FIRST LOOK(s):

TODAY at 10:15 a.m., the Pew Charitable Trusts will host the White House Council on Environmental Quality, along with local, state, and federal resilience leaders, to discuss government-wide efforts aimed at improving the nation’s resilience to climate and weather-related risks and vulnerabilities. Register here.

Climate Nexus is seeking to connect frontline, Black, Indigenous, and people of color-led (BIPOC) groups with resources through Energy Equity Grants. Grants range from $20,000-$40,000. Apply here (y en español aquí). For more information and social materials to spread the word, click here. 

Climate Destabilizing South Asian Monsoons: The monsoon cycle is integral to South Asia's agriculture, economy, and culture, but climate change is destabilizing weather patterns, and life itself, for nearly one-quarter of the world's people, the New York Times reports. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is making the historically relatively-predictable monsoon season more unpredictable and deadly — depriving farmers like Bhagwat Gagre in Kumbharwadi, India, of crucially-needed rains while dumping so much rain elsewhere that one-third of Bangladesh was underwater in 2020 and one-third of Pakistan was submerged this summer. The flooding in Pakistan has killed at least 1,695 people as the country enters "a second wave of death and destruction fueled by the rapid spread of waterborne disease, Julien Harneis, UN humanitarian coordinator for Pakistan, told reporters earlier this week. (New York Times $; Pakistan: The Independent, Reuters)

2022 Northern Hemisphere Heat 'Virtually Impossible' Without Climate Change: The widespread extreme heat that fueled drought across the Northern Hemisphere this summer would have been "virtually impossible" without the effects of climate change, an analysis released Wednesday by World Weather Attribution finds. The findings illustrate how the impacts of climate change — in this case, extreme heat and historic droughts in parts of Europe, the U.S., and China — are harming people now. The extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, the main driver of climate change, has already increased global temperatures by 1.2°C (2.2°F) above preindustrial levels, and made this summer's drought 20 times more likely to occur. “In many of these countries and regions, we are clearly, according to the science, already seeing the fingerprints of climate change,” Maarten van Aalst, director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center and one of the report's co-authors, told the New York Times. (New York Times $, AP, The Guardian; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves, Drought, Western megadrought)

Methane Leaks From Permian Gathering Lines 14x Higher Than EPA Estimates: Enough methane gas leaks from pipelines between Permian wellheads and processing facilities to power 2.1 million homes, a study published Tuesday in Environmental Science and Technology Letters finds. The 213,000 metric tons of methane escaping from so-called gathering lines is 14 times higher than a previous EPA finding. The study represents the second finding that EPA is underestimating methane pollution in as many weeks and is at least the fourth such finding this year. Methane, the main ingredient in so-called "natural gas," is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, trapping more than 80 times more heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 20-year period. The assessment, conducted by researchers from Stanford, U. of Arizona, EDF, and Carbon Mapper, is based on aerial surveys and did not examine the mechanisms by which methane was escaping from gathering lines. Methane pollution, especially from oil and gas operations owned by private equity firms in the Permian Basin, is increasing — as is its prominence in global efforts to address the climate crisis. (E&E $, Houston Chronicle)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Flint water crisis charges dropped for 7 former officials (AP, The Hill), Flint residents ‘disappointed and angry’ after dismissal of criminal water charges (Michigan Live)

HURRICANE IAN: Florida’s deadliest hurricane in years may worsen inequality, homelessness amid DeSantis’s culture war (Democracy Now), Florida’s waterways contaminated post-Ian, posing health risks (Washington Post $), Power crews in Florida work to restore electricity to flooded areas (NPR), Hurricane Ian’s climate change connections: A reading (and viewing) list (Texas Climate News), The ‘hurricane tax’: How Ian is pushing Florida's home insurance market toward collapse (Grist)

• CLEANUP: Migrants are leading clean-up efforts in Florida, despite DeSantis’ crusade against them (TIME)
• HOUSING (IN)JUSTICE: The post-storm affordable housing crisis (Axios)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: EU agrees oil price cap in new Russia sanctions plan (Politico Pro $), Europe energy in deep crisis mode (Forbes), France to turn off hot water in public offices to save energy (Reuters), Germany to subsidise electric bills with 13 bln euro grid fee payment (Reuters), Italy's Edison seen in play as parent EDF nationalised (Reuters), Russia resumes gas deliveries to Italy (Wall Street Journal $), The EU is preparing for blackouts this winter, amid an energy crisis (Washington Post $), Top European Union official backs calls for gas price cap (Wall Street Journal $), Gas crisis set to worsen after Europe burns through winter stocks (Reuters), France fights winter shortages with new energy-saving drive (AP), US to boost gas exports to Germany under deal with EnBW (FT $)

