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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

How the Wind Industry Can Fight Back

A conversation with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications

The Q&A subject.
Heatmap Illustration

Today’s conversation is with Chris Moyer of Echo Communications, a D.C.-based communications firm that focuses on defending zero- and low-carbon energy and federal investments in climate action. Moyer, a veteran communications adviser who previously worked on Capitol Hill, has some hot takes as of late about how he believes industry and political leaders have in his view failed to properly rebut attacks on solar and wind energy, in addition to the Inflation Reduction Act. On Tuesday he sent an email blast out to his listserv – which I am on – that boldly declared: “The Wind Industry’s Strategy is Failing.”

Of course after getting that email, it shouldn’t surprise readers of The Fight to hear I had to understand what he meant by that, and share it with all of you. So here goes. The following conversation has been abridged and lightly edited for clarity.

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Hotspots

A New York Town Bans Both Renewable Energy And Data Centers

And more on this week’s most important conflicts around renewable energy.

The United States.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

1. Chautauqua, New York – More rural New York towns are banning renewable energy.

  • Chautauqua, a vacation town in southern New York, has now reportedly issued a one-year moratorium on wind projects – though it’s not entirely obvious whether a wind project is in active development within its boundaries, and town officials have confessed none are being planned as of now.
  • Apparently, per local press, this temporary ban is tied to a broader effort to update the town’s overall land use plan to “manage renewable energy and other emerging high-impact uses” – and will lead to an ordinance that restricts data centers as well as solar and wind projects.
  • I anticipate this strategy where towns update land use plans to target data centers and renewables at the same time will be a lasting trend.

2. Virginia Beach, Virginia – Dominion Energy’s Coastal Virginia offshore wind project will learn its fate under the Trump administration by this fall, after a federal judge ruled that the Justice Department must come to a decision on how it’ll handle a court challenge against its permits by September.

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Spotlight

The Wind Projects Breaking the Wyoming GOP

It’s governor versus secretary of state, with the fate of the local clean energy industry hanging in the balance.

Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

I’m seeing signs that the fight over a hydrogen project in Wyoming is fracturing the state’s Republican political leadership over wind energy, threatening to trigger a war over the future of the sector in a historically friendly state for development.

At issue is the Pronghorn Clean Energy hydrogen project, proposed in the small town of Glenrock in rural Converse County, which would receive power from one wind farm nearby and another in neighboring Niobrara County. If completed, Pronghorn is expected to produce “green” hydrogen that would be transported to airports for commercial use in jet fuel. It is backed by a consortium of U.S. and international companies including Acconia and Nordex.

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