Bastasch, M

daily caller

candidate for incubator (suckubus) poster boy, along w tim andrews

===

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From Katrina to Helene: A timeline of Fox News’ hurricane misinformation, harmful narratives, and climate denial

August 29 marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s landfall in Louisiana

Published 08/28/25 mma

For two decades, Fox News has weaponized major disasters caused by supercharged storms to attack political opponents, push right-wing narratives, and deny climate change.

Major storms that hit populated areas generate wall-to-wall TV news coverage. At its best, this coverage exposes systemic issues that leave certain populations vulnerable to disasters, keeps a spotlight on both rescue and recovery processes to keep accountable those responsible for disaster response, and discusses the link between our warming planet and the intensification of storms, along with solutions for reducing climate pollution.

At its worst, coverage ignores these issues, downplaying or denying the role of climate change and using disasters to amplify false narratives and misinformation that serve a political agenda. In 20 years of hurricane reporting, Fox News’ coverage has predominately reflected the latter.

Below is an overview of some of the major storms that have made landfall in the U.S. over the past 20 years – and how Fox covered them.

### 2005 Hurricane Katrina: Fox pushed a false narrative of widespread violence and redirected federal failures to Democratic state and local officials

Hurricane Katrina remains the costliest extreme weather disaster in U.S. history and one of the deadliest, with many of the 1,392 deaths likely having come as a direct result of the federal government’s failed response. Over 1.5 million survivors were displaced, making it also “one of the largest forced migrations in U.S. history. … Families were separated, homes were lost, and entire communities were erased.”

The media latched on to unverified stories of violence and societal breakdown, demonizing those most impacted by the storm and further delaying rescue and recovery efforts. Military forces were deployed to suppress the victims rather than evacuate them. Fox pushed this narrative of violence — “robberies, rapes, carjackings, riots and murder. Violent gangs are roaming the streets at night, hidden by the cover of darkness” — and supported the Bush administration's reported strategy of blaming the faulty emergency response on Democratic state and local officials.

### 2012 Hurricane Sandy: Fox personalities and guests tried to brand the federal response to Hurricane Sandy as “Obama’s Katrina”

Superstorm Sandy hit the eastern United States in October 2012, causing at least 182 deaths and approximately $65 billion in damage. Fox criticized the Obama administration's Hurricane Sandy relief efforts by comparing them to the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. In fact, there were few similarities between the responses, and the Obama administration's response to Sandy was widely praised by members of both parties.

Discussing Hurricane Sandy on the November 1, 2012, edition of his show, Fox host Sean Hannity asked: “So where's President Obama? Well, after his photo-op with Gov. Chris Christie, and the help of your tax dollars, he boards Air Force One and he begins his day with a stump speech.” Hannity later said, “And with the horrifying images of Sandy's devastation now contrasted with the president's constant campaigning, this is starting to look like, in my opinion, Obama's Katrina.”

### 2017 Hurricanes Harvey & Irma: Fox personalities downplayed the storms, claiming, “It’s called the weather,” and suggested that the number of hurricanes making landfall is “decreasing”

Hurricane Harvey was, at the time, “the most significant tropical cyclone rainfall event in United States history” and was particularly devastating to Black and Hispanic communities in Texas. Discussing Hurricane Harvey on the August 25, 2017, edition of The Five, Fox host Jesse Watters downplayed the impact of climate change on hurricanes, stating, “Hurricanes have been happening since the beginning of time. … These things just happen. It’s called the weather” — a nonsensical argument, as scientists are not claiming that climate change causes hurricanes, but that it makes them stronger and more intense.

Hurricane Irma, which hit Florida, was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic. It claimed 129 lives in the U.S. and Caribbean and cost an estimated $52 billion in damages. Discussing Hurricane Irma on the September 11, 2017, edition of The Five, co-host Greg Gutfeld also brought up the frequency of hurricanes while ignoring intensity, stating that “landfalling U.S. hurricanes, they’ve been decreasing over the last 140 years.”

### 2017 Hurricane Maria: Fox defended Trump’s response to Hurricane Maria and his lie that the death toll in Puerto Rico was inflated

Hurricane Maria killed an estimated 3,000 people in the U.S. territory and caused roughly $90 billion worth of damage. President Donald Trump’s administration was widely criticized for its response and for blocking federal aid to Puerto Rico, which struggled for weeks to return power to its residents. The mayor of San Juan publicly criticized Trump’s response, and Trump drew backlash when he threw paper towels into the crowd at a relief center. Lying about death toll numbers, Trump claimed Democrats had inflated the number to make him look “as bad as possible.”

Fox personalities were among the right-wing media figures who leapt to Trump's defense. Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs called the Hurricane Maria death toll a “farce” and “an amazing tortured inflation.” Fox News’ John Roberts suggested that the dispute over Maria's death toll in Puerto Rico was part of Trump’s “feud with Puerto Rican officials.”

On the October 19, 2017, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, the former host defended Trump from charges of racism against Puerto Ricans because “Puerto Rico is 75 percent white, according to the U.S. Census.” Carlson characterized as “unfounded” the charges that the Trump administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico was racist and added that “the race angle” bothered him because “it makes people hate each other, and it’s just stupid.”

### 2018 Hurricane Florence: Fox guest and climate science denier Joe Bastardi claimed, “If there’s climate change going on, it's actually decreasing the amount of major hits”

Hurricane Florence caused catastrophic damage to the Carolinas, claiming at least 37 lives. On Fox, climate denier Joe Bastardi and Rush Limbaugh’s former “official climatologist” Roy Spencer dismissed the link between climate change and intensifying hurricanes in favor of the denier argument that the frequency of hurricanes is decreasing. (Climate science does not argue that climate change is increasing the number of storms, but rather that it is making storms “more intense, with higher wind speeds, heavier rainfall, and more severe storm surge.”)

On the September 14, 2018, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Spencer talked about the declining frequency of “hits of the United States by major hurricanes,” claiming there’s too much “natural variability” to determine what influence human actions have had on hurricanes. On Hannity, Bastardi stated, “The amount of hurricanes in the last 50 years, from Florida to New England, is 37% of what it was the previous 50 years, so if there’s climate change going on, it's actually decreasing the amount of major hits.”

