Idalia Bears Down On Florida Gulf Coast: Less than a year after Hurricane Ian hammered FLorida's Gulf Coast, the region is bracing for another potentially major hurricane. Hurricane Idalia (pronounced ee-DAL-ya) was off the western tip of Cuba with sustained 75 mph winds early Tuesday morning and is expected to rapidly intensify into a Category 3 storm by the time it makes landfall with life-threatening storm surge Wednesday morning. Climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels, increases the likelihood of a hurricane developing into major (Category 3 or higher) storm, makes storm surge more widespread dangerous due to rising sea levels and other factors, and increases the likelihood of rapid intensification as extremely warm ocean temperatures supercharge storms. Rapidly intensifying storms, no matter their strength, are especially dangerous because make preparation and evacuation less predictable, thereby increasing the danger to those unable to do so and exacerbating underlying other societal inequities. Spiking gasoline demand for evacuations and generators is also hitting constrained supply as fuel-carrying barges are being stopped ahead of the storm and — completely separate from the storm — a "human error" caused gasoline at some Citgo-supplied gas stations in Idalia's path to be contaminated with diesel fuel. (New York Times $, Yale Climate Connections, Tampa Bay Times, Axios, AP, The Conversation, AP, CNN, Reuters, Axios, Tampa Bay Times, CNN, NBC, NPR, Weather Channel, Heatmap $, Gizmodo, Axios, Bloomberg $, AP; Gulf Coast water temps: Washington Post $, New York Times $; Fuel barges: Bloomberg $; Fuel contamination: AP, The Hill; Biden-DeSantis: Bloomberg $, Axios; Climate Signals background: Hurricanes)

Australian LNG Strike Threat Roils Markets: Unionized workers at Chevron's two major Australian LNG plants will begin progressively disruptive work stoppages on September 7, their unions said Monday. The Gorgon and Wheatstone export plants account for 5% to 10% of global liquified methane gas supply and European LNG prices jumped 10% in response to the news. Chevron's broke its all-time profit record in 2022, pulling down 35.5 billion. Those profits reflect the oil and gas industry's windfall from and exploitation of the Russian war in Ukraine. Oil majors (Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell, Equinor, and TotalEnergies) more than doubled their total 2021 profits, pulling down $219 billion in 2022. (Reuters, Bloomberg $, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $)

Exxon Calls For More Oil & Gas, Says World Won't Hit Paris Goals: Exxon Mobil predicts average global temperatures will increase 2°C above preindustrial levels by 2050, the oil major with a well-documented history of accurately predicting and publicly denying the science of climate change said Monday. The extremely profitable oil major also called for increased oil and gas investment. Exxon is a defendant in dozens of lawsuits seeking billions in damages for its role in causing the climate crisis and deceiving the public about it. It has also actively worked to undermine political action on climate change. (Wall Street Journal $, OilPrice, Bloomberg $, Reuters)

HISTORY LESSONS: Five things you didn't know about the original March on Washington (The Root), Here’s why August 28 is a major date in Black history (NewsOne), Neglected Emmett Till sites pose a monumental test in Miss. (E&E News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Children’s voices must be heard on climate crisis, says UN rights body (The Guardian, Reuters)

INSURANCE: What your insurer is trying to tell you about climate change (The Atlantic)

UNDERGROUND CRISIS: America is using up its groundwater like there’s no tomorrow (New York Times $), Five takeaways from our investigation into America’s groundwater crisis (New York Times $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: John Kerry urges oil and gas chiefs to bring climate change plans to UN summit (FT $)

AGENCIES: FEMA announces $2.5B for enhanced resiliency against climate change-fueled extreme weather (The Hill)

DOE: How an oil giant took control of Biden's billion-dollar bet on carbon capture (Bloomberg $)

DOI: US bets on offshore wind boom in oil-rich Gulf of Mexico (Bloomberg $)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden to visit Vietnam in September to discuss economy, climate (Bloomberg $), Harris, Yellen tout unions as part of White House pitch to labor (Bloomberg $)

POLITICS: How fossil fuel subsidies are hurting the energy transition (Context), The US is pumping oil faster than ever. Republicans don’t care. (Politico)

ELECTIONS: Democrats stress need to appeal to Black voters: ‘We have to be very clear about the barrier’ (The Hill), How abortion is set to shape the Kentucky governor’s race (The 19th* News)

TRIBES: Delivering addresses (and access) to the Navajo Nation (Yes Magazine)

