SCOTUS Guts EPA Ability To Regulate Water Pollution: Writing for the five majority justices, Justice Alito said the Clean Water Act does not allow the agency to regulate pollution dumped into wetlands unless they have “a continuous surface connection” to other waters. The decision overrides the previous interpretation that allowed the EPA to regulate wetlands that have a “significant nexus” to nearby regulated waters. Justice Kavanaugh, who broke with the conservative justices, wrote the current decision could threaten efforts to control flooding on the Mississippi River and protect the Chesapeake Bay, among other projects. The ruling is a huge victory for housing developers, farmers and the energy industry looking to build on wetlands and avoid complying with the Clean Water Act. Mark Ryan, a former EPA Clean Water Act specialist, told The Hill that the ruling could result in some of the nation’s wetlands being filled out of existence. “If you’re a developer and you buy a piece of farmland that had a bunch of wetlands on it that weren’t right next to the river…you could just go out and start filling those wetlands now. You don’t need a permit unless the state requires it,” Ryan said. Wetlands often act as buffers for flood and drought, putting communities and ecosystems – especially those most vulnerable to pollution and intensifying climate disasters – in danger. (CNN, AP, The Hill, Axios, Gizmodo, New York Times $, TIME $, Bloomberg $, E&E $)

Solar Investment Eclipses Oil For The First Time: The International Energy Agency (IEA) released a new report that finds the amount invested in solar in 2023 outpaced the amount invested in oil exploration and production, marking the widening gap between renewable energy funding and investment in continuing fossil fuels. “For every dollar invested in fossil fuels, about 1.7 dollars are now going into clean energy,“ IEA executive director Fatih Birol said. “Five years ago, this ratio was one-to-one.” More than $1 billion is forecast to be spent on solar every day in 2023, totalling around $380 billion for the year. Of the $2.8 trillion forecast to be invested in global energy in 2023, over 60 percent will go to clean energy projects, a dramatic increase compared to previous years and a signal the world may be approaching peak fossil fuel demand. Still, IEA found that the amount spent on fossil fuels today is more than double what it needs to be to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. (Axios, CNN, CNBC, Reuters, Wall Street Journal $, FT $, Bloomberg $)

Only Forty-Nine Percent Of Americans Believe In Anthropogenic Climate Change, Survey Finds: A new Ipsos poll finds less than half of the American public believe climate change is human-driven, the lowest share reported over several years of polling. Twenty-seven percent believe climate change is natural, seven percent think the climate isn’t changing, and other respondents say they aren’t sure whether humans are causing climate change. The lingering disconnect between the established science that explains anthropogenic climate change and public opinion can be traced to the fossil fuel industry. “Virtually all of climate science is on one side of this issue because they’re actually looking at the evidence,” Edward Maibach, distinguished professor and director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University told the Hill. “The other side of the issue is driven, essentially, by the fossil fuel industry, and their friends in the conservative media, and their friends in conservative politics.” A partisan divide also remains, with 75 percent of Democrats believing climate change is mostly caused by humans while only 22 percent of Republicans believing the same. (The Hill)

(ENVIRONMENTAL) INJUSTICE: Mapping a threat: Climate change’s deadly summer heat may deepen disparities in Chicago (Chicago Tribune), Republican state sues Biden admin over environmental justice actions: 'Dystopian nightmare' (Fox News)

CLIMATE LITIGATION: Montana youth climate trial to move forward next month with narrowed scope (AP), Hoboken lodges first state-level racketeering charge in big oil climate lawsuit (DeSmog)

DOI: Interior advances permitting process for projects in grid-constrained West (Politico $)

LAWSUITS: Challenge to key EPA climate finding thrown out by DC Circuit (Bloomberg Law)

THE HILL: Lawmakers near deal on energy permitting in debt ceiling talks (Washington Post $), A debt deal appears to be getting closer (Politico), Kerry: U.S. is losing climate cred (E&E $), Biden fossil fuel boost creates political storm on his left (Politico $), Debt limit negotiators near compromise on permitting (E&E $)

MILITARY: Military must focus on short- and long-term challenges of climate change, report finds (NBC)

CITIES AND STATES: North Texas suburb approves new fracking zone near homes and schools (Inside Climate News), Energy leaders in Anchorage make the case for Alaska LNG pipeline — again (Alaska Public Media), Our Sustainable City – Reflecting on climate change work in South Portland (Portland Press Herald), Philly will have more heat waves, and the Delaware projected to rise more than a foot over the next 25 years (Philadelphia Inquirer)