### 2019 Hurricane Dorian: Fox personalities dismissed the impact of climate on hurricanes and defended Trump’s “Sharpie-gate.” Hannity called the media who reported on Trump’s lie “psychotic jackasses.”

Affecting many states in the south, Hurricane Dorian was also the worst storm ever to hit the Bahamas and was responsible for at least 78 deaths. But the lives that Dorian claimed were overshadowed by the spectacle of “Sharpie-gate” when the president altered a map of the storm’s predicted path with a marker. After Trump lied about the path of Hurricane Dorian, using a Sharpie to manufacture a threat to Alabama, not only did prime-time host Sean Hannity defend him, but Fox’s Howard Kurtz attacked the media for covering Trump’s comments. Hannity called the media who reported on Trump’s lie “psychotic jackasses” and claimed that only “Trump derangement syndrome” could explain why reporters would point out that the president was wrong.

Roy Spencer appeared on the September 2, 2019, edition of The Story with Martha MacCallum to downplay climate change’s impact on hurricanes. Spencer stated that there is “no long term trend in either their intensity or in the number of major hurricanes … that have hit Florida.” On the September 4, 2019, edition of Fox & Friends, co-host Ainsley Earhardt again brought up storm frequency in order to downplay the link between climate change and hurricanes, stating, “Hurricanes have been happening since the beginning of the atmosphere.” Later, on September 4, 2019, Jesse Watters appeared on The Story with Martha MacCallum to claim falsely that “there's no correlation between temperature and hurricanes, and there's no trend over the last hundred years about intensity or ferociousness or numbers.”

### 2021 Hurricane Ida: Fox host Sean Hannity claimed, “The left is blaming climate change for the heavy rainfall, severe weather, and using it as yet another pretext to push their Green New Deal socialist agenda”

Hurricane Ida caused extensive damage from the Southeast to the Northeast U.S., where it brokeprecipitation records in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania and caused major flash flooding, killing 95 people and causing an estimated $85 billion in damages. Fox News used the storm to downplay the seriousness of climate change and attack then-President Joe Biden’s climate agenda, including the infrastructure bill that contained measures to make communities more resilient in the face of extreme weather.

While discussing Hurricane Ida on the September 7, 2021, edition of The Ingraham Angle, one of the network’s favorite climate contrarians, Michael Shellenberger, said that the frequency of hurricanes is decreasing and that there is “no significant increase” in intensity — a bald-faced lie. On the September 8, 2021, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, Joe Bastardi downplayed the intensity of the storm by arguing that other bad storms happened in the 1950s.

On the September 2, 2021, edition of Fox News’ Hannity, Sean Hannity began a segment downplaying the impacts of climate on Ida by stating, “The left is blaming climate change for the heavy rainfall, severe weather, and using it as yet another pretext to push their Green New Deal socialist agenda.” On the September 5, 2021, edition of Fox News’ The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, host Steve Hilton ran a short segment on Democrats supposedly using Ida to implement the Green New Deal.

### 2022 Hurricane Ian: Former Fox host Tucker Carlson falsely stated “there’s no science” behind claims connecting climate change to more intense storms

Hurricane Ian brought a historic storm surge and catastrophic flooding to Florida and was responsible for at least 84 storm-related fatalities. As Hurricane Ian pummeled Florida and the Carolinas, Fox News dismissed, mocked, and outright denied climate change’s impact on hurricanes. On the September 29, 2022, edition of Tucker Carlson Tonight, former Fox host Tucker Carlson focused on hurricane frequency and downplayed the intensity argument, falsely claiming that “there’s no science behind these claims.” On the September 28, 2022, edition of Hannity, Sean Hannity stated, “During hurricane season, you usually have hurricanes, like we did a hundred years ago.” Later that night on The Ingraham Angle, Michael Shellenberger stated that hurricanes are “not intensifying right now, so any perception that hurricanes are more intense is just a perception fed by that relentless alarmist media.”

Meanwhile, Jesse Watters mocked Biden's disaster response. Watters said, “Maybe the reason Joe [Biden] isn't talking with the leader of the state that's about to be devastated by this natural disaster is because he's already got the whole thing covered with the Inflation Reduction Act. Sen. Amy Klobuchar laid it out for us clearly. There's no need to worry, people, because the Inflation Reduction Act and voting for Democrats is going to stop hurricanes.”

### 2023 Hurricane Idalia: Fox guest and climate science denier Judith Curry said scientists have “seriously mischaracterized” the threat of climate change

Hurricane Idalia slammed into Florida's Gulf Coast, causing approximately $4 billion in damage to one of the state's poorest and least populated areas. As climate-fueled Hurricane Idalia barreled toward Florida, Jesse Watters Primetime hosted Judith Curry, a climate contrarian who consulted for oil and gas companies during her time in academia, to argue that scientists have “seriously mischaracterized” the threat of climate change. She claimed that the “dominant factor” in climate change is “far and away” Earth’s “natural climate variability.”

On the August 30, 2023, edition of Fox News’ so-called straight news program Special Report with Bret Baier, anchor Bret Baier dismissed comments from Joe Biden connecting the storm to climate change.

### 2024 Hurricane Helene: Fox host Jesse Watters claimed that “the Biden-Harris administration spent a billion dollars of FEMA money on illegal aliens”

With 213 fatalities, Hurricane Helene became the second deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in 50 years, with economic losses estimated at more than $200 billion. Fox used Hurricane Helene to attack the Biden administration’s policies and disaster response while laundering harmful misinformation, even while politicians of both parties representing the impacted areas praised the response and begged media and bad actors to stop spreading misinformation that ultimately disrupted rescue and recovery efforts and put Federal Emergency Management Agency workers in danger.

One of these false and harmful claims contended that FEMA’s hurricane victim relief funds had been drained by aid to undocumented immigrants. In reality, the funding is separate and unrelated. Jesse Watters and Sean Hannity led the charge in repeating the false claim; Watters’ prime-time show repeated the lie in 5 consecutive broadcasts starting October 3, and Hannity managed 6.

Fox News also falsely claimed that Vice President Kamala Harris and the Biden administration were ignoring millions of Americans impacted by intense flooding while dishonestly claiming that victims were only entitled to $750 in aid, when in reality that is just the start of federal benefits. Fox’s misleading coverage of the $750 payments was “one of the more dishonest omissions ever seen on Fox News – which is saying something,” Mediaite senior editor Michael Luciano wrote of the misleading attack by Fox hosts Hannity, Watters, and Laura Ingraham.

