The Week That Was: 2026-06-27 (June 27, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.” — Mark Twain [H/t Don Healy]
Number of the Week: High Minus 82℉ (-63 ℃); Low Minus 98℉ (-72 ℃), Climate Crisis?
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with a discussion of three papers reporting increasing sunshine in different parts of the globe. TWTW reports that United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres demanded $1.3 Trillion per year to protect humanity from global warming. TWTW discuses that Judith Curry is retiring her blog. Then TWTW discusses that a change in the regulatory requirements may be coming for the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). TWTW concludes with a discussion that the landscape that early Europeans found in North America may have been carefully managed.
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Increasing Sunshine?: Kenneth Richard of No Tricks Zone identified three recent studies published in established journals (not climate journals) stating that increasing sunshine is causing rising temperatures. The studies are local, not globally comprehensive, but diverse. The specific locations are southern Poland (Krakow), Brazil, and Nigeria. The abstract of the study covering Poland begins with:
“Since the late 1980s, air temperature in Kraków (southern Poland) has increased by ~2.2–2.3°C compared to the 1951–1988 average. Over the same period, a significant increase in sunshine duration (SD) (by about 500 hr.) has been observed relative to the 1951–1988 baseline. This pattern of temperature change in Kraków is representative of trends observed across Poland. The aim of this study is to determine the impact of SD on the increase in air temperature in Kraków. The analysis indicates that the strong rise in SD has resulted from changes in cloud structure since the late 1980s.”
The studies covering Brazil and Nigeria rely on data from Meteosat, a series of European Space Agency geostationary meteorological satellites that continuously monitor weather and climate from space. The Equator passes through northern Brazil and Brazil and Nigeria are in the seasonal Intertropical Convergence Zone noted for monotonous windless weather with wet (cloudy) and dry seasons. Key parts of the abstract from the study covering Brazil state:
“To overcome these limitations [limited network of ground-based observations], this study employed the high‐resolution satellite‐based CMSAF SARAH‐3.0 SDU dataset for the 1983–2020 period, enabling a spatially consistent evaluation across Brazil. The analysis combined regional and gridded climatologies, Empirical Orthogonal Function (EOF) decomposition and robust trend assessment. Climatological results reveal strong regional contrasts: the Northeast records the highest and most regular SDU [Sunshine Duration], while the South exhibits the lowest values. The largest (smallest) seasonal amplitude occurs in the North (Southeast). Also, the Central‐West exhibits a marked monsoonal cycle. EOF analysis identifies three leading modes of variability, associated with the South American Monsoon System, the Atlantic Intertropical Convergence Zone and a regional mode linked to intraseasonal variability over southeastern Brazil, the La Plata Basin and the adjacent South Atlantic. Long‐term analyses indicate generalized increases in SDU, with statistically significant positive trends in the Central‐West and Northeast, while the North and South display weaker and spatially heterogeneous tendencies.” [Boldface added]
The abstract of the study covering Nigeria states [Boldface added]:
“This study investigates the temporal variability of sunshine duration and cloud cover across Nigeria from 1970 to 2022, leveraging satellite-based and ground-observed datasets to elucidate climatic trends and their implications for renewable energy, agriculture, and climate adaptation strategies. Using data from the Meteosat-based SARAH-2 climate data record, ERA5 reanalysis, and Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) ground stations, we analyze long-term trends, seasonal patterns, and spatial disparities in sunshine duration and cloud cover. Results indicate a significant increase in sunshine duration in northern Nigeria, averaging 0.5–0.7 hours per decade, driven by decreasing cloud cover, particularly during the dry season (November–March). Conversely, southern coastal regions exhibit higher cloud cover (up to 70% annually) and reduced sunshine duration due to monsoonal influences and orographic effects. Inter-annual variability is strongly correlated with the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), with positive sunshine anomalies during El Niño years. Spatial analysis reveals pronounced disparities, with the semi-arid Sahel region experiencing the longest sunshine duration (8–9 hours/day) and the Niger Delta the shortest (4–5 hours/day). These trends align with global observations of decreasing cloud cover in tropical regions, potentially amplifying surface warming. The findings underscore the need for region-specific climate adaptation policies in Nigeria, particularly for solar energy optimization and agricultural planning. This study contributes to global climate research by providing a high-resolution analysis of a critical yet understudied region, with implications for sustainable development in sub-Saharan Africa.”
These studies add to the growing body of physical evidence that a decrease in cloudiness is more responsible for increasing temperatures over the past thirty plus years than increasing carbon dioxide. See link under Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
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Is It Extortion? The UN IPCC has dropped its most extreme storyline (scenario) for increasing carbon dioxide emissions but has retained its fanciful interpretation of the sensitivity of Earth’s temperatures to increasing carbon dioxide called Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS). Since Earth has never experienced a long-term stable climate, ECS is imaginary. Further, carbon dioxide is a bit player in the complex play of historical climate change. But the UN IPCC systematically ignores history.
In preparation for COP 31, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres gave a special address at London Climate Action Week with Michael Bloomberg making the introduction. Some of the key parts of the speech include [Boldface added]:
“Crisis number 1: climate chaos is accelerating before our eyes.
We have just lived through the eleven hottest years ever recorded.
And today this city – and far beyond – are experiencing the hottest day of the year – with higher temperatures to come.
London isn’t just calling – it’s cooking.
Around the world, climate disasters are becoming more frequent, more destructive, and more costly.
And the World Meteorological Organization has warned we ain’t seen nothing yet.
El Niño is not just knocking on the door. It risks blowing the house down.
Turning up the heat. Disrupting food and water systems. And hitting the vulnerable the hardest.
Ten years ago, world leaders agreed in Paris to limit global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius.
Now scientists say average annual temperatures will exceed that threshold in the coming years.
The task before us is to strictly limit the overshoot, shorten its duration, and bring temperatures down below 1.5 degrees Celsius as fast as possible.”
TWTW Comment: A gradual slow warming of Earth from increasing carbon dioxide has become Climate Chaos? What did the US Midwest experience in the 1930s?
“The principle of Common But Differentiated Responsibilities applies, but every major emitter must do much more.
