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HERE’S HOW THE HAWAII FIRE GOT SO DEADLY: Two rarely linked extreme weather events—drought and hurricanes—combined to make Maui’s fire so disastrous.
Hurricane Dora, a Category 4 storm, fanned the flames despite being some 800 miles southwest of the islands.
– “That’s the interesting thing about this; since the hurricane didn’t directly impact [Maui],” said Becky Bollinger, the assistant climatologist for Colorado specializing in weather systems in the West. “But the low pressure system it set up—a very strong low pressure system—is working with the really strong high pressure” in the North Pacific.
That produced winds of up to 80 miles per hour in Maui, causing flames to travel miles within minutes. Residents were forced to jump into the Pacific Ocean to escape the flames. “We never anticipated in this state that a hurricane, which did not make an impact on our islands, would cause this type of wildfires,” Lt. Gov. Sylvia Lake told reporters.
– Florida and Georgia saw a similar disaster play out in 2007, when subtropical storm Andrea helped to fan wildfires.
– Rising temperatures are thought to exacerbate both factors — hurricanes and droughts. In the case of the latter, they cause precipitation to dry out more quickly, making wet periods “less beneficial,” Bollinger said. They also increase the risk of “flash droughts” that dry out vegetation and leave areas, like Hawaii, more susceptible to burning.
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REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ENERGY AND CLIMATE RUNDOWN: Energy and climate priorities will be a key focus in the 2024 Republican primary race as the candidates look to position themselves on oil and gas production, energy security, and sustainability topics such as environmental, social, and governance, or ESG, spending.
While the candidates espouse a wide range of views on these topics, each hopes to present himself or herself as a clear alternative to President Joe Biden, whose policies, they argue, are crippling economic growth, pushing up consumer prices, and threatening U.S. competitiveness while driving an outsize reliance on China for manufacturing and production.
Among those on the debate stage will be candidates who vow to pull the U.S. back out of the Paris accord, others who have embraced conservation or backed renewable energy, and an anti-”woke” biotech entrepreneur who said “people should be proud to live a high-carbon lifestyle.” (Hint: It’s Vivek Ramaswamy.) Ahead of the first debate, read our primer on where the candidates stand.
DOE FUNDS TWO GULF OF MEXICO FACILITIES TO PULL CARBON DIRECTLY FROM AIR: The Department of Energy announced $1.2 billion in funding for direct air capture projects in Texas and Louisiana today, in what officials said was the largest-ever investment in engineered carbon removal.
The funding is part of the department’s five-year, $3.5 billion grant program for four regional direct air capture projects aimed at capturing carbon emissions from the atmosphere and storing them deep underground.
DOE said the awards will fund both Project Cypress in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and the South Texas DAC Hub in Kleberg County, Texas. Once operational, the projects are slated to remove more than 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere per year, or the annual equivalent of emissions from 445,000 gasoline-powered cars.
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm described the carbon removal projects as “essential” to achieving a net-zero global economy by 2050. The administration has estimated that between 400 million and 1.8 billion metric tons of CO2 must be removed from the atmosphere and captured from emissions sources annually by 2050, and said the new projects will help further demonstrate the ability to build out and store atmospheric CO2 at scale.
CALIFORNIA GAS POWER PLANTS GET LIFE EXTENSION: The California Energy Commission voted Wednesday to extend the life of three gas power plants through 2026 – pushing back a shutoff deadline previously set for the end of this year. The vote would keep the decades-old facility – Ormond Beach Generating Station, AES Alamitos, and AES Huntington Beach – open so that they can run during emergencies, according to the Associated Press.
The state is at a greater risk of blackouts during major events such as a heat wave, when many Californians simultaneously crank up their air conditioning.
The plan, organized by the state’s Department of Water Resources, still needs final approval from the State Water Resources Control Board, which may vote on the issue next week. Read more about that here.
U.N. OFFLOADS OIL FROM SHIP IN DANGER OF CATASTROPHIC SPILL: The United Nations completed the offloading of more than one million barrels of crude oil from an aging supertanker moored off Yemen’s Red Sea Coast, averting a spill and environmental disaster, according to a statement from the White House.