Fox personalities also complained about the Biden administration’s pledge to give $157 million to Lebanon, incorrectly claiming that the humanitarian aid for Lebanon was being taken from funds that would otherwise be used for disaster relief assistance. Hannity misleadingly suggested U.S. foreign aid was competing with disaster relief for funding. Watters, meanwhile, incredulously asked, “How is it that Biden and Harris can send money overseas faster than they can send it to our own citizens?”

### 2025 extreme weather season: Fox News is giving the Trump administration a pass on federal disaster response

In May, just weeks before the start of the Atlantic hurricane season and peak extreme weather, CNN obtained an internal memo warning that FEMA was “not ready” for hurricane season. According to the internal assessment, preparations for hurricane season have been “derailed” and issues abound at the agency, “including a general uncertainty around its mission, lack of coordination with states and other federal agencies, low morale and new red tape that will likely slow responses.” Fox ignored reporting on the agency's lack of preparation for this year’s extreme weather season. The network was also quiet about multiple states that expressed frustration over delayed or denied disaster relief from the Trump administration.

On June 2, acting FEMA Administrator David Richardson made headlines, first in Reuters, for telling staff in a daily briefing that he had been unaware the U.S. has a hurricane season. Legacy news outlets, including cable networks CNN and MSNBC, covered Richardson’s controversial remarks and the wider concerns about FEMA’s hurricane preparedness while Fox News seemingly ignored them.

After the deadly flooding in Central Texas in early July, Fox News personalities attacked the media and prominent Democrats for linking the flooding to climate change and for raising concerns about Trump administration cuts to agencies and services that predict and respond to extreme weather events. When reporting showed that the Trump administration’s response had been delayed, Fox ran defense for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

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http://redgreenandblue.org/2023/03/15/climate-disinformation-daily-caller/

Climate disinformation is what the Daily Caller DOES | Red, Green, and Blue

Red, Green, and Blue

Related · Daily Caller has a fact checker! (But is now run by Koch-trained career disinformer Michael Bastasch) · No, Marc Morano, nobody wants a ' ...

as internal text messages _{prove}_ what most have _{long known}_ about _{Fox News}_ (that it’s a conservative propaganda machine posing as a news outlet), it’s important to remember that these days, Fox is hardly alone. While Murdoch’s Fox and Wall Street Journal are the unquestioned Big Leagues of right-wing disinformation, there’s a whole set of bush league outlets serving as training grounds.

By Climate Denier Roundup

The Tucker Carlson-founded Daily Caller is one of the primary examples of how Fox and the Koch-funded climate change counter-movement are intertwined.

Back when they were mostly Koch-funded, _{Koch-trained Michael Bastasch}_ was regularly running climate disinformation featuring Koch-funded climate deniers. These days, their funding has diversified a bit thanks to _{Carlson’s feud with Kochs}_, though giving the Daily Caller money still appears to increase the odds of the outlet _{writing favorable content about you}_.

But _{**Bastasch** returned}_ last year as Managing Editor of the Daily Caller’s _{non-profit tax dodge foundation}_, after a stint at Fox News writing for _{election-lie-spreader Laura Ingraham}_.

Since his return, we’ve been watching closely to note any changes, and at this point can say it definitely appears that Bastasch is using his position to spread climate disinformation through multiple channels at the Caller, not just the “Big Tent” opinion vertical _{we noted last week}_.

_{In the past}_, most of the Caller’s climate disinfo would come from just one or two employees who appeared to be tasked with turning press releases from Koch cronies into “news” as their job on the “energy” beat (like Thomas Catenacci, who now works for, _{you guessed it, Fox News}_).

But these days, attacks on climate change science, policy, and experts have become a feature of coverage across the website and its various staffers.

It really stood out between 5 and 7 p.m. last Wednesday, when the Daily Caller published a triple-play of climate disinfo: defending a fossil-fuel loving white supremacist, cherry-picking climate change from a US National security assessment, and attacked environmentalists organizing on TikTok to #StopWillow.

The first was from “news and commentary writer” Brianna Lyman, who provided _{a short write-up framed as criticism}_ of Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who “accused one of the witnesses of being racist.” Who, you might ask? Well, despite the fact that ‘who/what/where/why/when’ is a basic tenet of journalism, Lyman didn’t identify the person at the center of the House committee meeting, and in fact, described Bush as “criticizing the oil industry before turning her attention toward an unidentified witness.”

Which is an absolutely astonishing thing for a supposed journalist to write, because Congressional _{hearings are very easy to look up}_. Alex Epstein, one of the “so-called ‘energy experts’” called by Republicans, is who Rep. Bush called “a philosopher who has previously espoused white supremacist views,” before Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) interjected to try and censor her by calling for the comment to be removed from the Congressional record.

But naming Epstein would require doing actual reporting, and apparently all Lyman did was watch a _{video clip of the hearing}_ (that she embedded in the story). If you’d like to see what real reporting of the hearing looks like, as opposed to someone running cover for a fellow traveler, _{Timothy Cama covered it for PoliticoPRO}_ and named _{Alex Epstein}_ right up front.

Roughly thirty-six minutes after Lyman’s article defending a racist was posted, the Daily ‘_{whoopsie we keep hiring racists}_‘ Caller published a piece on the US intelligence community’s Annual Threat Assessment. The headline of “reporter” Micaela Burrow’s coverage? “_{Intel Community Warns Fight Over Green Energy Tech Will Worsen Global Tensions.}_”

The 10-paragraph write-up quotes the assessment just twice to justify the story’s thrust that fighting climate change will somehow make the world more dangerous. That’s probably because the _{40-page assessment}_ only devotes 2 pages to climate, and then otherwise focuses on a bunch of things that the Daily Caller doesn’t spread disinfo about.

Finally, rounding out a very busy day for the Caller, “Associate Editor” Ailan Evans’ _{hit piece ran at 6:49}_, attacking the #StopWillow campaign on TikTok because one of the participating groups is funded by “a Swiss billionaire with a documented history of philanthropy and political donations, primarily to left-wing causes and candidates.” Though it’s dressed up as some sort of scandalous revelation, at no point does Evans attempt to explain how or why this is somehow bad.

