As Coloradans deal with record-breaking heat, wildfires, and prolonged drought - linked to a changing climate - a new report shows how American taxpayers are subsidizing disinformation about climate change.

Co-author Chuck Collins is co-founder of the Climate Accountability Research Project. He said people with ties to the fossil fuel industry are bankrolling groups trying to block action on climate change through tax-deductible donations.

"There are 137 organizations that are actively involved in promoting climate disinformation," said Collins, "challenging the science, sowing doubt, blocking alternatives. Their goal is to run out the clock and keep extracting their profits."

Between 2020 and 2022, people gave these organizations nearly $6 billion in tax-deductible donations - which is entirely legal under the U.S. tax code.

The U.S. Supreme Court has also ruled that financial contributions deserve the same First Amendment protections as speech, at least in political campaigns.

Collins argued that because wealthy donors are essentially pushing the burden of building and maintaining roads, schools, and other essential services, onto other taxpayers - the public deserves to know who they are.

"They're opting out of paying their taxes," said Collins. "So, the rest of us do have a public interest in knowing how that money is being used. And whether it's being used in a way that influences Congress, and influences public policy, and takes us down a road that we may not want to go down."

Many donors are now listed online at ClimateCriminals.org, which also features a countdown to a deadline set in Paris to cut fossil fuel emissions in order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change.

Collins noted many more donors remain anonymous by contributing through groups, including donor-advised funds. He believes increasing transparency is important in removing barriers to serious climate action.

"We should know who is blocking our ability to respond in a timely way to climate change," said Collins. "And we should hold those people accountable."




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Washington state has launched a new website that lets people and organizations know about ways they can fund going green.

With resources for clean energy and efficiency projects at an all-time high, the state has created the portal FundHubWA to help navigate funding opportunities.

That includes tax incentives, rebates, and state and federal grants.

Amy Wheeless is the federal policy and program alignment manager with the Washington State Department of Commerce, which is running the site.

She said hub is an apt name for it and walks through how it works.

"You say 'I'm an individual,' or 'I'm a farmer,' or 'I'm a business,' and 'I'm looking for funding opportunities for energy efficiency or for electric vehicles,'" said Wheeless, "and then it will present a variety of federal and state opportunities that are available."

FundHubWA offers resources from federal laws passed in recent years, including the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, CHIPS for America, the Inflation Reduction Act - and from Washington state's Climate Commitment Act.

The website is available for individuals and a wide range of organizations, including public agencies, tribal governments and nonprofits.

Carol Albert is the senior advisor for federal funding in Gov. Jay Inslee's office. She said these funding sources are important for combating climate change.

"There's never been a better time," said Albert, "to get projects going in communities, that are contributing to cleaner and healthier and more prosperous areas of Washington, to really move away from fossil fuels."

Albert said FundHubWA could prove especially useful for local governments in rural communities.

People in these areas often do more than one job, which can make it overwhelming to track all the available opportunities.

"There are just not enough hours in the day," said Albert. "So the portal is a way for them to get to this information quickly and then assess if they or their communities would qualify for it."

The website is supported with funding from the Climate Commitment Act, which could be repealed in November if Initiative 2117 passes.

Albert said regardless of the outcome of the election, the future of FundHubWA will be up to state lawmakers.




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A group of Oregon conservation advocates is asking the state's Department of Environmental Quality to restore the provisions of a 2021 Climate Protection Program that had been invalidated by the courts.

The Oregon Just Transition Alliance wants the state to adopt a 2024 version of the plan that restores most of its goals and protections.

Xitlali Torres, coordinator of the Air Quality and Climate Program for the group Verde, a member of the alliance, said they want to fix the objective of achieving equity for marginalized communities that have borne the burden of pollution.

"The Climate Protection Program is a great opportunity to shift Oregon's way of thinking and doing business to more sustainable and equitable practices," she said.

The Oregon Court of Appeals invalidated the original plan mostly on technicalities involving posting of notice requirements. Torres said today is the final day for Oregonians to submit written comments on the 2024 plan. That can be done online at DEQ.Oregon.gov and searching for "CPP 2024."

The proposed plan would re-establish the program, setting limits on greenhouse-gas emissions. It would also set an enforceable limit on emissions from sources such as diesel, gasoline, natural gas and propane.

Torres said sharing your opinion can make a big difference.

"Comments are valuable," she said. "I've heard firsthand from the Department of Environmental Quality staff that comments do make a difference. During the last rulemaking, they received thousands of comments and it did make the rules stronger."

Torres said the coalition's goal is to restore the climate program with a scope and ambition comparable to the previous plan for emissions reduction. She also noted that the state's environmental policies must include all Oregonians.

"The program is prioritizing uplifting environmental justice communities," she said, "and listening to groups that have historically been left out of decisionmaking, or left out of policies."

Verde: http://verdenw.org.

CPP info: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/rulemaking/pages/cpp2024.aspx.

OJTA comments: pnsne.ws/3BmbmK2.


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Connecticut environmental groups want Gov. Ned Lamont to reject a fracked gas pipeline expansion. Their concerns revolve around Enbridge's Project Maple - a proposed fracked gas pipeline extension from New Jersey to Rhode Island, running across Connecticut. Enbridge says new capacity is needed to keep up with demand. But a major concern is leaking gas, which can lead to a range of health issues, from respiratory diseases to cancer.

Martha Klein, lead volunteer with Beyond Gas Campaign, Sierra Club Connecticut chapter, said expanding the pipeline would also have sharp economic impacts on ratepayers.

"Fracked gas infrastructure expansion has already driven ratepayer prices much higher over the last decade, and with more fracked gas expansion, it will push it higher still," she explained.

Gas utilities in the state were granted rate increases earlier this year, which strained many Connecticut residents' budgets. Groups have rallied against the project, and presented Lamont with a letter from environmental groups and elected officials to direct the state's Department of Energy and Environmental Conservation to deny state air and water permits for the proposal.

Project Maple could also set back Connecticut's clean energy goals, which has prompted negative feedback from residents. The Energy Information Administration says natural gas is Connecticut's largest energy source with nuclear power running second, but Klein said this isn't the end of the state's climate-friendly future.

"Basically, we could make buildings more efficient, especially the least efficient buildings, which tend to be where poor people live and rent in cities. The number one thing is not build any more fracked gas infrastructure, any new infrastructure. We need to ramp up solar - which our state has had actual limitations on," she continued.

She said New England states could also benefit from ramping up offshore wind production - although Lamont just pulled Connecticut out of a multistate offshore wind development deal, citing potential project costs. But a Sierra Club Connecticut report finds it would save the region's ratepayers about $630 million annually.