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Climate

11 Photos From a California on Fire

January is not supposed to be fire season.

The Palisades Fire.
Apu Gomes/Getty Images

The Palisades, Hurst, and Eaton fires now spreading across Los Angeles are yet another reminder that our rapidly changing climate now acts in unprecedented ways, with hurricane-force winds, longstanding drought, and a host of other factors contributing to blazes that have so far caused two deaths, the evacuation of thousands, and mounting property damage. The following images are at once shockingly new — it is, after all, January in Los Angeles — and numbingly familiar.

Smoke from the Palisades Fire billow over the Los Angeles skyline Tuesday.Smoke from the Palisades Fire billow over the Los Angeles skyline Tuesday.Eric Thayer/Getty Images


The Palisades Fire burns near homes amid a powerful windstorm.The Palisades Fire burns near homes amid a powerful windstorm.Mario Tama/Getty Images


An onlooker takes photos as the Palisades Fire burns.An onlooker takes photos as the Palisades Fire burns.Mario Tama/Getty Images


Traffic backs up on Sunset Boulevard as people attempt to evacuate from the Palisades Fire Tuesday.Traffic backs up on Sunset Boulevard as people attempt to evacuate from the Palisades Fire Tuesday.Apu Gomes/Getty Images


Police officers help people evacuate along Sunset Boulevard.Police officers help people evacuate along Sunset Boulevard.Apu Gomes/Getty Images


A firefighting aircraft drops a fire retardant on the Palisades Fire Tuesday.A firefighting aircraft drops a fire retardant on the Palisades Fire Tuesday.Mario Tama/Getty Images


Houses burn in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood Tuesday night.Houses burn in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood Tuesday night.Eric Thayer/Getty Images


Roughly 50 miles to the northeast, the Eaton Fire burns in Sierra Madre.Roughly 50 miles to the northeast, the Eaton Fire burns in Sierra Madre.Mario Tama/Getty Images

Wind bends palm trees as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena.Wind bends palm trees as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Flames attack the fireplace of a home in Pacific Palisades Tuesday night.Flames attack the fireplace of a home in Pacific Palisades Tuesday night.Eric Thayer/Getty Images


Sparks fly from the wheel of a burned school bus as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena on Wednesday morning.Sparks fly from the wheel of a burned school bus as the Eaton Fire moves through Altadena on Wednesday morning.Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

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Q&A

Will Blue States Open Up Their Wallets for Renewables?

A conversation with Heather O’Neill of Advanced Energy United.

The Fight Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

This week’s conversation is with Heather O’Neill, CEO of renewables advocacy group Advanced Energy United. I wanted to chat with O’Neill in light of the recent effective repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean electricity tax credits and the action at the Interior Department clamping down on development. I’m quite glad she was game to talk hot topics, including the future of wind energy and whether we’ll see blue states step into the vacuum left by the federal government.

The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.

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Spotlight

The Anti-Renewables Movement is Coming for Your Wires

The Grain Belt Express was just the beginning.

Oklahoma.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The anti-renewables movement is now coming for transmission lines as the Trump administration signals a willingness to cut off support for wires that connect to renewable energy sources.

Last week, Trump’s Energy Department with a brief letter rescinded a nearly $5 billion loan guarantee to Invenergy for the Grain Belt Express line that would, if completed, connect wind projects in Kansas to areas of Illinois and Indiana. This decision followed a groundswell of public opposition over concerns about land use and agricultural impacts – factors that ring familiar to readers of The Fight – which culminated in Republican Senator Josh Hawley reportedly asking Donald Trump in a meeting to order the loan’s cancellation. It’s unclear whether questions around the legality of this loan cancellation will be resolved in the courts, meaning Invenergy may just try to trudge ahead and not pick a fight with the Trump administration.

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Electric Vehicles

AM Briefing: Scientists Decry ‘Surreal’ Climate Attack

On America’s new crude record, coal costs, and Hungary’s SMR deal

Scientists Decry Trump’s ‘Surreal’ Attack On Climate Science
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Current conditions: Coastal storms are pushing water levels on New England’s shores two feet above normal levels • Japan just set a new temperature record of more than 106 degrees Fahrenheit • A cold front is settling over South Africa, bringing gale-forces to KwaZulu-Natal on the east coast.

THE TOP FIVE

1. Scientists decry Energy Department’s climate skeptic report

The Department of Energy issued a report on Tuesday calling into question the global consensus on climate change and concluding that global warming poses less economic risk than previously believed. “The rise of human flourishing over the past two centuries is a story worth celebrating. Yet we are told — relentlessly — that the very energy systems that enabled this progress now pose an existential threat,” Secretary of Energy Chris Wright said in a statement. “Climate change is real, and it deserves attention. But it is not the greatest threat facing humanity.” But scientists whose work appeared in the 151-page report decried an analysis they said “fundamentally misrepresents” their research. I rounded up some comments they’ve made over the past couple of days:

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