FIRST LOOK: 

Gas Stoves Cause 12.7% Of US Childhood Asthma: Gas stoves are responsible for more than one out of every eight cases of childhood asthma in the U.S., according to new research. The findings, published just before Christmas in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, come as the Biden administration considers taking action to safeguard the public from the health dangers posed by gas stoves. The health and climate dangers of gas-burning stoves (even when turned off) are well-established, but the fact that 650,000 American children have asthma caused by gas stoves — about the same as caused by second-hand smoke — was still "eye popping" for researchers. “We knew this was a problem but we didn’t know how bad," Brady Seals of RMI who undertook the research with epidemiologists from the U.S. and Australia. "This study shows that if we got rid of gas stoves we would prevent 12.7% of childhood asthma cases, which I think most people would want to do.” “We can and must FIX this,” DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted Wednesday. (The Guardian, Washington Post $, Gizmodo, CBS, Yahoo, Boston Globe $, Boston.com, CBS Boston, The Saxon)

California Whiplash Fueled By Climate Change: The repeated, major storms dumping levee-breaching rain on California are both insufficient to alleviate the Golden State's drought, and a symptom of the climate change-fueled weather whiplash exacerbating both droughts and extreme precipitation events. As the continued extraction and combustion of fossil fuels warms the atmosphere, it increases aridity and makes droughts more frequent and severe. It also enables the atmosphere to hold (and release) more water, making extreme and destructive precipitation events more likely. “When it comes to things like extreme precipitation events and extreme heat waves, we know, essentially without a doubt, that they will increase with a warming climate, and we have warmed 1 degree [Celsius] already,” UCLA climatologist Daniel Swain told Bloomberg. To actually California's extreme drought, “We need this stuff to happen this month, February, March, April — every month to really build up the snowpack, fill up those [water] reservoirs and knock down those [precipitation] deficits,” Richard Heim, a meteorologist with the National Centers for Environmental Information, told The Verge. “Unfortunately, a lot of it is coming too fast, too heavy.” The storms are taking an especially heavy toll on unhoused people, many of whom feel forced to ride out the extreme weather outside because they would be forced to abandon their belongings in order to enter a shelter. (Levees: E&E News; Whiplash: Bloomberg $, The Verge, Washington Post $, San Francisco Chronicle, Grist; Unhoused dangers: San Francisco Chronicle; Climate Signals background: Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase, Western Megadrought)

Urgent Climate Action Can Limit, But Not Prevent, Glacier Loss: Rapid action to slash fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas pollution could save tens of thousands of glaciers and prevent about an inch of sea level rise, a study published Thursday in Science finds. Even if global temperature increase, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, is limited to the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5°C (2.7°F) over preindustrial levels, 104,000 of the world’s more than 215,000 will melt completely, raising sea levels by just under 4 inches. “Any reduction in the temperature increase will have a substantial impact on sea-level rise and the loss of glaciers globally,” David Rounce, a Carnegie Mellon glaciology and engineering professor and lead author of the study, told the Washington Post. “No matter what, we’re going to lose a lot of the glaciers,” he told the AP. “But we have the ability to make a difference by limiting how many glaciers we lose.” (Washington Post $, AP, The Guardian, CNN, NPR, Axios, The Independent, Le Monde, Al Jazeera, AFP; Climate Signals background: Glacier and ice sheet melt)

(CLIMATE) INJUSTICE: The world’s torrid future is etched in the crippled kidneys of Nepali workers (Washington Post $)

CALIFORNIA STORMS: 'Widespread significant flooding' possible by Tuesday (San Francisco Chronicle), 'Hell and high water: California’s wild weather uproots trees, strains state (New York Times $, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times $, Axios, Gizmodo, Democracy Now, WBUR, New York Times $, NPR, Reuters, NPR, Politico Pro $), Downtown San Francisco breaks 152-year-old rainfall record in recent storms (San Francisco Chronicle), Photos and videos capture damage as massive swell batters Santa Cruz coast (San Francisco Chronicle, Axios), Several California rivers at increased risk of flooding after major storms (San Francisco Chronicle), Week of storms tests California’s approach to taming nature (New York Times $), What it’s like to suffer through an atmospheric river in California (Washington Post $), Toddler killed by falling tree in storm mourned by sonoma family: 'He shined like the sun' (San Francisco Chronicle), What are atmospheric rivers and bomb cyclones? (Reuters explainer)

EACOP: Fear and oil in Uganda (New York Review of Books)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: ‘Unprecedented’ winter heat wave eases energy woes in Europe (E&E News), Energy efficiency ‘war effort’ needed to cut bills and emissions, say MPs (The Guardian), Even in crisis, Germany extends power exports to neighbours (Reuters)

BUILDINGS: Coming soon: smart homes where the electricity isn’t so dumb (The Verge, PV Magazine, CNET)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: The newest fronts in climate-change-related legal battles (Reuters Factbox)

GOP vs. ESG: Kentucky becomes the newest battleground in Republicans’ fight against green investing (Grist)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Power projects driven by new US law not seen until late 2023 or 2024 -MasTec CEO (Reuters), Rhode Island aims to be first to use Inflation Reduction Act to deploy solar for low-income homeowners (Utility Dive)

AGENCIES: Biden administration to miss deadlines on major environmental rules (Washington Post $, Politico Pro $), Biden agenda, lithium mine, tribes, greens collide in Nevada (AP), Lawsuit seeks information on FEMA fossil fuel funding (E&E $)

EPA: EPA backs off Permian Basin smog crackdown (E&E $), EPA debuts ‘forever chemicals’ database (E&E News), EPA targets plastics company in PFAS probe (E&E News)

DOE: DOE official warns of solar supply chain risks (Axios), Energy Department: Keystone XL cancellation cost jobs, but its consumer impacts couldn’t be measured (The Hill)

DOI: Manchin's favorite federal offshore fossil fuel lease sale flops (Gizmodo)

WHITE HOUSE: White House tackles price gouging in prisons (The Root), Biden signs water bills benefiting 3 tribes in Arizona (AP)

HOUSE: McCarthy fails on 11th ballot amid hopes for tentative deal with conservatives (Politico, E&E $), 3 climate takeaways from the GOP speaker meltdown (E&E News), What McCarthy alternatives mean for energy, climate policy (E&E News), Despite speaker chaos, GOP has high hopes for energy agenda (E&E News, E&E $)

SENATE: Senate Democrats look for staffers to probe fossil fuels (E&E News), Stabenow to leave Senate next year, setting off battleground-state jostling (Politico Pro $)

POLITICS: DeSantis took billions before attacking federal 'spending binge' (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Advocates say Massachusetts clean heat policy needs focus on heat pumps, equity (Energy News Network), Mass. hires first climate chief to fight warming, bureaucracy (E&E $), New York City buying more than 900 EVs for government fleets (Reuters), Alarm as US states pass ‘very concerning’ anti-homeless laws (The Guardian), Calif. analysis punches holes in state climate plan (E&E $)

FERC: Biden's FERC pick defrays tension with Manchin, GOP over climate change (Houston Chronicle)

IMPACTS: Survey: 3.3 million US adults displaced by natural disasters in past year (Axios, AP), Large US insurer opens climate division (E&E $)

HEAT: UK’s record hot 2022 made 160 times more likely by climate crisis (The Guardian, AP, CBS), How a ‘totally insane warm spell is upending winter around the world (Washington Post $)

RENEWABLES: Four big things to expect in clean energy in 2023 (Inside Climate News), SolarEdge sees US solar growth slowing in 2023, European markets surging (Reuters)

WOOD: Should the EU count wood as a renewable fuel? Opinions are divided. (Energy Monitor)

LNG: Court won’t stop south Texas LNG facility (AP)

OIL & GAS: 3 trends set to shape oil and gas this year (E&E News), Exxon says natural gas decline weighed on fourth-quarter profit (Bloomberg $)

PIPELINES: U.S. pipeline regulator probing 60-barrel leak on Colonial's Line 3 -source (Reuters)

COAL: Australian coal industry says China market matters less than before, even if import ban ends (The Guardian)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen's many colours (Reuters Factbox), India approves $2.3 billion to develop green hydrogen (AP), Germany's hydrogen needs can be filled by Norway - econ minister (Reuters), Huge subsidies by some developed nations on green hydrogen distorting trade - India minister (Reuters), PG&E, Energy Vault to build green hydrogen energy storage system (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Was Duke Energy's forecasting accurate? Questions remain after Christmas Eve blackouts (WRAL), 4 utilities join Southeast market key for renewable energy (E&E $), Regulators decry Entergy's 'blatantly incorrect' claim on customer refunds (Politico Pro $)

GRID: Why are electricity prices so high and are rolling blackouts possible? (CBS), 2 charged with conspiracy to damage energy facilities in Washington substation attacks (Utility Dive)

EVs: CES 2023: Stellantis preps cost cuts due to higher EV prices (AP, SmartCities Dive), Mercedes to launch vehicle-charging network, starting in North America (Reuters, New York Times $, Wall Street Journal $)

AGRICULTURE: Midwest states court indoor hog and poultry production, despite the millions of gallons of manure (KCUR), The ‘Plant Daddy of Dallas is paving the way for clean, profitable urban agriculture (Inside Climate News)

BOOKS: How will climate change destroy us? ‘The Deluge’ imagines the scenarios. (Washington Post $)

BUSINESSES: Greener, more secure supply chains won’t come cheap (Wall Street Journal $)

CARBON CAPTURE: Judge rules against moratorium on carbon capture project (AP)

COMEDY: Comedians made some hilarious jokes about climate change. Were they right? (Washington Post $)

