Editors could never (editors, you should)

This will also plunge Cuba deeper into humanitarian crisis, as @jayapal.house.gov and @jonathanjackson.house.gov warned in the NYT a few days ago: "During blackouts, doctors sometimes have to manually pump ventilators to keep babies alive." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/o...

I’ve written more than most people on the failures of the U.S. climate politics over the last decade-plus. Plenty of room for more self-reflection, but the primary Groups responsible for killing the momentum on climate over the last few years were the GOP and the fossil fuel industry

Sam takes the wrong lesson from the IRA b/c he assesses post-IRA politics purely through lens of Dem party politics (rather than broader societal dimensions, motivations, incentives/disincentives). Dems, in short, fixated on their own internal issues (e.g., Manchin) & misread broader post-IRA room.

Literally endless examples- but one I love and write/talk about frequently is the gas-powered refrigerator! In the 1930s, gas refrigerators were generally cheaper, more efficient, more reliable, and much, much quieter - the obviously superior product and so expected by energy wonks to win! 🧵1/6 💡🔌

The largest ever settlement or jury award for government violations of constitutional rights to a single person is $100 million, or 1 percent of what Trump demanding for the leak of his tax returns. That case -- a killing by police -- was reduced to $1 million on appeal.

15 years ago and more the great Gil Masters was teaching that the diesel grids of the Pacific were the best bellweather of systemic energy transition - and one of the best opportunities for renewable electricity improve people's lives. This is fantastic news!

The last time I taught my class on the history of Belfast in 2022, @tomhulme.bsky.social Zoomed in to talk about his research; When I teach it again this Fall, I am forbidden from including this material.

100%. My book is about exactly this - how building energy systems to be seen rather than hiding them can change their politics. In LA, utilities built political legitimacy by designing their systems to be eye-catching, and by slapping big signs on everything they touched. This stuff works!

The 21-page pdf Adobe just slapped this on contains a single-page executive summary. I've been meaning to uninstall Acrobat for a long time for being bloated and aggravating, but this got me to hurry up and get around to it!

Unfortunate reminder that unmanaged decline of fossil energy systems will do real harm. The answer is not to expand fossil fuel subsidies to avoid decline. It's to manage the decline with careful forethought and effective policy.

while working on offshore flight safety one of our duties was to inspect helideck infrastructure and operational readiness. One auditor always said that aging oilrigs needed more frequent inspections for the weather was even more damaging. and that was a serious concern for the most visible part +

This is exactly what @gruberte.bsky.social and I have been warning about. These platforms are old, decaying, and under-resourced - perfect examples of a regional energy system past its minimum viable scale. To avoid repeated disasters, we have to manage decline. www.latimes.com/california/s...

if you can’t talk about climate and make it relevant to people’s lives, that seems like a you issue not a climate issue.

By the way, here’s how that legislative horse trade is going: one offshore well is already pumping, another has been cleared to start, and a third is now being prepped for restart, thanks to Trump‘s use of the defense production act. finance.yahoo.com/sectors/ener...

Hammering "Trump's war is creating an oil and gas crisis, so we need emergency renewables+transit investment" isn't hard! The CEO of the Port of Long Beach just did it w/ CA's last Hormuz tanker in the frame. Politicians should be lining up to film the same shot! www.youtube.com/shorts/EwADM...

If there's a major wildfire in one of these states this year we will get a truly deafening, months-long barrage of Very Serious Takes insisting that hippie Dems won't let Real Outdoors Men keep the public safe. CA, CO, et al should be prepping the public by shouting very loudly about the real cause.

Fantastic example of how a leading question can shape the electorate. Newsom signed that literal bill last summer. I defy these candidates to specify how, exactly, new legislation squeeze more oil out of the Central Valley, and what budget items they'd cut to do it.

Glad NERC is backing up balancing authorities that have been struggling to tackle this - against data center industry opposition! NERC's fixes are going to be slow, and they put the burden on system planners and operators. Industry could fix much of this itself by installing larger batteries...

Fantastic example of how a leading question can shape the electorate. Newsom signed that literal bill last summer. I defy these candidates to specify how, exactly, new legislation squeeze more oil out of the Central Valley, and what budget items they'd cut to do it.

This here. A smart response to the Hormuz crisis would be to double down on rail, mass transit, electrification…even e-bikes. But our politicians are AWOL. So much for “never waste a crisis”

Glad NERC is backing up balancing authorities that have been struggling to tackle this - against data center industry opposition! NERC's fixes are going to be slow, and they put the burden on system planners and operators. Industry could fix much of this itself by installing larger batteries...

i love mess and no one can access Canvas to grade, so here's my new article on why maybe we should accept less reliable electricity generation doi.org/10.1016/j.is...

Another scooplet: A large wind project in Wash. the FAA had already approved conspicuously applied for permission again to come online. It happened after a GOP congressman asked FAA to kill the project. Neither developer nor FAA commented to me on whether political pressure led to these events.

The emerging EV trucking breakthrough is extremely promising for decarbonization - but a challenge for grids, a wash for traffic, and likely a negative for road safety. The political and financial window for shifting freight to electric rail is starting to close - this should be a moment of urgency!

