If you count on The Daily podcast from The New York Times for your morning dose of news, you might be hearing some new ads this week. The American Petroleum Institute—the nation’s largest oil-and-gas trade group—just launched a seven-figure campaign across a range of outlets. Its goal: To push legislators to speed up permitting for fossil-fuel projects. The ads, like this one, center on the idea of “energy independence,” which is an overly politicized term often wielded by fossil-fuel interests to make the case for upping extraction, even when doing so is unnecessary to meet energy demands. So, yeah, keep your misinformation spidey sense active.
A group of more than 85 climate experts sent a report to Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, tearing apart the Trump administration’s case for repealing the EPA’s endangerment finding—the legal foundation for the agency’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. The memo, which runs 435 pages, documents dozens of factual and structural flaws in the administration’s argument, and cites places where the authors omitted key evidence or gave airtime to “zombie arguments” that are long-debunked. The repeal is open for public comment through Sep. 22; Climate Changemakers made a template you can follow to record your opposition.
Not sure filling up your elected officials’ inboxes and voicemails (☝️) actually makes a difference? According to a new study in the journal Nature Communications: Earth & Environment, it can. The authors found that political leaders chronically underestimate support for government climate action—creating what they term “pluralistic ignorance,” which is essentially a disconnect between what people want and what others assume they want. That can have big consequences, the authors warn: “Policymakers will try to play it safe if they feel they have no public mandate…they will try to play it safe and water down bold policy proposals,” co-author Stefania Innocenti told The Guardian.
With many federal tax incentives for clean-energy upgrades like heat pumps and solar panels set to expire at the end of the year, the nonprofit Rewiring America is stepping in as a kind of doula for consumers considering big purchases. Their Save on Better Appliances effort includes weekly Zoom sessions with experts on home electrification, a tool to search for trusted contractors, and planning checklists for major upgrades. “Tax credits may expire, but the benefits of better HVAC—lower bills, healthier homes, and lasting comfort—are here to stay,” Bill Spohn of The Better HVAC Alliance said in a statement.
Environmental groups took a blow this week when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled against unfreezing $20 billion in EPA climate grants for local projects like solar farms, building-efficiency upgrades, and other efforts to cut planet-warming emissions. The Trump administration froze the funds—which were part of former President Biden’s signature climate bill—in February. The grant recipients could appeal the decision, or they could change tactics and move the case to claims court, where they would sue not to have the grants restored but for damages, Heatmap reports.