Deadly heat continues

Environmental advocates celebrated this week when a Montana District Court judge ruled in favor of a group of young climate activists, and federal officials revealed just how hot it was around the globe in July.

I'm Dinah Voyles Pulver, a reporter on Paste BN's climate and environment team, and this is Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment news across the Paste BN Network. 

U.S. District Court Judge Kathy Seeley this week found a Montana state policy to allow agencies to evaluate greenhouse gas emissions when evaluating requests for fossil fuel permits is unconstitutional.

Seeley ruled the state has a duty to guard residents from the harmful effects of climate change and the consequences of not doing so were detrimental to the environment and the mental and physical health of young people in Montana. At least 20% of the state’s population is under the age of 18, according to the U.S. Census.

The court decision could have wider implications. The ruling joins a number of legal decisions worldwide that have established governments have a duty to protect citizens from climate change, Paste BN’s Marc Ramirez reported.The group behind the climate lawsuit, Our Children’s Trust also has lawsuits in three other state courts.

Extreme heat

July was the warmest July in at least 174 years, NASA and NOAA said in a joint news conference this week. 

“Last month was way, way warmer than anything we'd ever seen,” said Sarah Kapnick, NOAA's chief scientist. "It was the warmest July by a long shot, by more than a third of a degree."

• The global surface temperature was 62.42 degrees – 2.02 degrees above the 20th Century average.
• It was the first time a July average temperature was 1.8 degrees above the long-term average.
• Ocean temperatures were a record high for the fourth consecutive month.

Across the country, heat  kills more Americans than any other single weather event. It kills quietly, striking those without air conditioning, people who live on the street and laborers in grueling, outdoor jobs.  This story profiled some of those who have fallen victim to the heat.

This year's heat wave has made America more aware of heat deaths, but despite greater awareness, experts said the numbers are likely to keep rising. 

Energy development

As intense as the heat has been this summer – and it’s expected to afflict millions this week – so far, the nation's electric grid has been up to the challenge, without major blackouts and brownouts, reported Elizabeth Weise with Paste BN.

That’s because several things are going right, and safer. They include diversification of the nation’s energy sources; better planning, the benefit of higher levels of hydroelectric power due to heavy winter rain and snow in the West and programs that give consumers rebates to ease up on energy use when the temperatures are hottest.

By 2025 however, New York City could face power outages, as fossil fuel-fired plants are expected to be shut down to serve the state's green energy goals, according to the nonprofit that oversees the state’s grid, wrote Paste BN Network reporter Thomas Zambito.

The city could face an energy gap of nearly 450 megawatts on a day of peak energy demand, a gap that would grow during heat waves of 98 degrees or more, the study noted.

Colorado River

While Arizona may lose as much as 18% of its water allocation from the Colorado River next year, California may not face any cuts in its supply of water from the river, reported Janet Wilson with the Desert Sun, a Paste BN Network property.

A new forecast from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation found heavy snow and rain during the winter means planned reductions could be slightly eased. Federal officials and the seven states that rely on the river have already begun negotiating the future for the river system after 2026, when current operating guidelines expire, Wilson wrote.

As those talks proceed, the Imperial Irrigation District has hired a former rival as a consultant. Jeffrey Kightlinger, as a new client, as seven states and federal agencies ramp up their negotiations.

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