~CALIFORNIA: California overestimates water supply by ignoring climate change (Bloomberg $), LA’s bus stops need shade. Instead, they got La Sombrita (New York Times $), Snowpack predicted to retreat in California’s mountains due to climate change (LA Times $)

IMPACTS: Slowing ocean current caused by melting Antarctic ice could have drastic climate impact, study says (The Guardian)

MAWAR: Powerful Typhoon Mawar slams Guam with heavy rain and damaging winds (CNN)

FLOODS: Farmers face a soaring risk of flash droughts in every major food-growing region in coming decades, new research shows (The Conversation)

(ATLANTIC) HURRICANES: The 2023 Atlantic hurricane season forecast is ‘near-normal’ — but there’s a wild card (The Verge), Atlantic hurricane season to feature duel between likely El Niño and hotter Atlantic (Axios), How busy will Atlantic hurricane season be? Depends on who wins unusual battle of climatic titans (AP), Hurricane season could bring 12 to 17 named storms, forecasters say (New York Times $), NOAA expects near-normal Atlantic hurricane season with 'a lot of uncertainty' (Politico $), Atlantic hurricane season expected to be near average this year, NOAA says. Here’s how many storms to expect (CNN)

EXPERTS: Clean energy experts are stretched too thin (Inside Climate News)

RENEWABLES: US electrical steel shortage threatens energy transition, recovery from power outages, groups warn Biden (Utility Dive), Shift to clean energy accelerating, but coal investments too high, report says (AP)

RURAL: There’s big climate money out there for small towns. But will they get it? (Grist)

BUILDINGS: Ithaca bets on heat pumps in mobile homes (Grist) Washington delays requirements for heat pumps in new buildings (Gizmodo), (Seattle Times)

PFAS: R.I. sues manufacturers for PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ contamination (Boston Globe $)

PAPACY: Enough with fossil fuels, Pope says in latest climate appeal (Reuters)

EVs: Xcel Energy plan to build 460 EV fast charging stations in Colorado angers retailers, other charging proponents (Utility Dive), Startup Ample says it can swap an EV battery in 5 minutes (Canary Media), Italy leads revolt against Europe's electric vehicle transition (CBS) 

MINING: 90% of species in an area slated for deep-sea mining might be unknown to science (Gizmodo)

OIL & GAS: US offers oil and gas drilling rights in first auction since Biden's IRA (Reuters), US oil and gas auction yields nearly $80 mln for federal coffers (Reuters), Is the boom for American LNG in Europe here to stay? (Houston Chronicle $), Turkey’s runoff election is paralyzing key oil exports from northern Iraq (CNBC), UK marks one year without Russian gas as renewable energy surges (Bloomberg $)

AVIATION: Why the US likely won’t follow France’s short-haul flight ban (Axios)

GRID: California’s blistering heat sparked power shortages last summer. Here’s this year’s forecast (LA Times $), Calif. blackouts unlikely this summer as renewables soar (E&E $)

(SEA) CRITTERS: Scientists detected 5,000 sea creatures nobody knew existed. It’s a warning. (Washington Post $)

UTILITIES: Siemens energy orders ‘overflowing’ as green shift gains speed (Bloomberg $)

REMOVAL: Key UN climate panel casts doubt on future of carbon removal tech (Axios)

HYPE: The climate tech hype award goes to... (Politico)

TRANSMISSION: Biden administration advances two renewable energy transmission projects in Nevada (The Hill)

DOH: What ‘The Simpsons’ taught ’90s kids about climate change (Yale Climate Connections)

PATAGUCCI: Patagonia eco-brand unscathed by polarized climate (Axios)

CRITTERS: Just between us squirrels, there might be trouble in the Arctic dating scene (New York Times $)

NUKES: Georgia nuclear rebirth arrives 7 years late, $17B over cost (AP)

FINANCE: Insurers quit climate club in droves after threats from GOP (Bloomberg $), Insurers flee climate alliance after ESG backlash in the US (Reuters), Invasion of Ukraine ‘has fuelled funding boom for clean energy’ (The Guardian)

RAWR: Tiger protection in India also saved 1 million tonnes of carbon emissions – new study (The Conversation)

INTERNATIONAL: Why US companies should pay attention to Europe's new climate rules (TIME), As India's electrical grid strains, rural hospitals and clinics find reliable power in rooftop solar (AP), U.N. panel scoffs at climate tool the world may need (Politico), Dutch Caribbeans to sue Netherlands for climate crisis failure (Al Jazeera), Why US companies should pay attention to Europe's new climate rules (TIME)

