The New York Times reports that Hurricane Beryl became a Category 5 storm earlier in the season than any previous hurricane, a direct result of the hot ocean temperatures. The Atlantic calls Beryl a terrifying omen, and quotes a consulting meteorologist from Florida, who said the storm “is not normal, in any way, shape, or form.” A large hurricane early in the year is consistent with the predictions that the 2024 hurricane season will include many powerful storms, and the Times describes how strong hurricanes represent a threat to the electrical grid.

Right on cue, Beryl struck Texas as a powerful tropical storm on July 8, knocking-out power to over two million people. The Washington Post examines the flooding in Houston which, despite investing billions in flood protection, was still inundated by a storm that was not massive by today’s standards (Inside Climate News calls Beryl a warning shot for Houston, given the likelihood of stronger storms in the future). The Guardian reports that five days after the storm, 800,000 Houston residents remain without power as a heat advisory is in effect, with heat index values over 100°F. This is becoming all too familiar to Houston residents, as about one million people in the area were without power for several days in May after an intense rain storm.

The New York Times describes the search for portable generators, and how the roar of these devices indicates the more well-to-do parts of the city during power outages. A line stretched out the door at Home Depot in north Houston as people sought generators and chain saws (for cutting downed trees). One store had generators, but did not have power to process credit-card purchases. The gas to power generators is also in high demand and can be hard to find. The local utility is trying to set up larger generators for critical facilities like cooling centers, health-care facilities, police and fire stations, senior centers and educational centers.

More powerful hurricanes are an example of the more extreme weather we are now facing — and doing so with an infrastructure designed for a climate that no longer exists. Inside Climate News takes a look at one situation in the Midwest, where thousands of dams built for a previous climate are being strained. Since 2018, almost 30 dam failures or near failures have occurred in the region. The Washington Post reports on the failure of the Manawa dam in south-central Wisconsin on July 5th, after 5-1/2” of rain fell in four hours on ground that was already saturated from an extended period of above-average rainfall. Many communities are concluding that the best way to deal with the problems posed by old dams is to remove them.

Grist reports on the challenges facing Albuquerque and other communities in New Mexico that rely upon water from the Rio Grande. Key to the problems is the aging El Vado dam which, due to structural issues, cannot be used to impound water that was important to the city and to downstream farmers. The Atlantic notes that Florida just had its fourth “200-year storm” in as many years, demonstrating as clearly as anything that our climate has already changed.

High Country News examines where water goes in the arid West, noting a new study that concludes “86% of the water consumed in the Western U.S. is used to irrigate crops, particularly hay and alfalfa. Everything else — from energy development to swimming pools to Las Vegas’ elaborate casino fountains — gets by on the remaining 14%.” Factoring in evaporation, “irrigated agriculture is by far the dominant consumer of Colorado River water, accounting for 52% of overall consumption (which includes reservoir evaporation and riparian and wetland evapotranspiration.” This all points to the need to address the elephant in the room, which is agricultural water consumption. Water consumption in the Las Vegas region is only one-tenth of the consumption by the Imperial Irrigation District in Southern California, where water is mostly used for agriculture. And, even as its population soars, Las Vegas is using less and less water as a result of successful water conservation measures.

Grist reviews the status of negotiations among the seven states that form the Colorado River compact on how to reduce diversions from the River, which have been clearly shown to be unsustainable in drought conditions. The Navajo nation is arguing that they have been illegally shorted on water diversions, and are seeking a larger part of the new deal. California and Arizona have reached a tentative agreement (for the wetter years) that would reduce agricultural water use (particularly for alfalfa and cotton farming around Phoenix and vegetable farming in California’s Imperial Valley). The real problem intensifies during dry years, and the “lower basin states” (CA, NV, AZ) have a very different view of allocating cuts from the “upper basin states” (CO, UT, WY, NM). Indicating the challenge facing the states, Phys.org notes a recent study concluding that “record snowfall in recent years has not been enough to offset long-term drying conditions and increasing groundwater demands in the U.S. Southwest.”

The New York Times notes that drought also impacts hydropower capacity, and can actually result in increased fossil-fuel use as a result. “Hydropower, the biggest source of renewable energy in the world, was crippled by lack of rain in several countries last year, driving up emissions as countries turned to fossil fuels to fill the gap. To cope with the electricity shortfall, China and India turned to coal plants, and Colombia to natural gas.” It is being suggested that these countries gradually shift to using hydropower as a backup to intermittent renewable sources of electricity, like solar and wind. The Verge reports that hydropower production in the U.S. in 2023 was the lowest it has been in decades.

President Biden responded to the heat striking the country by issuing new rules to protect outdoor workers. He said “ignoring climate change is deadly and dangerous and irresponsible,” according to The New York Times. And he went further, noting “How can you deny climate change for God’s sake?… Anyone who willfully denies the impacts of climate change is condemning the American people to a dangerous future and either is really, really dumb or has some other motive.” He then added that “extreme heat is the deadliest weather-related hazard in the United States, responsible for more deaths than floods, hurricanes and tornadoes combined.” These are the most aggressive comments ever made by a U.S. President about climate denialism.

Meanwhile, heat continued to cook much of the country after the July 4th holiday. The Times reports record temperatures on July 5th in Palm Springs (124°F), Redding (119°F), Phoenix (118°F), Las Vegas (115°F) and Raleigh (106°F). The Guardian noted that, by July 6th, 133 million Americans were under some type of extreme-heat or heat advisory.

The Supreme Court has completed its assault on the government’s ability to use technical expertise to resolve questions that arise during the implementation of laws. This will likely constrain the EPA’s ability to regulate carbon emissions. In 2022, the Court established “the major questions doctrine,” which states that only Congress can adopt rules on questions of “vast economic and political significance.” What constitutes such questions remains up to the Court. They used that doctrine to strike down the Obama-era Clean Power Plan that was designed to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from power plants. This session, The New York Times reports that in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, the Supreme Court repealed a 40-year-old tenet of American regulatory law, the “Chevron deference,” that instructed the courts to generally defer to the expertise of the executive agencies such as the EPA when interpreting an ambiguous law. This is the third major precedent overturned by the Roberts Court in the last three terms: on abortion in 2022, on affirmative action in 2023 and now on the power of administrative and regulatory agencies.

The Southern Environmental Law Center notes that the Loper Bright ruling “sidelines the role of agency expertise, and instead shifts power to judges who do not have the expertise of agency staff who live and breathe the science, financial principles, and safety concerns that federal agencies specialize in.” Grist reports that “an analysis of more than 1,500 circuit court decisions between 2003 and 2013 found that courts applied Chevron in 77 percent of regulatory disputes.” In another case, Corner Post v. Board of Governors, the Court opened the door to lawsuits targeting federal regulations that have been on the books for years. Instead of allowing companies to challenge a new rule during the first six years after it was published, the Court ruled that companies can challenge a new rule during the six years after the rule begins to affect them. In her dissent to the Loper Bright decision, Justice Kagan wrote, “the majority disdains restraint, and grasps for power.”

Grist reviews the latest research on floating solar panels (“floatovoltaics”), which concludes that floating panels could be an important source of electricity worldwide. This is particularly true in tropical countries with larger lakes and reservoirs. The water helps cool the panels, which increases their efficiency, and the panels reduce the evaporative losses from the water body.

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