Read the 'Denier Roundup' today for info on two great events on how to combat climate mis- and disinformation. 

House expected to pass Inflation Reduction Act today: In a letter to Democratic colleagues, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the “life-changing legislation” will pass the US House of Representatives on Friday, ending more than a year of internal negotiations among Democrats over the climate, healthcare, and tax bill. The passage of the bill comes after positive jobs and inflation reports and other legislative accomplishments like the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package and the $1.2 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law. Three independent analyses suggest the $370 billion to be invested by the Inflation Reduction Act could enable the US to cut climate pollution by about 40% below 2005 levels by the end of the decade. Though less than Biden’s original vision and the $2.2 trillion measure the House passed in November, it still represents the largest investment in climate change in the country’s history. The bill will also lower prescription drug costs and help roughly 13 million low- and middle-income Americans avoid raises to their insurance premiums. Debate is set to begin on the bill this morning, with the final House vote likely occurring later this afternoon. (Reuters, AP, Washington Post $, US News) 

Climate bill signed into law in Massachusetts as California unveils water scarcity strategy: Republican Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker approved sweeping climate legislation that directs investment toward renewables, the power grid, and stationary storage while expanding access to electric vehicles and clean buildings that will help the state meet its net zero by 2050 target. Notably, the legislation will allow 10 municipalities to ban new fossil fuel infrastructure, a first for the state. Baker’s blessing comes after weeks of speculation he would veto the bill. “I continue to want us to be a pretty big player in that space because it’s a sustainable way to create a lot of jobs, for a very long time,” Baker told the Boston Globe. Switching coasts, California Governor Gavin Newsom outlined a new plan to adapt to a future with 10% less water by 2040 by shifting the state’s emphasis from water conservation to water capture and recycling. It does not substantially address water use by agriculture, which uses four times more water than people in urban areas. The plan calls for creating 4 million acre-feet of water storage and recycling or reusing 800,000 acre-feet per year by 2030 in addition to more stormwater capture and desalination projects. One acre-foot of water is enough to supply two average urban households per year. (Massachusetts: WBUR, Boston Globe $, Washington Post $; California: The Hill, CalMatters, Reuters, LA Times $, Sacramento Bee $, San Francisco Chronicle $)

The Arctic is warming four times faster than the rest of the world: A new study in the journal Communications Earth & Environment suggests climate models underestimate Arctic heating rates, which could be occurring twice as fast as commonly thought, predominantly driven by human-caused global warming. Some parts of the Arctic region are warming up to seven times faster than the rest of the world, not the two to three times that has been typically referenced. "The Arctic is more sensitive to global warming than previously thought," study author Mika Rantanen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute told NPR. Scientists have observed record glacier melt in the Arctic this year as heat waves swept across the circumpolar region that includes Alaska, Arctic Canada, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia. Arctic warming has a wide reach, as evidence suggests that it’s also impacting weather patterns in North America and Europe, and the migration of marine species. “Something is happening in the Arctic and it will affect us all,” Antti Lipponen, a co-author from the Finnish Meteorological Institute cautioned the AFP news agency. (NPR, New York Times $, CBS, Daily Beast, Al Jazeera, CNN, Axios, The Hill, CNN, Washington Post $)

Rural Pakistan struggling to recover from deadly flash flooding: Heavy monsoon rains caused flash floods across Pakistan in July, with impoverished rural communities in the southwestern province of Balochistan the hardest hit. At least 77 children died and more than 500 people were injured as flooding destroyed more than 46,000 homes and over 400 miles of roadways. Over 150,000 people still need humanitarian assistance in Balochistan alone, according to Islamic Relief UK. The past month was Pakistan’s wettest in three decades, and the country is one of the world’s most vulnerable to climate change, according to German Watch. The number of record-breaking extreme precipitation events globally has significantly increased in recent decades, and scientists have documented the fingerprint of global warming in this pattern. (Climate Home News, Reuters, CNN, Climate Signals background: Extreme precipitation increase)

ENVIRONMENTAL (IN)JUSTICE: Does the climate bill throw environmental justice under the bus? (The Nation)