But that’s the kind of training you get from the Daily Caller. Both Evans and current _{Fox Production Assistant}_ Kendall Tietz were _{2021 fellows}_ of the Daily Caller’s American Journalism Institute, where they train the next generation of political hacks to pretend to be journalists.

So next time you hear about some bizarre disinformation, rank political propaganda, or shameless defense of racism on Fox News, remember that it’s not an accident, they’retrainedto be that awful. There’s a whole farm league of conservative propaganda shops like the Daily Caller — the _{frack-backed}_ Daily Wire and _{Heritage}_‘s _{Daily Signal}_ come to mind — and while they’d all oppose a Universal Basic Income as socialism, they’re proof that as long as would-be-journalists are willing to play ball for the highest bidder, they’ll never want for work.

ref

n Tuesday, the US House of Representatives passed a “Koch-backed bill" which would hide the names of those who donate to non-profits that are tax-exempt from the IRS. Some are concerned that this would allow foreign interests to illegally influence elections and politics in the US. A more local concern is that it would allow even more unlimited spending by the Kochs and others, and remove the one way we have of tracing their donations.

Case in point: Graham Readfearn’s latest piece in DeSmog has tracked some of the millions of dollars in funding that keep the conservative media ecosystem alive. The sister “dark money ATM” organizations of Donors Trust and Donors Capital Fund, for example, have given at least $6.8 million to the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity. And the Kochs have obviously spread some money around, so it's clear exactly why they want to be able to hide their funding streams from the IRS (and of course, the public).

unsurprisingly, the Daily Caller News Foundation (the non-profit arm of the Daily Caller) is a main beneficiary of climate denial funding. Interestingly, it also seems to be the final destination of sorts for the conservative media pipeline. Readfearn ticks off a number of current Daily Caller employees that got their start in the Kochtopus network.

A prime example is our favorite Daily Caller churnalist, Michael Bastasch. Before joining the Daily Caller News Foundation, he was an intern at Heritage, an intern at the Charles Koch Institute, a research associate at the State Policy Network-affiliated Cascade Policy Institute, a Koch summer fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, and a public affairs intern at ALEC. Not exactly the pedigree of an unbiased journalist.

In his defense, this revealing CV is all public on his LinkedIn page, which also tells us that his “skills” aren’t so much “journalism” or “reporting,” but “politics,” “public affairs,” “political communication,” “public relations,” etc. Which makes sense, since his BA isn’t in journalism or English or anything traditional for a reporter. No, as his skill set suggests, his degree is in political science. Which again, to be fair, isn’t particularly uncommon for reporters. But, when combined with his work history at exclusively Koch-backed operations, makes it hard to argue that he’s a real reporter and not a political operative. That he now works not for the for-profit Daily Caller, but the Koch-funded Daily Caller News Foundation makes it that much more obvious.

So it is unfortunately no surprise that Bastasch consistently get things wrong when he is “reporting" on climate and energy. But as a 2012 PR Watch piece shows, he also got facts wrong whendefending ALEC’s support for Florida’s “Stand Your Ground” legislation.

This blurring of the lines between “political communication” and actual reporting, then, is exactly the aim behind the House’s bill to prevent even the IRS, much less the public, from knowing who is funding what.

5. Discussion

There is considerable literature in support of the current paradigm that air quality is associated with acute mortality. See, for example, the review paper by Atkinson et al. (2014). Here we make the case that there is literature support for our findings of no association, and we offer some explanation for claims made in the current literature.

In this paper we analyze daily death data for the eight most populous air basins in California for associations with air quality. We found no associations using regression-based time series analysis. Extensive sensitivity analyses found air quality variables do not add to the predictive ability of the models examined. Even when the predictive ability is improved, the improvement is negligible relative to a model that only uses time of year. The form of the air quality variable that comes into models is inconsistent across basin/year combinations. In short, we were unable to find a consistent and meaningful relationship between air quality and acute death in any of the eight California air basins considered.

This result appears to contradict results from the well-known NMMAPS study that studied ozone and PM10, and subsequent studies involving PM2.5, e.g. HEI reports, Samet et al. (2000a, 2000b), Health Effects Institute (2003), Bell et al. (2004), Dominici et al. (2007), Zanobetti and Schwartz (2009), Smith et al. (2009). However, all of these were national studies. The present study is restricted to California, because we have been unable so far to compile a full-US dataset for post-2001. The ozone results that we have derived are consistent with those of the NMMAPS dataset when restricted to California, as shown in the S04. Note that in the context of ozone, Bell and Dominici (2008) and Smith et al. (2009) both drew attention to geographical heterogeneity in the pollution-mortality relationship; the present results show that this is an issue in post-2001 data as well. In addition, we find no effect for PM2.5 for California.

The question of chronic air quality mortality effects are addressed by Enstrom (2005) who found no chronic effects in California. His summary for all cause deaths for California is given in Table 7. The average risk ratio was 0.9979, with a standard error of 0.0126.

Table 7

References	Years	Risk Ratio	Confidence Limits
McDonnell et al. (2000)	1976–1992	1.03_	0.95_–1.12_
Krewski (2000)	1982–1989	0.872	0.805–0.944
Enstrom (2005)	1973–1982	1.039	1.010–1.069
Enstrom (2005)	1983–2002	0.997	0.978–1.016
Enstrom (2006)	1973–1982	1.061	1.017–1.106
Enstrom (2006)	1983–2002	0.995	0.968–1.024
Zeger et al. (2008)	2000–2005	0.989	0.970–1.008
Jerrett (2010)	1982–2000	0.994	0.965–1.025
Krewski (2010)	1982–2000	0.960	0.920–1.002
Krewski (2010)	1982–2000	0.968	0.916–1.022
Jerrett (2011)	1982–2000	0.994	0.965–1.024
Jerrett (2011)	1982–2000	1.002	0.992–1.012
Lipsett et al. (2011)	2000–2005	1.01_	0.95_–1.09_
Ostro et al. (2010)	2002–2007	1.06_	0.96_–1.16_

The standard method for showing cause and effect is through an experiment.

...

The question of interactions of air quality with geography deserves deeper consideration. Both Greven and Chay state there is no local or covariate adjusted effect of air quality on mortality. Milojevic et al. (2014) studied heart attacks and stroke in a very large UK data set. They determined the time of the event down to the hour. They studied six air components: CO, NO2, O3, PM10, PM2.5, and SO2. They examined possible lag effects and they found no lag effects. They also essentially found no association of air quality, in particular ozone and PM2.5, with heart attacks or stroke. There were ten necropsies (among the 60 deaths) with the air pollution disaster in 1930 in the Meuse Valley reported on by Nemery et al. (2001). They report no effect on heart. They go on to state, “However, carbon particles should have been innocuous, unless they had adsorbed irritant acids. … After a process of successive elimination, the commission concluded ‘that the sulphur produced by coal burning had a deleterious effect, either as sulphurous anhydride of acid, or as sulphuric acid, the production of which was made possible by unusual weather conditions.’” Together these papers effectively remove heart attacks and stroke as a possible etiology for acute air quality deaths. Given the known poor reliability, Ravakhah (2006), of death certificate cause of death, analysis of all cause deaths make sense as the primary endpoint of analysis.

The EPA states that “An extensive body of scientific evidence indicates that breathing in PM2.5 over the course of hours to days (short-term exposure) and months to years (long-term exposure) can cause serious public health effects that include premature death and adverse cardiovascular effects.” See www3.epa.gov/pm/2012/decfshealth.pdf. The EPA goes on to say, “Most of the economic benefits (about 85 percent) are attributable to reductions in premature mortality associated with reductions in ambient particulate matter.” These and similar quotes from EPA seem to imply that causal associations are assumed. The present study calls into question whether those associations are genuine at all in the state of California. Given that California is the most populous state of the Union, the national benefits of recent tightening of the ozone and PM2.5 standards may have to be re-assessed. We provide our analysis code, data set and sensitivity analysis results so that others can do their own evaluation.

As a note, the current standards (a) for PM2.5 – daily limit of 35 μg/m3, annual mean 12 μg/m3 averaged over three years and (b) Ozone: daily max 8-h average less than 70 ppb; based on the three-year average of fourth highest value per year. Past justifications for these standards rely heavily on positive associations for ozone or PM2.5 with acute mortality, which do not accord with our results in California.

In summary, our empirical evidence, supported by literature and logic, is that current levels of air quality, ozone and PM2.5, are not associated with or causally related to acute deaths for California. Our results, well summarized in Figs. 4 and 5, show no effect of ozone or PM2.5 at 12 μg/m3 or across all doses examined. There is no indication of any effect at low doses, for example. These results should be taken into account in any future revisions of the NAAQS for PM2.5 and O3.

Acknowledgements

Funding from National Black Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0273230017301538

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

Volume 88, August 2017, Pages 173-184

Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology

http://www.sciencedirect.com.oca.ucsc.edu/science/article/pii/S0273230017301538

Air quality and acute deaths in California, 2000–2012

. Author links open the author workspace.S. StanleyYoung a. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceOpens the author workspaceOpens the author workspace. Author links open the author workspace.Richard L.Smith b. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceOpens the author workspace. Author links open the author workspace.Keneth K.Lopiano c. Numbers and letters correspond to the affiliation list. Click to expose these in author workspaceOpens the author workspace

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.06.003Get rights and content

Highlights

•

California air quality and daily deaths are analyzed, 2000–2012.

•

An extensive sensitivity analysis is done; 78,624 models are computed.

•

No association of acute deaths with levels of PM2.5 or ozone is found.

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The data set and analysis code are made publicly available.

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With no association, causation is called into question for California.

Abstract

Many studies have shown an association between air quality and acute deaths, and such associations are widely interpreted as causal. Several factors call causation and even association into question, for example multiple testing and multiple modeling, publication bias and confirmation bias. Many published studies are difficult or impossible to reproduce because of lack of access to confidential data sources. Here we make publically available a dataset containing daily air quality levels, PM2.5 and ozone, daily temperature levels, minimum and maximum and daily maximum relative humidity levels for the eight most populous California air basins, thirteen years, >2M deaths, over 37,000 exposure days. The data are analyzed using standard time series analysis, and a sensitivity analysis is computed varying model parameters, locations and years. Our analysis finds little evidence for association between air quality and acute deaths. These results are consistent with those for the widely cited NMMAPS dataset when the latter are restricted to California. The daily death variability was mostly explained by time of year or weather variables; Neither PM2.5 nor ozone added appreciably to the prediction of daily deaths. These results call into question the widespread belief that association between air quality and acute deaths is causal/near-universal.

Graphical abstract

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Keywords

Air qualityAir pollutionPM2.5OzoneAcute deathsTime series regressionMortality

S. StanleyYoung

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Cgstat LLCis a privately held company in Raleigh, NC and is a Unknown business.

Categorized under Business Management Consultants. Our records show it was established in 2002 and incorporated in North Carolina. Current estimates show this company has an annual revenue of less than $500,000 and employs a staff of approximately 1 to 4.

Opens the author workspaceCorresponding author.

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Michael Bastasch's Experience

Reporter

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Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry

June 2012 – Present (2 years 4 months)

Investigative Researcher

:{Daily Caller News Foundation:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Online Media industry

January 2012 – June 2012 (6 months) Washington D.C. Metro Area

Government Relations Intern

:{The Heritage Foundation:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Nonprofit; 201-500 employees; Think Tanks industry

September 2011 – February 2012 (6 months)

Koch Internship Program

:{Charles Koch Institute:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Nonprofit; 51-200 employees; Philanthropy industry

2012 – 2012 (less than a year)

Research Associate

:{Cascade Policy Institute:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Nonprofit; 1-10 employees; Public Policy industry

June 2011 – August 2011 (3 months) Portland, Oregon Area

Koch Summer Fellow

:{Institute for Humane Studies:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Nonprofit; 51-200 employees; Nonprofit Organization Management industry

2011 – 2011 (less than a year)

Public Affairs Intern

:{ALEC:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;outline:0px;font-weight:inherit;font-style:inherit;vertical-align:baseline"):}:

Nonprofit; 11-50 employees; Construction industry

September 2010 – December 2010 (4 months) Washington D.C. Metro Area

Michael Bastasch's Skills & Expertise

Politics

Michael Bastasch's Education

University of Portland

B.A., Political Science

2007 – 2011

Activities and Societies: Pi Sigma Alpha

American University

Political Science

2010 – 2010

Washington Semester Program

Michael Bastasch's Additional Information

Groups and Associations:

**American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)**

### Trained on Koch: Daily Caller Claims Fake Rebuttal of CMD **...**

www.prwatch.org/.../trained-koch-daily...

