"This is pretty simple. It’s fossil fuel companies destroying our future for a quick buck." Only thing we'd add: and if they *stop* destroying our future in a way that slows the flow of quick bucks, the shareholders get to sue them. Only way out: changing the structure in which they operate.

Covering Climate Now@coveringclimatenow.org · last wk.

“The problem with climate change reporting is that sometimes it feels like you’re intellectualizing something that doesn’t actually need to be intellectualized. This is pretty simple. It’s fossil fuel companies destroying our future for a quick buck. That’s all you need to say.” @emorwee.bsky.social

What Texans need to understand is that these projects aren't subject to Greg Abbott's state pause, because they *don't connect to the grid.*

Floodlight@floodlightnews.org · yesterday

Data centers are quietly taking over Texas. An investigation from Floodlight and WIRED reveals how a regulatory loophole is allowing thousands of new fossil-fuel-burning power sources to be built across the state — leaving many residents blindsided.

What's particularly startling about this story is that this is happening in Southern France and the U.K., which are at the same latitude as, respectively Maine and Newfoundland. Imagine, please, what this means for Texas.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈@ssteingraber1.bsky.social · yesterday

Not sure why this isn’t the dominant topic of national conversation rn: “Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Not just a lot of money for batteries, but a lot of money for Austin, TX manufacturing (and, by the way, non-software tech) www.canarymedia.com/articles/bat...

Base Power raises $1B to get big batteries into more homes

The startup, newly valued at $13 billion, is now manufacturing batteries in Texas. It offers an affordable way for homeowners to get backup power and it…

canarymedia.com

Government regulators "said the staffing loss has also led to a loss of institutional knowledge and experienced people." The thing to remember is: this year we may scrape by, as the El Nino wind shear rips apart Atlantic hurricanes before they can form. But what about after that?

Rachel Frazin@rachelfrazin.bsky.social · yesterday

FEMA risks having ‘critically low’ staffing levels this hurricane season: GAO thehill.com/policy/energ...

What's particularly startling about this story is that this is happening in Southern France and the U.K., which are at the same latitude as, respectively Maine and Newfoundland. Imagine, please, what this means for Texas.

Dr. Sandra Steingraber 🏳️‍🌈@ssteingraber1.bsky.social · yesterday

Not sure why this isn’t the dominant topic of national conversation rn: “Drought and extreme heat are killing plants, driving up prices while also making some farms economically unviable” www.theguardian.com/environment/...

You might think that combined brutal heat wave, calls of "climate emergency" in Spain and France ... added to clear evidence that fossil reliance exposes you to wild out-of-control price swings would cut the value of fossil fuel companies. This is not the case. Market valuations post-Iran up $600B

Damian Carrington@dpcarrington.bsky.social · yesterday

Revealed: major oil firms make $93bn profits amid war and #climatecrisis That’s $700,000 a minute Iran conflict windfall over 3 months reignites calls for companies ‘cashing in on human misery’ to pay for environmental damage Story by Jillian Ambrose and me www.theguardian.com/business/ng-...

What Texans need to understand is that these projects aren't subject to Greg Abbott's state pause, because they *don't connect to the grid.*

Floodlight@floodlightnews.org · yesterday

Data centers are quietly taking over Texas. An investigation from Floodlight and WIRED reveals how a regulatory loophole is allowing thousands of new fossil-fuel-burning power sources to be built across the state — leaving many residents blindsided.

Sneaky move from Greg Abbott: this only applies to those projects that aren't building their own natural gas plants. Which ... a lot are.

New Texas data center projects frozen until state audits them

On Monday, the governor ordered the Public Utility Commission of Texas and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to audit all data centers wanting to connect to the state’s power grid.

texastribune.org

To be clear: the coal plant is not closing. Developers argue that the solar project (and it is MASSIVE) will cancel it out. grist.org/energy/this-...