And every country must over-deliver on its commitments.
By accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels towards clean energy – as governments committed at the 2023 UN Climate Conference.
By halting deforestation and restoring nature.
And by rapidly reducing carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil, and gas production and consumption.
CO₂ remains the principal driver of long-term warming.
But it is also time to prioritize the cutting of methane.
Methane is responsible for around one-third of global warming.
It is some eighty times more powerful than carbon dioxide.
But unlike CO₂, methane breaks down in the atmosphere within a decade or two.
That means that aggressive cuts could produce visible temperature relief within a generation.
That is why today, I am launching a global Call to Action on Methane.”
“But AI is also hungry for land, water and power.
The data centers behind it already consume more electricity than most nations.
By 2030, they could use more power than all but five countries – and enough water to meet the basic needs of all 1.3 billion residents of sub‑Saharan Africa for an entire year.
They take up land, too – often in places that see few of the benefits.
Despite these obvious concerns, communities are often left in the dark about the environmental impact of the infrastructure rising around them.
So today I am proposing the AI Environmental Transparency Initiative.
I am calling on every major AI company to measure and publicly disclose the full environmental impact of its systems – carbon, water, and land footprints – and to commit to power every data center with renewable energy by 2030.”
TWTW comment: Not one political jurisdiction, not one data center today runs on wind and solar plus backup today. But will all data centers be committed to do so by 2030?
“Developed countries must keep their promises, including support to the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage and the Green Climate Fund.
The $300 billion pledged to developing countries must be delivered – with concrete steps to mobilize $1.3 trillion a year by 2035.
In a world of shrinking aid, we must also unleash the catalytic role of Multilateral Development Banks and the wider development finance system to help fund long-term infrastructure such as grids, mass transit, and water systems.
Recent reforms and policy decisions have increased the lending capacity of Multilateral Development Banks by $600-800 billion.
They must use it aggressively to finance the infrastructure of the future and climate adaptation.”
“The United Nations has launched the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change to help do just that.
Facts matter. Science matters. Information integrity matters.”
By ignoring contradicting physical evidence, ignoring natural climate change, and emphasizing isolated evidence, the UN and the UN IPCC have created a false image of human-caused climate change which its leader now calls climate chaos. Yet the UN is creating a group called the Global Initiative for Information Integrity on Climate Change when the UN has demonstrated it lacks scientific and information integrity.
The UN has no capability to control climate, and its claim that carbon dioxide and methane are principal causes of increasing temperatures is contradicted by physical evidence such as the studies above showing that increasing sunshine hitting the surface is causing warming in some areas. CO2 has an influence on temperatures, but it is small. Water vapor is the principal greenhouse gas, and it is not even mentioned. Yet AMO physicists van Wijngaarden and Happer have shown that in Earth’s atmosphere which contains water vapor, methane is an ineffective greenhouse gas. Natural changes caused the Eemian interglacial period (about 129,000 to 116,000 years ago) to be warmer than today. Humanity lived through it even in tropical Africa. Now the UN is calling what may principally be a natural warming climate chaos and demanding $1.3 trillion per year to fight it?
Is this a form of extortion? It depends on one’s definition. See links under Defending the Orthodoxy and link under Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer for the effectiveness of the five most abundant greenhouse gases.
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RIP Climate Etc.; Climatologist Judith Curry announced she is retiring her blog, Climate Etc. She a Professor Emeritus and former Chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. She left academics because she was tired of the anti-skeptical bias in academic climate science. She now runs a climate forecasting company, the Climate Forecast Applications Network. Last year, she was a member of the Department of Energy’s Climate Working Group which included Ph.D. scientists John Christy, Steven E. Koonin, Ross McKitrick, and Roy Spencer. Curry’s announcement begins with:
“It’s time to declare victory against climate stupidity and move on.
Well, the definition of victory here is about as fuzzy as that for the Iran war. Here is a summary of why Climate Etc. is being euthanized:
- Major progress has been made in the climate debate, and the political climate has changed.
- My interests have evolved in other directions.
- The logistics and cost of keeping the blog running are substantial.
State of the Climate Wars
There have been some decisive battles in the past two years, notably President Trump’s election, the DOE Climate Report, and widespread acknowledgement that RCP8.5 is an implausible emissions scenario. As a result, many news agencies have dropped or substantially reduced their climate desk, we don’t hear about climate change so much in the media (particularly as related to extreme weather events). Also, we can’t underestimate the impact of substantially reduced funding for climate-related NGOs, with USAID and other funds drying up.
The leaders of the climate alarmism movement have not conceded defeat but have done much whining, notably over President Trump and the RCP8.5 scenario. They are still trying to discredit the authors of the DOE Report. Triggered by the DOE Report, they have mostly stopped flogging the warming/extreme weather link, although there is a hardcore group that is committed to extreme event attribution as a mechanism to support litigation against fossil fuel companies. With the demise of the extreme weather link, the climate alarmists are now focused on climate “tipping points,” which simply doesn’t resonate with the public (extreme weather events were much more alarming).
But most importantly, the whole issue has lost its political relevance. During the past several months we have watched the entire world panic over loss of access to Middle Eastern oil, and major concerns raised about the need for massively more electricity to support data centers. Putting a tourniquet around our energy supply in the name of eliminating CO2 emissions is a much worse idea now than it was even a few years ago, and that seems to be widely recognized (even in Europe). Most tellingly, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has dropped climate change as an issue, now focusing on AI (and health).
We are perhaps at an inflection point; one can only hope that the climate enterprise will redirect its efforts away from flogging the CO2 climate control knob mantra and towards understanding regional climate variability, particularly as influenced by natural variability, to support efforts at reducing vulnerability to weather extremes. And figure out how to better work with nature to support our needs for food, water, energy.
JC moving on
When I was planning my retirement for Georgia Tech, I viewed Climate Etc. as a hedge against becoming bored in my retirement. Ha! Seems that it is impossible for me to become bored, too many interesting things to do and to learn about and to ponder.