Center for Media and Democracy

Jun 18, 2012 - Unfortunately for the Daily Caller's Investigative Researcher Michael Bastasch, CMD has not argued that ALEC drafted that law. Had Bastasch ...

http://www.prwatch.org/print/11590
Tucker Carlson's website, the "Daily Caller," recently posted a story claiming [3] that a Florida state legislator had rebutted a purported claim by the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) that the American Legislative Exchange Council [4] (ALEC) "drafted" Florida's "Stand Your Ground" (SYG)/"Castle Doctrine" law. But we did not make that claim.

Unfortunately for the Daily Caller's Investigative Researcher Michael Bastasch, CMD has not argued that ALEC drafted that law. Had Bastasch done any original research about CMD's actual original reporting on SYG, he would have seen that CMD is the research organization that documented how ALEC "ratified" the Florida SYG bill after it was signed into law, as noted here [5] and here [6] and here [7].

And despite efforts this week by Florida state Senator David Simmons to manufacture history in asserting that the NRA did not help draft the bill, the NRA itself took credit [8] for conceiving of the Florida law, as CMD found in contemporaneous news [9] reports.

The NRA's lobbyist, Marion Hammer, at SYG bill signing

Bastasch's piece raises a question about how Daily Caller fact-checks its stories. If undocumented assertions like those about CMD are passed off as news, the Daily Caller could be said to be acting with reckless disregard for the truth.

It's a Koch-Fueled World for Some Given Megaphones on the Right

The author of the piece was given the title of "Investigative Researcher of the Daily Caller News Foundation" based on his experience in the following internships and gigs at Koch-funded operations, according to his own LinkedIn [10] profile:

- Koch Internship Program at Charles Koch Institute
- Government Relations Intern at The Heritage Foundation [11]
- Koch Summer Fellow at Institute for Humane Studies
- Research Associate at Cascade Policy Institute [12]
- Public Affairs Intern at ALEC [13]

In fact, Bastasch's online resume makes it look as though his post at the Daily Caller News Foundation since January of 2012 overlaps with a Koch Internship that began in 2012. Are they one and the same? Regardless, this recent college grad has already garnered months of experience nursing at the teat of Koch money through multiple right-wing groups.

Paging ALEC?

Interestingly, the author did not disclose to readers his past internship with ALEC, the subject of the article. Some Daily Caller readers might have considered that credential a feather in his cap; other readers on the world wide web, however, might consider that a potential conflict of interest worthy of disclosure, especially after the whipping [14] some on the right tried to give NPR's Peter Overby for daring to report on ALEC after working for Common Cause almost two decades ago. Meanwhile, Bastasch's internship helping ALEC with its PR spin officially ended less than two years ago. But, he promptly tweeted his Daily Caller "news" article about ALEC to allies over at his former internship, as captured in this screenshot, and ALEC staff promoted his claim/story about SYG too:

Tweet by Daily Caller "reporter" to fomer employer

Of course, Bastasch conveniently omits ALEC's well-documented role supporting the proliferation of "Stand Your Ground"/"Castle Doctrine" laws across the country, which is not the same as having absolutely nothing to do with these laws. ALEC's own reps used to boast [6] to the NRA and others that "Some of the things that we were pushing in states was the 'Castle Doctrine,' we worked with the NRA on that. That's one of our model bills we have states introduce...." ALEC's PR team also claims the charity does zero lobbying, despite admissions like these of senior staffer Michael Hough [15] and other evidence.

Unraveling the Web of Koch-Fueled Interest Groups and Internships

Let's review. The Charles Koch Institute (CKI) was founded last year in Wichita, Kansas, where one of the world's richest men, Charles, and his global mega-corporation, Koch Industries, are located. As a new non-profit organization, CKI's income and expenses for internships are not yet publicly available. Bastasch is one of hundreds of interns who have been funded by Charles's newest enterprise to help turn their ideological affinity with Koch "into careers [16]." Koch interns are paid $10 an hour to work at Koch "partner organizations," such as the Heritage Foundation, the Institute for Humane Studies, the State Policy Network (which includes the Cascade Policy Institute), and the American Legislative Exchange Council -- all of which the Daily Caller's staffer has done time at.

The Heritage Foundation is one of the non-profit corporate-funded think tanks, or really "stink tanks," that has received millions from Koch family coffers [17], according to GreenPeace. Heritage is one of the federal arms of the policy creation network that puts the talking points funded by global corporations and right-wing ideologues into the hands of federal lawmakers and gets their claims aired on FOX, CNN, and other stations through its media outreach operations.

The Institute for Humane Studies (IHS) is also a pet project of Charles Koch. IHS had revenue of almost $10 million last year, largely from his foundation, and spent almost $9 million to advance Charles' ideological agenda through projects like the "Koch Summer Fellowship."

IHS is also part of Koch's homage to F.A. Hayek, whose "Road to Serfdom," has been extolled by right-wingers who claim America is on that "road" and who have drunk the Koch Kool-Aid on what it calls the "free market" but what is really a corrupt form of crony capitalism that has undermined the U.S. economy. Some followers of Hayek and of the immorality of Ayn Rand [18] have absurdly claimed that everything from Social Security to public schools to taxpayer-funded firefighters are signs that the U.S. is on the brink of communism. Such wild-eyed condemnations of American institutions might sound eerily reminiscent of big daddy Fred Koch's irrational screeds advancing the paranoid worldview of the John Birch Society, which in some ways has been re-born in the "Tea Party," with the help of two of Fred's sons, apples that did not fall far from the tree.

If only people who blindly claim they are defending "free markets" when they defend ALEC had read all the way through Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations." Smith cautions against trusting policies proposed by business tycoons. Smith said legislative proposals of such men "ought always to be listened to with great precaution.... It comes from an order of men, whose interest is never exactly the same with that of the public, who have generally an interest to deceive and even to oppress the public, and who accordingly have, upon many occasions, both deceived and oppressed it."