FINANCE: World Bank moots stronger strategic focus on climate action (Climate Home)

CONSIDER GIVING HANK HILL AN ANEURYSM: Have a yard? Consider adding a rain garden. (Mother Jones)

WILDLIFE: Researchers identify potential climate havens for vulnerable plants and animals (Yale Climate Connections)

INTERNATIONAL: Bangladesh puts energy hopes in first nuclear power plant, despite delay (Context), Brazil has a new president, and a renewed chance to save the Amazon (Democracy Now), Germany to draw up legislation to enable carbon storage (AP), President Lula’s first pro-environment acts protect Indigenous people and the Amazon (Mongabay)

• Texans helped Norwegians discover oil. Now they can help Texas develop new energy (Houston Chronicle, Chris Tomlinson column)
• The Guardian view on Europe’s heatwave: the door is closing – but there is a way out (The Guardian Editorial Board)
• Clean energy tax credit transferability: Hero of the Inflation Reduction Act? (Utility Dive, Eric Rubinstein)
• A chat with Nicole Luckey, SVP at Invenergy (Canary Media, interview)
• Health care sector decarbonization to accelerate in 2023: How to do it best (The Hill, Matthew Meyer and Bill Shobe op-ed)
• Will climate change really put New York underwater? (Wall Street Journal, Steven Koonin op-ed $)

Disinfluencer Steve Koonin Asks if Climate Change Will Put New York Underwater, 10 Years After Superstorm Sandy Put New York Underwater

We all know that person who did something mildly interesting once and then never shuts up about it for the rest of their life: the semester-abroad student who came home with a cheesy forced accent they refuse to drop, the former athlete who still wears their letter jacket well into middle age, or the once-viral sensation forever attempting to recreate their 15 minutes of fame. These tragic figures serve as constant reminders that the glory days are great, but being trapped in them is not. 

But at least these people have their glory days. For others, even their crowning achievement was more of a Burger King crown than one made of gold and jewels, yet these folks still rest on their faux laurels for the rest of their lives. 

Such is the fate of disinfluencer Steve Koonin, who has spent over a decade relying on the fact that he spent two scant years as a token conservative contrarian in the Department of Energy during President Obama's first term. In the many years since Koonin's '09 appointment, he has basically dedicated his life to being the former "Obama scientist"' who says climate change is no big deal and who turned a terrible 2014 WSJ op-ed into a terrible book and a bunch more op-eds. 

His accolades these days? Well, he may be one of the most-fact-checked figures on ClimateFeedback, which has corrected his climate disinfo on multiple different occasions. As we pointed out last March, in addition to other fact checkers correcting him, Koonin sometimes even debunks himself!  

His latest op-ed in the Wall Street Journal is more of the same, with a headline asking if climate change can "really put New York underwater?" Koonin rejects the findings from fringe sources like NASA and NOAA, which point out that yes, sea level rise is a major threat to New York, and instead insists that because "sea level hasn't done anything in recent decades that it hasn't done over the past century," there's no need to build sea walls or "dash to higher ground." 

Now first of all, climate change has already put New York underwater. Remember 2012's Superstorm Sandy? No? Well here are some reminders that climate change has already put New York and, more importantly, New Yorkers underwater. 

So, Koonin is asking if climate change-driven sea level rise could be a problem for the city in the future, a full decade after climate change-driven sea level rise from Superstorm Sandy caused $8.1 billion in additional flood damages. 

Yes, the waters did recede, and climate scientists aren't saying that the city will suddenly wake up one day entirely underwater. Instead, it works like this. First, storms like Sandy push water inland further than before. Then, as the sea rises, high tides will get higher and start to encroach on once-dry land, as we're already seeing in Miami, Louisiana, and… oh, hey, what do you know, New York City. By the time the sea has permanently risen over land, it has already temporarily done so for a while, first from extreme storms, then extreme tides, and then just regular high tides, so people and infrastructure have already been forced out before the water's there full-time.

Apparently Koonin (whose byline describes him as "a professor at New York University" and "senior fellow" at the Koch/Exxon/conservative billionaire-funded, Stanford-embarrassing, and misinformation-producing Hoover Institution) is unaware of how the passage of time works. And no one at the WSJ's opinion page thought to inform him that past and future are different. 

Well we're no Obama scientists, but perhaps we can explain this concept to Steve. 

In the past, things happened a particular way, due to the set of conditions at the time. But if something changes, like the concentration of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, and that in turn induces other changes, like a rapid melt of Greenland ice, then it is in fact possible that the future may actually differ from the past! 

That changing past conditions leads to different future outcomes shouldn't be a hard concept for former scientist Steven Koonin to understand. But perhaps you can see why someone like him is having trouble with time, given that he's stuck in a past where his Obama-era credentials are impressive and not actually an admission that he hasn't done a day of honest work since. 

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