Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, Chitown Kev, eeff, Magnifico, annetteboardman, Besame, jck, and now moi, JeremyBloom. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) Interceptor 7, Man Oh Man, wader, Neon Vincent, palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse (RIP), ek hornbeck (RIP), rfall, ScottyUrb, Doctor RJ, BentLiberal, Oke (RIP) and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00 AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
Grassroots and frontline climate justice leaders with People vs. Fossil Fuels, a coalition of over 1,200 groups working to stop new fossil fuel infrastructure, slammed the draft permitting legislation that Senator Manchin released today as a “dirty deal” that would directly harm communities, undermine environmental justice, and worsen the climate emergency.
Over 650 organizations have signed a letter calling on Congress to oppose Manchin’s side deal. On September 8, People vs. Fossil Fuels, the Stop MVP coalition, and Protect Our Water Heritage and Rights organized a major protest in DC against the dirty deal and the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Despite Senator Manchin’s claims, the pipeline will not alleviate energy woes and does not match the anticipated drop in demand.
“This deal is nothing short of a criminal act, a giveaway to Big Oil and Gas at the expense of Indigenous, Black, Brown, and economically challenged communities. It violates a core tenet of Environmental Justice – that our voices matter, that our community input is needed on projects that impact our lives, water, air and bodies. Sen. Manchin and Democrat leadership are proving once again that they are not for the people, but only for profit. This dirty deal must not pass.” said Joye Braun, National Pipelines Organizer, Indigenous Environmental Network, Cheyenne River Sioux member.
After weeks of keeping the public and virtually all members of Congress in the dark, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Joe Manchin today released the details of their secret deal that Manchin demanded as payment for voting to pass the Inflation Reduction Act.
The text of this legislative side deal overwhelmingly benefits the fossil fuel industry. It contains the most significant loss of protections under the National Environmental Policy Act and the Clean Water Act since at least the George W. Bush administration, when Republicans had full control of Congress.
Today’s measure remains substantially the same as an earlier leaked draft that was influenced by the American Petroleum Industry. It would potentially make dozens, if not hundreds, of large-scale fossil fuel projects every year eligible for truncated review under the National Environmental Policy Act, gravely harming environmental justice communities and weakening environmental protections overall.
Senate progressives are looking to separate the stopgap funding bill from Sen. Joe Manchin’s permitting legislation, a move that could complicate Democratic leaders’ plans of rolling the two together, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort.
Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) is organizing a letter from a handful of liberal senators asking for the two votes to be held separately. That would allow critics of permitting reform to vote against it without voting to shut down the government.
Supporters include Democratic Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who has been vocal in opposing permitting reform. These senators join a group of House progressives that made a similar plea earlier this month.
In conjunction with the opening of the UN session, Climate Week arrives in NYC, the largest climate action gathering in the world. From top government officials to CEOs of companies like Hitachi and Revlon, to thousands of climate activists, this week brings the world together to share insights, build alliances, and plan for the next round of action.
A few samples…
Amazon.com Inc said on Wednesday it would add 2.7 gigawatts of clean energy capacity through several new projects as it seeks to use 100% renewable energy across its business by 2025.
Amazon's renewable energy projects would total 379 after the addition of the 71 new ones and it expects to generate 50,000 gigawatt hours (GWh) of clean energy from its entire portfolio, equivalent of powering 4.6 million U.S. homes each year.
...Infinium said on Tuesday it will supply low-carbon electrofuels for the e-commerce giant's trucking fleet starting next year. Infinium's supply of electrofuels — a fossil-based fuel alternative created with carbon waste and renewable power — will reduce Amazon's carbon emissions for roughly 5 million miles of travel per year, it said.
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Meanwhile, the world does not stand still. This is the backdrop, reminding us how urgent it is that we get our act together
And it’s not done yet:
In happier notes, The Senate just managed to pass its first climate treaty in almost 30 years, with (some) Republican support. The Kigali Amendment phases out some of the most destructive greenhouse gases:
But wait, there’s more… renewables are surging:
Trump had an interesting day, as reported extensively on DailyKos, culminating in this:
Unfortunately, Trump’s people are still in office. On the Supreme Court. At the Post Office. At the World Bank:
Pressure to oust World Bank President David Malpass is ramping up after he dodged questions on climate change and the impact of burning fossil fuels.
The controversy kicked off Tuesday when former US Vice President Al Gore labeled him a climate denier and called for a change of leadership. Asked about the criticism during the same event in New York, Malpass, installed three years ago by then-President Donald Trump, avoided questions on the effects of man-made emissions on climate change before saying: “I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.”
Precious Bodily Fluids
Just in case you had any doubts about Mike Flynn… And keep in mind this guy was the NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR appointed by TFG.
Are you mad as hell yet? You should be!
Tell us how YOU feel about it in the comments… or share your own stories!