(20)23 Billion-Dollar Disasters Break Records, With Four Months To Go: Extreme weather disasters across the U.S. so far this year have already caused more than $57.6 billion in damage and killed at least 253 people — more than any other year — and it's September. The 23 disasters in 2023 causing more than $1 billion each, which combined make up that total, are already more than the 22 billion-dollar events that beset the country in 2020, and they do not include Tropical Storm Hilary or the severe drought parching the South and Midwest because those costs have yet to be fully calculated. NOAA climatologist and economist Adam Smith used to think the 2020 record of 22 billion-dollar disasters (which smashed the previous record of 16) would stand for much longer, but now says he doesn't believe any such records will last very long. “We’re seeing the fingerprints of climate change all over our nation,” Smith said. “I would not expect things to slow down anytime soon.” Smith said. (AP, The Guardian, Axios, Washington Post $, CNN, ABC, CBS, Al Jazeera, HuffPost, Weather Channel; Maps and graphics: San Francisco Chronicle)

Quarter Of Libyan City 'Has Disappeared' After Floodwaters Destroy Dams: More than 3,000 people are feared dead and 10,000 are missing in Libya after torrential rains from Storm Daniel destroyed two dams, unleashing monstrous torrents of water, into, over, and through the port city of Derna on the Mediterranean coast. The deluge dropped by Storm Daniel, a tropical-like cyclone known as a 'medicane,' caused catastrophic flooding in Greece last week. More than 16 inches of rain fell on Bayda — which gets about half an inch of rain in a regular September — in about 24 hours, and witnesses told Reuters floodwaters in Derna were as high as 10 feet. Rescue and recovery efforts are hampered by political unrest in the country. Libyan health minister Othman Abdel Jalil told the Al-Massar TV channel 3,000 had been confirmed dead, according to The Guardian, and “The number of missing people is in the thousands, and the number of dead is expected to reach 10,000.” "I returned from Derna. It is very disastrous. Bodies are lying everywhere - in the sea, in the valleys, under the buildings," Hichem Abu Chkiouat, minister of civil aviation, told Reuters by phone. "The number of bodies recovered in Derna is more [than] 1,000," he said. "I am not exaggerating when I say that 25% of the city has disappeared. Many, many buildings have collapsed." (The Guardian, Reuters, CNN, Axios, New York Times $, CBS, BBC, Al Jazeera, Wall Street Journal $, AP, BBC, Weather Channel, PBS NewsHour, France24, ABC; Rain & flood stats: Washington Post $, Reuters; Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

Chippewa Tribes Oppose Gas Plant On Shore Of Lake Superior: Native tribes in what are now Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are calling on federal officials to deny a loan gas-fired power plant on the shore of Lake Superior. The Chippewa Tribes — including the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Michigan, the Fond du Lac of Minnesota, and the Bad River and Red Cliff of Wisconsin — located across the northern third of those states criticized both the location of the Dairyland Power Cooperative's proposed Nemadji Trail Energy Center and the fact that the cooperative is trying to build a gas-fired power plant at all. “There is no version of physical reality on Mother Earth” in which building a methane gas-fired power plant serves the public interest in light of the need to cut climate pollution and protect the environmentally sensitive lakeshore, the tribes said. “As our shared climate rapidly continues to destabilize, it is unconscionable that Dairyland Power Cooperative has not canceled its request for a $350 million public loan and permits,” the tribes said in their letter to the USDA. “In short, this location was never the place, and now is obviously not the time, to build new fossil fuel infrastructure of any kind.” (AP)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: Lead pipes more common in NYC’s Latino neighborhoods, study says (Gothamist), OWN's newest docuseries 'rebuilding Black Wall Street' explores the resilience of Tulsa, Oklahoma's historic Greenwood District (Ebony)

• COP CITY: ‘Stop Cop City’ petition campaign in limbo after signatures presented to Atlanta officials (AP)

FOSSIL FUELED ENERGY CRISIS: Ukraine reclaims Black Sea oil and gas platforms from Russia, Kyiv says (Politico Pro $)

CLIMATE DIPLOMACY: As EU carbon border levy looms, businesses scramble to get ready (Energy Monitor), Global climate ambition gets fresh boost, as world lags on Paris Agreement goals (Axios), Island states seek climate protection from Law of the Sea (Reuters), Time to target fossil fuel demand, not supply (Reuters)

• G20: G20 agrees to pursue tripling renewables capacity but stop short of major goals (Reuters), G20 leaders look to triple global renewable energy by 2030 (The Hill), G20 leaders reach consensus on renewables but sidestep fossil fuels (E&E $), G20 stops short of fossil fuel phase out as 'dark cloud' looms (Context), G20 summit agrees on words but struggles on action (Reuters)

LOL: From prime time to lurid tales in a shed: the rapid descent of Tucker Carlson (The Guardian)

ALL ABOARD!: Potential plans underway for high-speed trains across the US (NBC)

EPA: Auto week at D.C. Circuit raises ‘major questions’ for EPA (E&E News), Groups sue EPA in an effort to strengthen oversight of livestock operations (AP), Legal brawl over air toxics rule ends 'with a whimper' (E&E $)

DOE: DOE data shows jump in grid attacks through first half of 2023 (Politico Pro $), Granholm back on the Hill to defend DOE climate work (E&E $)

DOI: Alaska sues US government to contest Tongass forest protections (Reuters), Interior officials expressed alarm early about Zinke’s ethics (E&E News), Legal assault awaits Biden’s Alaska lease cancellation (E&E News)

TREASURY: Biden administration walks tightrope on Chinese battery tech rules (Politico Pro $), Guidance for the IRA’s 45X, other clean energy tax credits will arrive by year end, says Treasury (Utility Dive)

WHITE HOUSE: Joe Biden says climate deniers a dying cohort of 'lying dog-faced pony soldiers' (HuffPost), White House issues veto threat of House GOP defense bill (The Hill)

THE HILL: Congress enters pivotal week on spending (E&E News), What Congress still has to do to fund the government (The 19th* News, explainer)

HOUSE: House panel takes up grid infrastructure, efficiency bills (E&E $), House schedules vote on EV, wildfire response bills (E&E $), Republicans plan second grilling of CEQ chair over NEPA (E&E $)

SENATE: Senators to question SEC chair on upcoming climate rule (E&E $)

POLITICS: Almost every single major Biden official is making a pilgrimage to Alaska (E&E $), Extreme weather risks in Republican-led states could fuel climate investments, experts say (The Hill), Republicans accuse Dems of flexing mussels in border dispute (E&E $)

ELECTIONS: Trump vows to block climate litigation against Big Oil (E&E $), New US administration would not derail climate tech progress - execs (Reuters)

NOMINEES & CONFIRMATIONS: Biden names TVA, Agriculture nominees (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Laurel Peltier took on multi-million dollar private energy companies scamming Baltimore’s low-income households, one victim at a time (Inside Climate News), 25 Calif. cities press for statewide zero-emissions mandate (E&E $), California lawmakers approve the nation’s most sweeping emissions disclosure rules for big business (AP)

IMPACTS: From carbon sink to source: The stark changes in Arctic lakes (Yale Environment 360), Full moon marks the end of monsoon season for Koli people in Mumbai (WBUR), Heavy rain brings flash flooding in parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island (AP), In flood-stricken central Greece, residents face acute water shortages and a public health warning (AP), Water levels in the Great Lakes can fluctuate dramatically (Yale Climate Connections)

HEAT: Lethal heat is spreading across the planet (E&E $), Summer 2023 broke dozens of all-time monthly heat records (Yale Climate Connections)

HURRICANES: Lee remains major hurricane as risk of impacts in New England grows (Washington Post $, AP, Axios, E&E $), Hurricane Lee slows and reorganizes (Yale Climate Connections), Man who crashed car hours before Hurricane Idalia’s landfall is fourth Florida death (AP)

OCEANS: Scientists install emergency shading to save Fla. corals (E&E $)

BOOZE: Germany’s oldest hops thrived for centuries. Then came climate change. (New York Times $)

RENEWABLES: US offshore wind projects facing inflation headwinds (Reuters, Factbox), As US East Coast ramps up offshore wind power projects, much remains unknown (AP), Europe's solar industry warns of bankruptcy risk as prices drop (Reuters), Sami activist sets up camp outside Norway parliament to protest wind turbines (Reuters), US adds 6.4 GW of small-scale solar capacity in 2022, EIA says (Reuters)

BATTERIES: Illinois lands major Chinese EV battery plant (E&E $), Lithium-ion batteries with recycled metals nearing production in the US (The Verge)

BUILDINGS: Heat pumps twice as efficient as fossil fuel systems in cold weather, study finds (The Guardian)

PIPELINES: D.C. Circuit dismisses Mountain Valley lawsuit (E&E $), Trans Mountain oil pipeline faces nine-month delay over route dispute (Bloomberg $), South Dakota panel denies application for CO2 pipeline; Summit to refile for permit (AP)

UTILITIES: Calif. startup to build nation's biggest EV charging station (E&E $), PJM nears agreement with power plant owners on storm fines (E&E $)

EVs: Luxury EVs dominate the US market (Axios), Southeast a ‘powerhouse’ of EV manufacturing but utility investment lags rest of nation: report (Utility Dive), US moves to secure EV battery metals from African conflict zone (E&E $)

BOOKS: Lauren Groff has a go bag and says so should you (NPR)

TEXTILES: How traditional Indian fabrics are reinventing the wheel of sustainability (Atmos)

BUSINESSES: Global companies to hike security spending as threats rise - survey (Reuters)

FINANCE: Energy stocks are back in the market’s driver’s seat (Wall Street Journal $)

THEATER: Belgium premiers opera casting Cassandra as climate change scientist (Reuters)

WILDLIFE: Baby sea otters are adorable. But they aren’t wanted everywhere. (Washington Post $), Invasive fire ants take root for first time in Europe, study finds (Washington Post $), The case against bug zappers (Washington Post $), ‘Zombie trout’ unsettle Montana, long a fly-fishing mecca (New York Times $)

• March to End Fossil Fuels: Youth activists need parents, families to join the movement (Teen Vogue, Helen Mancini and Eliza Clark op-ed)
• A huge lithium discovery that economists were expecting (Bloomberg, Tyler Cowen column $)
• Why can’t the EU power ahead with green subsidies like Biden’s? It isn’t just political procrastination (The Guardian, Yanis Varoufakis op-ed)
• Security by Design’s shining moment: Cybersecurity for the energy transformation (Utility Dive, Danielle Jablanski op-ed)
• As India rises, the G-20 reveals a shifting world order (Wall Street Journal, Walter Russell Mead op-ed $)
• Women in journalism pass another milestone (Washington Post, Andrea Mitchell op-ed $)

Breakthrough's Patrick Brown Does Something Unethical, Blames Scientific Journal

The Breakthrough Institute (BTI) is not the sort of organization we usually cover here, because the folks there are not exactly deniers … but they have long seemed pretty intent on generating fodder for deniers to attack climate advocates. Ever since they (rightfully) booted UFOlogist co-founder Michael Shellenberger, BTI has been trying to rehabilitate its image, moving away from being a reflexively contrarian hippie-punching, pro-nuclear energy, and methane gas lobbying group. The organization is instead attempting to be a respectable climate and energy think tank pushing for "ecomodernism," arguing that only it has figured out how to do environmentalism correctly. (Just don't ask them to cite any success stories in getting bipartisan climate policy passed.) 

Last week, though, that PR effort came crashing down as the latest Breakthrough staffer sabotaged his own reputation, threw his co-authors under the bus, and proved BTI isn't helping get us any closer to meaningful and equitable climate policies.

It started with a peer-reviewed study co-authored by Breakthrough's climate and energy team Co-Director Patrick Brown, which looked at the role of climate change in wildfires. After publication, Brown announced in a Substack post that he'd done something unethical and used his own personal guilt as evidence that everyone else in the climate science sphere is to blame. 

The Fox News headline does a great job summarizing Brown's tossing of his co-authors under the bus: “California scientist says he ‘left out the full truth’ to get climate change wildfire study published.” That "full truth" is that climate change isn't the only driver of fires, that other aspects play a role, and that arsonists are often the ones starting fires, not climate conditions.

But the actual full truth is that the study’s reviewers tried to get Brown and his co-authors to delve into the non-climate-related drivers of fires, but he pushed back to say they'd do that in a different paper. So his key claim (that scientists need to play up climate alarm and downplay other factors in order to survive the peer-review process) was immediately debunked by the revelation that the journal asked for exactly the content Brown claimed it wanted to ignore. 

The editor-in-chief of Nature, Magdalena Skipper, pointed to multiple examples of studies Brown alleged couldn't get published, just from the last month, and told E&E News that “The only thing in Patrick Brown’s statements about the editorial processes in scholarly journals that we agree on is that science should not work through the efforts by which he published this article."

John Kennedy at the Diagram Monkey blog does a great job of providing the proper context, explaining that the only evidence Brown has for his allegation that climate science is biased "is his own naughtiness."

Indeed, Brown did something unethical and then tried to use his own wrongdoing to blame everyone else for misbehaving. 

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