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The Inflation Reduction Act is not without significant concessions: To secure Senator Joe Manchin’s (R-WV) support for the climate and tax reconciliation bill, Democratic leaders promised to pass a law to complete the “Mountain Valley Pipeline,” a highly contested 304-mile pipeline. The project would carry methane gas from the Marcellus shale fields in West Virginia across nearly 1,000 streams and wetlands before ending in Virginia. The draft bill is reported to require federal agencies to take "all necessary actions" to advance the project, and would take project jurisdiction away from the federal court district where challengers to the legality of the project have found success. Unlike the reconciliation effort, however, this separate piece of  legislation would need backing from Republicans to overcome the 60-vote filibuster threshold. “The price to be paid for Manchin’s vote looks more and more like an oil and gas wish list,” Jean Su, energy justice program director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Ramming through the Mountain Valley Pipeline right as people are dying from climate-fueled flooding in Appalachia is callous and horrific.” Mountain Valley developers have said it would be carbon-neutral during its first decade of service. (Reuters, Virginia Mercury, New York Times $, E&E $)

Coastal flooding on the rise as sea levels climb, finds NOAA: A new report from government researchers says high tide flooding along the Atlantic, Pacific and Gulf coasts is likely to worsen, reaching a nationwide average of three to seven days by April 2023 and 45 to 70 days per year by 2050. High tides driven by rising seas flooded coastal areas more than 500 times over the past year, according to the report, and high tide coastal flooding along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts now occurs twice as frequently as it did in 2000. "The East and Gulf coasts already experience twice as many days of high tide flooding compared to the year 2000, flooding shorelines, streets and basements and damaging critical infrastructure," Nicole LeBoeuf, director of NOAA’s National Ocean Service, said in a release. (CBS News, The Hill, Wall Street Journal $, E&E $)

Studies find Inflation Reduction Act would benefit households, communities: The budget reconciliation bill could save up to 3,900 lives per year by 2030, according to a new study from the nonpartisan think tank Energy Innovation, and a report by Rewiring America found that the tax incentives in the $369 billion bill dedicated to climate initiatives would save the average household $1,800 per year. These benefits are in contrast to an estimate by the Joint Committee on Taxation suggesting the middle class will pay higher taxes as part of the bill’s “pay-for.” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen disagrees with the assessment, writing to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that “the legislation would either reduce or have no effect on the taxes due or paid by any family with income less than $400,000. In fact, the clean energy tax credits and the expanded premium tax credit will cut taxes for millions of Americans.” Five former Treasury secretaries — including Hank Paulson, who served under President George W. Bush — also wrote a statement saying, "we support the Inflation Reduction Act which is financed by prudent tax policy that will collect more from top-earners and large corporations.” The reconciliation package has two tax proposals: a 15% minimum tax on profits corporations report on their financial statements and a scaling down of the “carried interest” tax break used by private-equity managers. (Lives saved: Yahoo, Household savings: Yahoo, Yellen / Treasury Secretaries: Bloomberg $, Axios, Messaging battle: Bloomberg $)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) RACISM: The illegal airstrips bringing toxic mining to Brazil’s Indigenous land (New York Times $)

KENTUCKY: Kentucky braces for extreme heat just days after record flooding (Bloomberg $), After the rain, heat descends on flooded Kentucky towns (AP)

MCKINNEY FIRE: Death toll rises to four in California’s biggest wildfire this year (The Guardian), Death toll rises to 4 in massive McKinney fire as new bodies discovered (LA Times $). California's McKinney fire has burned 55,000 acres—and wildfire season will only get more dangerous (TIME), Death toll in Northern California wildfire zone rises to 4 (E&E $), Deadly California wildfire wipes out scenic river town (AP)

INFLATION REDUCTION ACT: Democrats scramble for Sinema’s support on climate, health and tax bill (Washington Post $), Manchin, Sinema ‘exchanging text’ on climate, tax deal (The Hill), How the new climate bill would reduce emissions (New York Times $), Professor encouraged $1B is being set aside to fight climate change: "That's going to do a lot in terms of helping" (CBS News), Republicans look to change, discredit climate bill (E&E $), 'See what sticks': Manchin releases permitting wish list (E&E $), For Sinema, it's taxes vs. climate (E&E $), Manchin climate deal may face NEPA roadblock (E&E $), Biden's emissions pledge 'doable' with climate deal (E&E $) 

UKRAINE: As Russia threatens Europe’s energy, Ukraine braces for a hard winter (New York Times $)

IIJA: White House retrofits infrastructure bill to better help poor communities (New York Times $)

DOE: Greens urge DOE to impose standards on mining company loans (E&E $)

DOI: Calif., Interior back oil and gas drilling moratorium (E&E $)

THE HILL: Republicans accuse pipeline agency of stalling rules (E&E $), Senate climate package keeps Arctic refuge drilling alive (E&E $)

CITIES AND STATES: Washington enacts second city gas ban on East Coast (E&E $)

IMPACTS: Satellite images reveal shrinkage of Utah’s Great Salt Lake (The Guardian), Climate change is warming Canada's great expanse of boreal forest, bringing greater risk of fire and disease (CBC)

FLOODING: More than 10 inches of rain falls in Illinois, another exceptional deluge (Washington Post $), Flash flooding in Death Valley closes roads (Gizmodo)

HEAT: Seattle area had six deaths blamed on last week's heat wave (Bloomberg $), Heat wave follows Kentucky floods, as rains deluge Death Valley (E&E $), A day with America’s only dedicated heat team in the US’s hottest city (The Guardian)

DROUGHT: Worsening drought drives California water prices to all-time high (Bloomberg $), California's megadrought is worse than you think (E&E $), 

WILDFIRES: Wildfire season is now all year, forcing businesses to think ahead (Wall Street Journal $)

RENEWABLES: Clean energy sector adds 156,000 jobs in 2021 (Politico $)

SOLAR: Gates-led fund backs robots to automate solar panel installation (Bloomberg $)

WIND: Wind turbine maker Siemens Gamesa cuts earnings outlook again (Bloomberg $), US west coast wind could take flight – with the right federal and state support (Energy Monitor)

GEOTHERMAL: Major geothermal project halted over endangered species (E&E $)

HEAT PUMPS: Questions about heat pumps? Connecticut offers free experts to help (Energy News Network)

OIL & GAS: U.S. power producers are consuming near-record volumes of gas (Reuters)

UTILITIES: Reserve margin may need to rise to 300% by 2040 as more renewables added to grid: ISO New England (Utility Dive)

EVs: Army prepares to test-drive tactical EVs (E&E $), Pelosi’s Taiwan trip spurs Chinese battery giant to pause plant debut (Bloomberg $), Automakers blitz Congress to fix an EV tax credit they can’t use (Bloomberg $), This company wants to pack more EV-charging punch into gas stations (Canary Media), Can Californians afford electric cars? Wait lists for rebates are long and some programs have shut down (Energy News Network), 100% electric trucks and buses by 2050 (Grist)

BICYCLES: Bikes get slighted in compromise climate deal (Washington Post $)

BOOMERS: Climate change is emerging as a mainstream retirement issue (Forbes)

CCS: Inflation bill’s got a perk for some oil companies (Wall Street Journal $)

CELEBS: Celebrities use private jets excessively. it’s a climate nightmare. (Washington Post $), Taylor Swift: a relatable, carbon-emitting queen (Gizmodo)

FINANCE: There is a fix for climate change. But can we afford it? (Foreign Policy)

LOBSTAH: Seaweed helps Maine lobstermen ride the storm of climate change (Washington Post $)

GOOGLY: Cricket must rethink sponsorship deals amid ongoing climate crisis (The Guardian)

CRYPTO: A crypto platform is the world’s largest buyer of carbon offsets (Quartz)

HOME OFFICE: The uneven energy costs of working from home (The Verge)

FARMING: Climate-smart farming is a lot harder than the inflation reduction act makes it sound (New Republic), ‘Corn sweat’ is about to make the air in the midwest oppressively muggy (Washington Post $)

WILDLIFE: Hotter summers mean Florida's turtles are mostly born female (Reuters)

INTERNATIONAL: Myhydro offers green power to congo with California turbines (Bloomberg $), Europe’s coal-buying frenzy means windfall for producers (Wall Street Journal $), Fiji, moving villages inundated by rising seas, wants big emitters to pay (Reuters), EU approves 3-billion-euro German green heating scheme (Reuters), Zimbabwe eyes more solar water heaters as power grid struggles (Thomson Reuters Foundation), New Zealand climate plan includes relocating some homes (AP), Italy's salty Po Delta hurting agriculture, fisheries (AP)

• How Biden could upend a key perception of his presidency (Washington Post, Paul Waldman $)

• Unsung climate hero: Heat pumps can cool homes and lower emissions (The Hill, Dan Lashof and Debbie Weyl)

• Senate should pass FEMA reimbursement bill this hurricane season (The Hill, Greg Brundnicki)

• Europe faces the Russian version of the Arab oil embargo  (The Hill, Merrill Matthews)

• A new storm is brewing in struggle over climate change: homeowner’s insurance (The Hill, Alexander S. Kolker, PH.D)

• Democrats' climate bill is a clean energy dream. That's not enough. (Bloomberg, Tyler Cowen $)

• Manchin’s Mountain Valley pipeline dream (Wall Street Journal, Editorial Board $)

• Red America should love green energy spending (Bloomberg, Liam Denning and Jeff Davies $)

• Call Congress’ inaction on climate change what it is: child abuse (San Francisco Chronicle $)

[Editor's Note: The Denier Roundup is on vacation this week. Will return on August 9th!] 

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