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@eenews.net.
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.
In Other News
Fusion race: No one has made fusion power viable yet. Why are major tech companies investing billions?
Side effects may include: Climate change is boosting the risk of sleep apnea.
Subscriber Zone
A showcase of some of our best subscriber content.
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.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Yahoo
Senate bill's Medicaid cuts draw some GOP angst
The Senate's deep cuts to Medicaid in the tax and spending megabill are setting off alarm bells among some Republicans, complicating leadership's effort to get the legislation passed by July 4. It seeks to clamp down on two tactics states use to boost Medicaid funding to hospitals: state-directed payments and Medicaid provider taxes. The restrictions are a major concern for rural hospitals, a key constituency for senators. Republicans have set an ambitious July 4 deadline to pass the bill and send it to President Trump to be signed into law. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who has been warning his colleagues about making cuts to Medicaid for weeks, said the changes took him by surprise. 'I had no idea that they were going to completely scrap the House framework with this. I mean, this totally caught me by surprise. And I've talked to other senators, and that's what I've heard consistently from everybody I've talked to, that no one was expecting this entirely new framework,' Hawley told reporters Tuesday. States impose taxes on providers to boost their federal Medicaid contributions, which they then direct back to hospitals in the form of higher reimbursements. Critics argue it's a scheme for states to get more federal funding without spending any of their own money. But provider taxes have become ingrained into states' Medicaid financing systems. States and provider groups say the taxes provide a steady source of financing for hospitals that operate on thin margins and would otherwise face closure. 'The draconian Medicaid cuts contained in the Senate bill would devastate health care access for millions of Americans and hollow out the vital role essential hospitals play in their communities,' said Bruce Siegel, president and CEO of America's Essential Hospitals, an organization that represents hospitals that serve low-income patients. The legislation would effectively cap provider taxes at 3.5 percent by 2031, down from the current 6 percent, but only for the states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. The cap would be phased in by lowering it 0.5 percent annually, starting in 2027. Nonexpansion states would be prohibited from imposing new taxes, but as was true in the House-passed version, their rates would be frozen at current levels. The lower cap would not apply to nursing homes or intermediate care facilities. All states except for Alaska finance part of their share of Medicaid funding through health care provider taxes, and 38 states have at least one provider tax that exceeds 5.5 percent. When asked if his concerns were enough to make him vote against the bill if it were brought to the floor as written, Hawley hedged. 'It needs a lot of work, so I would say maybe we could, I guess, try to fix it on the floor, but it'd be better to do it beforehand,' he told reporters. Republicans can afford to lose only three votes in the Senate and still pass their bill if Democrats remain united in opposition. Sen. Jim Justice ( said he was also surprised by the Senate's change. If provider tax changes are on the table, he said he wants leadership to keep the House version. Justice wouldn't say how he would vote if the provision was left unchanged but expressed some unease about the July 4 deadline. 'I promise you, I won't rubber-stamp anything,' Justice said. 'I want this thing to come out and come out quickly, but when it really boils right down to it, you may have to hold your nose on some things that you just absolutely don't like because we can't like everything.' Similarly, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) indicated he would also prefer the House-passed freeze on provider taxes but was still analyzing the impact on his state. Louisiana expanded Medicaid in 2016. Senate Republican leaders huddled with members Tuesday during a closed-door caucus lunch to talk through the details of the bill. Speaking to reporters afterward, Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said leadership was listening to members' concerns, especially about provider taxes. 'We think [the changes] rebalance the program in a way that provides the right incentives to cover the people who are supposed to be covered,' Thune said. 'We continue to hear from members specifically on components or pieces of the bill they want to see modified or changed, and we are working through that.' Members were also briefed by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz, who downplayed the impact of a lower provider tax cap. 'We do not believe that addressing the provider tax effort is going to influence the ability of hospitals to stay viable,' Oz told reporters. Without weighing in on the exact details, Oz said some changes to provider taxes and state-directed payments should be included. 'The framework of addressing the legalized money laundering with state-directed payments and provider taxes must be in this bill, it should be in this bill,' Oz said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Boston Globe
6 hours ago
- Boston Globe
The government cuts key data used in hurricane forecasting, and experts sound an alarm
NOAA spokesperson Kim Doster, in a statement, called it a 'routine process of data rotation and replacement' and said that the remaining data sources 'are fully capable of providing a complete set of cutting-edge data and models that ensure the gold-standard weather forecasting the American people deserve.' Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Traditional visible or infrared satellites provide data that becomes images showing the structure, intensity and temperature of a storm, according to NOAA information, along with features such as lightning. But those miss the three-dimensional details of a storm. The microwave data gives critical information that can't be gleaned from the conventional satellites, and helps peer under a regular image of a hurricane or a tropical cyclone to see what is going on inside of it. It is especially helpful at night. Advertisement The news is especially noteworthy during the ongoing hurricane season and as lesser storms have become more frequent, deadly and costly as climate change is worsened by the burning of fossil fuels. Advertisement Microwave imagery allows researchers and forecasters to see the center of the storm. Experts say that can help in detecting the rapid intensification of storms and in more accurately plotting the likely path of dangerous weather. 'If a hurricane, let's say, is approaching the Gulf Coast, it's a day away from making landfall, it's nighttime,' said Union of Concerned Scientists science fellow Marc Alessi. 'We will no longer be able to say, OK, this storm is definitely undergoing rapid intensification, we need to update our forecasts to reflect that.' Other microwave data will be available but only roughly half as much, hurricane specialist Michael Lowry said in a blog post. He said that greatly increases the odds that forecasters will miss rapid intensification, underestimate intensity or misplace the storm. That 'will severely impede and degrade hurricane forecasts for this season and beyond, affecting tens of millions of Americans who live along its hurricane-prone shorelines,' he said. University of Miami hurricane researcher Brian McNoldy called the loss of data 'alarmingly bad news' in a post on Bluesky. 'Microwave data are already relatively sparse, so any loss — even gradual as satellites or instruments fail — is a big deal; but to abruptly end three active functioning satellites is insanity.' NOAA and its National Weather Service office have been the target of several cuts and changes in President Donald Trump's second term. The Department of Government Efficiency gutted the agency's workforce, local field offices and funding. Already, hurricane forecasts were anticipated to be less accurate this year because weather balloons launches have been curtailed because of the lack of staffing. Advertisement 'What happened this week is another attempt by the Trump administration to sabotage our weather and climate infrastructure,' Alessi said.
Fox Sports
6 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Chelsea coach Maresca says US 'is not the right place' for Club World Cup after lightning delay
Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Chelsea coach Enzo Maresca criticized FIFA for holding the Club World Cup in the United States after his club's match against Benfica on Saturday was delayed for two hours due to lightning and took nearly five hours to complete. Fans were told to vacate the seating bowl of Bank of America Stadium with four minutes left in regulation, although it never rained at the venue. Chelsea went on to beat Benfica 4-1 in extra time. If 'they are already suspending six, seven eight games, probably there is something that is not working well,' Maresca said, adding that the United States 'is not the right place to do this competition.' Extreme heat has been an issue throughout the tournament, with temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius) at some venues during daytime matches scheduled to accommodate European television audiences. Several matches have been delayed by rain. After the lengthy delay on Saturday, Benfica made a late push and scored the equalizer on a stoppage-time penalty. Chelsea captain Reece James said players 'had to sit and wait for a long period, and it's quite disruptive.' With the expanded Club World Cup serving as a dry run for next year's 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, FIFA has been criticized over pitch conditions and match scheduling as well as its handling of the weather. ___ AP soccer: in this topic
