The Week That Was: 2026-05-16 (May 16, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new..” — Albert Einstein
Number of the Week: Fleet capacity factor greater than 97% for 2025 v. 35 to 50%
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with a discussion of changing chemistry of waters from increasing atmospheric CO2. It discusses part of a presentation by German physicist Bernd Fleischmann. TWTW presents an essay by professor of law Aaron Nielson on “The ‘Science Charade’ After ‘Chevron’.” TWTW concludes with a 2021 defense in Issues in Science and Technology of the extreme RCP8.5 scenario used by the UN IPCC.
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[Non]-Acidification: Physicists William van Wijngaarden, Peter Ridd, and William Happer, joined by Industrial Chemist Martin Cornell, produced a rigorous report on the [Non]-Acidification of Water by CO2 published by the CO2 Coalition. A false claim by the Obama Administration and supported by some academics appointed to key positions was that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to ocean acidification.
This fiction requires an ignorance of the geological history of Earth. It was supported by papers such as ones claiming that Earth’s most severe mass extinction, the Permian-Triassic extinction event about 252 million years ago which eliminated over 80% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial species was caused by caused by carbon dioxide emitted by the massive volcanic explosions forming the Siberian Traps. Carbon dioxide readily mixes with water to form carbonic acid, a weak acid which we drink every day as soda water. [Usually, water vapor is the dominant gas emitted by volcanoes.]
What the advocatess omitted is that volcanic activity frequently emits a third gas, sulfur dioxide, which readily combines with water to become sulfurous acid, a weak and unstable acid. Sulfurous acid oxidizes to form sulfuric acid, a strong acid that is a highly toxic, corrosive acid. Drinking it will severely damage skin, teeth, and all exposed tissue, perforating the stomach walls.
The paper by van Wijngaarden, et al. is mathematical and beyond the scope of TWTW. It is important to recall that a pH above 7 is alkaline (basic); a pH of 7 is chemically neutral; and a pH below 7 is acidic. Further, the scale is logarithmic with a base of 10. The abstract states [citations omitted here]:
“Fundamental inorganic chemistry shows that increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 will have no harmful effect on organisms that live in the natural waters of the Earth and may well benefit them. Alkalinity and dissolved CO2 give high buffering capacity to most natural waters and minimize the change of pH from external influences. For example, doubling the atmospheric concentration of CO2 from 430 ppm to 860 ppm would reduce the pH of representative sea water at a temperature of 25 C from pH = 8.18 to pH = 7.93. This change is comparable to diurnal pH changes in biologically productive surface waters, due to photosynthetic fixation of dissolved inorganic carbon during the day and respiration at night. The change is also less than the variations of pH with latitude, longitude and depth in the oceans. This paper includes a quantitative review of the carbonate chemistry of seawater and freshwater, the buffering capacity, the Revelle factor, the transport of calcium carbonate in ground water, the formation of flowstone, and the classic use of limewater to detect gaseous CO2. The paper concludes with a brief review of those parts of chemical thermodynamics that are involved in ocean acidification.”
From the abstract we see that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide from today’s 430 parts per million in volume (ppmv) to 860 ppmv will result in a slight decline in the alkalinity of the oceans. It will not cause the oceans to acidify. The conclusion of the paper states:
“We have reviewed the inorganic carbonate chemistry of natural waters, seawater, ground water and rainwater, in equilibrium with the partial pressures P of CO2 in the atmosphere. We have shown that even very large changes of P, like doubling from Pc = 430 µb to Pd = 860 µb, change the pH of natural waters less than the day-to-night changes due photosynthesis of aquatic organisms, or due to local variations of seawater alkalinity. The pH changes are so small that any credible future increases of atmospheric CO2 will cause no harm to aquatic life. In a subsequent paper we will discuss details of how increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 affect biomineralization and other biochemistry of aquatic organisms. Carbon from CO2 is the main building block of life, and it can be a limiting nutrient when sunlit water has adequate amounts of phosphorous, nitrogen, iron and other essential elements. It is highly likely that more atmospheric CO2 has already been and will continue to be a net benefit to aquatic life.”
Two interesting sidenotes from the paper were: one, various pHs of different waters; and two, the pH of carbonated Texas spring water. Table 2 gives “Representative surface alkalinities, [A], and pH values of natural waters.” The pHs varied from a pH of 11.1 in Lake Magadi Kenya (highly alkaline) and a pH of 0.1 in Kawa Ijen Lake in Indonesia (highly acidic). Lake Magadi is in the south end of Kenyan Rift Valley and once supported different fish species. Now during the dry season, it is 80% covered by sodium carbonate. Its native wildlife is limited to microbial extremophiles, a few invertebrates (mostly insects), and wading birds, including flamingos. A single species of fish, a cichlid, inhabits the hot, highly alkaline waters of the lake basin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Magadi
On the other extreme Kawa Ijen Lake in Indonesia is part of the Ijen volcano complex in East Java. “On 14–15 July 2008, explorer George Kourounis took a small rubber boat out onto the acid lake to measure its acidity. The pH of the water at the lake’s edges was measured to be 0.5 and in the middle of the lake 0.13 due to a high concentration of sulfuric acid.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijen
The area is noted for its sulfur mining. The lake is highly corrosive, and aluminum cans will dissolve when dropped in. Figure 22 (p. 47) gives the pH of a newly opened bottle of Texas Spring Water at 6.4. Exposing the water to air reduces the carbon dioxide and eventually the water will reach a pH of 8.15 (alkaline). This paper demonstrates assertions that increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide will lead to ocean acidification are hasty generalizations, at best. See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Climate Hysteria: Ron Clutz provides a translation of a lecture German physicist Bernd Fleischmann gave stating warming benefits humanity and that there is no climate crisis. The section “The Reality of the ‘Climate Crisis’” is an example. It states:
“So, there would be a climate crisis if it got colder. Yes, the little ice age, which was the phase of starvation, poverty, but also flooding. The largest part of the flood was 200 years ago in the little ice age, 1804. Not the one 5 years ago, in 1804 it was worse. And what you see here, this is the vegetation in North Africa. Once to the peak of the Holocene, that is, the current warm season, about 6000 years ago.
And there you see three little white spots up here. I don’t know if you can see them on the screen. Yes, you can still see them. These three little white spots, that was the desert 6000 years ago. Today it is almost the entire desert of North Africa because it has become colder. It was warmer back then and there were no glaciers on Iceland because it was warmer.
So, there were not glaciers, but birch forests. And the lower graphic is for the last interglacial warm period 130,000 years ago. It was even warmer there. It was about 8 degrees warmer than today. And what happened? The Sahara was even greener. And all climate researchers know that it was warmer and greener back then.
