches on in cities and port communities (Canary Media)

FINANCE: Bank study group sets out guidelines for financing Asia's energy transition (Reuters)

IN MEMORIAM: Jim Florio, N.J. lawmaker who helped create Superfund, dies (E&E $)

WILDLIFE: Noise pollution is killing whales, but this technology could help (CNN)

INTERNATIONAL: Britain launches review of plan to reach net zero climate target (Reuters), The rebirth of Hiware Bazar (Grist), Will Iran's climate inaction fuel rising disaster threats? (Thomson Reuters Foundation)

• Hurricane Fiona devastated Puerto Rico. When will these Americans get the support they need? (LA Times, Karina González op-ed $)
• The US should get real about history and colonialism before China does (The Hill, Akhil Ramesh op-ed)
• Biden must use federal purchasing power to fight plastic pollution crisis (The Hill, Emily Jeffers op-ed)
• Global energy hogs both hinder and help energy transition challenge (Reuters, Gavin Maguire column)
• Ukraine has more pluses than minuses for climate (Reuters, Hugo Dixon column)
• Want to phase out fossil fuels? We must fundamentally change our buildings. (Washington Post, Joseph G. Allen, Parichehr Salimifard and Jonathan Buonocore  $)
• Time to charge the true cost of fossil fuels (The Hill, Robert “Bob” Taylor and Craig Smith op-ed)
• Manchin’s permitting bill has a poison pill (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)

How Much Do Utility Front Groups Spend On Facebook Ads? New Tracker Lets You Find Out!

When you pay your power bill, you probably figure that money is just going towards keeping your lights on. You're probably not thinking some of your cash is funding public disinformation campaigns that prop up failing fossil fuels. [Well, YOU might, because you're a regular reader of the Denier Roundup. Just imagine you're a less well-informed person. —Ed.]

If you pay a fossil fuel-burning utility for power in Michigan, New Jersey, Iowa, South Carolina, California, or New York, there's a chance that some of the terrible pro-gas ads you've seen online are actually funded by you. 

How much? 

The Energy and Policy Institute launched a new tracker for utility front group advertisement spending, combining data from Facebook's ad library and code from Brown University. It shows, for example, that the Consumer Energy Alliance has run over 2,000 ads – spending between $571,500 and $902,100 on them since 2018. 

Across the country, groups have sought to influence the public with thousands of ads, spending between $493,700 and $703,500 on 2,800 ads from the Alliance for Michigan Power, accompanied by 1,100 more ads from "Citizens Energizing Michigan's Economy." 

Overall, EPI's Keriann Controy wrote, the tool "exposes up to $2.4 million in spending on advertising by 14 utility front groups in the last year," seeking to "limit climate action by establishing, controlling and funding front groups to spread climate misinformation through advertising on social media." 

Millions of dollars originally stemming from utility payer's pockets is a lot, but keep in mind it's just spending with one social media company – to say nothing of the big fish of traditional broadcast and print advertising expenditures. 

And it's not like these are wholesome Public Service Announcements. One of the largest campaigns is coming from the utility-funded front group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future. We've flagged how they really enjoy Fareed Zakaria's pro-gas columns, push methane (natural) gas as a climate solution, and are shamelessly wokewashing by co-opting Black communities disproportionately impacted by fossil fuel pollution, as Taylor Kate Brown reported for Floodlight/The Guardian. 

It's bad enough that companies can set up front groups to lie on their behalf, but as Controy notes, "even if utility involvement is revealed to customers through news sources or watchdog organizations, customers are unable to opt out of paying their bills for electricity or gas, both necessities of modern life." 

What can we do? Well, "230 groups, including the Energy and Policy Institute, requested the FTC investigate the utility industry for widespread abuses, including political corruption, dark-money campaigns, and unfair anti-competitive practices, including denying customers access to renewable energy." 

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission could also require utilities to disclose the payments they're making to trade associations and political front groups, which "would at the very least force utilities to justify efforts" to bill rate payers for their political shenanigans. Congressional investigations can pry more documents into the light, and "state regulators are also capable of intervening on behalf of utility customers." 

In other words, people with power could act. But they're not going to unless the people demand it, so hopefully this tracker will help people realize that when they pay their power bill, it could be lower if their provider weren't funding propaganda, too.

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