Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Climate

Hurricane Helene’s Path of Destruction

On the storm’s next moves, electrifying oil and gas rigs, and risky real estate

Hurricane Helene’s Path of Destruction
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Current conditions: Parts of England could be hit by tornadoes today • Another hurricane is churning in the Atlantic • The border between Switzerland and Italy has to be moved because of rapidly melting glaciers.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Hurricane Helene slams into Florida as Category 4 storm

Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region last night as a Category 4 storm with top sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. The extent of the damage from the storm so far is unclear, but several locations saw record storm surge, including nearly 10 feet in Ceder Key and 6.3 feet in St. Petersburg. At least three people are known to have been killed, and more than 1.2 million Floridians are without power. “We’re fearing the worst when the sun comes up,” said the sheriff’s office in Suwannee County. “We’re gonna need some prayers folks.”

NOAA

One hurricane scientist said Helene is one of the largest storms on record to strike the Gulf Coast, with its winds covering an area of about 420 miles. The storm’s size means its effects will be felt in cities far north of the coast, even as it weakens. As of Friday morning it had been downgraded to a tropical storm. In Georgia, more than 900,000 are without power. Tornado warnings were issued for parts of South Carolina, with additional tornado watches in effect in Georgia and North Carolina. A quarter of oil production and about 20% of gas output in the Gulf was shut down because of the storm.

2. Natural gas industry seeks clarity on Harris policies

Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is under pressure to clarify her position on natural gas. “We need more details,” said Dave Callahan, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition. Harris has reiterated that she is not against fracking, and has called for investing in “diverse sources of energy,” but hasn’t said much more on the issue yet. President Biden paused approvals for new liquified natural gas export terminals while the Energy Department studied their climate effects, a move that angered the industry but pleased climate activists who say the terminals lock in greenhouse gas pollution for decades to come. A judge has since blocked the freeze, but new approvals remain slow. Pennsylvania is a major natural gas producing state, and a must-win battleground for the 2024 election. Republican candidate Donald Trump has promised to lift the permitting freeze if elected in November.

3. Texas approves plan to expand electricity transmission for Permian Basin oil and gas operations

Texas yesterday approved a plan to expand grid infrastructure in the Permian Basin, the largest oilfield in the U.S., to make sure the basin’s oil and gas facilities have reliable electricity. Last month Permian Basin Petroleum Association Executive vice president Stephen Robertson said access to electricity was the industry’s biggest concern for the basin, where power demand is expected to balloon over the next 15 years as the oil and gas industry electrifies operations.

The International Energy Agency estimates that oil and gas operations account for around 15% of global energy-related emissions. It calls for a 50% reduction in emissions intensity for those operations by the end of the decade to align with a planway toward net zero by 2050, and electrification is one step on that path. But the IEA notes that “tackling methane emissions is the single most important measure that contributes to the overall fall in emissions from oil and gas operations.” Recent data suggests U.S. producers – including those in the Permian Basin – continue to emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas, at rates much higher than current EPA estimates and industry targets.

4. UAE to unveil its new NDC before COP29

The United Arab Emirates is expected to outline its new national climate plan – known more formally as a Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – ahead of the upcoming COP29 climate summit in November. “That would make it one of the first major emitters to take that step ahead of the February 2025 deadline,” Reuters noted. Under the Paris Agreement, party nations are required to submit new and updated NDCs every five years, outlining their plans to reduce emissions in line with the goal of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The upcoming deadline for new NDCs is February 2025, but Sultan Al Jaber, president of last year's COP, said the UAE hopes to set an example for other countries to submit their plans asap. Previous NDCs from major fossil fuel producing nations did not mention oil, coal, and gas, so it will be interesting to see if or how the new plans grapple with the stated COP28 goal of “transitioning away” from fossil fuels.

5. Climate change costs to real estate sector could reach $500 billion

A recent report from the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore and S&P Global warned that the real estate sector could see climate change-related losses of more than $500 billion by 2050. It added that “climate adaptation solutions for non-residential real estate like green or cool roofs and wet or dry floodproofing present investment opportunities.” Last year, the U.S. experienced 28 weather and climate disasters, and together they cost more than $92 billion.

Relatedly, yesterday the online real estate marketplace Zillow said it will start including properties’ climate risks in sale listings, using data from climate research and technology company First Street. Prospective buyers will be able to see flood, fire, wind, heat, and air quality risks, along with insurance requirements and tailored recommendations. More than 80% of home buyers are factoring climate risk into their decisions now, First Street said. The climate risk information will be available on the Zillow website by the end of the year (rolling out on the Zillow apps this year or early 2025).

Zillow/First Street

THE KICKER

“I just want to be clear that building the clean energy future that we want and need is not a rhetorical flourish. It means actual construction.” –Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz, speaking with Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer about how fighting climate change will mean building a new economy. Read their entire conversation here.

Yellow

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Spotlight

The Moss Landing Battery Backlash Has Spread Nationwide

New York City may very well be the epicenter of this particular fight.

Moss Landing.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images, Library of Congress

It’s official: the Moss Landing battery fire has galvanized a gigantic pipeline of opposition to energy storage systems across the country.

As I’ve chronicled extensively throughout this year, Moss Landing was a technological outlier that used outdated battery technology. But the January incident played into existing fears and anxieties across the U.S. about the dangers of large battery fires generally, latent from years of e-scooters and cellphones ablaze from faulty lithium-ion tech. Concerned residents fighting projects in their backyards have successfully seized upon the fact that there’s no known way to quickly extinguish big fires at energy storage sites, and are winning particularly in wildfire-prone areas.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Hotspots

The Race to Qualify for Renewable Tax Credits Is on in Wisconsin

And more on the biggest conflicts around renewable energy projects in Kentucky, Ohio, and Maryland.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. St. Croix County, Wisconsin - Solar opponents in this county see themselves as the front line in the fight over Trump’s “Big Beautiful” law and its repeal of Inflation Reduction Act tax credits.

  • Xcel’s Ten Mile Creek solar project doesn’t appear to have begun construction yet, and like many facilities it must begin that process by about this time next year or it will lose out on the renewable energy tax credits cut short by the new law. Ten Mile Creek has essentially become a proxy for the larger fight to build before time runs out to get these credits.
  • Xcel told county regulators last month that it hoped to file an application to the Wisconsin Public Services Commission by the end of this year. But critics of the project are now telling their allies they anticipate action sooner in order to make the new deadline for the tax credit — and are campaigning for the county to intervene if that occurs.
  • “Be on the lookout for Xcel to accelerate the PSC submittal,” Ryan Sherley, a member of the St. Croix Board of Supervisors, wrote on Facebook. “St. Croix County needs to legally intervene in the process to ensure the PSC properly hears the citizens and does not rush this along in order to obtain tax credits.”

2. Barren County, Kentucky - How much wood could a Wood Duck solar farm chuck if it didn’t get approved in the first place? We may be about to find out.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Q&A

All the Renewables Restrictions Fit to Print

Talking local development moratoria with Heatmap’s own Charlie Clynes.

The Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is special: I chatted with Charlie Clynes, Heatmap Pro®’s very own in-house researcher. Charlie just released a herculean project tracking all of the nation’s county-level moratoria and restrictive ordinances attacking renewable energy. The conclusion? Essentially a fifth of the country is now either closed off to solar and wind entirely or much harder to build. I decided to chat with him about the work so you could hear about why it’s an important report you should most definitely read.

The following chat was lightly edited for clarity. Let’s dive in.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow