"I just get so incensed"

Maui, Manchin, and Montana. Also: Jerbapalooza!

Author

Brad Johnson
August 16, 2023

The official Lahaina death toll has reached 106. To support Maui’s recovery effort, you can contribute to this collaborative fund of local community organizations doing direct relief.

PRESENTED BY PALILA

Destroyed cars in Lahaina. Credit: Patrick T. Fallon

Even before the fossil-fueled wildfire that destroyed Lahaina—the deadliest U.S. fire in more than 100 years—Maui had filed suit against Big Oil. In a 2020 lawsuit, the county sued Exxon, Chevron, BP, Shell and other fossil fuel companies in 2020 for a “coordinated, multi-front effort to conceal and deny their own knowledge” of the dangers of burning fossil fuels. Emily Sanders has more at ExxonKnews.

On Democracy Now, the Green New Deal Network’s Kaniela Ing explained why he was “incensed” by President Joe Biden’s claim last week that he had “practically” (but not actually) declared a climate emergency:

I’ve just been frantically trying to make sure that my loved ones are okay. But I also work on climate. This is my job. And as soon as I start thinking about that statement from President Biden, I just get so incensed. This is a climate emergency. There’s no practical — “practically” he declared it. You either believe it or not. And I think as bad as Republicans have been by denying climate, Democrats are just as culpable by not doing enough. Scientists say that we need to be investing at least $1 trillion a year in the clean energy transition. We need to end and phase out, deny all new fossil fuel permits, and really empower the communities that build back ourselves democratically. That’s the solution for it.

And President Biden announced his second term, but he hasn’t told us how he’s going to finish the job. He needs to lay out that vision, what we’ve been demanding from a Green New Deal, if he wants communities that got him elected to come out, that base of climate voters, that happen to be predominantly Black, Indigenous and low-income people. But we need something forward-looking to come out, because right now, like, I’m not even thinking about voting, right?

So, Kaniela thinks Biden isn’t doing enough to end fossil-fueled death and destruction. But views differ! Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) Inflation Reduction Act is a year old, and it’s an “almost limitless” boon for “clean energy generation and cleantech manufacturing,” Dan McCarthy writes. As it turns out, that’s why Big Coal Joe now opposes his own big law. Manchin marked the law’s anniversary by declaring his “unrelenting fight against the Biden administration’s efforts to implement the IRA as a radical climate agenda.”

Meanwhile, Republicans are gearing up with their radical Project 25 agenda to dismantle all climate action by the federal government whatsoever if they seize the presidency next year.

See, Manchin is a moderate!

Biden will visit Maui on Monday to meet with first responders, survivors and federal, state and local officials.

The critically endangered Hawaiian Palila honeycreeper (Loxioides bailleui).

In a rousing victory, Montana kids just won their landmark climate lawsuit. Drilled’s Amy Westervelt explains the Held v. State of Montana decision. Montana’s constitution that guarantees a right to “a clean and healthful environment”—and the judge agreed with the youth plaintiffs that the state’s continued support for fossil fuels violates that right.

The city of Yellowknife in Canada’s Northern Territories is being evacuated as a raging wildfire nears.

Almost 90,000 households in central and western Japan lost power when Typhoon Lan struck on Tuesday.

At least 49 people have been killed and dozens are thought to be missing after intense rain caused floods and landslides in the Indian Himalayan region.

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JERBS JERBS JERBS!

The Maryland Energy Administration is hiring—seeking energy program managers for energy equity ($69K-$111K), decarbonizing public schools ($69K-$111K), electrification and buildings decarbonization ($65K-$104K), and overseeing financing ($73K-$118K).

Another important job for the future of Maryland’s energy future: Special Assistant to the Commissioners of the Maryland Public Service Commission, the agency which regulates public utilities ($65K-$104K).

The Charleston Post and Courier is looking for a climate reporter to join their Rising Waters Lab (no salary given, Charleston, S.C.).

The Sunrise Project is hiring an experienced digital campaigner for their automotive supply chain campaign, Lead the Charge ($88K-$100K, remote).

The Natural Resources Defense Council’s Climate and Clean Energy Team has some exciting openings—a senior electric vehicle and infrastructure advocate and a state industrial decarbonization advocate (both $113K-$121K, San Francisco, Santa Monica, DC, New York, or Chicago).

The Federation of American Scientists, which began its clean energy program in 2020, is hiring an associate director to help build the program ($115K ‒ $160K, DC).

The pension-fund-backed climate-finance non-profit Ceres is seeking a campaign director for its new Freedom to Invest campaign to defend climate finance from “woke capitalism” attacks ($140K-$150K, Boston, SF, or remote).

Public Citizen is seeking a deputy director for the dynamic climate program led by David Arkush ($108K-$136K, DC preferred).

For more openings, check out Ed Carley’s invaluable Clean Energy & Sustainability Jobs List.

For new subscribers: this post is a taste of what you get daily when Congress is in session!

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. Connect with me—@[email protected] and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky

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