That’s why you hear a lot, we had the hottest month, the hottest year since 125,000 years ago. Because 125,000 years ago the interglacial period came to an end and the ice age began. And the EME [Eemian Interglacial] warm period was so warm without the four private jets of Bill Gates. He has four, two Bombardier, two Gulfstream and without our beautiful SUV.”
Based on Ice core data, the Eemian started about 130,000 years ago and ended 115,000 years ago. It was 1 to 2℃ warmer than the warmest period of the current Holocene which ended about 8200 years ago, with the Arctic regions 4 to 5℃ than today. Humanity survived that warm period and there is no reason to assume it cannot survive a period even warmer than today. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Science Charade: Ron Clutz adds illustrations to an essay by professor of law Aaron Nielson in Civitas Outlook “The ‘Science Charade’ After ‘Chevron’.” Nielson asserts that:
“The Court’s decision to overrule Chevron deference may have the unintended effect of strengthening the temptation to rely on the science charade.”
Nielson states:
“What happens after the U.S. Supreme Court makes it harder for agencies to regulate? There are at least a couple of possibilities. Option One: an agency might just stop trying to regulate under that policy. Or Option Two: an agency might seek another path to achieve the same thing. The danger of Option Two may be one of the most important—but underappreciated—of the Court’s decision in, which overruled. My fear is that agencies will not simply give up but instead will lean into what Professor Wendy Wagner has dubbed ‘Science Charade’.
Let’s start with some basics. Under Chevron, courts would defer to an agency’s reasonable interpretation of ambiguous statutory language. The idea was that because agencies are more politically accountable than courts and have a better technical grasp of how complex statutory schemes work, when a statute administered by an agency is ambiguous, courts should get out of the way and let the agency act so long as the agency’s resolution of the ambiguity is reasonable. Chevron presented legal and conceptual problems (including why ambiguity should favor the agency rather than regulated parties, who may be punished—sometimes even criminally—for violating the agency’s view of the statute), but also a practical one that goes to the heart of administrative incentives. Because agencies could expand their power by finding ambiguities, agency officials, often responding to political demands, would unsurprisingly stretch to find them so they could pursue aggressive policies that Congress never authorized.
In Loper Bright, the Court essentially said ‘enough.’ Under our Constitution, the legislature makes the law, and courts ensure that the executive stays within the law as written by Congress. After Loper Bright, courts decide the meaning of statutes, even statutes with some ambiguity. As Justice Clarence Thomas has, Article III’s vesting of the ‘judicial power’ in the judiciary ‘calls for that exercise of independent judgment,’ but ‘Chevron deference precludes judges from exercising that judgment,’ thereby ‘wrest[ing] from Courts the ultimate interpretative authority to ‘say what the law is,’ and hand[ing] it over to the Executive.’
Loper Bright thus should be a welcome development for purposes of respecting the separation of powers, especially if agencies accept the limits of their authority. But there is a danger: What if they don’t? What if the same political dynamic that prompted agencies to stretch statutes in the first place may also prompt agencies to find alternatives to Chevron?
I have recently penned an [article] about one such alternative: the science charade. Wagner coined the term decades ago to explain an important dynamic within administrative law. As she observed, because judges often defer to agencies on questions of science, ‘the courts offer agencies strong and virtually inescapable incentives to conceal policy choices under the cover of scientific judgments and citations.’ Rather than justifying the agency’s policy choice as a policy choice, agencies instead may dress-up their decisions as compelled by science.
To be sure, there are limits to the science charade. Agencies must engage in reasoned decision-making and justify their conclusions as not arbitrary or capricious. So, if agencies push too hard, reviewing courts will sometimes catch on that a regulator’s policy choice has outrun its science. For example, I once worked on a [case] where the National Marine Fishery Service used a ‘model [that] assumed that salmonids would be exposed to lethal levels of the pesticides continuously for a 96-hour period,’ but never explained ‘why the 96-hour exposure assumption accurately reflected real-world conditions.’ The appellate court didn’t buy it—but the district court did. This illustrates how difficult it can be to persuade a court to second-guess an agency’s invocation of science. (I often wonder what would have happened had the Environmental Protection Agency itself not criticized the National Marine Fishery Service’s ‘unreasonable’ assumption.)
The intuition driving Wagner’s theory, thus, is impossible to brush aside. To be clear, I do not claim that agencies do this all the time. When we discuss the administrative state, we often focus on unusual occurrences rather than on an agency’s more banal, bread-and-butter operations. But that does not mean we should not worry about incentives or ignore the risk that unthinkable behavior may become more thinkable if bad incentives are not curbed. Agencies are filled with people who want certain policies. Human nature being what it is, people sometimes respond to incentives. So, if the best way to get a policy through is to drape a policy decision in as much science as an agency can credibly muster, shouldn’t we expect regulators sometimes to succumb to the science charade’s temptation?
And that brings me to my thesis: Because agencies can no longer use Chevron to pursue policies that Congress has not allowed, their incentive to use the ‘science charade’ should increase, again, at least at the margins.”
After giving an example Nielson concludes with:
“Unfortunately, there is no great solution to the science charade. The reason why the charade can work is that judges are not scientists, and even if they have some scientific or other technical training, no one can know everything about everything. Generalist judges are simply not equipped to understand all the technical issues the administrative state presents. Although there are downsides, the best answer might be greater procedural formality in the regulatory process—complete with more extensive cross-examination of agency experts to create a record that may be more understandable to judges. (Of course, the dynamic effect of that prospect may be to dissuade bad science from the get-go.) As I have elsewhere, increasing procedural rigor is not costless, which is one reason the administrative state has largely moved away from procedural devices such as cross-examination. But for certain categories of regulatory action, it might make sense to head off bad incentives. Of course, some may argue (presumably, Wagner herself) that such costs are not worth it. But especially given the heightened incentive caused by Chevron’s demise, I’m not so sanguine.
Like most complex systems, the administrative state resists easy answers. It is important to think through incentives and unintended consequences. The Court’s decision to overrule Chevron deference addresses one incentive—the enticement to hunt for statutory language that agencies can claim is ambiguous. But it may have the unintended effect of strengthening the temptation to rely on the science charade. There is no silver-bullet solution; it is important to recognize why agencies act as they do and to create systems to best maximize the benefits of agency expertise while preventing its abuse.”