IRA: Sinema’s last-minute push on Democrats’ climate bill added $4 billion to combat Western drought (LA Times $), Climate bill could revolutionize US cleantech manufacturing. Here’s how (Canary Media), These congressional staffers helped clinch the historic climate deal (Washington Post $), Sweeping climate bill pushes American energy to go green (AP), Climate and tax bill to rewrite embattled Black farmer relief program (New York Times $)

EUROPEAN HEATWAVE: France battles 'monster' wildfire as heatwaves scorch Europe (Reuters), France taps Europe for help in fighting drought-fueled wildfires (Bloomberg $), England has its driest July in almost 90 years as Europe swelters through historic heat waves (CBS), The U.K. is so hot and dry, the source of the River Thames has dried up (CBS), Europe’s key rivers fall to critical levels, aggravating energy crunch (Wall Street Journal $), Extreme drought is gripping Europe, intensifying heat and fueling fires (Washington Post $), Europe faces heat wave, raging wildfires and dire drought (Axios), European drought dries up rivers, kills fish, shrivels crops (AP)

KOREA: After deluge, climate change fears make S.Korea prioritise Seoul flood defences (Reuters), Parasite-style basement apartments will be banned in seoul after flood deaths (Gizmodo)

DOT: Over $2B announced for roads, bridges, bike lanes across US (AP)

WHITE HOUSE: Biden finally has a climate bill. What happens next? (Washington Post $)

LAWSUITS: ‘It’s a human rights issue’: young adults take Portugal climate crisis to court (The Guardian)

CITIES AND STATES: Expansion of electric vehicle grid hits roadblocks in rural Washington (Energy News Network), Driving into Manhattan is about to get even more expensive (Bloomberg $)

• • CALIFORNIA: Bill would provide relief to farmworkers in drought-stricken California (Yale Climate Connections), 

IMPACTS: Even a small rise in temperatures could decimate North American forests (Grist), Climate change and extreme heat are making us more anxious (The Conversation)

HEAT: We built a fake metropolis to show how extreme heat could wreck cities (Washington Post $)

DEEPWATER HORIZON: Oil residue from Deepwater Horizon spill still detectable along Louisiana coast: study (The Hill)

DROUGHT: Lakes Mead and Powell are at the epicenter of the biggest Western drought in history (The Hill), Seven stats that explain the West’s epic drought (The Hill), There's $4B for West drought relief in the climate bill. Here's how it could be used (CNN)

FLOODING: America’s summer of floods: climate crisis fueling barrage, scientists say (The Guardian)

WATER: River cleanups move to the next level using grasses and oysters (Yale Environment 360), The Southwest is running out of fresh water. Could the ocean provide a cure? (KUNC)

GLACIERS: World's largest ice sheet crumbling faster than previously thought, satellite imagery shows (CNN)

RENEWABLES: The collapsing clean-energy transition (The American Prospect)

WIND: Calif. approves nation's boldest offshore wind target (E&E $), California sets big targets for offshore wind (Reuters), California adopts 25 GW planning goal for offshore wind by 2045 (Utility Dive), Ohio Supreme Court upholds permit for what could be North America’s first freshwater wind farm (Utility Dive), Great lakes offshore wind gets boost from Ohio supreme court ruling (Bloomberg $)

SOLAR: Developers add less than half of planned U.S. solar capacity in H1 - EIA (Reuters),  

CCS/DAC: The Inflation Reduction Act includes a bonanza for the carbon capture industry (TIME)

OIL & GAS: Big oil’s big recovery (Energy Monitor), Average US gas price falls below $4 per gallon (The Hill), Gas prices are falling — here’s why it’s happening and whether it can continue (CNBC), U.S. natgas jumps 8% on talk of higher flows to Freeport LNG (Reuters), Estonia never needed to import gas by ship. Until it did (New York Times $), Mexico plans to become an export hub with US-drilled natural gas (Bloomberg $)

METHANE: Landfills are "super emitters" of powerful greenhouse gas methane, satellite data finds (CBS), Scientists say landfills release more planet-warming methane than previously thought (NPR), Benzene with your bisque? New studies highlight the dangers of ‘cooking with gas’ (Arizona Mirror)

HYDROGEN: Hydrogen stock Ceres Power is heating up again (Wall Street Journal $)

UTILITIES: Ford unveils largest-ever renewable energy purchase from a US utility with 650-MW DTE Energy deal (Utility Dive), This utility keeps customers cool during heat waves while saving them money (Canary Media)

HEAT PUMPS: Heat pumps: what they do and why they’re hot now (The Verge)

EVs: The place with the most lithium is blowing the electric-car revolution (Wall Street Journal $), Carmakers’ battery plans in peril as raw material costs soar (FT $), EV adoption might be hindered by DMV fees: report (Utility Dive), For electric vehicle makers, winners and losers in climate bill (New York Times $)

MINING: The cost of green energy: The nation’s biggest lithium mine may be going up on a site sacred to Native Americans (NBC News)

ACADEMIA: Degrees of the future 2022: environmental science & climate change (Gizmodo)

AVIATION: United Airlines puts down deposit on flying taxis (Wall Street Journal $)

ACTIVISM: Climate activists protest on the dry banks of the Danube (Reuters), Women are working to make the clean energy transition more equitable (The 19th)

RAIL: California high-speed rail wins $25 mln US grant, seeks $1.3 bln more (Reuters)

FINANCE: More Midwest banks see opportunity to finance solar, energy efficiency projects (Energy News Network)

TRUCKS: Truck engine manufacturers drop challenge to California emissions rules (Politico Pro $)

INTERNATIONAL: Africa getting just 12% of financing needed to adapt to climate change -report (Reuters), Swiss mountain pass will lose all glacier ice ‘in a few weeks’ for first time in centuries (The Guardian), Pakistan struggles to rebuild after deadly flash floods (Climate Home), European energy crisis deepens as power prices reach records (Bloomberg $)

• Taking action on climate change requires coming together (Yes Magazine, David Korten opinion)

• We used to force oil companies to clean up their messes. Why is climate change different? (The Hill, Hugh Helfert, Ph.D opinion)

• The climate bill isn’t perfect, but it’s still a major victory (New York Times, Jody Freeman opinion $)

• Climate bill alone won't halve US emissions by 2030 (Bloomberg, Eduardo Porter opinion $)

• The problem Joe Manchin highlighted is crucial for America's future (CNN, Oren Cass opinion)

• Wildfire and electric grid: Crisis requires long-term planning rather than rapid response (The Hill, Cassie Koerner opinion)

• The cost of climate action (The Hill, Quill Robinson opinion)

Ever Want To See The Denier Roundup In Real Life? Next Week's Your Chance! 

Sure reading our little daily rants about climate deniers is fun, but do you want more? Do you long to see the magnificent visage behind the keyboard? Or, perhaps you would rather see a denier squirm in person? Now's your chance! 

On Monday, climate scientist Andrew Dessler will "debate" climate denier Steven Koonin at The Soho Forum in New York City, part of a series of libertarian-catered debates you can still get tickets for. 

It will feature a before-and-after audience vote on the resolution "Climate science compels us to make large and rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions", and since it's a denier-friendly venue, they're obviously going to tip the scales in Koonin's favor, so if you're in the Big Apple on Monday and feel like subjecting yourself to this, please do! 

We won't be attending the Soho Forum, but later that week we will be making an appearance at Netroots Nation in Pittsburgh, at a featured panel Thursday afternoon. Moderated by anti-extremism researcher Melissa Ryan, we'll be discussing how Solving the climate crisis starts with combatting disinformation along with Anti-Climate Disinfo Coalition co-chair Michael Khoo, Allison Fisher of MediaMatters, and Senator Sheldon Whitehouse.  

So if you were thinking about attending Netroots Nation, hopefully this tips the scales, as there's still time to register! The panel will be livestreamed too, so like the Senator, you can watch from the comfort of your own home or office. 

This'll be the first Big Public Event for us here at the Climate Denier Roundup, so place your bets on whether I've stayed anonymous because I'm so embarrassingly ugly it would give deniers something to make fun of every time we point out their stupidity, or because I'm so jaw-droppingly gorgeous that no one would listen to my words if they saw the divine presence from which this sarcasm and snark emanates.

Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up to receive Hot News every morning!

Send updates or feedback to nkauffman@climatenexus.org
Submit events and other items for consideration for a First Look using this form
Some articles require logins or subscriptions ($)