This Texas coal mine will soon be home to a 1.2GW solar farm

Panamint Capital broke ground on a $1.7 billion solar and storage project at the Calvert coal mine. The mine and an adjacent coal plant will stay online.

grist.org

real interesting fight between Trump administration and Texas government over what Texas is calling "illegal" land clearing by federal contractors “Texas sovereignty will not be infringed upon by failure to follow established protocol,” Texas state officials said

Texas officials order contractor on Big Bend area border wall to halt land clearing

Texas General Land Office Commissioner Dawn Buckingham on Friday sent cease and desist letters to Barnard Construction and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, claiming the border wall contractor had…

texasstandard.org

More proof the beaver beat deserves (we repeat) at least one reporter at every serious publication: beavers make "really complex wetlands" that fight drought and provide habitat "https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5yr7z150d7o?at_campaign=rss&at_medium=RSS

Beavers helping to reduce drought with wetlands

Research shows beavers are creating more wetland areas since being reintroduced to the wild.

bbc.com

There's an interesting parallel here: salt caverns are what holds oil and gas; the oil right loves to hold up nuclear (looking at you, Landman) as the thing we're all gonna switch to soon so no need for renewables; also oil and gas waste itself often radioactive

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futureheist.org

what if I were to tell you that a substance isn't PFAS if — stay with us here — it would be inconvenient for CropLife America* *the actual name of the pesticide lobby phys.org/news/2026-07...

This is, in every sense of the word, wild.

Alan Puttock@alanputtock.bsky.social · 3w ago

Great to get out to some local #beaver sites and see them holding water and looking green amidst the heatwave! @exeter.ac.uk

There's a big fight over expanding Texas' grid — something analogous to jump from the old federal highways to Interstates — and fascinating to find the oil hard right (TPPF)and the mainstream oil and gas industry (TXOGA) at daggers drawn over it thetexan.news/issues/energ...

Texas Power Transmission Lines Project Under Fire at Senate Committee Hearing

Texas’ renewable energy fixation was a topic heavily debated in the hearing.

thetexan.news

More tactile; more real.

David Cho@chodavid.bsky.social · 6d ago

it’s also worth talking to teens—especially ones who are knowledgeable about tech/programming—about their views regarding ai; my own experiences have been similar to this: www.telegraph.co.uk/films/2026/0...

“It became very clearly obvious to me that this is a totally cross-partisan rebellion that’s happening from the bottom up,” @wewill2026.bsky.social told @hurwitz.bsky.social, after watching "MAGA Republicans and true-blue Democrats" protesting a Mich data center. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Can opposing data centers help progressives win?

A Sunrise Movement cofounder says the issue unites people across the aisle. He’s not the only one.

motherjones.com

Worth noting that people can fall into this perspective honestly – but when they do, there's a well-funded, glad-faced shill network waiting open-armed to greet them

Dr. Kiki@drkiki.bsky.social · 6d ago

Whether or not she is a paid shill (she really does fit the playbook tho), this influencer is harming renewable energy efforts. We need credible #scicomm getting traction on social video platforms.

"A national security emergency"

Leo Hickman@leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 7d ago

++BREAKING++ The UK and Spanish governments have issued a joint statement overnight: "[We] agreed that this summer’s wildfires demonstrated that climate change was now a national security emergency facing Europe and threatening our way of life." www.gov.uk/government/n...

"I began to see this as a pattern in some of Fasulo’s arguments against industrial solar: Legitimate concerns were often inflated into sweeping conclusions with shaky evidence." heated.world/p/the-influe...

The influencer teaching millions to fear solar

Alexandra Fasulo says she’s protecting farms and wildlife. Her campaign is becoming a blueprint for the fossil fuel right.

heated.world

new American unity party

Json Momoa@jotatx.eurosky.social · last wk.

you gotta love them beavers

One possibly pertinent fact: Israel gets its virtually all of its oil (semi-illegally) from oilfields in Russia. Turkey kind of looks the other way. But at any point, Ankara could close the Dardenelles, and then things get really interesting.

Asher Elbein@asherelbein.bsky.social · last wk.

Can someone explain to me why Israeli figures have been publicly saber-rattling so much lately about Turkey? Serious question, I feel like I don't recall seeing this sort of thing before last year, but I'm not an expert

One day at at time. Fun Texas wrinkle is that thanks to GOP deregulation in the late 90s, pro-fossil camp actually cannot (as much as they'd like to) use state power to fight the growth of solar, because, well, free market. www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...

Solar to overtake coal on Texas grid for the first time ever this year

The Trump administration likes to cast renewables as a socialist scam, but solar has soared in the competitive markets of the Lone Star State.

canarymedia.com

Simon Evans@drsimevans.carbonbrief.org · last wk.

Wind and solar have just overtaken fossil-fuel power in Germany www.carbonbrief.org/...

“The beaver education started for me then,” Smith said. “I never really knew … all the different things that they contribute to an ecosystem.” news.mongabay.com/2026/07/beav...

Beavers brought a volcanic wasteland back to life. Now it's under threat

The Smith family referred to the back part of their property as “the wasteland.” It opens up to the North Fork Toutle River in the U.S. state of Washington, which was swamped with volcanic sediment an...

news.mongabay.com

David Ho@davidho.bsky.social · last wk.

I love these stories about turning old industrial sites into thriving ecosystems. Derbyshire’s Willington Wetlands, a former gravel quarry where beavers were released in 2021 after being absent for 800 years, has welcomed white storks, bringing them back to the Midlands after 600 years.

Since it's trending right now, a quick thread on stories about data centers and pollution: First, we have Meta going all in on more methane gas plants, which are more expensive than solar in almost every case — except for when you never plan to turn it off electrek.co/2026/07/27/m...

Meta is backing 10 gas plants to power data centers – and just quit a global renewables pledge

Meta quit a global renewable power pledge as it backs 10 gas plants to keep its power-hungry AI data centers running in Louisiana.

electrek.co

... "a new Pfas that chemical giant Chemours is attempting to fast-track for approval for use in cooling datacenters, and [that] would almost certainly pollute regions around the facilities." www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...

US environmental groups urge EPA to reject new Pfas to cool datacenters

Coalition says Chemours downplayed health and climate risks in bid to fast-track the compound’s use

theguardian.com

Saul Elbein@saulelbein.bsky.social · last wk.

There is a kind of honesty in their admitting that you can’t have the current data center boom without massive pollution from gas plants etc.

Interesting that he argues U.S. can close the gap: "China’s leadership comes from coordinated factory investment, battery supply control, rapid EV adoption, and market strategy. "The US ... can respond with focused investment in EV capacity, battery supply and tech to close the gap."

Carolyn Salter MD@salterfortexas.bsky.social · last wk.

Thanks for listening and following me. Thought you might be interested in this. And we’re supposed to be the capitalists?

Tarrant isn't just a key swing county, it is the stronghold of the loudest and pushiest voices on the Texas oil right; home of Brooke Rawlins, Bo French, playground of Tim Dunn

Texas Observer@texasobserver.org · 2w ago

New from @byjustinmiller.bsky.social: "I just believe that our constituents deserve better from the county executive. And when they voted to redistrict my precinct, making it much more difficult for a Democrat to win in Precinct 2, I decided I may as well run countywide."

The border wall trashing Texas parks is up there with the data center rush in your weird — or maybe not so weird, given what both entail — scrambles of Texas partisan politics

Gus Bova@gusbova.bsky.social · 2w ago

Congressional candidate Bobby Pulido on Trump's border wall set to tear through the Santa Ana wildlife refuge in the district he's running for: “I haven’t said anything about it, but I obviously oppose it.” www.texasobserver.org/bobby-pulido...