To TWTW we have seen a Science Charade in the “How Science Works” chapter of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition. It replaced the importance of physical evidence in determining accuracy of physical science with social interpretations of science. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
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Climate Scenarios and Reality: The Summer 2021 of Issues in Science and Technology published by the National Academy of Sciences had an essay by Roger Pielke Jr, and Justin Ritchie, “How Climate Scenarios Lost Touch With Reality.” The Fall issue contained rebuttals from Chris Field, Marcia McNutt; Kate Marvel; and Gavin A. Schmidt, Peter H. Jacobs. The rebuttal by Chris Field, a reviewer of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition and Marcia McNutt, President of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine which was a publisher of the Reference Manual is of interest. They state, in part:
“Progress on the important issue of climate change requires a framework for evaluating the likely consequences of different courses of action. Science can powerfully inform public decisions on energy systems, infrastructure, and economic policy when researchers explore, using the best available evidence, a range of possible futures using emissions scenarios. The process of constructing, describing, and using these scenarios is challenging for many reasons. The continued evolution and improvement of emissions scenarios is an important element of the future of climate-change research. But in ‘How Climate Scenarios Lost Touch With Reality’ (Issues, Summer 2021), Roger Pielke Jr. and Justin Ritchie are wildly off base in declaring that the ‘misuse of scenarios in climate research has become pervasive and consequential—so much so that we view it as one of the most significant failures of scientific integrity in the twenty-first century thus far.’
Second, one of the main motivations for emissions scenarios is to provide a basis for comparing futures with and without policies related to climate change. Until recently, it has been reasonable to expect that a no-policy future would be a world of continuing high emissions and ongoing emphasis on fossil fuels, namely RCP8.5. As greater understanding of climate change spurs new policies and advances in technology, the notion of a no-policy world becomes increasingly abstract. But a no-policy endpoint remains an important point for comparison, even after the world has begun to diverge from the no-policy path. Referring to this no-policy endpoint as business-as-usual is imprecise, but it is not a significant failure of scientific integrity.
Third, at least part of the reason that the world is moving away from RCP8.5 and toward lower emissions is that effective communication of risks from a changing climate (and the unacceptable consequences to society of the business-as-usual scenario) has stimulated technology advances, incentives, and policies that now make RCP8.5 unlikely. Progress in tackling the risks of a changing climate, even if progress is still too slow, should be celebrated. It should not be converted into an implied failure of scientific integrity. Around the world, tens of thousands of scientists are working hard to understand the details of climate change and the risks it brings. The research tools are imperfect, and the future has many features that are unknowable. In this setting, the key to maintaining the highest standards of scientific integrity is maintaining commitments to professionalism and transparency, including continuing to fine-tune the development, use, and interpretation of emissions scenarios.”
The admission that RCP8.5 is unrealistic is only a sop thrown to skeptics. The only change is to say that the RCP8.5 scenario assumes too much CO2 emitted to the atmosphere. The computer models that produce unrealistic temperature increases remain entirely unchanged.
Note that at no time do Mr. Fields and Ms. McNutt discuss the real issue: How well do global climate models perform when tested against physical evidence? They assume that CO2 – caused climate change is unusual and dangerous. Yet, climate change is normal, Earth has been warming and cooling for hundreds of millions of years with CO2 having little influence. Their work could be considered a Science Charade. See link under Problems in the Orthodoxy.
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SEPP’S APRIL FOOLS AWARD
THE JACKSON
SEPP is conducting its annual vote for the recipient of the coveted trophy, The Jackson, a lump of coal. Readers are asked to nominate and vote for who they think is most deserving, following these criteria:
- The nominee has advanced, or proposes to advance, significant expansion of governmental power, regulation, or control over the public or significant sections of the general economy.
- The nominee does so by declaring such measures are necessary to protect public health, welfare, or the environment.
- The nominee declares that physical science supports such measures.
- The physical science supporting the measures is flimsy at best, and possibly non-existent.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, was the 2025 recipient. Past recipients are not eligible. See list at https://www.sepp.org/april-fools-award.cfm
The committee that makes the selection prefers a candidate with a national or international presence. The voting will close on JULY 1 NOT JULY 31 as previously announced. Please send your nomination and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org.
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Number of the Week: Fleet capacity factor greater than 97% for 2025 v. 35 to 50%. Duke Energy operates a fleet of eleven nuclear plants in North and South Carolina. It has undergone an effort to systematically improve maintenance. According to reports, in 2025 its plants achieved a fleet capacity factor greater than 97% of maximum potential capacity.
According to the EIA, in the US in 2025, Nuclear had a capacity factor of 91.9%; photovoltaic solar 24.4%; thermal solar 23.6; and wind 34.2%. National Laboratory of the Rockies projects that offshore wind can achieve 50% or more. But it has no data, only projections. See link under Nuclear Energy and Fears, https://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.php?t=epmt_6_07_b, and
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Science: Is the Sun Rising?
COPE: The Countervailing Obliquity–Precession Effect
By Dr. John A. Parmentola, WUWT, May 13, 2026
One unusual aspect of COPE is that it potentially connects orbital-climate phenomena across past, present, and future climate evolution through a persistent orbital-geometric asymmetry that is currently measurable.
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
Net Zero Averted Temperature Increase
By Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and William A. van Wijngaarden, CO2 Coalition, June 2024
Radiation Transport in Clouds
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Klimarealistene, Science of Climate Change, January 2025
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Acidification of Water by CO2
By W. A. van Wijngaarden, P. Ridd, M. Cornell, and W. Happer
Link to full paper: https://co2coalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Acidification-of-Water-by-CO2.pdf
Climate Hysteria Surgically Dissected by Dr. Bernd Fleischmann
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 14, 2026
From: German Expert: “No Climate Crisis” …”Warming Generally Better For Humanity”
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 12, 2026
The original language is German, but video settings [icon] allow for choice of language, both audio and closed captions. For those who prefer to read I provide below a lightly edited transcript with my bolds and added images consisting of the following themes:
Settings icon
Beware Govt. Agencies Invoking the Science Charade
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 15, 2026
Link to: The “Science Charade” After ‘Chevron’
By Aaron Nielson, Civitas Outlook, May 12, 2026
Climate Pseudoscience Debunked: Livestock Methane Fears are Baseless
By Gregory Wrightstone, WUWT, May 15, 2026
Link to paper: Livestock, Methane and Climate
By D Alexander, et al., CO2 Coalition, Jan 27, 2026
For global climate policy, agriculture as an ideological football rather than a means to feed people. Meat taxes, public procurement rules, and “sustainable diet” campaigns push the same message: Eat less meat and pay for more expensive food for no benefit in return.
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Depopulation Won’t Save Us or the Planet
By Lipton Matthews, Mises Wire, May 12, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The first issue is one of timing. Climate change is seen as an urgent problem that must be addressed within the next few decades. Population decline, however, unfolds over a much longer horizon. Even if fertility rates were to fall sharply today, the total number of people would remain high for decades because of population momentum. Large existing generations will continue to live, consume, and emit throughout the period in which climate action is most critical.
