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CLIMATE “HOAX” GETS SHORT SHRIFT: The first Republican presidential debate took an unexpected turn late Wednesday night as the issue of climate change and energy became front and center early on. But not everyone’s answers were welcomed by the audience.
Biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramasamy got booed on stage after he claimed that the “climate change agenda is a hoax.”
Debate hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum asked the candidates if they believed in human-induced climate change and how they would quell fears amongst young conservative voters that the GOP doesn’t care about the issue.
Ramaswamy’s response: “Let us be honest as Republicans. I’m the only person on the stage who isn’t bought and paid for, so I can say this: The climate change agenda is a hoax. … The reality is, the anti-carbon agenda is the wet blanket on our economy. And so the reality is, more people are dying of bad climate change policy than they are of actual climate change.”
The young entrepreneur’s denial of climate change got loud disapproval from the audience.
A number of the GOP candidates chimed in to counter Ramasamy’s narrative.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley asserted that Republicans do in fact “care about clean air, clean water … but there’s a right way to do it.” Haley proceeded to jab at President Joe Biden for his investments into electric vehicles, claiming that these investments will fund China’s market — and called for pressuring China and India to lower their emissions.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) touted his “Made in America” plan as the way to move the needle on the environment.
Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) took it as an opportunity to bash Biden and his response to the Maui wildfires. “Are you kidding me? As someone that’s handled disasters in Florida, you got to be activated. You got to be there, you got to be present, you got to be helping people.” However, when pressed if his answer meant that he believed in human-induced climate change, he didn’t answer.
The candidates at large: Several of the debaters took their swipes on the Biden administration’s energy policies, arguing for domestic production of oil and gas and the mining of critical minerals in the U.S. instead of relying on foreign adversaries such as China and Russia.
The significance: While it was to be expected that the candidates would take their turns jabbing at the current president for his energy policies, what was unforeseen was the issue of climate change being addressed early on in the debate. An issue that has rarely taken precedence within GOP campaigns took a national front seat at the fore of the debate — and was framed as an important issue to young Republican voters.
Several conservative environmental groups watching the debate took note.
Danielle Butcher Franz, CEO of the American Conservation Coalition, told the Washington Examiner it was a “remarkable thing to see climate featured so prominently at the first GOP debate.”
“It was even more remarkable to hear an audience full of GOP primary voters booing climate denial. Last night made it clear that climate skepticism is no longer acceptable in our leaders — the conservative climate movement is here to stay.”
“Republicans have been working on economically sustainable climate solutions for years and it’s great to see the beginning of those policy debates take shape with the Presidential candidates,” Luke Bolar, chief external affairs officer of ClearPath Action, said in a statement.
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JAPAN RELEASES TREATED FUKUSHIMA WATER INTO PACIFIC, SPARKING INTERNATIONAL UPROAR: Japan began releasing treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant into the Pacific Ocean today, a controversial move that has sparked fierce international backlash, including from China, which responded by promptly issuing a blanket ban on all fish and aquatic products from Japan.
China is “highly concerned about the risk of radioactive contamination” brought by Japan’s food and agricultural products, China’s customs bureau said in a statement.
Release of the wastewater began at 1:03 p.m. local time, according to plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Company, which said it had not identified any abnormalities.
It comes two years after the Japanese government approved plans in 2021 to begin gradually releasing the treated wastewater into the Pacific Ocean following the removal of most radioactive elements, barring tritium.
The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog signed off on the plan last month. Though the water is radioactive, the International Atomic Energy Agency concluded in its July report that the radioactivity levels were so low as not to have any negative health or environmental effects and found them to be consistent under international safety standards.
Release of the wastewater is considered a key step in decommissioning Fukushima, the nuclear power plant that was destroyed by a tsunami more than a decade ago and is considered the second-worst nuclear power plant disaster after Chernobyl.
The treated water has been stored at around 1,000 tanks at the site, which had been nearing capacity.
Outside opposition: China reiterated its strong opposition to the plan in a statement today, saying that the Japanese government has not proved that the discharged water is safe for consumption and banning all seafood imports from Japan. South Korea’s government has also made its displeasure clear, if slightly less vehemently than Beijing.
“The Japanese side should not cause secondary harm to the local people and even the people of the world out of its own selfish interests,” China’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement today. “The decision will surely be condemned by the international community for a long time,” it added. Japan, for its part, has accused Beijing of spreading misinformation. Read more from Breanne here.
WORLD’S LARGEST FLOATING OFFSHORE WIND FARM OPENS: The world’s largest floating offshore wind farm opened in Norway this week, the culmination of years of work that officials say will help provide renewable power to crucial oil and gas operations in the North Sea.
The Hywind Tampen floating offshore facility is located nearly 87 miles off of Norway’s coast in waters ranging from 850-984 feet deep, according to Equinor, which owns a majority share in project.
The floating wind farm has a capacity of 88 MW and is expected to power roughly 35% of Norway’s massive oil and gas fields using renewable energy, officials said in a statement.
News of the facility’s operational status comes as a growing list of companies around the world, including in the U.S., have embraced the idea of floating wind installations to help cut carbon emissions and reach their climate commitments agreed to under the Paris climate accord.
“With Hywind Tampen, we have shown that we can plan, build and commission a large, floating offshore wind farm in the North Sea,” Equinor’s Siri Kindem said in a statement.
“We will use the experience and learning from this project to become even better,” she added. “We will build bigger, reduce costs and build a new industry on the shoulders of the oil and gas industry.”
TWO U.S. GRIDS AT RISK FOR BLACKOUTS IN ANOTHER HEAT WAVE: Two U.S. power grids are at risk for blackouts as yet another heatwave blankets large swarths of the southern and central U.S.
The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, or ERCOT, which oversees the power grid for some 90% of the state, said this morning that it is projecting a “reserve capacity shortage with no market solution available for Thursday … which causes a risk for an [Energy Emergency Alert] event.” Projected demand for Texas’s grid is expected to reach 85,296 MW today, ERCOT said, falling just short of its most recent demand record of 85,435 MW set earlier this month.
Also at risk is the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, of MISO, which oversees the power grids servicing most of the central U.S. ranging from Minnesota to Louisiana.
“Due to the extreme heat creating near-record electricity demand and unplanned generation outages over the last 12 hours, MISO has declared [an energy emergency alert],” MISO spokesman Brandon Morris told Reuters in an email.
Grid operators project it will have 125,907 MW of supplies available, as well as 5,251 MW of energy imported from other grids during its peak — leaving it below the peak demand forecast of 127,692 MW.
MISO is working with utilities and neighbors to secure other imports and ensure it has “every … resource available throughout the day,” Morris added.
CONSUMER GROUP GOES AFTER DUKE ENERGY ON PRO-ESG POLICIES: The nonprofit group Consumers’ Research is launching a campaign against North Carolina-based utility company Duke Energy for prioritizing its embrace of so-called woke programs, including a companywide embrace of ESG initiates.
In a letter to the company sent this morning, Consumers’ Research Director Will Hild accused the company’s operations of becoming “a laundry list of expensive boondoggles and distractions.”
“When they aren’t pushing double-digit rate increases onto customers, they are busy wasting their time and customers’ money pushing political initiatives (some targeting children) and massive pay increases for their executive suite,” Hild said.
“It is for this reason that we implore the commission to put an end to the abuse of North Carolina consumers by Duke Energy.”
The group’s offensive against Duke will include deploying mobile billboards criticizing the company’s green policies, which will be pushed to consumers in Charlotte, North Carolina, today, as well as an event in California tomorrow where Duke board member W. Roy Dunbar is slated to hold a speech of the “impact of ESG on business success.”
“Perhaps the most abusive use of Duke’s resources has been their political advocacy of anti-consumer ‘net zero’ policies which they boast about supporting at both the national and state level,” Hild wrote in his letter. Read more here.
DOE DRAMA: The Energy Department issued an all-clear following warnings of explosives this morning near a DOE checkpoint in Germantown, Maryland, the Washington Examiner’s Misty Severi reports.
Authorities had been called to the scene after a security dog had warned of explosives inside a vehicle, according to local reports. The Montgomery County Police Department said there would be “significant” delays due to an investigation by the Federal Protective Service, though the entrance was reopened after authorities investigated the car.
An investigation into what the dog was reacting to is continuing in another location. “The vehicle has been searched and cleared. So far nothing found,” an unidentified official told ABC News. “We are in the process of packing up and going home. We will be working with the owner of the vehicle to try and figure out why the dogs alerted, but for now, we are done.”
The Rundown
Bloomberg ‘I don’t want to go home.’ Europe’s housing is not heat-ready
E&E News Stifling heat spells misery in schools with no air conditioning
