Hill Heat is on a vacation schedule this July and August.

Cracking Down on Climate Activists

In Great Britain, Just Stop Oil activists Daniel Shaw, Louise Lancaster, Lucia Whittaker De Abreu and Cressida Gethin were each sentenced to four years in prison and Just Stop Oil leader Roger Hallam sentenced to five years for planning non-violent protests blockading a British motorway, to the widespread dismay of human rights experts. The incoming Labour prime minister Kier Starmer has made it clear he supports the extreme sentences.

In New York City, Summer of Heat organizers Alec Connon and Mark John Rosenthal have been hit with a restraining order preventing them from participating in further protests at Citi’s headquarters, likely at the instigation of Citi security officials. Jonathan Westin, the executive director of the Climate Organizing Hub, was arrested after Citi security officials falsely claimed he had “violently” removed barricades. Westin spent 14 hours in jail until he was released after Summer of Heat activists showed prosecutors video proving the Citi claims were false.

Summer of Heat actions are continuing this week, culminating in another mass protest on Saturday, July 27.

The Presidential Race: Trump Adds JD, Biden Turns To Harris

The 2024 presidential season is a hot one.

Last week, after surviving a failed assassination attempt that instead killed one of his supporters, the avowed fan of political violence Donald Trump picked his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). Vance, a notorious grifter who once proclaimed his hatred of Trump, is now a Trump-adoring climate denier. Running as a Republican candidate in 2022 at a Center for Christian Virtue debate, he questioned “the idea that climate change is caused purely by man” and mocked “ridiculous ugly windmills.”

“We’re done buying energy from countries that hate us!” Vance said in his convention speech. Trump, in his incoherent, invective-filled speech, attacked the “Green New Scam” and reiterated Sarah Palin’s creed, “Drill, baby, drill!”

Outlets like The New York Times and CNN found the neo-fascist religious authoritarianism of the Republican National Convention to be a less interesting story than the push to convince President Joe Biden to withdraw his candidacy following his troubled debate with Trump.¹

On Sunday, Biden announced his decision to withdraw from the race, endorsing his vice president, Kamala Harris, as his natural successor, leaving Trump as the oldest major-party candidate for president at age 78. The decision unlocked a flood of grassroots donations and the endorsement of Harris by all 50 state Democratic party chairs. The Democratic National Committee Rules Committee has scheduled a public meeting for Wednesday afternoon to decide whether to nominate by virtual roll call in early August or to wait until the Chicago convention on August 19th.

Harris staked out an aggressive pro-climate stance when she ran for president in 2019, backing the Green New Deal and calling for a ban on fracking. As California Attorney General, she oversaw several lawsuits and settlements against oil companies for oil and methane leaks. Climate advocates are hoping that Harris’s background as a prosecutor could lead to a crackdown on corporate criminality—in particular ExxonMobil’s campaign of climate deception—if she becomes president.

A Brief Look at the Real World

A few headlines from our fossil-fueled summer:

Summer of devastating floods shows steep challenge for China as it grapples with extreme weather: Bridge collapses in China, killing 15 after flash floods. Wildfires rip through Portuguese region while France and Holland are hit with flash floods and hikers are killed by lightning in Germany and Austria as Europe sees wild weather extremes. Greece shuts Acropolis and Adriatic Sea hits record-high temperature as extreme heat bakes Europe: Lightning strikes in Greece start fires, kill cattle amid dangerous heat wave. 

Canada wildfires drive hundreds from homes as more scorching heat forecast. More than a week without power leaves some Houston-area residents feeling hopeless and abandoned. Thousands lose power in Phoenix after a massive dust storm.

Homes burn as flames descend on a Southern California neighborhood. Wildfires in California, Utah prompt evacuations after torching homes amid relentless heat wave. Four wildfires reach ‘megafire’ status in Oregon, scorching thousands of acres. Millions of Californians live near oil and gas wells that are in the path of wildfires. 120 degrees in Palm Springs set another record Saturday.

Even for Las Vegas, it's too hot.

A Hot Week on the Hill

Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W. Va.) hasn’t retired to his houseboat yet; today he released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 with his good friend Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.). The bill would radically deregulate new fossil-fuel and mining projects.