The FSO Safer – a floating storage and offloading tanker – has been at risk of breaking or exploding for years, due to its corrosion and lack of maintenance since a Saudi-led coalition intervened in Yemen’s war in 2015. Yemen’s Houthi rebels – the group that controls the area where the Safer was moored – had previously prevented any salvage operation from taking place, but agreed back in March to allow for the oil to be offloaded.
Last year, the U.S. mobilized an international coalition to fund the operation. But as the operation is coming to an end, the Biden administration is still asking donors to use additional funds to complete the final steps of the operation.
“Years of neglect put the ship at risk of an imminent spill that would have damaged the entire Red Sea region and beyond,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in a statement. “We urge donors to mobilize the additional funds needed to complete the final steps of the full operation to address all residual environmental threats.”
DOE INTRODUCES PERMITTING RULE TO SPEED UP TRANSMISSION: The Biden administration proposed a rule Thursday to streamline the federal permitting process for major transmission lines – a move that could help transform the grid and bring renewable energy online faster.
The proposal would have DOE be the lead agency conducting environmental impact statements and other federal reviews for transmission projects so that developers wouldn’t need to through multiple federal agencies, E&E News reported. DOE would, however, coordinate with other relevant agencies depending on the scope of each project.
The proposed changes, which came as a result of the recent debt limit deal, could dramatically speed up the time it takes to build new long-distance power lines in the U.S. – and result in integrating more solar and wind onto the grid.
GAS STRIKE WARNING: Workers threatening strikes at liquefied natural gas operations Chevron Corp. and Woodside Energy Group Ltd. are asking the firms to quickly resolve disputes and avoid any costly disruption to exports, Bloomberg reports.
The prospect of disruptions at three major liquid natural gas sites – which account for about 10% of global supply – has disrupted gas markets in recent days and triggered new concerns over the outlook ahead of winter for the global north.
The cost of the two companies of strike action would be in the billions of dollars “if they don’t resolve our outstanding bargaining claims in a hurry,” the Offshore Alliance – a workers union that covers those in the oil and gas industry – said in a message posted on Facebook. More on that here.
CHINA’S MOVE TO DOMINATE LITHIUM TRADES: China is making a push to dominate the trading of lithium carbonate futures, as the Guangzhou Futures Exchange became the fourth global commodities exchange to launch contracts tracking the price of lithium carbonate – a mineral used to manufacture electric-vehicle batteries.
As reported by the Financial Times, within three weeks, open interest – a key measure of the size of the market – had risen to more than 20,000 lots and had outpaced activity at rivals London Metal Exchange, Singapore Exchange and the U.S.’s CME Group, which had launched its own version just days earlier.
The early lead established by Guangzhou underscores how China is seeking to seize greater control over trading the groups of metals critical for the 21st century. By establishing its own trading hubs and benchmarks priced in renminbi, the drive is part of Beijing’s effort to lessen the commodities market’s reliance on the U.S. dollar.
ICYMI: BIDEN REGRETS IRA NAME: Biden said that he wished the Inflation Reduction Act had another name, ahead of its first anniversary next week, reported by our Naomi Lim.
“I wish I hadn’t called it that because it has less to do with reducing inflation than it does to do with dealing with providing for alternatives that generate economic growth,” Biden told donors in Park City, Utah, Thursday. “So, we’re now in a situation where if you take a look at what we’re doing in the Inflation Reduction Act, we’re literally reducing the cost of people being able to make their — meet their basic needs.”
Biden’s comments come after the Labor Department reported consumer prices increased in the year ending July 30 by 3.2%, up from June’s rate of 3%. The president has been touting the IRA in a number of states ahead of its one year anniversary – though underscoring its climate provisions in an appeal to the Democratic base. More on that here.
The Rundown
Wall Street Journal How hot is it, really? Temperature indexes disagree
Washington Post As economy stumbles over judicial push, Israel banks on an energy boom
