Auto Revolutions and At-Risk Rivers: This Week's Climate News
The EPA proposes the most ambitious climate regulations to date, and Biden attempts to solve the Colorado River crisis in this week's climate news.
Hello and welcome back to The Doomer Dispatch, weekly climate news to spur doomers into doers.
This week, the EPA is back, back, back, back, back again. This time, they’re coming with a revolution on wheels. I hope you enjoy.
TL;DR Summary
The federal government has announced a revolutionary plan to enact the tightest emissions regulations on the auto industry ever, with a goal of having two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States be all-electric by 2032.
The Biden administration proposed an unprecedented plan to solve the Colorado River crisis: give each state an equal share of the water supply.
Terms to know
Top stories this week
The EPA proposes the most aggressive climate regulations to date.
On Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency continued their recent streak of environmental rulemaking, releasing a package of regulation that aims to ensure two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032.
The proposed regulations are known as tailpipe pollution limits, where the government regulates the amount of carbon emissions a vehicle produces. If enacted, the regulations would aim to see 67 percent of sales of new light-duty passenger vehicles and 46 percent of new medium-duty trucks sales be all-electric by 2032, a blisteringly ambitious target. A companion rule also targets heavy-duty vehicles, aiming to have half of new buses and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold be all-electric by the same year.
The reason many people, including myself, are referring to this proposed regulation as a “revolution” is because it would mark a dramatic shift in the auto market, a shift not seen in decades. Essentially, while the government can’t mandate that automakers sell a certain number of electric vehicles, they can, under the Clean Air Act, limit the pollution generated by the total number of vehicles a manufacturer sells. Imposing such strict requirements would force carmakers to have to either sell a certain percentage of zero-emissions vehicles, or face fines of potentially billions of dollars.
This revolutionary regulation will, as all climate policies are destined to, face immense legal challenges. However, if the regulation is still standing after the dust settles, the United States could finally make a major slash in its greenhouse gas emissions. As we watch the fate of these regulations unfold -regardless of the outcome- we can still take heart that the federal government has attempted to impose the most aggressive climate regulations in recent history.
Biden attempts to solve a decades-old water rights feud over the Colorado River.
The Colorado River has been in chaos for the past few years. As climate change turns up the heat in the West, the river is now shrinking, straining the fragile water-sharing agreements in place. At the center of the feud are three states: California, Arizona, and Nevada, as well as a host of Native American tribes like the Gila River Indian Community. Each has historically had rights to draw a certain portion of water from the river, supplying tens of millions of Americans. As it shrinks in the 23-year-long drought, its scarcity has brought out an all-out war over the law of the river.
The states and tribal communities tried for years to come to an amicable agreement, but, so far, all negotiations have failed. Each state prioritizes their own needs, and each plan often aims to leave one state badly weakened- often California or Arizona. As the stalemate now hits a breaking point, the Biden administration is stepping in, proposing evenly cutting water allotments, reducing the water delivered to California, Arizona and Nevada by as much as one-quarter. This marks the first time in American history that the federal government has moved to unilaterally impose such immense water reductions on states and tribes.
The government offered two plans, both with the same goal: ensure all states get a reasonable amount of water without depleting the Colorado River’s two main reservoirs, Lake Powell and Lake Mead. As the two reservoirs shrink in climbing temperatures, the likelihood of their hydroelectricity dams failing gets higher and higher. If the dams fail, the resulting power outages could reap a humanitarian crisis across the Southwest.
Both plans have winners and losers. The first, which proposes equal cuts, would violate California’s stronger historical rights to the river and lose the most profitable state in the country around $170 million in agricultural losses. The second plan would recognize California’s historical rights and reduce Arizona’s water share by more than half its current size. This plan would also dry up a main water source for Phoenix and Tucson, putting millions at risk, and would hurt Native American tribes’ treaty-protected water rights. In both plans, farmers would be forced to take land out of service, water prices would climb, and state and local governments would lose millions in tax revenue.
The Interior Department, who oversees such issues, did not formally endorse either option in the draft proposal. A final analysis of the crisis is expected this summer, and it could still include other options. As is stands, the fate of the communities who rely on the Colorado River still hangs in the balance.
Other news to watch
Significant tax breaks for renewable energy projects from the Inflation Reduction Act are coming to former fossil fuel communities, providing a much needed financial boost for the clean energy transition.
Climate-driven changes in air density are making it easier to hit home runs in baseball, a new study finds, potentially changing the sport forever.
The federal government began dispensing funds to plug an estimated 310,000 to 800,000 defunct oil wells across the country in an effort to limit toxic pollution and lingering methane emissions.
A new study finds rich people are exacerbating water crises with their swimming pools and other non-essential water use, potentially harming urban areas “at least as much as climate change or population growth.”
Cryptocurrency “mines” are using enough electricity to power millions of American homes, straining power grids, abusing public agreements, and ramping up emissions while tech executives get richer and richer.
The anticipated new head of the World Bank, millionaire and former CEO of Mastercard Ajay Banga, is expected to announce vital new plans to send climate funds to poor countries, a major concern of world leaders and the UN.
A coalition of environmental groups is suing the EPA, claiming the agency has failed to do its duty in updating old water pollution regulations, some of which haven’t been touched for an average of 34 years.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida was hit by a 1-in-1,000-year flood that left hundreds of homes and businesses underwater and knocked out much of the city’s power.
Before they were kicked out, climate deniers handed out over 700 comic books to teachers featuring a cat, a “scientist,” and misleading information about carbon emissions at an educational convention in Atlanta.
More great climate content here on Substack
Emily Atkin discusses the recent removal (and reinstatement) of environmental justice advocate Representative Justin J. Pearson from the Texas state Legislature in HEATED.
Thank you for reading this week’s Dispatch! I hope you enjoyed.
Intrigued by any of this week’s information? Struck by these stories? Beguiled by these bulletins? Tantalized by these tidings? Share this article and let me know in the comments! I want to see some bewitched, bothered, and bewildered buzz.
OK doomers, I’ll see you next week.
-Joey