A Dog Day's Breakfast

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This dog’s breakfast during the dog days is made up of odds and ends of climate news, job updates and opportunities, and a week of Senate misadventures.

But it’ll cost you.

“South Korean cabbage, Australian lettuce, Japanese rice, Brazilian coffee and Ghanaian cocoa are among the many foods that have been hit by price hikes following extreme climate events since 2022.”

Vancouver Island is burning out of control.

At least forty people were killed by floods in Beijing.

In “The Drying Planet,” Abrahm Lustgarten ably depicts the findings of the new paper led by Arizona State scientist Hrishikesh Chandanpurkar, “Unprecedented continental drying, shrinking freshwater availability, and increasing land contributions to sea level rise.” Thanks to manmade global warming, continents are drying faster than ever, and now they’re also being “dehydrated by the unmitigated mining of groundwater.” In fact, “the loss of water on the continents has grown so dramatically that it has become one of the largest causes of global sea level rise.”

Also drying up: federal dollars for clean energy and research to advocacy. Emma Court and Olivia Raimonde describe how climate nonprofits are now struggling.

Good news! The Department of Defense won’t shut off climate satellite data after all.¹

Thanks to One Big Brutal Bill modifications of Inflation Reduction Act 45Q carbon capture credits, Emily Sanders explains, Exxon’s new carbon-capture project in Louisiana will be subsidized to drill for more oil, after it had been billed as a climate solution when it was being built. Almost like that’s been Exxon’s plan all along.

The highest court of the UN has issued a landmark “advisory opinion” stating that nations can be held legally accountable for their greenhouse pollution.

A good line from Jay Willis, writing on Emil Bove’s 50-49 confirmation to a judgeship after Democratic senators blocked Joe Biden’s nominee: “Manchin retired in 2024 rather than seek-relection, and is now writing Dead Center: A Defense of Common Sense, the first political memoir that will be purchased exclusively by coal industry lobbyists who can expense their Axios Pro subscriptions.”

EHRMAGERD, JERBS!

Can you bee-lieve how long it’s been since our last update?

David Brooks, Democratic counsel for the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources since 1989, is retiring in September.

Katie Thomas Carol is now Director of Livable Futures at the Congressional Progressive Caucus Center.

Paris Martineau is now senior investigative reporter at Consumer Reports, focusing on food safety.

The University of Chicago Institute for Climate and Sustainable Growth is looking for a chief of staff ($183-237K, Chicago), and Climate Cabinet is hiring an Illinois lead lobbyist ($85-$105K, Illinois).

The Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security is hiring a gender and climate security research fellow ($65-$85K, DC)

The Climate Action Campaign US is hiring a regional campaign manager ($65-75K, DC).

The Growald Climate Fund is hiring an organizational development program associate ($70-$78K, SF/Boston).

Finally, a review of the Senate’s activities this week.

Senate-confirmed offices, including ambassadorships, around the world have been left empty after Trump summarily fired the sitting officials without waiting for his nominees to be confirmed. He’s been throwing a tantrum about the Senate not moving quickly enough to confirm his many extreme nominees. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) made the White House and Senate GOP leadership an offer—Democrats would let dozens of nominations go through in exchange for restoring some Constitutional checks on Trump that the GOP Senate has abandoned. When the GOP refused, he didn't back down.

Even so, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) was able to force through many nominees this week. Votes are on party lines unless otherwise noted.

David Wright, former chair of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was confirmed as a member of the NRC on Monday.

Tuesday, July 29

Floor confirmations:

• Earl Matthews as General Counsel of the Department of Defense

• Kirkland and Ellis partner William Kimmitt as Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade

• Susan Monarez as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Samuel Brown as Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Memorial Services. Cortez Masto and Rosen supported.

• The openly fascist Emil Bove as United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit. Collins and Murkowski opposed.

Wednesday, July 30

Floor confirmations:

•  T. Elliot Gaiser, a climate-denier fossil-fuel wingnut who clerked for Alito and attempted to overturn the 2020 election, as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel

• Joseph Kent as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Tillis opposed.

At 9:30 am, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee took votes on then nominations of Audrey Robertson (EERE) and Tim Walsh (EM) to be Assistant Secretaries of Energy, and Lanny Erdos to be Director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation. David Eisner withdrew his nomination to be Department of Energy Assistant Secretary of International Affairs.

Ranking member Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) announced he could not support the day’s nominees, since the administration is flouting the Constitution:

The nominations were backed on party lines.

At 10 am, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee
voted on the nominations including Neil Jacobs for NOAA Administrator, Taylor Jordan for NOAA Deputy Administrator, and anti-shark legislation. Ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) allowed Jacobs to be backed by voice vote. Seven of the 13 committee Democrats were recorded as noes after the fact.

Other hearings on Wednesday:

• 10 AM: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
  Markup of Disaster Recovery and other legislation

• 11 AM: Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee
  Review of the USDA Reorganization Proposal

• 2 PM: Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee
     Border Management, Federal Workforce and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee
  Congress's role in the regulatory landscape after Loper Bright

Thursday, July 31

Floor confirmations:

• Tyler Clarkson as General Counsel of the Department of Agriculture

• Gadyaces Serralta as Director of the United States Marshals Service. Durbin, Fetterman, Hassan, Kaine, King, and Shaheen supported.

• Cheryl Mason as Inspector General, Department of Veterans Affairs

• The lawless Matthew Kozma as Under Secretary for Intelligence and Analysis, Department of Homeland Security

• Outspoken bigot Andrea Lucas as a Member of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

At 9:30 am, the Senate Appropriations Committee conducted a full committee markup of the Defense and the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Acts.

At 10 am, the Senate Finance Committee interviewed the nominees for Deputy United States Trade Representative for Asia, HHS Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources, HHS General Counsel, and Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs. Derek Theurer, the nominee to be Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs, was a tax lobbyist for ExxonMobil for ten years before ruining the tax code on behalf of Republican members of Congress.

Friday, August 1

The Senate confirmed the following:

• Casey Mulligan as Chief Counsel for Advocacy, Small Business Administration

• Wolf-killer and bear-torturer Brian Nesvik as Director of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. Backed by Heinrich and Rosen.

• Luigi Rinaldi as Ambassador to Uruguay

• David Woll as General Counsel of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Fetterman supported.

• Nicholas Kent as Under Secretary of Education

Boy, it didn’t take long for Martin Heinrich to abandon his principled stand against backing Trump’s nominees.

The Senate also overwhelmingly passed its version of the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies funding bill, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies funding bill, and Legislative branch funding bill. These packages are rebukes of the Trump budget, which is being championed by House Republicans.

Saturday, August 2

A “soft deal” allowed Republicans to confirm 10 nominees, including the execrable Puzder and Pirro:

• Wife-beater Andrew Puzder as Representative of the United States of America to the European Union. Backed by Hassan and Shaheen, opposed by Murkowski.

• Brian Burch as Ambassador to the Holy See

• Jason Reding Quinones as United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida. Backed by Durbin.

• Bigoted climate denier Jeanine Pirro as United States Attorney for the District of Columbia

• Luke Lindberg as Under Secretary of Agriculture for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. Backed by 28 Democrats.

• Catherine Paige “Paige” Hallen Hanson as Chief Financial Officer, Environmental Protection Agency. Paige worked for Sens. Jeff Sessions and Dan Coats and the

• John Arrigo as Ambassador to Portugal. Backed by Shaheen and Warner.

• Sean Cairncross as National Cyber Director. Backed by Coons, Hassan, Heinrich, Kelly, King, Klobuchar, Peters, Rosen, and Shaheen.

• Adam Telle as Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works. Backed by 22 Democrats.

• Marcus Molinaro as Federal Transit Administrator. Backed by 21 Democrats.

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.

1  Or will it? Ha ha, the Trump regime is fun, no deals are final.