Maui Fires Illustrate Long History Of Colonialism: Native Hawaiians and longtime Lāhainā residents worry the aftermath of the wildfires that incinerated much of the former capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom will exacerbate the colonial trends that set the stage for the devastating conflagration and other ongoing crises. The official death toll is now 99 and is expected to rise. “I’m more concerned of big land developers coming in and seeing this charred land as an opportunity to rebuild,” Richy Palalay, who has "Lāhainā Grown" tattooed on his forearms, told the AP at an evacuation shelter over the weekend. Adding, hotels and condos “that we can’t afford, that we can’t afford to live in — that’s what we’re afraid of." Lāhainā used to be a wetland, Kaniela Ing, a seventh-generation indigenous Hawaiian living on O'ahu and the national director of the Green New Deal Network, told HEATED. “Lāhainā wasn’t always a dry, fire-prone region. It was very wet and lush, historically," Ing said. ”But at the dawn of the 18th century, sugar barons arrived and illicitly diverted the water to irrigate the lands they had stolen. … So on one hand, the climate emergency caused this. On the other, it’s also that history of colonial greed that made Lāhainā the dry place that it is." Along Maui's west coast, what were modest starter homes in the early 2000s now sell for $1 million. “So a lot of more recent arrivals — typically from the American mainland who have more money and can buy homes at a higher price — were to some extent displacing local families in Lāhainā,” Sterling Higa, head of Housing Hawai'i’s Future, a nonprofit organization advocating for more housing in Hawai'i, told the AP. “We need to be doing wellness checks for disaster survivors, not just for the first month, but even for years out," Ing added. "If you look at the far right, they’re doing this. Proud Boys are out doing disaster relief. So we need to be the ones doing it. Stop talking, stop navel gazing, and mobilizing people who already care about climate, and start asking people what they need." (Modern colonialism: AP; Historic colonialism: HEATED, Democracy Now; Deaths: AP) [Additional coverage below. — Ed.]

Panama Drought Limits Canal Traffic: An extended drought is delaying ships' passage through the Panama Canal, setting off a logjam of vessels waiting to pass though one of the world's most important shipping routes. The unusually lengthy dry season, and resulting water shortages, has forced the Panama Canal Authority (ACP) to restrict the number of ships passing through the canal each day, along with their maximum depth. Those restrictions come in the face of what the ACP described as "unprecedented challenges'' with "no historical precedence." More than 3% of the world's trade volume, including liquified methane gas from the U.S., and as much as 29% of container trade crossing the Pacific passes through the Panama Canal. (The Guardian, FT $, CNBC, Yahoo, Reuters, Jalopnik)

Montana Youth Prevail In Climate Lawsuit: A Montana law promoting fossil fuels violated the state's constitutional guarantee of a “clean and healthful environment," a state judge ruled Monday. The case was brought by nonprofit law firm Our Children's Trust along with the Western Environmental Law Center and McGarvey Law on behalf of 16 young Montanans, ages 5 to 22. The sweeping order in Held v. Montana, which includes extensive findings on the science of climate change, found provisions of the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) prohibiting the state from considering greenhouse gas pollution in environmental reviews of energy projects violated the plaintiffs' rights because the state's greenhouse gas pollution is "nationally and globally significant," and as such "cause and contribute to climate change and plaintiffs’ injuries and reduce the opportunity to alleviate Plaintiffs’ injuries." “I’m so speechless right now,” Eva, a plaintiff who was 14 when the suit was filed, said in a statement. “I’m really just excited and elated and thrilled.” “This is a huge win for Montana, for youth, for democracy, and for our climate,” Our Children's Trust founder Julia Olson said. “More rulings like this will certainly come.” The state has 60 days to appeal the ruling to the Montana Supreme Court. (The Guardian, AP, Washington Post $, The Hill, New York Times $, Gizmodo, Reuters, CNN, Axios, Politico, Bloomberg $, Vox)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Arkansas abruptly removes ap African American studies course just days before school year starts (NewsOne)

COP28: UAE-owned company hires lobbyists to deflect climate talks criticism (FT $)

MAUI FIRES: Hawaii works to identify 99 confirmed dead after Maui wildfires as teams intensify search (AP, Democracy Now, Bloomberg $, CNN, FT $, Gizmodo), Wildfires in Maui are among the deadliest in US history. These are the other fires atop the list (AP, Washington Post $, Reuters), What to know about Hawaii's catastrophic wildfires (Axios), Why the Maui wildfires were so deadly (Axios), Three things to know about the Maui wildfires (E&E $), How fire turned Lahaina into a death trap (New York Times $), How — and when — is best to donate to those affected by the Maui wildfires? (AP)