[SEPP Comment: Based on a false assumption that the current warming is dangerous and caused by CO2.]
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Ike told you so
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
… Eisenhower warned against a takeover of scientific research by the government, including “The prospect of domination of the nation’s scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present – and is gravely to be regarded.” Indeed. Just think what might become of the prestige of science if it were skewed so as to declare carbon a pollutant, COVID a natural outbreak that required children to miss two years of school and socialization, and puberty a toy to be turned off then back on at will.
New Paleo Research: Modern ‘Climate Change’ Has Had No Apparent Impact On Precipitation Patterns
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, May 11, 2026
Link to one paper: Seven centuries of rainfall reconstructed from Scots Pine ring width in sub-Arctic Sweden
By Petter Stridbeck, et al., Climate of the Past, Mar 4, 2026
Wildebeest, Buffalo, and Cattle, Oh My!
By Willis Eschenbach, WUWT, May 15, 2026
Link to paper: A Disease-Mediated Trophic Cascade in the Serengeti and its Implications for Ecosystem C
By Ricardo M Holdo, et al., PLoS Biology, Sept 29, 2009
Endangered Species Act regulatory overkill
By David Wojick, CFACT, May 9, 2026
The law itself is pretty simple, but the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has interpreted it in an extreme way. The law says you cannot harm an endangered species. FWS has interpreted “harm” to include any change in the species’ habitat that might affect it. Cutting down a tree that an endangered bird might happen to nest in is considered harm.
The law actually allows for property development within an endangered species habitat. It is called an “incidental take” permit because every habitat change is considered a “taking” of the species. FWS has stretched this language to the limit.
The problem is that FWS has made incidental take permits so expensive that only rich landowners can afford them. Since most of us are not rich this incredible fee structure has made reasonable development impossible.
#DoEDeepDive: Climate change and economic growth
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
So far so good, you may say. But there’s more, because while news stories typically portray studies of the alleged future costs of warming as reducing wealth, the report instead notes correctly that:
“Climate change damage projections typically refer to reductions in how much life will improve for humanity, they don’t state that it will get worse in an absolute sense.”
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
And how’s this for blaming the victim? “Birgitte Kehler Holst of the left-wing green Danish party The Alternative” defended imposing it on people in nursing homes because, she snarled, “Everyone, including the elderly, must contribute to achieving our climate goals. It is precisely the generation that has screwed up the most.” Honour thy father and mother, unless they exceed their carbon budget.
Energy & Environmental Review: May 11, 2026
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, May 11, 2026
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Scenarios and Reality
Issues in Science and Technology
A Discussion of How Climate Scenarios Lost Touch With Reality
By Roger Pielke Jr., Justin Ritchie
Responses From Chris Field, Marcia McNutt, Accessed May 12, 2026
Shocked Silence Greets RCP8.5 Demise as ‘Implausibility’ Ruling Leaves Net Zero Fearmongering in Tatters
By Chris Morrison, The Daily Sceptic, May 14, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
In 2022, the Met Office published its latest ‘UK Climate Projections Report‘ (UKCP18) and claimed it provided users “with the most recent scientific evidence on projected climate change with which to plan”. Many words come to mind to describe the output of computer models, none of which include ‘evidence’. In fact, the Met Office made a feature of its deliberate use of RCP8.5, highlighting its findings in bold type and describing them as “plausible”.
A Generation of Kids Thinks They Have No Future. Science Just Admitted Why.
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, May 9, 2026
For nearly two decades, a single climate model scenario haunted virtually every apocalyptic headline you read about our planet’s future. Vanishing coastlines, catastrophic droughts, mass extinctions, cities underwater — almost all of it was built on a scenario called RCP 8.5.
DAVID MARCUS: New York Times announces the end of the climate change hoax
A New York Times op-ed argues voters are turned off by climate messaging after decades of failed predictions
By David Marcus, Fox News, May 10, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
“Forget Climate Change” says New York Times to Democrats
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 12, 2026
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
The effect of additional CO2 on Crossleaf Heath
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
From the CO2Science.org archive.
Seeking a Common Ground
Study posits how carbon dioxide cools the upper atmosphere, and warms earth below
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, May 13, 2026
Link to paper: Stratospheric cooling and amplification of radiative forcing with rising carbon dioxide
By Sean Cohen, et al., Nature Geoscience, May 11, 2026
From the abstract: These spectral mechanisms explain why the stratosphere cools more aloft than it does below, why each doubling of carbon dioxide yields roughly 0 to 8 degrees Kelvin of cooling across the depth of the stratosphere and why stratospheric cooling increases the top of atmosphere radiative forcing of carbon dioxide by about 50%. This theory implies that stratospheric cooling is not a fundamental consequence of increasing the optical thickness of a greenhouse gas but rather the unique result of the spectroscopy of that gas. [Boldface added]
[SEPP Comment: A huge range of cooling of 0 to 8 degrees K? Are the authors saying that the model results are so absurdly uncertain that even they don’t believe them?]
Changing Weather
Scorecard: How Well Does NOAA’s Hurricane Outlook Actually Perform? 26 Years of Forecasts vs. Reality
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, May 13, 2026
What made 2025 interesting was the story behind the numbers: despite a below-average number of named storms and hurricanes, the season had an above-normal accumulated cyclone energy rating of 130.8 units, and three Category 5 hurricanes formed; the second most of any year on record. So, NOAA got the count right, but the intensity distribution was extreme.
Changing Climate
Buffalo without lake-effect snow? Ancient iceberg scratches reveal a reverse snowbelt
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, May 13, 2026
Link to paper: Icebergs as windvanes: Late Pleistocene iceberg scours in the eastern Great Lakes record the glacial anticyclone
By Sean P. Grasing; Jason P. Briner, Geology, May 5, 2026
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Antarctic “Triple Whammy” Paper Lands Just As the Ice Rebounds
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, May 10, 2026
Link to paper: Compound drivers of Antarctic sea ice loss and Southern Ocean destratification
Aditya Narayanan, et al., AAAS Science Avances, May 8, 2026
Weather Station: Write all about it
By Mark Hodson, Climate Scepticism, May 10, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The USCG estimated that more than 50 million tons of ice were broken this winter, which was characterized by “historic cold temperatures and icing conditions.”
“Peak ice coverage in the Chesapeake Bay reached over 35 percent, which is the most since 2014 and greatly exceeds the seasonal average of around 10 percent,” said Lt. Cdr. Blake Bonifas, Atlantic Area Public Affairs Officer…
…Total ice coverage on the Great Lakes reached a seven-year high of 58 percent on February 9, exceeding the long-term average of 52 percent.
Rapid ice accumulation was also a major problem this winter.
Within two weeks, the USCG saw ice coverage expand from 5 percent on January 14 to a whopping 51 percent by January 31. Lake Erie reached 95 percent ice coverage.
“This year’s ice season lasted longer than usual because of severe cold,” said Bonifas….
Changing Seas
Meridionally consistent decline in the observed western boundary contribution to the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation
By Qianjiang Xing, et al., AAAS Science Advances, Apr 8, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: Part of the evidence indicates a weakening over the past two decades; the full evidence is inconclusive.]
Do climate change experiments yield relevant insights into responses to chronic ocean warming?
By Isabelle M. Côté, et al., The Royal Society Proceedings B, Apr 29, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
From the abstract: Climate change threatens ocean biodiversity. Studies aimed at predicting responses of marine species to chronic warming increase temperatures to levels expected in the future. Using a meta-analysis, we ask whether ramping rate (i.e. the speed at which organisms are brought from ambient to experimental temperatures) modulates these responses.
[SEPP Comment: A biased paper for the Royal Society. Marine life survived the rapid cooling then warming of the Younger Dryas, far more drastic than any gradual warming from carbon dioxide.]
Coral Reefs in the Indonesian Seas Threatened by Heat and Cold Stress
By Takaaki K. Watanabe, et al., Geophysical Research Letters, Apr 29, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
From plain language summary: Warm water coral reef ecosystems are currently crossing their thermal tipping point and experience unprecedented mortality. When corals experience extreme heat stress, they lose symbiotic algae in their cells, starve and die, a process known as coral bleaching. Exposure to cold water also causes coral bleaching.
[SEPP Comment In their 240 million history, reef building corals never experienced heating and cooling before?]
Lowering Standards
The Bitter Taste of Climate Change–Christian Aid
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 11, 2026
Net Zero is the man-made disaster Christian Aid should be campaigning about.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
Wrong, Guardian, Climate Change Hasn’t Taken New Orleans Beyond the ‘Point of No Return’
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, May 12, 2026
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Claim: The Coming El Nino Global Warming may Kill 50 Million People
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 15, 2026
Link to paper: Climate and the Global Famine of 1876–78
By Deepti Singh, et al., Journal of Climate, Dec 1, 2018
[SEPP Comment: According to Wikipeida entry for the Great Famine of 1876–1878: “The Great Famine was precipitated by an intense drought resulting in crop failure in the Deccan Plateau, This was part of a larger pattern of drought and crop failure across India, China, South America and parts of Africa caused by an interplay between a strong El Niño and an active Indian Ocean Dipole that led to between 19 and 50 million deaths.
The regular export of grain by the colonial government continued; during the famine, the viceroy, Lord Lytton, oversaw the export to England of a record 6.4 million hundredweight (320,000 tons) of wheat, which made the region more vulnerable. The cultivation of alternate cash crops, in addition to the commodification of grain, played a significant role in the events.
The famine occurred at a time when the colonial government was attempting to reduce expenses on welfare.”]
Communicating Better to the Public – Make things up.
3.. 2.. 1.. Claim: Climate Change will Cause More Hantavirus
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 12, 2026
The cruise ship departed Ushuaia, Argentina, in April with plans to ferry 147 passengers and crew members to some of the most remote places on earth, including Antarctica. But the ship, named the MV Hondius, had its voyage cut short by a rare virus that has killed three and infected several others.
Ushusaia has a comparable climate to Prince Rupert in British Columbia.
The Hantavirus Is Also a Climate Warning
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 15, 2026
From Covering Climate Now:
The signs now are that the hantavirus is not the next pandemic. But with 2026 predicted to be the hottest year on record, the hantavirus outbreak is a warning of what public health experts have long said: A hotter planet is a deadlier planet.
Questioning European Green
The Green Titanic Hits the Iceberg of Reality
By Gwythian Prins, The Daily Sceptic, May 13, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
On Britain’s political voyage today, the opulence of the first-class passengers – who are the rulers now – is not exhibited in furs and jewels as it was in their predecessors’ day, but in their flaunted luxury beliefs. As night falls on the Starmer Government, steaming unceasingly onwards, only one Minister seems to stand erect, glassy-eyed and untouchable on the bridge, and it is, unfortunately, Ed Miliband. He alone seems to believe in something, and that something is ‘decarbonization’.
The Case Against Industrial-Scale Solar in the UK
By Sam Lowry, The Daily Sceptic, May 9, 2026
Every energy technology has places where it works best. Geothermal suits Iceland, and hydropower suits Norway. Large-scale solar is most effective in places with strong sunlight, long winter days and steady seasons, such as the Mojave Desert, the edge of the Sahara or southern Spain. The United Kingdom does not have these conditions.
Net Zero’s High Street Takeover
How Energy Costs and Business Rates Fuel Organised Crime and Illegal Migration — And You Pay For It
The Rationals, The Ratonal Forum, UK, May 12, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The result is a self-reinforcing loop that polite opinion has so far preferred not to notice in its entirety. Net-zero energy levies and the April 2026 business-rates revaluation drive legitimate shops out, organized crime moves in through ghost directors and phoenix companies, the new criminal fronts offer profit and shelter to undocumented migrants, enforcement is hobbled by under-resourcing and legal constraints, and the taxpayer ends up footing the bill at every turn.
Non-commodity costs now account for over 60 per cent of a typical business electricity bill.
Illegitimate businesses routinely avoid the required taxes and duties.
Net Zero Does Not Apply To Miliband
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 9, 2026
One rule for them and one rule for us.
Vidoe
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Left Progressives Cool It on Green New Deal (Progressive Policy Institute)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, May 13, 2026
So where does this leave the so-called climate deniers? “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. And then they attack you and want to burn you. And then they build monuments to you.” If good news could be accepted at face value, the alarmists would be going to the final stage–acceptance and appreciation. After all, who really wants to be climate anxious? (Answer: Deep ecologists and anti-capitalists and those with emotional and financial ties to a narrative that cannot be questioned.)
Net Zero Parties Annihilated By Trump Aligned Candidates in British and Australian Elections
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, May 10, 2026
Funding Issues
Exclusive–EPA’s Lee Zeldin: Wasteful ‘Environmental Justice’ Schemes Fund Activists to Train Activists to Lobby for More Funds
By Bradley Jaye, Breitbart, May 7, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The Political Games Continue
Disaster? NYT Op-Ed on Demoting the Climate Pitch
By Robert Bradley Jr. Master Resource, May 14, 2026
Litigation Issues
DOJ Sues Against Minnesota’s Climate Lawsuit
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 10, 2026
From: DOJ Sues Minnesota Over State Climate Lawsuit Targeting Energy Companies
Justice Department argues the state case oversteps federal authority, seeks to reshape national energy policy.