CITIES AND STATES: Virginia is bailing on a carbon cap-and-invest program. Activists say that might be illegal. (Grist), New California rules would crush rooftop solar for renters (Canary Media)

IMPACTS: ‘Off-the-charts records’: Has humanity finally broken the climate? (The Guardian), Heavy rains cause significant flooding in parts of West Virginia (AP), ‘Valley fever’ fungus surging northward in California as climate changes (The Hill), Dramatic climate action needed to curtail ‘crazy’ extreme weather (The Guardian), Summer weather takes bites from school calendars (The Hill), Waves along California’s coast are getting bigger, study says (New York Times $), What arctic ice tells us about climate change (Washington Post $), Study suggests global warming set to worsen snow shortages on Europe’s ski slopes (AP, The Guardian)

HEAT: In Portland, Oregon, extreme heat is making food trucks feel like ovens (Grist), 

WILDFIRES: Drones, AI and goats: The new playbook to curb wildfires (Bloomberg $), Greece battles Europe's deadliest fire of the summer for 10th day (Reuters)

HURRICANES: Typhoon Saola lashes northern Philippines and heads toward Taiwan, southern China (AP)

BOOZE: France to pay farmers €200mn for destroying wine surplus (FT $)

RENEWABLES: Korea’s Jeju island is a leader in clean energy. But it’s increasingly having to curtail its renewables (Inside Climate News)

OIL & GAS: US shale pumps more cash into aging oil fields, Rystad says (Bloomberg $), Eni begins oil and gas production offshore Cote d’Ivoire (OilPrice), How peak natural gas demand has come into sight (Energy Monitor), Shale gas boom led to thousands of job losses in Appalachia (OilPrice), US natgas prices jump 5% to one-week high on continued hot forecasts (Reuters)

PIPELINES: US oil pipeline boss ties future to natural gas in pursuit of Oneok merger (FT $)

HYDROGEN: First US Gulf offshore wind auction to fuel region's green hydrogen push (Reuters), First-ever Gulf Coast wind auction could be a boon for US green hydrogen (OilPrice)

UTILITIES: Minnesota regulators clear way for 10-year operating extension of Xcel’s Monticello nuclear plant (Utility Dive), New settlement agreement aims to put spotlight on DTE-linked dark money (Energy News Network), Who pays when utilities get sued over wildfires? (Canary Media)

• HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC: Hawaii power utility takes responsibility for first fire on Maui, but faults county firefighters (AP), Hawaiian electric denies sparking deadly Maui blaze (Washington Post $), Hawaiian Electric points finger at Maui County over devastating wildfires, stock jumps 40% (CNBC)

GRID: Big River Steel to pay $22M for receiving MISO demand response payments without cutting load (Utility Dive)

EVs: Electric cars pass a crucial tipping point in 23 countries (Bloomberg $), EV chargers should be dumber (Heatmap $), Freewire unveils tool to determine optimal EV charging locations (Utility Dive), Hundreds more rapid charging points installed in UK to help drivers go electric (The Guardian)

GOLF CARTS 4 EVER: The American suburb where you don’t need a car (Bloomberg $, Bloomberg $, Bloomberg $)

THE WORLD'S BURNING, MAN: Burning Man climate protest leads to traffic jam, rangers forcibly intervening (San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, LA Times $, Reno Gazette-Journal)

WILDLIFE: Birds – and ornithologists – flock to huge rubbish dump in Spain (The Guardian)

INTERNATIONAL: Labour’s David Lammy visits Brazil to build ‘climate justice’ partnership (The Guardian), Pakistan seeks to reduce electricity prices after mass protests (Bloomberg $), Poland asks EU's top court to cancel three climate policies (Reuters), Trudeau confronts challenge of climate and economy in Canada’s far north (Bloomberg $)

• Don’t miss tomorrow’s electric utility industry news (Utility Dive, Ben Nathan op-ed)
• Voter purges are increasing across the South. We must put a stop to the practice (NewsOne, Nsombi Lambright and Kendra Cotton op-ed)
• I have studied emperor penguins for 30 years. We may witness their demise in our lifetime (The Guardian, Barbara Wienecke op-ed)
• Blended finance can help Britain catch up on climate (FT, Sarah Gordon op-ed $)
• Are we remembering the pandemic all wrong? (New York Times, Katelyn Jetelina interview $)

The Denier Roundup will return next week! 

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