4 Billion Dead: The Insurance Industry Predicts Mass Death
This video is far longer than I like but so important. Are you listening Mr. Burnham?
‘An Abuse of the USGS, the Environment, and Our Intellects’: Trump Admin Uses Public Lands Report to Push Coal
Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
One critic of the president recently said that he’s “forcing higher power bills” on Americans while “fattening the wallets of his cronies—all with billions of our tax dollars.”
President Donald Trump’s administration has dedicated over $1 billion to boosting the coal industry, and on Thursday announced a report about reserves beneath federally managed public lands, with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum claiming that the polluting fossil fuel “is more important than ever to the production of electricity.”
The US Geological Survey (USGS) publication, titled Coal Beneath Federal Lands in the United States—Mines, Reserves, and Resources, says that “in 2024, the 34 coal mines on Federal lands produced more than 261 million short tons of coal.” A short ton, the standard unit of measurement for coal in the United States, is equal to 2,000 lbs.
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“These 34 coal mines control more than 4.2 billion short tons of reported coal reserves. Most of the coal mines (31) and more than 98% of the reported coal reserves are on federal lands west of the Mississippi River,” according to the report. “Of all the states, Wyoming has the most coal mines on federal lands (14) and produces the most coal from federal lands.”
“The USGS estimates that more than 355 billion short tons of available coal resources remain beneath federal lands in the conterminous United States,” the document details. “Alaska contains substantial quantities of coal resources. The USGS estimates that Alaska has at least 140 billion short tons of identified available coal resources but may ultimately have as much as 5.5 trillion short tons of coal resources.”
A US Department of the Interior statement announcing the report highlights that if the reserves accounted for in the document were produced, “that would be enough coal to supply all the nation’s needs for at least 600 years at the current rate of consumption.”
Scientists have long argued that the international community must stop burning coal—plus oil and gas—to prevent a worst-case scenario future as the planet’s inhabitants already face a fossil fuel-driven climate emergency and its related extreme weather.
However, climate crisis-denying Trump—who returned to the White House backed by Big Oil’s campaign cash—and his Cabinet have spent his second term pushing polluting sources of energy, particularly as his illegal war on Iran drives up global prices, with oil surpassing $100 per barrel on Thursday.
Staying on message, Burgum declared in Interior’s Thursday statement that “American Energy Dominance is more important than ever, and so is beautiful clean coal’s role in the production of electricity needed to fuel our future prosperity.”
“Thanks to the USGS’s rigorous and independent assessment, we’re better equipped to manage America’s vast public lands responsibly while supporting energy security and economic opportunity,” he continued.
Sharing the statement on the social media platform Bluesky Thursday, science journalist Emily Willingham said, “What an abuse of the USGS, the environment, and our intellects.”
An ore deposit geologist named Elizabeth also ripped the statement on Bluesky, writing: “There is a lot messed up with this press release, but the thing that bothers me the most is how poorly it is written. What an embarrassment!”
The USGS report came just two days after the Energy and Labor departments signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a framework to accelerate the deployment of artificial intelligence, automation, and other emerging technologies in the mining sector.
Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Sonderling said, “It is our commitment to you that this MOU will further President Trump’s promise to restore coal as a key driver of America’s energy supply chain and American coal will again be the envy of the world for generations to come.”
While attacking clean energy initiatives, including offshore wind projects, the administration “has bolstered coal, the dirtiest and most expensive fossil fuel,” The Guardian reported earlier this month.
According to the newspaper:
In September, the Department of Energy announced it would spend $625 million to “expand and extend the life of” coal-fired power plants, allocating $350 million to “modernize” coal plants, $175 million to fund coal projects powering rural communities, and $50 million to upgrade wastewater management systems to extend coal plants’ lifespans.
Last month, the agency also set aside up to $500 million from the Defense Production Act to “expand and reinvigorate” the capacity of 13 coal plants, and to help build a coal export terminal in Oakland, California. A week later, the department announced an additional $3.6 million to “refurbish or retrofit” nine existing coal plants.
Former Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a climate advocate and Trump critic, told the paper that the president is “forcing higher power bills” on Americans “by blocking clean energy, then he’s fattening the wallets of his cronies—all with billions of our tax dollars.”
“We pay more,” he said, “Republicans rubber-stamp it, and Trump’s donors walk off with the bag.”
Explainer by dizzy: Coal is regarded as an unnecessary, particularly highly-polluting fossil-fuel
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- ‘Completely Delusional’: Trump Calls for Reinvigorating Domestic Use of US Coal ›
- Trump Signs ‘Breathlessly Stupid’ Orders to Boost Polluting Coal Industry ›
France records more than 5,700 excess deaths during June heatwave
Figures come as large parts of southern Europe endure another record-breaking period of extreme temperatures
France recorded more than 5,700 excess deaths during its June heatwave, authorities have said, as swathes of southern Europe continue to endure another record-breaking period of extreme temperatures.
The French national health agency said on Wednesday that it had recorded 5,764 excess deaths between 17 June and 2 July, an excess mortality rate of 36%.
More than half of the “unprecedented” total were recorded between 25 and 27 June, with deaths of people aged 75 and older accounting for about two-thirds of the excess mortality, the agency said.
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The announcement came as firefighters in Spain battled one of the country’s largest ever wildfires, which has burned about 32,000 hectares (79,000 acres) in the Guadalajara region north of Madrid, forcing the evacuation of 1,200 people from 34 villages in the sparsely populated area and confinement orders in 14 others.
Authorities said on Wednesday that the fire was beginning to stabilise, and residents of five villages were allowed to return home. The prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, said on a visit to the area that Spain had already suffered 22 major wildfires so far this year, four times more than in the same period last year.
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See the original article at https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/jul/22/france-recorded-more-than-5700-excess-deaths-during-june-heatwave
Climate crisis-driven heat ‘sucking soils dry’ as extreme drought hits Europe
Analysis shows how heatwaves are making atmosphere thirstier, damaging water supplies, food production and power generation
Extreme heat supercharged by the climate crisis is sucking Europe dry in summer and intensifying the drought hitting the continent, a scientific analysis has found.
Record-breaking heatwaves meant the hot atmosphere strongly evaporated water from rivers, lakes, soils and plants – conditions made 80 times more likely by global heating in western Europe and 40 times more likely in eastern Europe, the study showed. The level of soil dryness in the west was made five times more likely by the pollution from fossil fuels in the west, and 11 times more likely in the east.
Droughts have usually been linked to low rainfall, but western Europe’s most recent winter was a wet one. The scientists said the climate crisis was redefining drought in Europe, with high temperatures the key factor this summer. Today’s drought in western Europe is classified as “extreme” but would have been “moderate” in the world before the climate crisis, according to the analysis.
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Deadly wildfires have raged through Spain and France and farmers have been hit hard, facing some of the driest soils on record. About 9m tonnes of grain are expected to be lost across Europe, with the worst maize harvest in 50 years expected in France, and Romanian farmers losing over a million hectares of crops.
Rivers are running low across Europe, cutting the generation of clean hydropower and restricting cargo ships. The Rhine at Lobith in the Netherlands is now lower than the minimum level seen in the hot summer of 1976. The scientists warned that this disruption could push up the price of food and energy, hitting low-income households hardest.
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