a day ago
Hot and unprepared
The 'rare' and 'extremely dangerous' heat wave gripping large swaths of the country offers a reminder of the dangers of climate change as the world fails to curb atmospheric pollution.
Tens of millions of people across the Midwest and East Coast are experiencing scorching heat today — reaching triple digits in some cities — that could continue through Wednesday. Public health experts are warning people to stay cool and hydrated as temperatures are expected to remain high overnight, offering the body little respite.
The heat dome, caused by high pressure in the upper atmosphere that traps heat and humidity, arrives as the Trump administration escalates its assault on regulations designed to combat climate change and protect people from high temperatures.
The administration has proposed axing a popular program that helps low-income families heat and cool their homes. The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which provides support to some 6 million Americans and has bipartisan support in Congress, has increasingly become a source of money to subsidize air conditioning costs as summer heat becomes more dangerous. (The White House has called the program 'unnecessary.')
The administration is also weighing the elimination of a proposed rule that would require companies to provide rest and water to outdoor workers in extreme heat. The rule's opponents include the oil and gas industry, among the nation's leading workplaces for heat-related deaths and injuries.
Meanwhile, the U.S. and other countries are failing to cut their climate pollution sharply enough to meet the Paris Agreement's goal of keeping global warming 'well below' 2 degrees Celsius. A new analysis from the independent science project Climate Action Tracker found that none of the 40 countries tracked has strengthened its 2030 targets enough to comply with the 2015 climate deal.
In Europe, scientists are warning that the continent is wholly unprepared to handle the rapid increase in illnesses and deaths driven by extreme heat, floods and wildfires. Hotter temperatures are also driving the alarming spread of mosquito-borne diseases such as dengue and chikungunya that were once confined to tropical regions.
And in the U.S., Trump's efforts to eradicate federal climate initiatives include gutting research programs and firing experts — potentially impairing people's ability to understand how such warming affects the planet.
It's Monday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host, Arianna Skibell. Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to askibell@
Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Dasha Burns speaks with one of Trump's top energy advisers, Jarrod Agen, about the administration's rejection of the GOP's long-held 'all of the above' energy mantra and exclusive embrace of fossil fuels and nuclear power.
Power Centers
Oil prices yo-yo amid U.S.-Iran tête-à-têteOil prices fell sharply Monday afternoon following an Iranian counterattack against U.S. military bases in Qatar and Iraq, an apparently symbolic move that spared shipments of Middle Eastern crude, writes Ben Lefebvre.
Prices tumbled below $70 a barrel, down more than $5 from the day before when the U.S. military action against Iran's nuclear facilities drove prices higher.
As prices ping-pong, Trump — who campaigned on driving down energy costs — has tried to stave off panic by publicly urging his administration to increase domestic oil production, writes Robin Bravender.
The president took to Truth Social to demand that the Energy Department 'DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!' despite oil extraction falling outside that agency's jurisdiction. In a separate post, he directed 'EVERYONE' to 'KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I'M WATCHING!'
Trump's public pronouncements mark attempts to calm consumers and influence prices, but the reality is presidents are limited in their ability to sway global oil markets.
GOP moves could undercut the fossil fuel industryRepublican lawmakers are cracking down on federal aid that the fossil fuel industry lobbied hard for in an effort to stay globally competitive, writes Brian Dabbs.
On the chopping block are funds to cut methane emissions and a clean hydrogen tax break, the loss of which some energy experts say could jeopardize the future for U.S. oil and gas and give an edge to China and Europe.
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EPA's proposed repeal of Biden-era power plant rules solidifies the Trump administration's plan to discard the social cost of carbon.
Trump is slashing and burning the bulk of the Biden administration's energy and climate legacy, but there's one policy he appears to be embracing: an African cross-continental rail project that would access mineral-rich countries and counter China.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) plans to question a senior Justice Department official at his Wednesday hearing for an appointment to the federal bench about his involvement in the freeze and termination of $20 billion of EPA climate grants.
That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.