After publishing my book Climate Uncertainty and Risk and co-authoring the DOE Climate Report (I have prepared revisions for my sections, who knows when this will ever be published), I frankly don’t have much more to say on the topic of the climate wars. I have no interest in battling with the likes of Michael Mann, Andrew Dessler, et al. (does anybody still care what they have to say?)
Apart from the climate wars, I remain very interested in the fascinating and complex climate system, I erratically consume new research as I come across it (which can be pretty random sometimes). But most of climate science has become BORING . . . too much mega-modeling and politicking, and not enough thinking. In any event, I no longer have an interest in writing for the public on these topics.
My professional interests are more focused on extreme weather on timescales from hours to a year, which is the focus of my company Climate Forecast Applications Network (CFAN), along with decision making under uncertainty and risk science. It’s a fascinating time for weather forecasting, and CFAN is deeply immersed in the new opportunities afforded by AI. I write reports on a range of related topics which are sent to CFAN’s clients (they are not made public). I continue to do consulting on climate-related topics, supporting litigation and developing regional, decadal scale scenarios to support risk assessment for specific client needs.
I’ve been pretty quiet on twitter (I can’t bring myself to call it X) for the last several months, maybe I should step up my commentary there — I still have a lot to say, and short comments responding to a paper or news item is about the right level of effort at this point.
Now that my granddaughter is in high school (yes she is very interested in science), I have been paying more attention to what is going on at the universities, which I abandoned in disgust almost a decade ago.”
See link under Challenging the Orthodoxy,
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National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA): In a post in Real Clear Energy, Michael Catanzaro states:
“As an example of how not to do things, the National Environmental Policy Act, or NEPA, has evolved since its enactment in 1970 to become a major source of delay for infrastructure development in this country, from energy projects to roads and bridges. NEPA was designed as a procedural statute, a framework to ensure the federal government reviewed environmental impacts, not a determinative barrier to development. [Emphasis in original]
But that is increasingly what it has become in practice. The average environmental impact statement today runs over 600 pages and takes roughly four and a half years to complete. Transmission projects can take close to a decade. That is simply not compatible with the pace at which electricity demand is growing.
A significant driver of these delays is litigation risk. More than a quarter of major energy and infrastructure projects face lawsuits before construction even begins, and nearly all of those lawsuits involve NEPA claims – usually that the review failed to be omniscient in anticipating the most remote and minor environmental effects. In response, agencies and developers have adapted by producing increasingly exhaustive documentation, measured in the thousands of pages, trying to litigation-proof the review process before it is ever challenged. The result is a system that optimizes delays and paperwork rather than outcomes.” [Boldface added]
On the day of the post, an article in the Daily Caller stated:
“The EPA is unveiling a new memorandum on Wednesday aiming to promote “common sense, transparency, and clarity” when the agency comments on other agencies’ Environmental Impact Statements (EISs) under Section 309 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and Section 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). [Boldface added]
Removing unnecessary delays and lawsuits under NEPA will be a welcome relief for those proposing construction projects, such as pipelines and storm barriers.
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Old Managed Forests? In two posts on WUWT, forester Don Healy offers a different view of what early European explorers and settlers experienced when the encountered the “pristine wilderness” before the arrival of the iron axe and saw. The Native Americans managed the forests and grasslands with the major tool they had – fire. In Part 1, Healy writes in part:
The recently completed North American Tree Ring Fire Scar Network, a more thorough review of the written works by the early explorers such as George Vancouver and Joseph Whidbey, the botanical studies of David Douglas, the journals of Lewis and Clark, the records of the Hudson Bay Company, the records of the early railroad surveyors and the written documentation of some of the earliest non-native settlers in the region now demonstrate how remarkably benign and beneficial was the resource management employed by the Native Americans for at least the past 10,000 years using fire judiciously.
In Part 2 Healy writes in part:
The forests of the United States today bear little resemblance to the forests of 1600–1850 and before. They are denser, more homogeneous, more stressed, and far more flammable. The combination of fuel accumulation, species shifts, and climate stress has created a perfect storm of ecological vulnerability.
Our view that old-growth forests are pristine may be incorrect, particularly in the western part of the US and Canada. See links under Science, Policy, and Evidence.
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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.
The leading contenders are Ed Miliband, UK Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, and Vic Sher & Matt Edling of the Sher Edling law firm seeking to force millions of dollars in settlements on energy companies for causing global warming.
Please send your nomination and a brief reason why the person is qualified for the honor to Ken@SEPP.org.
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NO TWTW THE WEEKEND OF JULY 4
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Number of the Week: High Minus 82℉ (-63 ℃); Low Minus 98℉ (-72 ℃), Climate Crisis?
Writing in Climate Realism, Anthony Watts notes that the journal Futurism had an article “Scientists Horrified as Huge Heatwave Hits Antarctica” “This is absolutely crazy.” It was based on an article in the Guardian based on a high temperature reading taken on the Trinity Peninsula of Antarctica of approximately 15.4°C (59.7°F) during a brief warm spell on June 6. Trinity Peninsula is the northernmost tip of the Antarctic Peninsula and outside the Antarctic Circle. Tourist cruise ships go there.
On the day of the “climate crisis”, June 6, 2026, Vostok Station went from a low of Minus 98℉ (-72 ℃) to a high of Minus 82℉ (-63 ℃). To be fair, Vostok Station is at an elevation of about ~3,488 m / 11,444 ft and is called the Southern Pole of Cold. Doubtful that many tourists go there.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Commentary: Is the Sun Rising?
3 New Studies Find Increasing Trends In Solar Radiation Since The 1980s – Easily Explaining Warming
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, June 22, 2026
Link to one paper: The Role of Increased Sunshine in Shaping Air Temperature Rise in Krakow (1951-2020)
By Andrzej A. Marsz, Dorota Matsuko, Anna Styszyńska, Questions Geographicae, 2025
Link to second paper: Sunshine Duration in Brazil From Meteosat (1983–2020): Climatology, Variability and Long‐Term Trends
By Livia Gava, International Journal of Climatology, March 2026
Link to third paper: Temporal Variability of Sunshine Duration and Cloud Cover over Nigeria from 1970 to 2022
By Alexander Chinago Budnukaeku, Innovation in Science and Technology, March 2026
What if Global Warming was just because something made the clouds go away
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 24, 2026
[SEPP Comment: See links immediately above.]