The State Policy Network/ALEC Love Affair

The Cascade Policy Institute (CPI) in Oregon, where the Daily Caller's Bastasch also interned, is also one of the state stink tanks helping to advance ALEC's agenda. CPI is subsidized in part by the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation through its Koch internship program. That foundation is run by its namesake and his confidante Richard Fink. As a charity, Charles can claim donations to his family foundation as an offset against income taxes; in 2010, the CGK Foundation received $42 million from Charles and had income of almost $10 million on various investments and transactions.

And then there is ALEC. As CMD has documented [19] extensively [20], the Koch brothers have a long relationship [21] with Bastasch's other past internship supervisor, ALEC [4]. Some State Policy Network (SPN) groups and their reps are also members of ALEC task forces -- voting behind closed doors with elected officials on templates to change our laws -- alongside the Heritage Foundation and David Koch's Americans for Prosperity (AFP), according to task force minutes. Oregon's CPI, which is part of SPN, has ties [22] with AFP and has produced numerous articles promoting ALEC's agenda in the state.

With all that Koch-funded training on how to advance the Kochs' ideological agenda, should readers be surprised when someone with a byline on a site like the Daily Caller writes a story that helps ALEC?

ALEC "Hearts" the Daily Caller's Founder

Tucker Carlson told the Washington Post that his Daily Caller is "not enforcing any kind of ideological orthodoxy on anyone." It merely hires the ideologically orthodox, such as a Koch acolyte who then writes favorably about a Koch-funded group he recently worked for and unfavorably about its critics.

But the Daily Caller doesn't just hire young true believers. As CMD has reported [23], Carlson is beloved by ALEC. He was a featured speaker at ALEC's meeting in New Orleans last summer. And, in 2009, he received ALEC's "Warren Brookes Award for Excellence in Journalism" at its meeting in Washington, D.C., where he talked about how much he loves corporate lobbyists and thinks they know best, a position not inconsistent with ALEC's effort to give lobbyists easy access to lawmakers and an equal vote on model legislation to change our rights. Included here is a video of part of Carlson's speech accepting this ALEC-created award, which is named for a newspaper columnist who was a harsh critic of laws to protect our environment.

Who Funds the Daily Caller?

Maybe the Daily Caller's readers should just be expected to take a "buyer beware" approach. On the other hand, who is actually bankrolling the Daily Caller's news site and funding the Daily Caller News Foundation [24], a non-profit charity? Are there big undisclosed benefactors behind the scenes, beyond the company's online ad revenue? Does the Daily Caller benefit from perks such as interns subsidized through Koch largesse? Maybe Bastasch will turn his attention to that question for the sake of the transparency? Probably not.

Lisa Graves is Executive Director of the Center for Media and Democracy (PRWatch.org and ALECexposed.org). She formerly served as Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. She also served as the Chief Counsel for Nominations for the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, as Deputy Chief of the Article III Judges Division of the U.S. Courts, and as an adjunct professor of law.

ALEC Exposed [25]

- Corporations [26]

- Corporate Campaigns [27]

- Democracy [28]

- Right Wing [29]

- Propaganda [30]

- Public Relations [31]

- Crisis Management [32]

- Third Party Technique [33]

### Global cooling - *Wikipedia*, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_cooling

Wikipedia

Bibcode:1977Natur.270..650S. doi:10.1038/270650a0. ^ Michael Bastasch (2014-02-19). "Flashback: Leonard Nimoy warned us of harsher weather". The Daily ...

Introduction: general ... - ‎Physical mechanisms - ‎Concern in the 1960s and 1970s

### *Michael Bastasch* « *Michael Bastasch* | The Daily Caller

dailycaller.com/author/michaelb/

The Daily Caller

A set of white papers by the Environmental Protection Agency suggest the agency is looking for ways to expand its regulatory reach over methane emissions ...

### *Michael Bastasch* profiles | LinkedIn

www.linkedin.com/pub/dir/Michael/Bastasch

View the profiles of professionals named Michael Bastasch on LinkedIn. There are 3 professionals named Michael Bastasch, who use LinkedIn to exchange ...

### Weekly Climate and Energy News Roundup | Watts Up With **...**

wattsupwiththat.com/.../weekly-climate-and-energy-...

Watts Up With That?

Jan 19, 2014 - An excerpt from the wikipedia article on Antiscience: The question often .... global warming. By Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller, Jan 15, 2014.

### Skeptical Scientists Debunk White House Global Warming **...**

www.studentnewsdaily.com/.../skeptical-scientists-debunk-white-house-g...

May 20, 2014 - (by Michael Bastasch, The Daily Caller) – A group of 15 scientists and meteorologists have put forward a scathing rebuttal to the Obama ...

### *Mike Bastasch* (MikeBastasch) on Twitter

https://twitter.com/**MikeBastasch**

The latest from Mike Bastasch (@MikeBastasch). To Will Rahn: Stop judging my Twitter account!. Washington, DC.

### Re: Greenpeace Co-Founder: No Scientific Evidence of Man **...**

www.selectsmart.com/DISCUSS/read.php?16,996479

Feb 28, 2014 - 13 posts - ‎7 authors

Greenpeace Co-Founder: No Scientific Evidence of Man-Made Global Warming ByMichael Bastasch Quote:There is no scientific evidence that ...

### *Michael Bastasch* « Made In America

www.nealasburysmadeinamerica.com/tag/michael-bastasch/

Articles About Neal · Featured Bios · Neal's Bio · Affiliates · Blog · Contact · Gallery · Photos & Images · Videos featuring Neal Asbury · Home · Made In America ...

http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/01/conservative-group-sues-epa-over-its-irs-like-tactics/

conservative environmental law group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over its alleged “IRS-like” tactics, including stone-walling federal records requests and imposing fees on conservative groups that sought government records.

The Energy & Environment Legal Institute is trying to force the EPA to release records previously denied under a Freedom of Information Act request looking for agency records regarding clean water rules as they relate to mining operations. E&E Legal argues that such information is crucial to the public understanding issues surrounding the EPA’s “War on Coal.”

In this case, E&E Legal was looking for records regarding the EPA’s veto of an already-granted permit to a coal mine in Logan County, W.V. The EPA vetoed the permit to save the mayfly, an insect that the agency says is harmed by surface mining.