By Bill Pan, Climate Change Dispatch, May 5, 2026
The federal government’s move to counter climate litigation with its own lawsuit follows an executive order issued last year by President Donald Trump, who directed the DOJ to “take all appropriate action to stop” state lawsuits seeking to “dictate national energy policy.
GAO Files Amicus Brief Supporting Rescission of Pretextual EPA Rule
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, May 14, 2026
Cap-and-Trade and Carbon Taxes
RGGI Status Update
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, May 10, 2026
RGGI is, functionally, a tax by another name, with added volatility and administrative overhead. If policymakers insist on putting a price on CO₂ from the power sector, a straightforward carbon tax would at least give a clear, predictable price and avoid the gamesmanship of allowance auctions, “surplus” definitions, and opaque pass-through effects. [Boldface added]
Given that allowance prices are now about an order of magnitude higher than in RGGI’s early years—and could go higher still—it is past time for the states to ask whether this experiment is worth the cost. If politicians really want to lower electricity costs, the easiest step is to drop out of RGGI.
[SEPP Comment: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is a regional carbon dioxide regulation scheme for Northeastern states, now including Virginia.
Volkswagen Face $1.7 Billion Fine For Missing Emissions Targets
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 10, 2026
Demand Isn’t Keeping Up With Regulations
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
Ethanol: Not the Energy Transition We’re Looking For
By Ike Kiefer, Real Clear Energy, May 11, 2026
Renewables Obligation Subsidies Top £100 Billion
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 11, 2026
Link to: Energy Trends: UK renewables
Data on the UK’s renewables sector, including capacity, electricity generation and liquid biofuels consumption.
By Staff, Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, May 14, 2026
EPA and other Regulators on the March
How Past EPA Funded Activists, Wasteful Green Schemes
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 10, 2026
From: EPA Head Details How Tax Dollars Funded Activists, Wasteful Green Schemes
Zeldin explains how EPA grants cycled through multiple groups, each taking a cut, before funding more activist groups.
By Bradley Jaye, Climate Change Dispatch, May 8, 2026
Over $1 billion per year spent on Endangered Species Act
By David Wojick, CFACT, May 13, 2026
Link to: ECOS Environmental Conservation Online System
By Staff, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Accessed May 14, 2026
The 314-page report consists mostly of several lists that are very long because an expenditure is listed for each of the over 1,600 protected species.
Surprisingly, 27 out of the top 30 funded species are fish. Many are various species of salmon and steelhead, but there are others. The three non-fish are the North Atlantic Right Whale, the Desert Tortoise, and the West Indian Manatee. The little-known Razorback Sucker gets more money than any of these three at $14,425,633.
Energy Issues – Europe
Germany’s Nuclear Confession Is a Crack in Net Zero Pretense
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, May 13, 2026
Germany stubbornly closed its last three functioning nuclear reactors in April 2023 right in the middle of a crippling energy crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine. As pragmatists predicted, German citizens now suffer under punishingly high electricity prices and remain heavily dependent on imported energy.
The green dream was sold as a route to “cheap” renewables, yet the reality for German households and factories has been record‑high electricity prices, complex subsidies for favored businesses and individuals who conform to the climate narrative, and a grid that struggles on windless days or under gray skies.
Deputy Power Minister Shripad Naik recently revealed that India had added a massive 7.2 gigawatts of new coal capacity in the 2025–26 fiscal year alone and would add 307 gigawatts of total coal capacity by 2035.
Norway Leads Europe Back to Energy Sanity
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 14, 2026
From: ‘We are talking about energy security for Europe’: Norway doubles down on oil and gas production
By Staff, The Liberty Beacon, May 10, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Norway is not in the EU.]
Ed Miliband vows permanent shutdown of the North Sea
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May14, 2026
I have long believed Miliband is determined to do as much irreversible damage to the country as he can before he gets chucked out:
High energy costs leave Britain £30bn poorer
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 13, 2026
Emissions From Electricity Increased Last Year
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May11, 2026
Gas power increased from 84.89 to 89.03 TWh, showing how difficult it is to remove dispatchable power from the system.
Energy Issues – Elsewhere non-US
Our superpower is talking about being a superpower
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
The problem, of course, is that the Canadian government is not advancing major projects. It did create a Major Projects Office, but that bureaucratic monstrosity hasn’t approved anything yet. What are they “building big” in electricity, LNG or nuclear? And who’s “we”?
So-called Canada
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
Energy Issues — US
Nation’s Largest Grid Operator Warns Drastic Measures Required As Data Centers Come Online
By Benjamin Robers, Daily Caller, May 8, 2026
Link to: Powering Reliability Through Market Design
Addressing Rising Demand and Constrained Supply, and Stimulating Investment To Support Durable Reliability
By David Mills, PJM President and CEO and Staff,
[SEPP Comment: PJM Interconnection LLC (PJM) is a regional transmission organization (RTO) in the US. It is part of the Eastern Interconnection grid operating an electric transmission system serving all or parts of Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia. PJM is the largest power grid operator in the United States, serving 67 million customers from Chicago to Viriginia and northern tidewater North Carolina.]
PJM’s First Reformed Queue Cycle Draws 811 Projects, 220 GW
By Sonal Patel, Power Mag, Apr 30, 2026
Link to announcement: Over 800 New Generation Projects Seek To Connect Under PJM’s Reformed Process
First-ready, first-served Cycle ends backlog and offers a faster, more predictable path for resources to join the grid
By Staff, PJM, Apr 29, 2026
From the announcement: The reformed process replaces PJM’s prior first-come, first-served model with a first-ready, first-served approach, prioritizing projects that are more advanced and better positioned to move forward. Projects must demonstrate they are viable before entering the queue, including meaningful up-front financial commitments and proof of site control. These requirements are designed to reduce speculative projects, improve predictability and increase the overall pace of interconnection.
New York Following Cuba’s Strategy For Powering The Electrical Grid
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 12, 2026
You mean that all the solar generation that Cuba has built doesn’t provide any light in the nighttime? Who knew?
If we keep up our current energy policies for long enough, we can also get to the point where our thermal (fossil fuel) power plants are too old to be maintained reliably. And then, if we are lucky, we can hope to achieve the energy utopia that has arrived in Cuba.
All of the Above” Is How Coal Gets Shown the Door
By T.L. Headley, Real Clear Energy, May 12, 2026
West Virginia voters heading to the polls on May 12 deserve a cleaner lens. The question is not simply whether a candidate will keep energy affordable. The question is whether that candidate understands the difference between the affordable power West Virginia already produces from its existing coal fleet and the more expensive power that utility flexibility will procure in its place.