On Wednesday, international war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu speaks before Congress.

Appropriations

Today, the House Rules Committee prepared four appropriations acts for floor consideration this week: Financial Services and General Government (H.R. 8773) Interior-Environment (H.R. 8998), Energy and Water (H.R. 8997), and Agriculture (H.R. 9027). All contain anti-climate riders and slash climate and environmental justice programs. ARPA-E and the Department of Energy’s loan programs are slashed.

On Thursday, Senate appropriators conduct a full committee markup of the Commerce-Justice-Science, State and Foreign Operations, and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development Appropriations Acts.

Agency Oversight

The Supreme Court’s decisions attacking the administrative state are the subject of a hearing on “Congress in a Post-Chevron World” convened by House Administration chair Bryan Steil (R-Wisc.) on Tuesday at 10:15 am. In addition to a bevy of fossil-funded conservative advocates, Georgetown law professor Jason Chafetz will testify. His testimony lays out in stark detail the Supreme Court’s “judicial self-aggrandizement at the expense of both Congress and the agencies.”

Under the guise of discussing the 2025 budget, Energy and Commerce subcommittees will be grilling several commissions under their jurisdiction this week. Republicans plan to touch upon how the Loper Bright, Jarkesy, and Corner Post decisions will constrain the agencies.

On Tuesday at 10 am, the energy and climate subcommittee meets with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and at 2 pm, the commerce subcommittee meets with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Commissioner Rich Trumka Jr. will be in GOP crosshairs for pointing out the dire health threat to children posed by gas stoves. On Wednesday at 10 am, the energy and climate subcommittee meets with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

At 2 pm on Tuesday, Transportation’s railroads subcommittee takes a look at
the state of rail safety in the aftermath of the derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. While Vance joined Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in backing a rail safety bill, Vance’s fellow Republicans have blocked it on behalf of the rail industry. It will be interesting to see the GOP try to reconcile their opposition to regulations with their putative concern for the health and lives of their voters.

On Wednesday at 9:30 AM, the Transportation highways subcommittee will review the Department of Transportation’s regulatory and administrative agenda with highway and trucking lobbyists.

Natural Resources Legislation

The ever-busy Natural Resource committee is holding legislative hearings on dozens of bills this week:

• On Tuesday at 10:15 am, the water subcommittee discusses $12 billion in Indian water rights legislation with federal and tribal officials.

• At 10:30 am, the energy and minerals subcommittee reviews an orphan wells bill and offshore, geothermal, and renewable energy development bills. Interior official Steve Feldgus will testify along with industry lobbyists.

• On Wednesday at 10 am, the federal lands subcommittee discusses six federal lands bills, including one to expedite broadband corridors on federal lands.

International and Rural Affairs

At 10 am on Tuesday, House Agriculture looks at financial conditions in farm country with corn, cotton, and other industrial-ag lobbyists as well as Black agricultural economist Ron Rainey.

House Foreign Affairs subcommittees are grilling State and USAID officials about South and Central Asia on Tuesday at 2 pm and about Latin America on Wednesday at 10 am. Don’t expect Republicans to recognize the climate damage done to these regions by American fossil fuels.

The U.S. Climate Politics Almanac is offered as a free service to all readers, thanks to subscribers who can afford to chip in here:

1  The “Pass the Torch” campaign was driven by an unusual alliance of corporate media, high-dollar donors, and entrenched politicos on the inside and youth-powered groups such as the Democratic Socialists of America, Climate Defiance, and the Sunrise Movement on the outside. Aaron Regunberg’s “Pass the Torch” PAC, which ran ads on Morning Joe demanding Biden withdraw his candidacy, has not yet revealed its donors. Regunberg, who worked with other volunteers on the effort, is the climate policy counsel at Public Citizen.

The fraught issue split Congressional climate hawks; Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) were critical of the effort, while Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), Mike Levin (D-Calif.), and Jared Huffman (D-Calif.) joined the push.

This was a temporary alliance; the youth climate groups are disenchanted with the Biden administration over Gaza and oil and gas projects, policies which many conservative donor-class Democrats have backed.