“EPA’s behavior is a clear parallel to the IRS’s targeting of conservative groups,” E&E Legal counsel Chris Horner told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Both impose financial hurdles in the way of groups they disapprove of, draining resources from those they see as threats and impeding the groups from pursuing their mission.”

“That we have learned that the Office of Inspector General is preparing to yet again cover for these abuses only adds to the similarities,” Horner added.

E&E Legal says the EPA has hindered six attempts by the group to get government records related to the EPA mayfly decision. The EPA has refused to waive FOIA-related fees to the group, saying that E&E “failed to express an intention to broadly disseminate” the requested information. E&E says it has gone so far as to insert a picture of a “chalkboard” in a FOIA request with the phrase “We intend to broadly disseminate responsive information” written ten times. The EPA even denied this request.

“The [FOIA] request is being blocked by the latest in a pattern of behavior by the agency directed at plaintiffs, improperly denying the fee waiver provided by statute for non-profit groups that broadly disseminate public information of significant public interest,” Horner writes in his court filing.

“They are of significant public interest due to the ongoing controversy surrounding the EPA’s “War on Coal,’” Horner adds. “Particularly, the EPA’s actions concerning mining activity through the regulation of selenium for its possible impact on insect populations are ongoing matters of public controversy.”

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2014/04/01/conservative-group-sues-epa-over-its-irs-like-tactics/#ixzz3CkawQmPh}:

older

numbers are in and the verdict is that there has been no global warming for 17 years and 11 months, according to satellite data.

EPA Looking To Regulate CO2 Emissions From Airlines

12:21 PM 09/05/2014

The Environmental Protection Agency has begun the process of determining whether to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from airline flights, which could result in higher costs for airline travelers.

Inhofe Warns Of EPA’s Faulty Methane Regulatory Agenda

2:33 PM 09/04/2014

A set of white papers by the Environmental Protection Agency suggest the agency is looking for ways to expand its regulatory reach over methane emissions from the oil and gas industry, says Oklahoma Republican Sen. James Inhofe.

Weather Update: El Niño Less Likely To Happen This Year

1:52 PM 09/04/2014

The National Weather Service’s Climate Prediction Center (CPC) says the chance of El Niño happening is looking less likely for this fall and winter.

The 8% Consensus: Only 11 Of 144 Countries Have Backed The Kyoto Protocol’s Extension

11:57 AM 09/04/2014

Things aren’t looking very good for the United Nations' upcoming climate summit this month. Not only are major world leaders opting not to attend the conference, but only a handful of countries have formally backed an extension to the world’s only legally binding climate agreement.

Emails Suggest Enviro Groups Influence The EPA’s Agenda

4:28 PM 09/03/2014

Emails released by congressional Republicans suggest environmentalists have used their cozy relationship with top Environmental Protection Agency officials to exert influence on public policy.

US, Europe Look At Tougher Sanctions As Russian Oil Production Booms

1:44 PM 09/03/2014

The Obama administration is looking to slap Russia for ongoing aggression in Ukraine. But possible new sanctions come amid reports of rising Russian oil production in the face of sanctions already placed on the country’s major energy producers.

Republicans To Investigate Coziness Between The EPA And Enviros

10:45 AM 09/03/2014

Republicans are launching an investigation into the cozy relationship between the Environmental Protection Agency and an environmental lobbying group that has allegedly played a major role in crafting recent global warming rules and stymieing an Alaska mining project.

Study: The Lower Troposphere Has Not Warmed In The Last 26 Years

3:26 PM 09/02/2014

The nearly two-decade long pause in global warming may just be the tip of the iceberg for evidence against anthropogenic climate change. A new paper found that temperatures in the lower troposphere have not shown a warming trend in as many as 26 years.

Putin Overseas $400 Billion Russia-China Pipeline Project While Obama Dithers On Keystone

3:13 PM 09/02/2014

While Americans were celebrating the long Labor Day weekend, Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw the groundbreaking of major pipeline that will carry natural gas from Russia to China.

Report: Households See Electricity Prices Rising At Record Levels

12:10 PM 09/02/2014

Electricity prices are on the rise across the country, according to federal government data. The average price has risen more than 3 percent since the same time last year --- the highest year-over-year growth for the first half of the year since 2009.

Half Of India’s Coal Plants Could Run Out Of Fuel In Under A Week

2:45 PM 08/29/2014

India is in the middle of an energy crisis. About half of the country's coal-fired power plants only have less than a week's supply of fuel for electricity generation, meaning the country could be hit with severe blackouts.

Thank Fracking For Falling Gas Prices This Labor Day Weekend

1:20 PM 08/29/2014

Good news for families trying to get in one last road trip before school starts: Gas prices are falling ahead of Labor Day weekend, thanks to booming U.S. oil production from shale formations.

Spain’s Green Economy: Skyrocketing Power Prices And Higher CO2 Emissions

3:54 PM 08/28/2014

President Obama once frequently touted Spain’s green energy economy. No longer. That’s no surprise given how things have worked out for the economically beleaguered country.

Is The EPA Preparing For A Massive Private Land Grab?

10:13 AM 08/28/2014

Republicans are accusing the Environmental Protection Agency of preparing to take control over vast swaths of land under the guise of protecting the country’s water resources. Lawmakers warn this could erode private property rights.

EPA Chief: CO2 Regulations Are About ‘Justice’ For ‘Communities Of Color’

2:20 PM 08/27/2014

The Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed global warming regulations aren’t just about stemming global temperature rises -- according to agency’s chief, they are also about “justice” for “communities of color.”

As The Global Warming ‘Pause’ Continues Scientists Make More Dire Predictions

12:21 PM 08/27/2014

Global warming has been on hiatus for nearly the past two decades, according to global temperature records -- and new research predicts this so-called “pause” in warming could last another decade or so.

Kittens: The New Mascot Of Global Warming

11:48 AM 08/27/2014

Environmentalists have ditched the polar bear and chosen the kitten as the new mascot of global warming.

UN Calls On Countries to Regulate E-Cigarettes

4:17 PM 08/26/2014

The United Nation’s health bureaucracy is calling countries to ban the use of e-cigarettes indoors along with advertising restrictions and bans on sales to minors.

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