Hurricane Ian is a peek into the future

Presented by National Clean Energy Week: Your guide to the political forces shaping the energy transformation

Sep 27, 2022 View in browser   By Adam Aton Presented by National Clean Energy Week Florida residents prepare for the arrival of Hurricane Ian. | AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack Floridians bracing for Hurricane Ian are watching it rapidly intensify into a monster storm. Ian strengthened into a Category 3 hurricane early Tuesday morning, after spending the weekend as a tropical storm — the quickest intensification of any Atlantic hurricane this year. Such a frightening acceleration of wind, waves and rain is exactly what we should expect from a warming climate, E&E News' Chelsea Harvey writes. As temperatures rise, scientists say hurricanes will likely intensify faster and more often. That's a big problem, because the faster a hurricane intensifies, the less time people have to prepare. The National Weather Service warned today that Ian could make landfall on the west coast of Florida six to 12 hours earlier Wednesday than previously forecast. Cuba experienced Ian's 120-mph winds earlier today. The hurricane sheared roofs from homes and cut power to hundreds of thousands of people, according to Reuters. Rapid intensification is nothing new. When a storm passes over warm waters with favorable winds, it grows stronger. But climate change promises to make those conditions even more common. Warmer oceans are one of the most certain impacts of carbon pollution. That means more storms will intensify — resulting in more rain, higher storm surges and more major hurricanes. It's not so much that climate change makes any single storm worse, said Kerry Emanuel, a climate scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specializes in hurricanes. It's that it creates the conditions for all future storm seasons to be worse. Emanuel explained the distinction this way: If your grandmother smoked two packs of cigarettes daily and then died of lung cancer, there's a seemingly obvious connection. But proving that smoking directly caused her death is another matter. "There are plenty of people who die from lung cancer that never smoked, and plenty of people who smoked and lived into their 90s," he said. Likewise, he said, hurricanes have "many, many, many influences — among which is climate change." But that's all the more reason to focus on climate, he said, because it's one of the few things influencing hurricanes that people can influence, too. "It's systematic, and it acts over a long time," he said. It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning into POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host today, Adam Aton . Arianna will be back soon! Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to aaton@eenews.net Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Kelsey Tamborrino dives into how the Biden administration is trying to enlist international energy companies to help deliver on the White House's climate agenda.   A message from National Clean Energy Week: Save the date for the 6th annual National Clean Energy Week (NCEW), September 26-30! NCEW celebrates the policies, industries, and innovations that power our daily lives while reducing emissions. Ready to join the national clean energy conversation? REGISTER for the VIRTUAL Policy Makers Symposium on September 27-29! Join us to hear from legislators, industry leaders, and clean energy advocates alike! Thanks to NCEW sponsors, registration is 100% FREE for all attendees! Register for FREE here.   Picture this Seawater churns as gas escapes the Nord Stream pipeline network connecting Russia and Germany. | Danish Defence Command via AP Sabotage accusations are flying after three leaks were discovered in the Nord Stream gas pipeline network connecting Russia and Germany. Two blasts were detected by Swedish seismic monitors near the pipeline, and Denmark's prime minister said "it's too early to conclude yet, but ... it is hard to imagine that it could be a coincidence."   A message from National Clean Energy Week:   Power Centers Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) leaves a press conference at the Capitol on Sept. 20 in Washington. Manchin spoke on energy permitting reform and preventing a government shutdown. | Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images Payback time Republicans hammered the final nails into the coffin of Sen. Joe Manchin's (D-W.Va.) permitting reform, write Caitlin Emma and Burgess Everett. Manchin this afternoon asked Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to remove his permitting proposal from the must-pass government funding bill. Although speeding energy project approval has been a longtime GOP priority, Republicans said Manchin's proposal was too weak — and they were loathe to hand him another victory after he cast the deciding vote in favor of Democrats' climate and tax bill this summer. Eye of the storm After four years crafting a national profile as a partisan warrior, Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis now faces a natural disaster that will require much different skills, writes Matt Dixon. He's already toned down his attacks — even praising the Biden administration's preemptive moves to prepare for Ian. How he handles this challenge could shape his political future. In Other News A refinery along the Houston Ship Channel. | AP Photo/David J. Phillip Green deals: Businesses are entering a feeding frenzy over the billions of dollars in new U.S. energy incentives. Oil bottleneck: Chevron Corp. is spending $400 million to expand its refinery in Pasadena, Texas, as the U.S. faces ongoing shortages of refinery capacity. Question Corner The science, policy and politics driving the energy transition can feel miles away. But we're all affected on an individual and communal level — from hotter days and higher gas prices to home insurance rates and food supply. Want to know more? Send me your questions with "Question Corner" in the subject line. We'll pick a handful to answer each week in the newsletter. Subscriber Zone House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis Chair Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) on Capitol Hill. | Francis Chung/E&E News House Democrats are preparing for the next phase of climate policy, including oversight of the billions of dollars in new renewable energy subsidies. A clean fuels standard could help decarbonize some corners of the transportation sector that might struggle to adopt plug-in electrification. That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading!   A message from National Clean Energy Week: Are you ready to join the national clean energy conversation? Save the date for the 6th annual National Clean Energy Week (NCEW), September 26-30 and REGISTER for the VIRTUAL Policy Makers Symposium on September 27-29! Tune in to hear from legislators, industry leaders, and clean energy advocates like YOU— thanks to NCEW sponsors, registration is 100% completely FREE for all attendees! NCEW is a weeklong celebration of the policies, industries, and innovations that power our daily lives while reducing emissions. Join us to recognize what an all-of-the-above clean energy future can bring: American energy independence, economic prosperity, & a healthier climate. Register for FREE here.     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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