• TERROR AND SURVIVAL: They were alone in a fight to survive. Maui residents had moments to make life-or-death choices (AP)
• CLIMATE CHANGE: 'This is the climate crisis': Michael Mann on Maui wildfires & why disasters are becoming deadlier (Democracy Now), How Maui’s wildfires became so apocalyptic (Vox)
• EMERGENCY PREP AND RESPONSE: Hawaiian Electric draws scrutiny in search for what sparked deadly wildfire (New York Times $, Bloomberg $, CNBC)
• Emergency response questioned as Hawaii residents survey wildfire ruins (Washington Post $), FEMA boss on Maui aftermath: ‘Nothing can prepare you’ (E&E News)
• DISINFO: A video doesn’t show a laser beam igniting Maui’s wildfires. It’s a transformer explosion in Chile (AP), Trees and poles standing amid Maui fire wreckage aren’t unusual, contrary to conspiracy theories (AP)
• HISTORY LOST AND PRESERVED: Cultural Hawaii landmarks forever lost to wildfires, but stories of sacred sites won’t be easily erased (NewsOne)
• HUMAN LOSS: A family of four, a beloved uncle and his best friend. These are some of the lives lost in Maui (AP), Victim vignettes: Hawaii wildfires lead to indescribable grief as families learn fate of loved ones (AP), Nearly a week after Maui wildfire, islanders survey aftermath and look ahead to recovery (AP PHOTOS), Crisis counselors offer mental health support to Hawaii wildfire survivors (AP)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Big Oil targets state judges in climate cases (E&E News)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: A $500 million deal to restore Gabon’s coast reignites climate finance debate (AP)

DENIAL & DISINFO: John Kerry did not say US farmers should ‘go extinct’ (Reuters, Fact Check)

GOP vs. ESG: Bankers hate saying ‘ESG’ but are hardwiring it into finance (Bloomberg $)

PUT THE FUN BETWEEN YOUR LEGS: E-bike incentive programs are spreading nationwide (Axios)

ARE YOU IN GOOD HANDS?: Wildfires and thunderstorms are throwing insurance market into turbulence (Wall Street Journal $)

CLIMATE COMMUNICATION: Lost in translation? Climate experts aim to break language barrier (Context)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Biden, Yellen lead blitz to celebrate Inflation Reduction Act (Bloomberg $), Is the IRA transforming US solar production? Experts disagree. (E&E $), The new climate law is upending the solar landscape (Axios), The US passed a major climate law one year ago. Here’s how it’s going (Canary Media), Yes, inflation is down. No, the Inflation Reduction Act doesn’t deserve the credit (AP)

AGENCIES: FEMA officials: Flood maps 'can be a disservice' to poor areas (E&E $), Enviros assail Forest Service report, saying it could promote logging (E&E $)

EPA: The EPA is investigating how California manages its water following complaints from tribes (AP)

DOE: DOE announces initiative for 'responsible' CCS (E&E $)

DOI: Federal officials plan to announce 2024 cuts along the Colorado River. Here’s what to expect (AP)

TREASURY: Yellen warns of risks of over-concentration of clean energy supply chains (Reuters, OilPrice)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden’s climate messaging problem (Heatmap $), What it might look like if President Biden really declared a climate emergency (Grist), Biden addresses autoworker union’s concerns amid EV transition (E&E $, Politico Pro $, The Hill, Reuters, Bloomberg $)

THE HILL: Republicans call for more logging, forest thinning (E&E $)

POLITICS: Republican districts dominate US clean technology investment boom (FT $)

ELECTIONS: RFK Jr. speaks out against climate law (E&E $)

TRIBES: What one school’s fight to eliminate PFAS says about Indian country’s forever chemical problem (Grist)

CITIES AND STATES AND DISENFRANCHISED COLONIAL TERRITORIES: Multiple signs that federal corruption investigation might be heating up — again (Ohio Capital Journal), Texas sues Shell over Houston-area chemical fire in May (Texas Tribune), California aims to introduce more anglers to native warm-water tolerant sunfish as planet heats up (AP), Environmentalists sue Puerto Rican government over location of renewable energy projects (AP)

• CALIFORNIA: California's planning a renewable energy project at a scale never before attempted in the world (E&E $), California secures settlement with SoCalGas over ‘misleading’ claims that natural gas is ‘renewable’ (The Hill), Newsom sidesteps Washington by inking climate pacts with China, Australia (Politico Pro $)