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
RIP Climate Etc.
By Judith Curry, Climate Etc., Mar 9, 2026 [Posted June 23, 2026]
Clearing up some misconceptions about the DoE report
By Ross McKitrick, Climate Etc, Mar 9, 2026
The EPA concluded they lacked regulatory authority over greenhouse gases, so neither can they issue findings on climate science, just as they have no authority to issue scientific findings on vaccines or cancer treatment.
Another Example of Sea-level Fall Affecting Coral Cover
By Jennifer Marohasy, Her Blog, June 23, 2026
Link to paper: Chronostratigraphy of Bramston Reef reveals a long-term record of fringing reef growth under muddy conditions in the central Great Barrier Reef
By E.J. Ryan, et al., Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, Jan 1, 2016
From paper:
Highlights
• Bramston Reef initiated ~ 5396 years BP and developed rapidly in the mid-Holocene.
• Mainland-attached reefs can initiate and grow in muddy environments over millennia.
• Key reef-building coral genera did not vary throughout Holocene reef development.
• Minimal reef flat accretion occurred over the last 3000 years.
• Variations in reef growth predate European settlement of adjacent catchments.
[SEPP Comment: What is causing the local sea level to fall?]
2025 Study: Cloud Effects Reduce Downwelling Longwave Radiation, Overriding The CO2 Impact
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, June 26, 2026
Link to paper: Clouds reduce downwelling longwave radiation over land in a warming climate
By Lei Liu, Yi Huang & John R. Gyakum, Nature, Jan 15, 2025
Defending the Orthodoxy
UN Chief Demands $1.3 Trillion a Year
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, June 24, 2026
From: U.N. Secretary-General Demands $1.3 Trillion a Year to Fight ‘Climate Chaos’
By Mariane Angela, Breitbart, June 23, 2026
Link to: Secretary-General’s special address at London Climate Action Week
By Staff, United Nations, June 23, 2026
Romantic Science to a Climate Alarmist (Dessler props up ‘the cause’)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 23, 2026
Link to questionable talk: How Science Works: a talk I gave on the Climate and Weather Livestream
By Andrew Dessler, His Blog The Climate Brink, June 2, 2026
From Dressler: an individual scientist forms a hypothesis, runs an experiment, and draws a conclusion. That’s more or less what happens at the individual level, though in practice it’s more iterative — you design, test, and refine all at once, landing on a slightly different idea each time until you reach a conclusion about whatever hypothesis you’ve ended up with.
But this isn’t science. It’s only step one.
Step two is peer review, the first layer of quality control….So a peer-reviewed paper making it into a journal doesn’t mean the paper is right. Nobody treats a single paper as the final word.
That’s where step three comes in: the crucible of science. Important results get retested by the broader community. If you publish something interesting, it gets dissected. Sometimes people try to reproduce your work directly but more often they test its implications. If someone claims X is true, and that implies that Y is also true, then scientists will go check Y. If a claim survives this gauntlet long enough, it becomes accepted. That’s how we generate knowledge.
[SEPP Comment: What role does physical evidence play? Dressler claimed the noted Department of Energy report highlighting the uncertainty in climate science lacked peer review and cherry-picked evidence. Citing contradicting evidence is not cherry-picking. Excluding contradicting evidence is.]
AI companies should release environmental impact, commit to clean energy, says UN chief
By Staff, AP, Via The Hill, June 23, 2026
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Tuesday called on artificial intelligence companies to release information about the carbon pollution they create, along with the water and land used to power their operations.
[SEPP Comment: What evidence does this carbon-based life form have that carbon dioxide is a pollutant?]
Andy Burnham & Net Zero
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 24, 2026
The reality is that he is just as devoted to Net Zero as the rest of his Party.
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Climate.gov Rides Again: A Sign That the Climate Debate Is Far From Over
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, June 24, 2026
Climate.gov was never merely a repository of temperature records, satellite measurements, or hurricane statistics. It functioned as a communications portal designed to translate climate science for public consumption. As the Times itself notes, supporters valued it because it was aimed at teachers, journalists, and the general public rather than exclusively at researchers. In other words, it was a climate marketing tool.
That distinction matters. Scientific data and scientific advocacy/messaging are not the same thing. The existence of a website devoted to interpreting climate information through a particular institutional lens does not automatically make that interpretation indispensable.
Questioning the Orthodoxy
Pacific Climate Games
By Michael Kile, WUWT, June 21, 2026
Lies, Damn Lies, and Climate Stats, Part 1
By Robert Vislocky, WUWT, June 24, 2026
Link to main paper critically examined: Global increase in major tropical cyclone exceedance probability over the past four decades
By James P. Kossin, et al., PNAS, May 18, 2020 [Edited by Benjamin Santer]
From abstract by Kossin, et al., Major TCs [tropical cyclones] pose, by far, the greatest threat to lives and property. Between the early and latter halves of the time period, the major TC exceedance probability increases by about 8% per decade, with a 95% CI of 2 to 15% per decade.
Also not dead yet
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Link to article: Bjorn Lomborg: The WHO’s climate prescription is bad medicine
Heat deaths are up, though mainly because old people are a much larger share of the population, while deaths from the cold are way down
By Bjorn Lomborg, Financial Post, June 17, 2026
UK Met Warns 90F Heatwave Will Cause Power Outages
By Erick Worrall, WUWT, June 20, 2026
In subtropical Australia we call this kind of weather “Summer”.
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Dead but too dumb to fall down?
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Our own view, in keeping with our militant conviction that ideas matter, is that the fundamental problem with climate orthodoxy was that as a scientific theory or in Thomas Kuhn’s terms “paradigm” it seemed to hold immense promise 40 years ago. And it seemed to be yielding dynamic intellectual results 20 years ago. Genuinely. Not everyone was convinced but it wasn’t a fraud or a hoax. But it ran out of mental steam about 10 years ago.