America Cannot Build Its Way Forward Without Permitting Reform
By Thomas J. Madison Jr., Real Clear Energy, May 14, 2026
Nowhere is this more evident than in the American energy and mining sectors. The U.S. has an abundant supply of natural gas and other renewable resources, yet pipeline capacity, transmission expansion, and new power generation consistently lag far behind their needs. Unreasonable obstacles to permitting often turn routine infrastructure projects into decade-long ordeals. For example, high-voltage transmission construction, critical for power grid resiliency and the deployment of renewable resources, has nearly collapsed under the weight of prolonged and onerous reviews and litigation.
[SEPP Comment: Renewable resources have not collapsed under onerous reviews and litigation. They collapsed because they are unreliable, making them very expensive.]
The Electricity Myth: Data Centers Aren’t the Villain
By Kristen Walker, Real Clear Energy, May 13, 2026
[SEPP Comment: High tech’s support of unreliable wind and solar power did not earn them any friends in the public now that they realize they need 24/7/365 power.]
Washington’s Control of Energy
Wright and Burgum – Trump’s Energy Tiger Team
By Duggan Flanakin, Real Clear Energy, May 12, 2026
Keystone XL Rebranded as “Keystone Light” in Trump’s Push for North American Energy Security
This project is a leaner, faster, and more litigation-resistant project that reuses idle pipe, threads existing corridors, avoids reservation land, and is racing the clock to lock in steel-in-the-ground before the next Democratic administration can once again sacrifice North American energy security to green ideology.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, May 9, 2026
Trump Administration Gets Strategic With Offshore Wind
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, May 10, 2026
At a reported investment amount of about $3 billion for Bluepoint Wind and as much as $20 billion for Golden State Wind, investment tax credits could have been as much as about $7 billion. Production tax credits at 2.6 cents per kWh could have been additional billions. And this for intermittent power that could not have replaced any of the existing dispatchable capacity.
Nuclear Energy and Fears
State of the Nuclear Industry 2026: Korsnick Says the Real Test Is Now Scale
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, May 12, 2026
Eight reactors are now under construction across North America, with 90 in development, and many of those projects are aiming for startup by 2030. That tempo framed the central argument of her annual “State of the Nuclear Industry” address. “The question before us is not whether we can build. It’s clear—we’re starting—we’re showing that we can. But the question before us now is whether we have what it takes to build at scale,” Korsnick said.
[Maria Korsnick, president and CEO of the Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI)]
The existing fleet—94 licensed reactors generating roughly 20% of U.S. electricity, 95% of them planning to operate for 80 years or longer—is the baseline. Units now under construction, Korsnick said, may still be operating in 2100. “These new units will outlast all of us,” Korsnick observed. “They’re going to power a world that none of us can yet imagine. It’s clear—more than clean energy, more than reliable energy—nuclear energy is generational energy, and every time we build, we’re building the future.”
[SEPP Comment: Other questions include the high up-front fixed cost and the costs of administrative delays.]
Duke Energy’s Nuclear Playbook: Three Horizons, One Strategy
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, May 13, 2026
From Pilot to Launch: DOE Names First Four Nuclear Energy Launch Pad Developers
By Sonal C. Patel, Power Mag, Apr 28, 2026
NRC Unveils Part 57: A Streamlined Path for High-Volume Microreactor Licensing
By Aaron Larson, Power Mag, Apr 17, 2026
Troubles at NuScale Power, Fermi America
By Kennedy Maize, Master Resource, May 12, 2026
The most mature U.S. small modular nuclear reactor vendor — NuScale Power — and a politically connected firm planning to build perhaps the largest reactor project in the U.S. to power an enormous Texas data center — Fermi America — have both suffered recent, major, possibly existential blows. NuScale and Fermi, both publicly traded, have seen their stock value plummet amid bad financial results, questionable management decisions, and attacks by the wolves of Wall Street, short sellers, and claims of securities fraud.
Fusion Energy Group Seeks PJM Connection for First Commercial Power Plant
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, Apr 28, 2026
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Offshore Wind Turbines Power: Complete 2025 Guide to Generation, Capacity & Performance
By Staff, SolarTech, Feb 18, 2026
The technical advantages of offshore wind are compelling: stronger, more consistent winds deliver capacity factors of 35-50% compared to 25-35% for onshore wind, while modern turbines generating 4-15 MW each provide economies of scale impossible to achieve on land.
Community Solar “Discounts” Could Raise Electric Bills
By James Coleman, Real Clear Energy, May 11, 2026
After Solar and Wind Farms Suddenly Sprang Up, Citizens and Local Governments Sprang Into Action
By Gary Abernathy, Real Clear Energy, May 13, 2026
The rapid expansion of “alternatives” has happened at warp speed, long before many members of the public and their local governments were properly informed or prepared. Now, private citizens and public officials are pumping the brakes, trying to slow a movement in which momentum exceeded readiness, politics outweighed planning, and taxpayers were left holding the bag yet again.
Harvard Study Finds Wind Turbines Will Cause More Warming Than Emissions Reductions Would Avert
Hot air from the wind industry
By Energy Bad Boys and Mitch Rolling, Energy Bad Boys, May 9, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Climatic Impacts of Wind Power
By Lee Miller and David Keith, Joule, Dec 19, 2018
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
$9b EV experiment failure: Honda posts first annual loss in 70 years, abandons targets
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, May 15, 2026
90% Subsidized… Bielefeld Germany’s €7 Million Hydrogen Garbage Truck Fleet Sits Idle
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, May 10, 2026
The most frustrating part of the story is that Bielefeld actually has a hydrogen refueling station within the city. One might think the solution is simple: just refuel the trucks at the local station! However, due to the strict terms of the government subsidies used to build that station, its use is contractually restricted to hydrogen buses only. Despite both the buses and the garbage trucks belonging to the municipal fleet, formal funding rules prevent the trucks from using the local pump.
Electric Bus Burns To Ground In Scotland
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May13, 2026
Video
Carbon Schemes
Carbon offsets in China work wonders at cutting emissions
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
Link to article: Paying to Pollute: How Carbon Offsets Actually Raised Emissions in China
Carbon offset programs aim to lower emissions by allowing high-income countries to meet part of their reduction targets by financing projects in low- and middle-income countries. Evidence from China—one of the world’s largest suppliers of these projects—suggests that non-additional offsets (i.e. those that would have happened anyway) can in fact exacerbate environmental damages.
By Qiaoyi Chen, Nicholas Ryan & Daniel Xu, Yale Economic Growth Center, July 30, 2025
Green screen of death
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
Climate alarmists were already steamed at Microsoft for ceasing single-handedly to prop up the illusory carbon storage market. And it just got worse. A lot worse. Bloomberg Green reports that “Microsoft is reconsidering its ambitious plan to match the power consumption of its data centers with 100% clean energy produced at the same time, on the same grid.” The problem being, of course, that (all together now) alternative energy just can’t do the job.
Microsoft Pauses Its Carbon Indulgence Spending. The Usual Suspects Are Upset.
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, May 14, 2026
California Dreaming
When it Comes to Water, California Needs to Think Big Again
By Edward Ring, California Policy Center, May 13, 2026
The California refinery crisis is a national security risk for America
By Ronald Stein P.E., America Out Loud News, May 11, 2026
Environmental Industry
Fossil Fuel Lawsuits Drive Up Energy Prices
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, May 11, 2026
Link to: Green Groups’ 600+ Lawsuits Are Driving Up Energy Costs
By Staff, Power the Future, Apr 16, 2026
Organizations like the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, and Earthjustice openly tout their litigation records. NRDC alone has reported suing the administration more than 160 times, including efforts that helped halt major infrastructure projects like Keystone XL. The Sierra Club has claimed more than 300 cases during Trump’s first term and over 100 additional legal actions in 2025 alone. Earthjustice similarly boasts more than 200 lawsuits.
This is not routine legal oversight; this is a full-scale attack to reshape U.S. energy policy through the courts.
Green Machine Targets Plastics at Consumer Expense
By Kevin Mooney, Restoration News, May 8, 2026
Other News that May Be of Interest
Theodore Dalrymple, Truth-Teller
Foreword to the 25th anniversary edition of Life at the Bottom: The Worldview That Makes the Underclass
By Robert Henderson, City Journal, May 8, 2026
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Kiss your plants goodbye
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, May 13, 2026
MSN bellows “Climate change poses significant threat to global plant species, study reveals”, based on an AP story that had all the usual suspects hypnotically clicking including the Canadian Press news agency with its “Scientists say don’t forget about plants. Climate change is endangering tens of thousands of species”. And while we hate to spoil the dreary misery with a floral bouquet, we would like to ask this historically-minded question: at what previous point in Earth’s history did a gentle increase in temperature and atmospheric CO2 convert lush valleys into deserts? Because if you can’t name one, you’re making it up.
[SEPP Comment: MSN never heard of photosynthesis?]
Fish Go to the Disco to Save the Coral Reefs
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, May 13, 2026
PBS News Hour ran a segment Monday night as part of its “Tipping Point” series. The story, filed by special correspondent Ben Tracy with Climate Central, is about how the world is going to save coral reefs from climate change.
“Masculine Behavior Bad for the Planet,” Says Phys.org. We Read the Paper.
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, May 12, 2026
Link to paper: Men, masculinities, and the planet at the end of (M)Anthropocene: ecological/social/economic/political relations, processes and consequences
By Kadri Aavik, NORMA: International Journal for Masculinity Studies, Nov11, 2025
Josh’s View of RCP8.5
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, May 12, 2026
ARTICLES
1. Judges and the Climate Tort Lobby
A plaintiff firm gets access to material used to educate judges.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, May 15, 2026
TWTW Summary: The editorial begins with”
“The next frontier for the plaintiffs bar is the climate tort—blaming business for harm from hotter weather. To that end environmentalists and plaintiff lawyers are sharing information on training for federal judges.
The House Judiciary Committee is investigating this cooperation, and on Friday it subpoenaed tort lawyer Roger Worthington for information on his law firm’s access to judicial training materials before they were published as a module for federal judges by the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP).
Judiciary sent the subpoena after Mr. Worthington’s lawyer said his client wouldn’t voluntarily appear for a transcribed interview, according to a letter to Mr. Worthington from committee Chairman Jim Jordan and subcommittee Chair Darrell Issa. He’s asked to appear for a June 4 deposition.
Mr. Worthington’s firm, Worthington & Caron, has filed a lawsuit for Multnomah County in Oregon against fossil-fuel companies. It claims the firms were responsible for carbon emissions that allegedly contributed to the 2021 Pacific Northwest Heat Dome, when weather was unusually hot. That’s right. The county is seeking more than $50 billion in damages for a heat wave.
In the months leading up to the case, Mr. Worthington was in contact with Michael Wehner, a climate researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Mr. Wehner has worked with the Climate Judiciary Project and the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) that play an active role in training judges.
In spring 2023, Mr. Wehner sent Mr. Worthington a draft of a training module for judges he was writing for CJP. In January the Judiciary Committee asked Mr. Worthington why ‘an apparent pre-publication version of the same training module has been hosted on the website of your firm?’”
The editorial goes into further detail then concludes with:
“CJP says that since 2018 it has created 15 curriculum modules by 24 authors and had more than 2,000 judges participate in its climate training. The Center doesn’t publish which judges attend its climate education sessions. A source familiar with the investigation says the committee has identified at least 130 federal judges who attended CJP judicial training events or webinars in six years.
The testimonials from judges on the CJP website are anonymous. If there’s no conflict of interest and it’s all neutral science education, why not publish their names?
Wrong, Guardian, Climate Change Hasn’t…
Today the Guardian has another exclusive – never mind the demise of RCP8.5 and the catastrophism that goes with it.
The climate crisis should be declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization, or millions more people will die unnecessarily, leading international experts have said.
The independent pan-European commission on climate and health, which was convened by the WHO, concluded the climate crisis was such a worldwide threat to health that the WHO should declare it “a public health emergency of international concern” (Pheic).
…
Pheics are the highest level of health alert. Previous declarations include infectious diseases such as Covid and Mpox. – Guardian
“When the health argument and the climate argument are the same argument, it becomes very hard to oppose.”
At least that seems to be their calculation. This, like everything else they’ve tried, will fail.
Regarding the very first sub-topic of the above “news roundup”, [Non]-Acidification:
There is a relatively strong variation of ocean water pH with depth. On average, ocean water “steady state” pH typically ranges from a high of 8.1 near the surface to a minimum of 7.5–8.0 in the mid-depths (the “pH minimum zone”), before rising slightly to 7.8–8.2 in the deep ocean.The vertical pH profile is largely shaped by sunlight, biological activity, and carbon dioxide concentrations. All this with the acknowledged strong chemical buffering that stabilizes the pH levels to remain at their existing average values despite variations in the partial pressure of atmospheric CO2 above the ocean.
“Ocean acidification”? . . . a nothing burger.
Story Tip — They are the IYIs — or IYI-bco-NSiG
By Tilak Doshi May 18, 2026
https://tilakdoshi.substack.com/p/intellectual-yet-idiot-ed-miliband
Excerptus – Explanatory: