We are in the midst of a long transition from energy derived from fossil fuels to energy from renewables. The transition seems certain, but at this point it is sometimes hard to know where we are or how long it will take. This betwixt and between status is very apparent in the climate news we get each week.
Incidentally, one of the best, and free, sources of climate news is Bill McKibben’s newsletter The Crucial Years.
Sign up at: https://billmckibben.substack.com/
Vermont just made history! Last night, Vermont became the first state in the nation to pass a climate superfund bill. Governor Phil Scott did not sign or veto S.259 during the 5-day consideration window, so it’s now the law of the land! The Climate Superfund Act is modeled on the federal EPA Superfund program, which has helped clean up – at the polluters’ expense – over a thousand toxic waste sites across the country, including several in the Green Mountains. The legislation requires the largest fossil fuel companies to pay for a share of climate change costs proportional to their emissions from 1995-2024.
A vast Antarctic glacier is more vulnerable to melting than previously thought, according to new research, with potentially devastating consequences for billions of people. The Thwaites Glacier — dubbed the “Doomsday” glacier because of the grave impacts for global sea level rise if it melts — is breaking down “much faster” than expected, according to a peer-reviewed study published on Monday in the academic journal, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
SOLAR: California regulators side with utilities and adopt rules slashing compensation for community solar providers and subscribers, raising concerns for the program’s future viability. (CalMatters)
Developers prepare to begin clearing thousands of protected Joshua trees in southern California to make way for a utility-scale solar installation, drawing protests from advocates and residents. (Los Angeles Times)
Environmental groups sue the Biden administration over its conclusion that an 800-mile liquefied natural gas export pipeline in Alaska would not harm polar bears or whales. (Courthouse News Service)
Good Idea. Where will money for green projects in developing nations come from? Azerbaijan, the host of this year’s UN climate summit, says it could come from placing a levy on oil, gas and coal production. As they prepare for COP29 in November, Azeri officials are working on a proposal for a North-South Financial Mechanism, according to people familiar with the matter. The program would put some share of fossil fuel revenues into a fund that would finance climate projects. Fossil-fuel producing nations that participate would be shareholders and likely receive some of the profits from any ventures the fund invests in. [Behind a paywall.]
In Texas and other oil and gas-producing states, the bill for oilfield cleanup is staggering. No state has had more holes punched through its bedrock or has sucked more hydrocarbons out of the ground than Texas. As of 2024, Carbon Tracker reports there are 476,790 documented wells that have been drilled, but not plugged, in the Lone Star State. Now there are signs that state and federal lawmakers are getting serious about paying for the massive cleanup, reports Elliott Woods. Some 120,000 wells in the United States would qualify for plugging under the new federal program, including the entire Texas orphan list. Plugging those wells and eliminating the methane they emit would be the equivalent of taking 1.5 million-4.3 million cars in the United States off the road for a year. Read more…
A new survey of American voters asked if fossil fuel companies “should be held legally accountable for their contributions to climate change”, 62% of voters said yes, suggesting majority support for the existing civil lawsuits against oil companies. That included 84% of Democrats, 59% of Independents and 40% of Republicans. The results confirm a majority opinion suggested by earlier national and state polls.
It also asked: “Knowing what you do now, do you support or oppose criminal charges being filed against oil and gas companies to hold them accountable for deaths caused by their contributions to climate change?” In response, 49% of those surveyed said they would “strongly” or “somewhat” support the effort, compared with 38% who said they would not. The results indicate that though the idea is new, it may not be too “out there” for many Americans.