Alas, in its moment of apparent triumph it stopped handling data impressively and started mishandling it. Practitioners went from eager open-mindedness to snarling defensiveness. And the fact that it was capturing institutions from academia to media to government couldn’t keep it alive. Of course this view of the matter also ruled out it being a fraud or a hoax, though it certainly gave opportunities to display normal human failings from pride to grift and they were seized upon. And while ideas have consequences, they also have momentum.
The sermon on the carbon
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Energy & Environmental Review: June 22, 2026
By John Droz, Jr., Master Resource, June 22, 2026
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Change Weekly # 582—Media’s Interest in Climate Change Is Flagging
By Staff, The Heartland Institute, June 18, 2026
What Climate Crisis? Indonesia Taps Fossil Fuels
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, June 24, 2026
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
The effect of extra CO2 on St. John’s Wort
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
From the CO2Science.org archive.
Seeking a Common Ground
Testing the Dew-Point Anchor Hypothesis
By Andy May and Philip Mulholland, WUWT, June 25, 2026
Science, Policy, and Evidence
The Forest Management Conundrum in the United States-Part 2
By Don Healy, WUWT, June 24, 2026
Link to Part 1: https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/06/23/the-forest-management-conundrum-in-the-united-states-2/
Link to The North American tree-ring fire-scar network
By Ellis Q. Margolis, et al., Ecosphere, 2022
Changing Weather
Europe Has A Sun Violence Problem
Lessons from the Climate Cult.
By Natalie Sandoval, State of the Day, June 26, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kesphire]
British officials have a message for Britons baking in the summer sun: Get rid of your air conditioner.
Temperatures to Hit Record-Breaking 38C as ‘Heat Dome’ Heads For Britain
By Toby Young, The Daily Sceptic, June 22, 2026
Hot town, summer in the city
By Joe Bastardi, CFACT, June 18, 2026
The “Super” El Nino Will Weaken Super Fast
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, June 23, 2026
The latest forecasts paint a different picture.
El Nino will develop rapidly this summer/fall but will weaken quickly during the winter.
This rapid decline is important, since the winter is the period with the greatest impact of El Nino on the meteorology of the Northwest.
El Ninos Signal Cooling Earth Climate
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, June 20, 2026
Changing Seas
A Good Article About the AMOC, Just in Time for the El Niño
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, June 22, 2026
Link to article: Shifting currents: After decades of warnings, new data suggest the Atlantic’s vital circulation may withstand climate warming better than feared
By Paul Voosen, AAAS Science, June 11, 2026
From Rotter: What makes Voosen’s piece valuable is not that a skeptic blog approves of it. It is that the restraint is coming from the scientists who run the arrays. Gerard McCarthy, a RAPID scientist, has publicly warned that exaggerated collapse headlines generate seesawing narratives that confuse policymakers rather than equip them. Eleanor Frajka-Williams, who previously led RAPID, notes that some people “may be inclined to be more inflammatory,” and adds that there is no unified simple theory of the AMOC because one does not exist. Fiamma Straneo of Harvard says the dire collapse scenarios can be a distraction from the climate impacts we are actually sure are happening. These are not contrarians. They are the field, asking the press to calm down.
The carbonate budget is balanced in the Maldives
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Link to paper: A carbonate budget of an exposed atoll reef flat, Indian Ocean
By Mei Ting Law, et al., Geomorphology, July 15, 2026
Paper Highlights:
- Reef flat is productive and accreting at a rate matching local sea-level rise.
- High coral and coralline algae cover strongly correlate with vertical reef growth.
- Loss of high carbonate-producing corals increase the risk of reef submergence.
- Reef habitat responses to climate stressors vary with their ecological composition.
Agriculture Issues & Fear of Famine
Labour encourages farmers to swap beef for lentils
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 25, 2026
You can’t just go and plant lentils anywhere you want and expect a decent harvest. They do best in drier climates and hate water-logged soils. That is why those areas of the country are devoted to pastoral farming.
For hundreds of years, farmers have known where is best suited to arable and where is not. They don’t need a man from the Ministry coming down to tell them otherwise.
Lowering Standards
Some revealing screen dumps from the UK Met Office website
By Neil Lock, WUWT, June 24, 2026
I remember June 26th, 1976. 98F (36.7C) was recorded at the Southampton Weather Centre. Where I was, playing in a brass band at a fete in Haslemere, Surrey, one of our big tubas physically seized up. It hasn’t been nearly that hot today.
The Oxford Institute Letting Climate Ideology Bias its Research
By Tilak Doshi, His Substack, June 22, 2026
Link to special publication, Unpacking the Hormuz Crisis: Implications for energy markets and the energy transition
By Multiple authors: Oxford Institute for Energy Studies (OIES), May 2026
From Tilak: Here is an institute that simultaneously commands respect for its empirical rigor on fossil fuel markets and yet, when it comes to the ‘energy transition’, reliably produces analysis shaped by the prevailing academic and institutional orthodoxy rather than by hard-nosed economic analysis.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
No, Futurism, One Momentarily Hot Spot on Antarctica Doesn’t Prove a Climate Crisis
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, June 23, 2025
Wrong, Bloomberg, Climate Change Has Boosted Food Production and Lowered Prices, Not the Opposite
By H. Sterling Burnett, Climate Realism, June 26, 2026
No, The Conversation, the AMOC Doesn’t Have an Image Problem. It Has a Credibility Problem.
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, June 26, 2026
Misanthropic
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
P.S. We must enter a caution about reading a story like Bloomberg Green’s “The green economy — the business lines of global listed companies that generate revenue from climate solutions — now boasts a record high market value of $10 trillion. The increase occurred as revenue tied to environmental products and services climbed to $5.5 trillion last year, expanding at its fastest pace since 2022, according to a report published Wednesday by London Stock Exchange Group Plc.” Namely that it is well to recall that not everything labeled “new and improved” actually is. Or “climate friendly”. Or “carbon sink”. Or “true”.
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda
“Ecocide”: Joker in the Deck?
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 24, 2026
Eco-radicals see humankind as a plague on Nature. (“I campaign for the extinction of the human race,” stated Les Knight in The Guardian.) They exaggerate, fuss, protest, threaten, and at times end up in jail.
It’s Summer Again, So Media Tees-Up Another Round of ‘Heat Dome’ Mania
In response to the Western Europe summer heat wave, France bans drinking alcohol in public.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, June 25, 2026
Yet Another Climate Activist Masquerading as an Economist
By Talak Doshi, Tilak’s Substack, June 20, 2026
This week, I turn my attention to one of her [Tessa Khan ‘s] colleagues who spoke to the same invitation-only gathering of over 1,200 politicians and business leaders for the so-called National Emergency Briefing (NEB) — supposedly an “expert-led” briefing to address the UK’s “climate and energy crisis”.
Expanding the Orthodoxy
The UN wants to be One World Government and it starts with a carbon tax on ships and planes
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 25, 2026
Here we go again — the UN will try again in October to get its own income stream. The UN bureaucrats don’t want to go begging for cash among difficult right wing populist leaders, they want their own money. So, yet again, they’re proposing some form of carbon tax on ships and planes, supposedly to save the world from beachy weather. But we all know that the main purpose is to line the pockets of The Blob.
Questioning Green Elsewhere
Update on Australian NetZero efforts
By Chris Morris, Climate Etc., Mar 9, 2026
People have queried what is happening in Australia with their push for a decarbonised all renewables/ Net Zero grid since the last update in 2023. The answer is not much progress, but massive amounts of money spent.
The promised nirvana of cheap plentiful carbon-free power is probably further away now than it was then. Reality is just so cruel to the idealistic dreamers. Probably best summed up by a quote from Nick Cater “Sadly, our climate and energy policy remains in the grip of an intelligentsia that lacks the wisdom to recognize the boundaries of its own ignorance”.
Funding Issues
Defence or Net Zero?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 23, 2026
Scrapping Net Zero and putting an immediate embargo on any new government spending on Net Zero would release the money to fully fund defence spending of 3% of GDP.
It really is a no brainer, isn’t it?
Net Zero Bill Balloons
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 25, 2026
This is nothing to brag about – it is £100 billion that we will all have to pay back with interest in years to come:
Litigation Issues
New ICJ Climate Case Demands Australia Restrict or Cease Fossil Fuel Exports
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 23, 2026
This is the first case of its kind since the International Court of Justice affirmed that governments have a legal duty to prevent climate harm
The Aussie government has been practicing coal hypocrisy for a long time, penalizing the use of coal in Australia through regulations like the Carbon Safeguard Mechanism, while exporting vast amounts of coal and gas to Asia. Pretending to practice green virtue at home, while ignoring that other nations are burning the vast quantities of fossil fuel which Australia exports.
Louisiana Did the Right Thing Blocking Climate Lawfare
By Linnea Lueken, Climate Realism, June 22, 2026
It is the state’s job to handle major civil engineering projects like building levees, so long as they want to maintain below-sea level cities. Louisiana’s legislature and Gov. Landry did a good thing by blocking unscientific and frivolous potential lawfare from climate-obsessed environmental groups.
Subsidies and Mandates Forever
The Subsidy Clock
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 22, 2026
Link to: What UK energy subsidies cost
A live, sourced tally of payments to renewable and low-carbon electricity generators — traced to the official registers.
By Richard Lyon, The Subsidy Clock, Accessed June 26, 2026
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Permitting Reform Must Match the Scale of America’s Energy Challenge
By Michael Catanzaro, Real Clear Energy, June 24, 2026
EXCLUSIVE: EPA Moves To Speed Up Permitting ‘Without Wasting Taxpayer Resources’
By Ireland Owens, Daily Caller, June 24, 2026
An impossibly vague concept of “harm” plagues the Endangered Species Act
By David Wojick, WUWT, June 25, 2026
Golden eagles need new law to protect them from wind turbines
By David Wojick, CFACT, June 20, 2026
With a seven-foot wingspan. the golden eagle is the flying monarch of the range. Primarily a western bird, they frequently feed on range rodents making them useful as well as majestic. But wind turbines are taking an ever-increasing toll. A 2025 study — “Estimated golden eagle mortality from wind turbines in the western United States” — estimates that the number killed by wind turbines doubled from 2013 to 2024.
Energy Issues – General
Energy Realism: The Foundation and Future of Human Progress
By Scott Tinker, WUWT, June 22, 2026
Energy Issues – Europe
Claim: Weakening Net Zero Policy Would Harm the UK Economy
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, June 25, 2026
Britain will need up to £240bn of net zero upgrades
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 20, 2026
All of these issues have long been known by those in charge of our energy systems and those imposing their Net Zero dogma. But the costs have quite deliberately been kept secret from the public, until it is too late for us to do anything about it.
Cost of Renewables Holding Back Net Zero!
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 24, 2026
So:
- Net Zero policies increase electricity prices
- That means people will stick with much cheaper gas boilers and petrol cars
- That means Net Zero does not happen
- Answer – sweep the whole problem under the carpet and make future generations pay the cost!
Air Conditioning Torn From Homes Under Net Zero Clampdown
By Will Jones, The Daily Sceptic, June 25, 2026
Energy Issues – Australia
Batteries failed on day One: A four day wind drought in South Australia wreaks havoc, high prices
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 26, 2026
Wind power suffered a crippling failure in South Australia. It was providing 2 Gigawatts, or 100% of the state’s power on Friday June 19th, but by Sunday, the High had arrived and wind generation had collapsed to 0%. Worse, it stayed near there for the next three days.
The big beautiful batteries failed on the first day and prices took off accordingly. Only half the batteries were still there in the first big price spike of the first day, but on Sunday night and Monday morning, when prices hit $20,000 per megawatt-hour, they had nothing left to offer.
[SEPP Comment: Is there no alternative supply of wind?]
Energy Issues — US
America at 250: The Next Chapter of Progress Requires Energy
By Molly Determan, Tim Tarpley, Real Clear Energy, June 24, 2026
Yet energy is one of the few things Americans notice only when it is not there. We take turning on our cars, flipping a light switch or even turning on our stove for granted.
Trump says he ordered DOJ to probe gas price ‘gouging’
By Sarah Davis, The Hill, June 24, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Economists have long noted that retail prices are “sticky” downward.]
To Secure AI Dominance, an Alaska Copper Project Must Proceed
By Deantha Skibinski, Real Clear Energy, June 22, 2026
Oil, the Surprising Gift to New Fed Chair Kevin Warsh
By J.D. Foster, James Carter, Real Clear Energy, June 25, 2026
Let’s set the stage. Before the Iran war, the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil price had fluctuated in a fairly narrow range around $65 a barrel. Year-over-year inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) ran at about 2.4%, down from a peak of 9% in June of 2022 during the Biden Administration. Inflation’s decline was expected to continue slowly toward the Fed’s 2% target. Inflation’s stickiness frustrated the Fed and financial markets, but little seemed on the horizon to speed things up.
Instead, the Iran war triggered a rapid increase in the WTI price to a high of over $114 a barrel in April. More recently it hovered between roughly $90 and $95 a barrel. As one would expect with such a massive relative price shock, top-line inflation soon climbed.
Affordability In, Renewables Out (again)
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, June 25, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Is the political claim of affordability a wolf in sheep’s clothing?]
Data Centers Start to Drive Residential Electricity Bills Down
By Paul Steidler, Real Clear Energy, June 23, 2026
The American public is justifiably frustrated by abnormally high electrical bills, which contribute to affordability challenges. And while data centers did not cause this, it is easy and not surprising to blame them, as their growth has significantly expanded in the past two years.
Washington’s Control of Energy
Congress Should Follow the Administration’s Lead on Lowering Energy Prices
By Jason Hayes, Real Clear Energy, June 23, 2026
From the EPA’s “biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history” to the notable reduction of “47 burdensome and costly regulations” by the DOE, the administration has effectively moved the country from a net-zero to energy dominance focus.
To make this progress permanent, Congress must do its part to codify these gains, get government out of the way, and allow free markets to expand energy supplies and reduce costs for American families and businesses.
Interior moves to relax rules for drilling on public lands
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 22, 2026
Oil and Natural Gas – the Future or the Past?
U.S. LNG: America’s Quiet Export Giant
By Fred H. Hutchison, Real Clear Energy, June 23, 2026
The one exception is instructive: the Everett terminal outside Boston receives occasional LNG cargoes to meet New England’s winter peak demand that cannot be met by domestic pipeline gas due to regional infrastructure constraints. The cruel irony is that those cargoes typically come from overseas suppliers because the Jones Act requires waterborne cargo between U.S. ports to be carried on vessels that are U.S. owned, built, flagged, and crewed, and no Jones Act-compliant LNG carriers currently exist.
By 2023, the United States had surpassed Qatar and Australia to become the world’s largest LNG exporter.
[SEPP Comment: In the late 1970s many in Washington were convinced that the US was about to run out of natural gas, and state of the art computer models said so.]
Nuclear Energy and Fears
Trump administration announces $17.5B in loans to support 10 nuclear plants
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 23, 2026
Nuclear energy also has significant left-wing support since it’s a carbon-free power source, but its opponents raise concerns about safety and radioactivity.
America’s Maritime Nuclear Future: Building the Ecosystem
By Joel C. Spangenberg, Real Clear Energy, June 25, 2026
History has already demonstrated that proving a reactor can operate safely at sea is insufficient. The experience of the NS Savannah showed that technical success alone does not create a sustainable industry. The larger challenge is creating the conditions that allow maritime nuclear to become commercially successful, operationally practical, and strategically valuable.
[SEPP Comment: The nuclear ship Savannah was not properly designed for bulk cargo.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
No Wind? No Sun? What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 25, 2026
And where did all this grid-saving Dutch power come from?
You guessed it! Coal and gas!
Solar panels at 80 Suffolk schools to be switched off after fire
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 26, 2026
Asbestos from China discovered in 1,000 UK wind turbines
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 26, 2026
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Britain’s airlines face £400m bill to hit green fuel targets
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 23, 2026
Let’s call it what it really is – a flight tax.
How dare people go on holiday abroad!
The UK uses about 4% of the world’s aviation fuel. CO2 emissions from aviation are less than 0.1% of total global CO2.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Storage
Snowy 2.0 is the Trillion-dollar Black Hole of Australia — sucking in energy, money, land, industrial relations, the dollar, our lifestyle
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, June 23, 2026
The political class promised Australians a clean, cheap, modern grid. What they are building instead is a debt-funded machine for turning public money into private guarantees, higher power bills, ruined farmland and permanent dependence on bureaucratic modelling.
Pumped Storage Additions Lead Global Hydropower Growth
By Darrell Proctor, Power Mag, June23, 2026
Link to report: 2026 World Hydropower Outlook
By Staff, International Hydropower Association (IHA), 2026
From report: There were 28GW of new additions during the year – 16GW of conventional hydropower and close to 12GW of pumped storage. This was the highest annual deployment of pumped storage on record. Hydropower generation totaled 4,495TWh, comparable to global wind and solar generation combined, reaffirming hydropower’s position as the world’s largest source of renewable electricity.
[SEPP Comment: A promotion piece, the issues are: 1) how well does the pumped storage backup match the need; and 2) how timely will the replenishment of the backup be?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
Electric London bus bursts into flames during heatwave
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 25, 2026
California Dreaming
The Best Way to Eliminate Methane Leaks is to Drill
By Edward Ring, Californians for Energy and Water Abundance, June 24, 2026
The study by lead author James Rector, joined by a distinguished team of civil, environmental, chemical, and biomolecular engineers at UC Berkeley, concludes that more drilling is the only practical solution to eliminating most oil related sources of methane and VOC emissions.
[SEPP Comment: Link to paper did not work.]
Other News that May Be of Interest
Headlines Tell Us to Fear Plastics. Scientific Research Says Otherwise.
By Chris DeArmitt, Real Clear Energy, June 19, 2026
We are told that there is an ocean-plastic emergency and that the oceans are “choking on plastic.” In actuality, the majority of the problem is abandoned fishing nets.
We have over 2,000 studies on plastics spanning 50 years. The science is clear that plastics are not the danger loud voices claim them to be. Compounding this, a growing number of high-profile studies on microplastics have been challenged by the scientific community due to issues such as contamination during sampling, lack of proper controls, and unreliable detection methods that can misidentify biological materials as plastics.
Trump administration settles water pollution case with ‘forever chemicals’ company for $450M
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, June 14, 2026
[SEPP Comment: The assumption is that they the chemicals are toxic. What is the dose rate that makes them toxic?]
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Heat adaptation event cancelled as heatwave grips
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 25, 2026
You could not make it up!
Ed’s Tumble Drier Squad
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, June 21, 2026
Humor, 1.5-minute video
Climate change slashed global rice production by 7% since the 1960s, experts say
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, June 24, 2026
Link to paper: Management practices and elevated atmospheric CO2 levels helped to sustain a high level of global rice production
By Tzu-Shun Lin & Atul K. Jain, Nature Scientific Repots, June 3, 2026
From Robson: Yes, folks, we’re trying our hand at writing clickbait headlines like you see in the mainstream media. And how did we do? Did we make the situation sound dire? And did you notice we included the obligatory “experts say”?
Wikipedia’s Founder Gets the Wikipedia Treatment: “…if you aren’t with us, STFU.”
By Anthony Watts. WUWT. June 23, 2026
ARTICLES
1. Chevron Deference Is Gone. Where Is Kagan’s ‘Massive Shock’?
Loper Bright isn’t without costs, but it has benefits too—and it hasn’t proved particularly disruptive.
By John Chisholm, WSJ, June 24, 2026
TWTW Summary: The trustee for the Santa Fe Institute and of the Foundation for Economic Education begins with:
“When the Supreme Court ended Chevron deference, one of the most consequential doctrines in American law, Justice Elena Kagan warned in dissent that it would “cause a massive shock to the legal system.” Two years later, that hasn’t happened.
In Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo (2024), a 6-3 majority discarded a 40-year-old rule for interpreting “ambiguous” statutes. Under Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council (1984), judges were obligated to defer any time a federal agency made a “reasonable” interpretation of the law. Loper Bright was the last in a series of cases in recent years narrowing Chevron. Now courts, not agencies, must determine the best reading of the law.
Loper Bright’s critics warned of more litigation, less national uniformity, and generalist judges second-guessing technical experts. Those costs are real and obvious. The decision’s benefits are real but hidden. Two economic lenses bring those benefits into focus, revealing why Loper Bright is the sounder doctrine in the long run.
The first lens is regulatory stability. Because agencies received deference, each new administration could reverse its predecessor’s readings wholesale. The Federal Communications Commission reclassified broadband repeatedly as the White House changed hands—a lightly regulated information service, then a heavily regulated telecommunications service, then back—each time blessed by deferential courts. The result: two decades of industry whiplash, driven not by technology or law but by whichever party held power. Only last year did a federal appeals court, applying Loper Bright, settle the question in favor of light regulation. A court’s chosen reading now becomes binding precedent, changeable only by Congress or the courts—not by the next presidential election.
The second lens is cognitive diversity. Social scientist Scott Page has shown that for hard problems, a diverse group of decision-makers tends to outperform a homogeneous group of higher-ability experts. Different perspectives challenge hidden assumptions and cover one another’s blind spots. Chevron concentrated interpretive power both geographically, in Washington, and ideologically, in agencies whose senior ranks skew sharply in one direction, as studies of agency staffing find.
Loper Bright distributes it across hundreds of judges—urban and rural, coastal and inland, appointed by presidents and Senates of both parties—deciding thousands of cases. That is the sort of dispersed, on-the-ground knowledge that Friedrich Hayek argued no central planner could assemble. Circuit courts can test alternative readings in parallel, turning much-maligned splits into real-world experiments that yield better-fitted local rules and richer evidence for the Supreme Court.
Political economist Mancur Olson explained why these benefits are overlooked: Concentrated, tangible interests prevail over much larger diffuse ones. Loper Bright’s costs—litigation and lost uniformity—are concentrated and measurable. Its benefits—cognitive diversity, locally fitted rules, parallel experimentation, choice among competing jurisdictions, and interpretations truer to what Congress enacted—are diffuse and hard to measure. So public debate and cost-benefit analyses systematically overweight Loper Bright’s costs—the same bias that drove Chevron’s centralization in the first place.”
The author discusses issues remaining and potential litigation then concludes with:
“Overturning Chevron is often cast as a fight over control of the administrative state. It is better understood as a question about the quality of decision-making—whether a federal law is best interpreted by one, often partisan agency or by a distributed network of courts engaged in continuous, real-world discovery.
In Loper Bright, the justices—perhaps unwittingly—corrected for the near-universal bias to fixate on the seen and discount the unseen. Every branch of government should do likewise: identify and weigh the unseen costs, benefits and unintended consequences of each decision. Do so in this case, and centralization loses much of its luster.”
********
2. A Roundup Supreme Court Victory
A 7-2 majority stops a mass tort attempt to evade federal law on regulating a Monsanto pesticide.
By The Editorial Board, WSJ, June 25, 2026
TWTW Summary: The editorial starts with:
“Mass torts spread like weeds and may be even harder to stop. The good news is that a 7-2 Supreme Court majority on Thursday eradicated one major scourge by ruling that federal law pre-empts most state claims involving the pesticide Roundup (Monsanto v. Durnell).
Plaintiff attorneys have filed thousands of lawsuits in state courts against Bayer, which owns Monsanto, claiming that Roundup’s main ingredient glyphosate gave them cancer. They also say Bayer should have warned about the alleged risk. But as Justice Brett Kavanaugh explains in the majority opinion, such claims are expressly pre-empted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (Fifra).
The law establishes a regulatory scheme for the Environmental Protection Agency to review and approve pesticides. It also expressly bars states from imposing requirements ‘for labeling or packaging in addition to or different from those required’ by the agency.
‘For the more than three decades since, EPA has repeatedly re-evaluated glyphosate and has repeatedly concluded that glyphosate is not likely to cause cancer,’ Justice Kavanaugh writes. ‘As a matter of federal law, Monsanto legally must use a label without a cancer warning unless and until EPA approves or requires a change.’”
The editorial concludes that there are no demonstration of harm caused by using the chemical.