(CLIMATE) DIPLOMACY: Europe must show 'far greater ambition' on climate -UN (Reuters), US looks to ease Venezuela sanctions, enabling Chevron to pump oil (Wall Street Journal $)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: First 'kids' climate trial will be heard in Montana (E&E $)

DENIAL & DISINFO: Climate change deniers find an unlikely hero in Joe Biden's top hurricane expert (HuffPost), Green groups ask social media companies to do more to address climate disinformation (The Hill)

FOSSIL VOLATILITY: Americans are staring down increased heating costs as winter approaches (The Hill)

COST/BENEFITS: Cutting emissions will hit growth, but costs of inaction much higher, says IMF (The Guardian)

GOP vs. ESG: Louisiana joins states leaving BlackRock over ESG concerns (Politico Pro $), Fund managers, regulators wrestle over plans to tighten ESG rules (Wall Street Journal $)

EACOP: China and Ugandan leader decry EU’s call to halt planned African oil pipeline (South China Morning Post)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: NextEra, PGE open US’ first wind-solar-battery project as Inflation Reduction Act ups storage options (Utility Dive), The climate economy is about to explode (The Atlantic), US seeks public input on climate law's $270 billion in tax breaks (Reuters)

• SIDE DEALS: How fight over states’ rights may upend permitting overhaul (E&E News)

SCOTUS: The Supreme Court might actually side with the EPA in Clean Water Act case (Gizmodo)

AGENCIES: GOP warns agencies to tread carefully on regulations (E&E $)

EPA: EPA is 'falling behind' on power plant rules, report says (Washington Post $), US EPA expected to propose electric cars be eligible for renewable fuel credits -sources (Reuters)

DOI: Haaland: Historic massacre site in Colo. set to expand (E&E $)

DOT: Pipeline safety agency with big task lacks key resources (Roll Call)

EXECUTIVE BRANCH: The Air Force has released its first plan to reduce its carbon footprint and adapt to climate change (NBC)

WHITE HOUSE: Disasters divert Biden's fall agenda (Politico), Oil production cuts roil White House (E&E $), Podesta, IRS get to work on climate law’s tax incentives (E&E News, Politico Pro $)

• IAN: Biden to storm-ravaged Florida: ‘We’re not going to leave’ (AP), Biden joins GOP foes as he tours hurricane destruction (E&E News), Biden, Florida's DeSantis stress unity in Hurricane Ian recovery (Reuters, New York Times $)
• FIONA: Biden pledges extra $60 million to help Puerto Rico 'rebuild it all' (Gizmodo), Biden shows Puerto Rico he cares. It may not be enough. (Politico)

THE HILL: Lawmakers lay energy, environment markers ahead of election (E&E $), Mary Peltola follows Don Young's footsteps in early agenda (E&E $), This House Republican may hold the keys to climate policy (E&E News)

POLITICS: Ron DeSantis is at the forefront of new Republican climate politics (TIME), Oil and gas industry’s top lobbying arm considers another climate policy (Washington Post $)

TRIBES: From grassroots to governments, LANDBACK returns stolen land (Prism Reports)

CITIES AND STATES: Here are the greenest cities in America (The Hill), VA energy plan packs some bipartisan policy nuggets (E&E $)

• CALIFORNIA: As Salton Sea faces ecological collapse, a plan to save it with ocean water is rejected (LA Times $), How California musicians are responding to climate change (New York Times $), California agencies float Colorado River water cuts proposal (AP)

FERC: Lawsuit targets FERC review loophole for Fla. LNG project (E&E $), New York grid operator challenges FERC reliability order in DC Circuit (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Protecting our elders from Hurricane Ian and beyond (Atmos), Emergency evacuations can be stressful for people with dementia. Caregivers can help. (Yale Climate Connections), Farmers across eastern Australia brace for ‘wet drought’ as rain threatens major crop loss (The Guardian), Is never-ending La Niña the new normal? (The Hill), Natural disasters during pregnancy have big implications for kids’ mental health (HuffPost), Climate Migration: Floods displace villagers in Indonesia (AP), What will the world look like at 1.5 degrees Celsius? (Context), Sydney beats 1950 rainfall record with 3 wet months to spare (AP), Kathmandu finally got tap water. after a climate disaster, it was gone. (New York Times $)

REQUIEM FOR A SEASON: Extreme summer: How climate change turned a season of joy into a season of disaster (Washington Post $)

HEAT: Shaken by heatwaves, US clinics get tips on staying cool (Context)

HURRICANES: Drones give NOAA a fresh look at the power of hurricanes (E&E $)

• 91L: A new named storm is likely to form soon in the Caribbean (Washington Post $), Disturbance 91L drenches the Windward Islands (Yale Climate Connections), Disturbance in the Atlantic now has 80 percent chance of development (The Hill)