This is beautiful reporting and an inspiring (and concerning!) story. We're gutting our ability to adapt to climate change - but there are still so many talented, thoughtful, committed people who want to do that work, if we'll let them. www.hcn.org/issues/58-5/...

The Future of Heat Initiative is hiring. If you're a lawyer who wants to make waves with state utility commissions -- or if you know a worthy lawyer who might be interested -- go ahead and check out the posting: thefutureofheat.com/s/Regulatory...

Close up, wind turbines produce ~55 db - a bit louder than a fridge. Gas power plants come in at 85-100 db - like a jackhammer. Industrial diesel generators can hit 130 db - like standing next to a fighter jet taking off of an aircraft carrier. This isn't about noise - it's about who has to hear it.

literally "Trojans will infuse Greeks throughout city with donation of large wooden horse"

One mainstream strand of the climate movement has spent decades believing the oil lobby is led by stupid people who can't recognize trends. Anyone who has actually sat across from them knows this isn't true. They are very, very skilled. When they support something, believe that it is good for them.

Great thread. I'd add that a lot of the framing of "deregulate and build everything" as climate policy rests on a big, shaky assumption: Fossil fuels don't change the climate, people who burn fossil fuels change the climate. In other words, if the US cleans up its domestic energy use, but...

Americans are taught Kent State was a brutal aberration- scared untrained guardsmen who went too far and were checked by public outrage. But Kent State was one of many massacres of antiwar student protestors in May 1970 - UNM, Jackson State, the (non-military) Hard Hat Riot - all met with impunity.

I find it deeply grotesque seeing politicians mark this May 4 as Star Wars Day and not as the anniversary of Kent State. We are still living in Kent State's aftermath - the complexity of nonviolence, the impunity of state murder, the leadership of students in protest, the uncertainty of struggle.

My public library is missing volume 16 out of 21 in the series I'm reading, and their purchase policy only allows them to buy books published in the last few years, so they're just never going to acquire this last book, and it's driving me nuts!

This win is a really big deal - closing a very dangerous door and bringing gas utilities face to face, once again, with the reality of decline. Now's the time to demand realistic plans and policies to manage that decline safely and affordably.

Urgent: I desperately need a mapmaker to draw a few maps for my new book. My usual person is booked solid and there is a bit of a time crunch. If you have the time or know someone who might please do reach out 🗃️

As a scientist, this is my worst nightmare. There are one-of-a-kind instruments that you spend your life perfecting. When they’re lost, no amount of time or money will bring them back. My thoughts are with @oceanandclimate.bsky.social @ashevenell.bsky.social and others @cmarinescience.bsky.social. 🥺

literally_instead_of_going_to_therapy.meme www.nytimes.com/2026/04/24/c...

It's so deeply offensive to me that CA's new autonomous vehicle regs don't come with fines - and I've been amazed at how few news articles about the regulations even mention it.

Strongly agree that term limits and expansion actually serve structurally to make the court as an institution less accountable. It's more critical than ever for Congress to pursue structural solutions - affirmative legislation, jurisdictional constraints, prosecutable ethics standards, impeachment.

Stop posting your clever counter-gerrymandered maps and sign up for deep canvassing operations in gerrymandered states. It's time for a second Freedom Summer.

Love to see members of Congress talking about more direct and immediate curbs on the court's extrajudicial behavior.

We must understand that the Voting Rights Act was not merely about ensuring Black Americans rights, it was about democratizing America. This ruling is not just a decimation of Black rights and Black Americans’ ability to have representation, it is a fatal blow to multiracial democracy.

EXCLUSIVE My big behind-the-scenes look into how Gov. Josh Shapiro has courted Amazon amid the mounting backlash to data centers Complete with internal emails, memos, an “exclusive” offer for help with faster permitting and a NDA no one would explain to me. My latest for @heatmap.news 😌

dr poop asks a great question and i have a great answer: public officials are signing NDAs with data center developers *ALL OF THE TIME* but we have only known this to happen w local governments my story today as far as i know raises the first case with data centers NDAs & state office

The lawmakers demand that Total preserve all documents, emails, texts, etc related to the deal and put the $$ in escrow until the investigation is finished.

Env folks, me included, like to talk about the Cuyahoga River - but I think Exxon Valdez offers a more effective, less well-understood story for defending env regulation. Not "things used to be bad, but we fixed them - let's not go back," but "if you don't prevent the damage, you can never fix it"

As it happens (and as it often happens!), @emilypont.bsky.social was on it. This is a top-tier threat to the political economy of energy transition, but even more fundamentally, it's a corruption and impunity issue - and treating it as one is the only way to durably redirect energy investment.

Given the specific, extensive, decades-long history of state noncompliance with REAL ID - which the public is unusually aware of! - CA has absolutely no grounds complying here, esp. where compliance violates state law! Dare DHS to make 40 million Americans fly with passports in an election year.

Oxford is hiring a new statutory Professor of Economic History! Apply by May 25th, and feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or are thinking about whether this might be a good fit for you! my.corehr.com/pls/uoxrecru...