IMPACTS: Survival of wild rice threatened by climate change, increased rainfall in northern Minnesota (Sahan Journal), Fear of the ‘Big Melt’ turns to big relief along California’s Eastern Sierra (LA Times $), July 2023: Earth’s hottest month on record (Yale Climate Connections), Mosquito season has gotten a month longer in some places (Yale Climate Connections), Typhoon approaches western Japan, threatening to bring heavy rain and high winds during holiday week (AP), Vast swath of northeastern China threatened by flooding as rivers rise above warning levels (AP)

LANDSLIDES: What to know about landslides and the impact of climate change (CNN), Over 50 killed in Indian Himalayas as rain triggers landslides (Reuters), 9 killed as landslide destroys temple in northern India (New York Times $), Heavy rains bring deadly flash flood and landslide to northwest China (CNN), More rain seen in India state where landslides, floods killed 29 (Bloomberg $)

HEAT: Mishmash of how US heat deaths are counted complicates efforts to keep people safe as Earth warms (AP), Pacific Northwest is latest target in summer’s extreme-heat epidemic (Washington Post $, Axios), Millions of Americans struggle to pay their energy bills amid scorching heat waves (NBC), Extreme heat is baking the planet. (Bloomberg $), Heat builds in Germany this week as Iberia finally cools (Bloomberg $), One of 2023’s most extreme heatwaves is happening in the middle of winter (Climate Home), Rising temperatures are wreaking havoc year-round (Bloomberg $)

WILDFIRES: Wildfire risks are rising across US, from Hawaii to Oregon to Texas (Washington Post $), Everyone needs a wildfire plan now (Heatmap $), Canadian officials warn historic wildfire threat could persist into fall (Axios)

DROUGHT: Healthy diet in UK at risk from Mediterranean droughts, experts say (The Guardian)

WATER: How much water is left in the Colorado River? Scientists and officials are scrambling to find out (CNN), How to water your garden wisely in the summer heat (Washington Post $)

(DE)FORESTATION: Reviving the redwoods (New York Times $)

ADAPTATION: How the world can adapt to natural disasters amid the climate crisis (CNN)

RENEWABLES: Solar company says audit finds forced labor in Malaysian factory (New York Times $), Solar giant Jinko’s profit jumps 325% as price cuts spur demand (Bloomberg $)

BATTERIES: A renewable energy battery plant will rise in US where a steel mill once stood (The Guardian), The battery revolution: Rivals race for car market supremacy (FT $)

BUILDINGS: What we know about the Pennsylvania home explosion that killed 5 (Washington Post $), ‘A sad, sad day’: Plum house explosion death toll hits 5, including a child, as community bands together (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette $)

OIL & GAS: Oil firms face hard choices after a year of big spending (Wall Street Journal $), Ships warned of increased Iranian threat near Strait of Hormuz (OilPrice), Sudan oil exports rising despite conflict (OilPrice)

MUST BE NICE: Texas oil executives net $122 million in bankruptcy-to-Exxon journey (Bloomberg $)

PIPELINES: 4th Circuit reluctantly drops Mountain Valley pipeline lawsuits (E&E $), Can a CO2 pipeline developer change how farmers are treated? (E&E News)

UTILITIES: Arizona regulators OK 10% Tucson Electric Power rate increase, eliminate EV incentive (Utility Dive)

GRID: US virtual power plants expected to proliferate as reliability needs rise with increasing renewables (Utility Dive)

EVs: E-bike manufacturers are fighting right-to-repair. That’s a problem (Canary Media), The four biggest hurdles in America’s EV transition (Bloomberg $)

AGRICULTURE: ‘This way of farming is really sexy’: The rise of regenerative agriculture (The Guardian)

BUSINESSES: Amazon loses key backer four years into plan to eliminate carbon emissions (Bloomberg $)

CARBON CAPTURE & REMOVAL: Big Oil is getting more and more DAC-curious (Axios), Carbon capture financing is finally taking off in the US (OilPrice), Gulf Coast carbon capture gets $1 billion boost from Biden administration (Grist), How carbon capture is getting new life with US help (Bloomberg $)

FINANCE: Blackstone sees opportunities in energy transition (Bloomberg $)

GEOENGINEERING: Researcher proposes space umbrella attached to asteroid to mitigate climate change (Gizmodo)

WILDLIFE: Changing climate pushes migrating birds from parched Tunisian wetlands (Reuters)

INTERNATIONAL: Ditching net zero will cost us blue wall, Tory MPs tell Sunak (The Independent), UK homes install ‘record number’ of solar panels and heat pumps (The Guardian), UK uses inflated carbon price to shape energy policy, analysts say (FT $)

• Instead of creating equity, Indiana’s EV plan neglects state’s Black communities. (Indianapolis star, Lionel Thomas Rush op-ed $)
• Kids getting burned on swings and slides? Here’s how to fix it. (Washington Post, Alyssa Rosenberg op-ed $)
• The false promise of LNG for a sustainable Alaska energy future (Anchorage Daily News, Andrea Feniger and Arleigh Hitchcock op-ed)
• Even in Greek towns razed by wildfires, people don’t blame the climate crisis. That must change (The Guardian, Christy Lefteri op-ed)
• LNG's calm veneer stripped by Australia strike threat (Reuters, Clyde Russell column)
• The Guardian view on Hawaii’s lethal wildfire: Lessons to learn from a catastrophe (The Guardian, Editorial Board)
• Climate change came for Maui. The rest of us are next. (Washington Post, Eugene Robinson column $)
• Let the market help find a solution to climate change (The Hill, Ashish Tiwari op-ed)
• With a unique alignment of interests, now is the time to address methane emissions (Utility Dive, Jeffrey Kupfer op-ed)
• America is about to fall off a child care cliff (Bloomberg, Kathryn  Edwards op-ed $)
• Why all carbon credits aren’t created equal (Bloomberg, Lara Williams op-ed $)
• Biden’s climate bill was too tame. Here are four fixes. (Bloomberg, Mark Gongloff column $)
• Unilateral action on climate change can have unintended consequences (FT, Raghuram Rajan column $)

In 'Sweeping Win' For Climate Kids, Judge Rules MT's Climate Denial 'Unconstitutional On Its Face'

Hey, what was the most impressive thing you accomplished before turning 22? 

Doesn't matter, because it'll never be as incredible as the 16 young people who just won the US' first constitutional climate trial, forcing the state of Montana to acknowledge the climate impacts of fossil fuel projects, for which the state has never once denied a permit. 

A now-overturned state law had prevented Montana’s regulators from considering climate change and greenhouse gas pollution when reviewing a project. It turns out that's depriving the state's citizens' right to enjoy the "right to a clean and healthful environment," as enshrined in the state’s constitution. 

According to Judge Kathy Seeley's 103-page ruling: 

• "There is overwhelming scientific consensus that Earth is warming as a direct result of human GHG emissions, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels.” (pg. 19)
• "Science is unequivocal that dangerous impacts to the climate are occuring due to human activities, primarily from the extraction and burning of fossil fuels." (pg. 19)
• "Until atmospheric GHG concentrations are reduced, extreme weather events and other climatic events such as droughts and heatwaves will occur more frequently and in greater magnitude, and Plaintiffs will be unable to live clean and healthy lives in Montana." (pg. 24)
• "Every ton of fossil fuel emissions contributes to global warming and impacts to the climate and thus increases the exposure of Youth Plaintiffs to harms now and additional harms in the future." (pg. 24)

This powerful language is a big deal. Climate law expert Michael Gerrard even called it "the strongest decision on climate change ever issued by any court.”

Page 46 begins with the header "CLIMATE CHANGE IS ALREADY HARMING PLAINTIFFS" and notes that it is “unrefuted” that the "Plaintiffs have been and will continue to be harmed by the State's disregard of GHG pollution and climate change." 

And yes, the state of Montana barely put up a defense for its rule that environmental reviews can't consider climate impacts. It paid climate denier Judith Curry a pretty penny for a rebuttal of the scientific consensus on climate change, but then opted not to even introduce that testimony after it was clear it wouldn't stand up to reality. In stark contrast to the "informative and credible" witnesses presented by the plaintiffs, the testimony that the state of Montana did manage to offer "was not well-supported, contained errors, and was not given weight by the court," (pg. 66) according to Judge Seeley.

Ultimately, Judge Seeley held that "Montana's climate, environment, and natural resources are unconstitutionally degraded and depleted due to the current atmospheric concentration of GHGs and climate change." (pg. 98) 

The specific Montana law preventing climate consideration "violates Youth Plaintiffs' right to a clean and healthful environment and is unconstitutional on its face" and "is hereby declared unconstitutional and is permanently enjoined." (pg. 102)

Julia Olson, who founded Our Children’s Trust, the non-profit law firm that brought the suit, said, “In a sweeping win for our clients, the Honorable Judge Kathy Seeley declared Montana’s fossil fuel-promoting laws unconstitutional and enjoined their implementation. As fires rage in the west, fueled by fossil fuel pollution, today’s ruling in Montana is a game-changer that marks a turning point in this generation’s efforts to save the planet from the devastating effects of human-caused climate chaos.”

And while Montana’s Attorney General has already said the state will appeal this decision, this case will no doubt go down in history as the first time a constitutional climate case was heard on its merits, and "Judgment is hereby found in favor of the Plaintiffs as prevailing parties." 

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