DROUGHT: Mississippi River falls, stranding barges and forcing fixes (E&E $), Snow loss is fueling the west’s megadrought (Grist)

WATER: Beset by drought, a west Texas farmer loses his cotton crop and fears a hotter and drier future state water planners aren’t considering (Inside Climate News), California offers to reduce imports of Colorado river water (CAL Matters)

DEFORESTATION: Brazil election gains for Bolsonaro fuel Amazon destruction fears (Context)

PFAS: Study links in utero ‘forever chemical’ exposure to low sperm count and mobility (The Guardian), ‘Forever chemicals’ in deer, fish challenge hunters, tourism (WCAX)

LIES, DAMN LIES, AND CO2 ACCOUNTING: Everyone counts CO2 differently. Scientists have a solution. (E&E News)

RENEWABLES: For offshore wind aspirations to become reality, transmission hurdles must be cleared (Virginia Mercury), Siemens Gamesa to replace head of struggling onshore wind unit - memo (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Former Apple car executive’s battery startup plans $1.6 billion factory in Michigan (Wall Street Journal $), US steps away from flagship lithium project with Buffett's Berkshire (Reuters)

STORAGE: Form Energy raises $450 million to extend battery storage (Axios)

LNG: Cheniere breaks ground on $8B Corpus Christi expansion in bet on natural gas future (Houston Chronicle), Alaska LNG joined by Hilcorp, Asian firms to study ammonia, CCS (Natural Gas Intel), High gas prices cloud Asia's push for LNG (Wall Street Journal $)

METHANE: Nord Stream leaked less methane than feared: atmospheric monitor (Phys.org)

OIL & GAS: Fuel price hikes likely as US inventories fall and OPEC promises cuts (Houston Chronicle), Natural gas production to increase 4 percent this winter, companies forecast (Houston Chronicle), US shale producers to remain on sidelines if OPEC+ cuts output (Reuters), Years into fracking boom, air regulators can’t keep up (E&E News)

OPEC: OPEC+ announces 2 million-barrel production cut (The Hill), OPEC+ agrees to biggest oil production cut since start of pandemic (Wall Street Journal $)

• US REACTION: Biden ‘disappointed’ by OPEC+ decision to cut oil production (The Hill), OPEC oil cut sparks war of words with Biden administration (Politico Pro $), OPEC oil output cut fuels Dems’ gas price fears (Politico), Democrats excoriate Saudis over OPEC+ decision (The Hill), What OPEC's 2 million-barrel cut could mean for US gas prices (Axios)

UTILITIES: American utilities aren’t living up to their climate pledges, new report finds (The Verge), 97% of smart meters fail to provide promised customer benefits. Can $3B in new funding change that? (Utility Dive), Duke Energy, AEP boost carbon reduction targets (E&E $), AEP eyes sale of competitive retail business in PJM as company focuses on regulated wires, renewables (Utility Dive), Switching from natural gas to coal said more difficult for electric utilities (Natural Gas Intel)

EVs: US acknowledges child labor in electric vehicle supply chain (Gizmodo), Ford’s electric F-150 Lightning truck gets higher starting price—again (Wall Street Journal $), Most electric car buyers don't switch back to gas (Axios), Want faster, cheaper EV charger installations? Stop digging (Canary Media), US shift on child labor may scramble EV sector (E&E News)

PROBABLY?: Could a Chinese invasion of Taiwan derail the net-zero transition? (Energy Monitor)

POLLUTION: Lung cancer in nonsmokers? Study identifies air pollution as a trigger (Inside Climate News)

POLLUTION, BUT MORE PROFITABLE: McKinsey’s secret ties to top polluters detailed in new book (E&E $)

AGRICULTURE: Can lab-grown milk solve dairy’s climate problem? (Context)

OLYMPICS: Brisbane 2032 Olympics organiser defends sitting on board of fossil fuel company (The Guardian)

CARBON PRICING: 2 groups plan to focus on carbon credits from urban forests (NPR)

RICH BOYS AND THEIR TOYS: Elon Musk’s texts shatter the myth of the tech genius (The Atlantic), Musk to buy Twitter after all, in reversal that will reshape 2024 (Politico)

NUCLEAR: Nuclear share in energy generation falls to lowest in four decades-report (Reuters)

TRASH FASHION: Inside the world of 'Junk Kouture' (Good Morning America)

WILDLIFE: Trouble in the tropics: The terrestrial insects of Brazil are in decline (Mongabay), Orca vs. shark: Rare drone footage shows killer whales mauling great whites (Washington Post $)

INTERNATIONAL: Dutch nitrogen mediator advises buying out biggest polluters (AP), What does sustainable living look like? Maybe like Uruguay (New York Times $), France ski world blasts Asian Winter Games in Saudi Arabia (AP), Vancouver City Council bans large fossil fuel facilities (AP), Missing snow puts famed New Zealand ski areas on precipice (AP)

• The climate crisis is here: Are we ready? (The Hill, Andreas Karelas op-ed)
• Green hydrogen revolution risks dying of thirst (Reuters, Antony Currie op-ed)
• We can kick our coal-burning addiction. Here are some ideas. (New York Times, Joseph Curtin op-ed $)
• Progressives should rally around a clean energy construction boom (New York Times, David Wallace-Wells op-ed $)
• Legislature must remake water laws for a drier California (CAL Matters, Walter “Redgie” Collins op-ed)
• Here’s why we need a world climate parliament now (Context, Dennis Tänzler op-ed)
• The Guardian view on COP27: Climate justice must take centre stage (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Truss’s policy on environment seems to be: don’t think about it (The Guardian, Helena Horton analysis)
• You can’t build roads without oil (Wall Street Journal, Jacob Borden column $)
• The fed has to stay the course against inflation (Wall Street Journal, Jason Furman column $)
• ‘The future is disabled’ imagines a world oriented around care and safety (TeenVogue, Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha op-ed)
• I survived the rig explosion that caused the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. This is what I saw. (The Real News, Leo Lindner interview)
• Patagonia’s greenwashing ignores workers and won’t solve the climate crisis (Truthout, Robert Jackson Wood op-ed)
• Elon Musk wants Twitter again … we think. (Poynter, Tom Jones op-ed)
• The best defense against the energy weapon: big oil (Wall Street Journal, William Magnuson op-ed $)
• What can we learn from Hurricane Ian? (The Hill, Zur Shapira op-ed)

Fox Mad about Climate Coverage Like Newsmax's, Daily Caller Still Shady About Its Big Oil Propaganda

Yesterday's post with a little good-ish news was fun, so today we're going to take another victory lap of sorts. 

Because while Fox and other rightwing noise machines are always going to screech about any media coverage connecting a hurricane like Ian with climate change, usually they only have a handful of options to choose from. 

This time, according to a story from Fox, they have over 600: "Climate change was a central topic of conversation throughout on-air coverage of Hurricane Ian, with the phrase mentioned across CNN, MSNBC, ABC, CBS, and NBC more than 600 times in a one-week period." 

The story included lots of great quotes, and explains the basics of the connection by noting that "the vast majority of these instances saw hosts, reporters and guests state that climate change was causing oceans to warm, and thus were exacerbating and intensifying major natural disasters, including forest fires and storms such as hurricanes." 

Noticeably absent, though, was any significant pushback on the science itself. 

Perhaps that's because of another issue disinfo outlets were upset about — someone from the UN recently bragged about how they worked with Google to put quality science at the top of search results, instead of climate disinformation. "We own the science" the woman from the UN said in a talk on Tackling Disinformation, and people who got their degrees from YouTube University are very mad about it.  

Naturally, the Daily Caller's Jack McEvoy reached out to professional propagandists for comment, writing a story claiming there's some "shady deals" going on, according to Mike Davis of the Internet Accountability Project, whose entire job is to attack "Big Tech" for supposedly "colluding with their liberal allies in government to stifle dissent and promote their radical social agenda." Yes, it seems that Google putting quality science at the top of its search results is just another piece of evidence for the "radical social agenda" of… making sure search results return credible information. How scandalous! 

Seriously though, it's great that Google is working with actual experts instead of rewarding fake news sites for trying to game an algorithm to sucker more people into their disinfo-world.  

Also great? That at least one of the usually-wrong rightwing disinfo outlets is actually giving its geriatric audience some good advice for a change! Newsmax, the Fox News for people who think Fox News is too tethered to reality, isn't propped up by fossil fuel money, so Finance editor Lee Barney interviewed their "retirement investing specialist" Chris Orestis "about how global warming trends can affect retirees' lives and investments." 

And incredibly, given that it often carries climate- and other disinfo from rightwing sources, for example, an op-ed from a fossil-funded-fool disputing the hurricane-climate connection, and has tried to gin up paid subscribers with climate disinfo, Orestis gives compassionate and accurate advice. "The rise of heat waves, wildfires, and drought, as well as hurricanes and flooding," he says, "are all recipes for disaster in the lives of seniors not well suited to cope with these conditions." 

The last question is "has the time come that climate change needs to be a part of retirement planning?" and Orestis concludes with "whatever someone’s beliefs are about the causes for climate change doesn’t really matter when it comes to people’s lives. The world has reached a 'Code Red' moment as the climate has undeniably changed and will continue to change at an accelerating pace—and seniors will be among the most vulnerable and impacted people to the financial, health and lifestyle consequences to come." 

Turns out conservative disinfo-spreading pseudo-news outlets can tell the truth about climate change! It's just a matter of listening to real experts, not professional liars.

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