• Biden is missing an opportunity to lead on a global plastics treaty (The Hill, Tim Grabiel)

• The Americans Who Most Need a Greener Future May Get a Dirtier One (New York Times, Robert Bullard and Larry Shapiro $)

• Even the EPA under-reports the benefits of its new emissions rules (The Hill, Gary Yohe)

• El Niño is back. What does that mean for an already overheated California? (LA Times, Justin S. Mankin and Christopher W. Callahan $)

• State courts can curb the climate crisis (The Hill, Aisha Saad)

• Batteries are the environmental Achilles heel of electric vehicles – unless we repair, reuse and recycle them (The Conversation, Mehdi Seyedmahmoudian, Alex Stojcevski, Saad Mekhilef)

• Put the brakes on L.A.’s all-electric bus plan? No way (LA Times, The Editorial Board $)

• A lawsuit to protect pensions from climate politics (Wall Street Journal, The Editorial Board $)

• What Exxon won’t tell you about climate costs (Bloomberg, Mark Gongloff and Liam Denning $)

UAE's 'Inclusive' Defense Of Syrian War Criminal Shows How Propagandists Co-Opt Progressive Rhetoric

In 2016, Jason Stanley published "How Propaganda Works," and we haven't been able to stop seeing it in action. Specifically, we keep seeing authoritarians and propagandists deliberately co-opt their opposition's language in order to disguise their own motives while undermining their detractors, from 2016's "clean" coal, to woke-washing in 2019, to "economic deforestation" and "transportation fairness" in 2020, to calling climate activists "colonialists and would-be slave masters" in 2022, to Alex Epstein's supposed embrace of MLK Jr. in 2023. 

At this point, they're even having to recycle worn-out phrases as people catch on to their deliberate deception. For example, back in 2020 when talking about the fact that RealClear's founders' intention in 2000 was to provide "ideological diversity," we could point to various sources explaining how it's "not a thing" and "code for granting fringe right-wing thought more credence." 

So now, they're trying the same exact thing, but with a slightly different phrase: "Viewpoint Diversity." According to the anti-LGBTQ+ hate group Alliance Defending Freedom’s “Viewpoint Diversity Score” propaganda, “all Americans benefit when powerful corporations respect free speech and religious freedom." But of course "religious freedom" means, to paraphrase, 'the freedom to force my religion on you and the freedom of major corporations to do whatever religious extremists demand, such as restrict abortion healthcare access or provide services to hate groups but not LGBTQ+ communities.' 

If that's not an obvious enough example for you, here's one that's impossible to miss. In response to criticism over the United Arab Emirates inviting Bashar al-Assad to the COP28 climate summit it's hosting this year, a COP28 spokesperson told the Financial Times that

“COP28 is committed to an inclusive COP process that produces transformational solutions. This can only happen if we have everyone in the room.”

Aww, how nice! They just want to be "inclusive"! Who could possibly argue against a core pillar of progressive anti-racist acronym jargon featured in so many post-George Floyd racial training seminars on diversity, equity, and inclusion? 

Well, for starters, the people al-Assad killed would probably have a choice word or two for the UAE, if they weren't dead. Because you know who's not going to be in the room when Syrian president Bashar al-Assad is present? The 126,000+ Syrian people that he and his regime committed war crimes against, who have no say in the current "normalisation" propaganda campaign to allow al-Assad to escape justice for the atrocities he's directed. 

And obviously the unnamed COP28 spokesperson defending the UAE's decision to invite al-Assad knows that no one is going to accept that "inclusive" excuse. While critics of "wokeness" may allege it's brainwashing that destroys critical thinking, obviously no one is going to see the word "inclusive" being used to describe a war criminal and think 'Oh, well, that's fair! I can't complain about that without being a hypocrite.' 

So why bother? Because they had to say something and obviously the truth wouldn't do, so by calling it "inclusive," they can at least cheapen a word their ideological compatriots are arguing is hollow and meaningless to begin with.

Authoritarians and propagandists attack terms like "inclusive" when they are being used against them, calling it an ideologically-driven excuse for discrimination (against the powerful). But at the same time, they use these terms themselves in a defensive capacity, specifically in order to weaken the attacks against them. 

They call “woke” terms empty political posturing, and then use those very same words explicitly for their empty political posturing, essentially proving their otherwise false allegations with their own deceptive behavior. 

It's a deliberate strategy to muddy the waters of the public discourse, confuse those barely paying attention, and exhaust those who are, with an endless stream of lies to filter out. 

All we can do is try and make sure it backfires.

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