Drastic Cuts to Renewable Energy

from Heather Cox Richardson

"Just days before Labor Day, a holiday designed to celebrate the importance and power of American workers in the United States, the Transportation Department cancelled $679 million in funding for offshore wind projects, and the Department of Energy announced it is withdrawing a $716 million loan guarantee to complete infrastructure for an offshore wind project in New Jersey.

"Reversing the shift toward renewable energy not only attacks attempts to address the crisis of climate change and boosts the fossil fuel industry on which some of Trump’s apparent allies depend, but also undermines a society based on the independence of American workers. In 2023, about 3.5 million Americans worked in jobs related to the renewable energy sector, and jobs in that sector grew at more than twice the rate of those in other sectors in what was a strong U.S. labor market. The production of coal, which Trump often points to as an ideal for American jobs, peaked in 2008. Between then and 2021, employment in coal mining fell by almost 60% in the East and almost 40% in the West, leaving a total of about 40,000 employees.

"Another cut last week sums up the repercussions of the administration’s attack on renewable energy. On August 22 the Interior Department suddenly and without explanation stopped construction of a wind farm off the coast of Connecticut and Rhode Island that was 80% complete and was set to be finished early next year. As Matthew Daly of the Associated Press noted yesterday, Revolution Wind was the region’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm. It was designed to power more than 350,000 homes, provide jobs in Connecticut and Rhode Island, and enable Rhode Island to meet its goal of 100% renewable energy by 2033.

"The Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Eastern Connecticut expressed their dismay at the decision, noting that Revolution Wind employed more than 1,000 local union workers and is part of a $20 billion investment in 'American energy generation, port infrastructure, supply chain, and domestic shipbuilding and manufacturing across over 40 states' by Ørsted, a Danish multinational company."

Collapse of Critical Atlantic Current is No Longer Low-Likelihood

Scientists say ‘shocking’ discovery shows rapid cuts in carbon emissions are needed to avoid catastrophic fallout

from the Guardian

"The Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is a major part of the global climate system. It brings sun-warmed tropical water to Europe and the Arctic, where it cools and sinks to form a deep return current. The Amoc was already known to be at its weakest in 1,600 years as a result of the climate crisis.

"The research found that if carbon emissions continued to rise, 70% of the model runs led to collapse, while an intermediate level of emissions resulted in collapse in 37% of the models. Even in the case of low future emissions, an Amoc shutdown happened in 25% of the models.

"Scientists have warned previously that Amoc collapse must be avoided “at all costs”. It would shift the tropical rainfall belt on which many millions of people rely to grow their food, plunge western Europe into extreme cold winters and summer droughts, and add 50cm to already rising sea levels."

Iowa Leads The Way

A special election result stuns the Hawkeye State and carries national implications

from the Status Kuo

"Yesterday, an Iowa state Senate seat flipped from red to blue, with progressive Democrat Catelin Drey trouncing her Republican opponent by 10 points in a special election in Western Iowa. Notably, Trump had won that district by 11 points. That’s a massive 21 point move.

"Republicans have controlled all aspects of Iowa state government for years with no practical ability by Democrats to check their power. Notably, in addition to holding the governorship, the GOP controlled both chambers of the legislature with supermajorities.

"That ended last night. The pick-up win by Drey broke the GOP senate supermajority for the first time in three years. And that has some very real world implications..."

Democrats flip Trump +11 seat in Iowa special election

from Strength in Numbers

"One of the things I promise paying members of this newsletter is day-after updates on key election outcomes. Although it is an off-year, there have been plenty of special elections to write about, all of them suggesting a pretty sizable leftward shift in the electoral environment since November 2024.

"On average in 2025, Democratic candidates in special elections are running about 16 percentage points ahead of Kamala Harris’s margin versus Donald Trump in last year’s presidential election. That is 5-6 points higher than the average Democratic overperformance in 2017."

"This shift (firmly in the territory of a “blue wave”) was repeated on Tuesday, August 26, with a Democratic victory in Iowa’s 1st Senate District — a seat Trump won by 11 points in 2024,.. "Democratic candidate Catelin Drey defeated Republican Christopher Prosch by a margin of 10 percentage points, flipping the seat to the Democratic column and breaking the supermajority that Iowa Republicans had in their state legislature.

"And Drey did it on an agenda of affordability."

The Global Sumud Flotilla Is Making History

Corporate Media is ignoring the largest civilian flotilla to ever send aid to Gaza, with activists from 44 countries uniting to break Israel's illegal 18 year blockade

from Let's Address This with Qasim Rashid

"As we speak, on August 31, boats representing activists from 44 different countries are setting sail toward Gaza as part of the Global Sumud Flotilla. The Global Sumud Flotilla is the largest civilian maritime mission ever launched to break Israel’s illegal blockade. Coordinated by grassroots organizers, doctors, artists, seafarers, and solidarity activists across 44 countries, this flotilla is not just about carrying aid. It is a global, nonviolent response to the genocide of the Palestinian people—and it carries a message the world must hear: Israel’s illegal siege and blockade on Gaza must end.

"What we desperately need now is the power of a global movement towards peace and justice. Here are the three things you can do to get meaningfully involved..."