Plus, Developers push huge data center in another rural Georgia county...
From the Editor's Desk
U.S. President Donald Trump didn’t invent climate denialism, but he sure has perfected and spread it around the world. This week, DeSmog uncovers a “Trumpian” climate denial smear campaign in Europe. And then we take a look back at the long-term costs of fossil fuel pollution — which kills and maims as much as any war.
Did you know that a taxpayer group closely tied to the European People’s Party (EPP) worked hand in glove with Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ) to make criminal complaints against top climate advocates in Europe?
DeSmog’s Clare Carlile and Phoebe Cook reveal that the Taxpayers Association of Europe (TAE) alleged that two former commissioners behind the EU Green Deal — Frans Timmermans and Virginius Sinkevicius — made “illegal” payments to NGOs, even though no evidence exists to prove this claim.
The TAE justified the allegation by collaborating with Roman Haider, an Austrian MEP and right-wing FPÖ member who repeatedly denies climate science andposts outrageous claims on Instagram like, “the climate Taliban still believe that the earth is boiling away.”
The whole thing “is nasty, aggressive, Trumpian politics,” Olivier Hoedeman, from pro-transparency pressure group Corporate Europe Observatory, told our reporters.
The criminal complaints follow months of ridiculous, unsubstantiated allegations from right-wing groups, claiming that the European Commission signed “secret contracts” with NGOs that directed them to lobby in favor the Green Deal, the EU’s plan to reach net zero by 2050.
The deadly legacy of climate denial can’t cover up the health impacts of fossil fuel pollution, which has always found its way to the surface, even hundreds of years ago, as DeSmog’s Mitch Anderson writes this week.
Two centuries ago, children climbing coal-sooted chimneys endured agonizing cancers, the first occupational disease ever linked to fossil fuels. That horrible legacy didn’t end with the Industrial Revolution — it metastasized into today’s fossil-driven public health crisis.
Every squall of exhaust, every plume of refinery smoke adds to a death toll the industry denies. Oil and gas particulate pollution claims 90,000 American lives each year, while nitrogen dioxide from petroleum fuels drives 90 percent of childhood asthma cases, as Mitch points out.
And yet, climate deniers like U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. still wave away this carnage by pointing to wind turbines killing birds or by inventing tall tales about whales and wind turbines.
It’s climate denial absurdity at its finest and Mitch captures it all.
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Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
P.S. DeSmog continues to keep you informed about threats to our climate across the globe — from up-to-the minute reporting to essential database profiles that help others fight climate denial and delay. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support more of this essential work?
Image: Credit: Axel Swinhufvud / Wikimedia Commons
Revealed: EPP-Linked Tax Group ‘Collaborated’ With Far-Right Party on Criminal Complaints
— By Clare Carlile and Phoebe Cooke (6 min. read) —
Unsubstantiated allegations against top climate advocates part of campaign to “discredit and defund” civil society actors in EU, says transparency campaigner.
What ‘Chimney Sweep Testicle’ Can Teach Us About Fossil Fuels’ Staggering Health Consequences
— By Mitch Anderson (4 min. read) —
Coal, oil and gas have been killing people for centuries. We’re still paying for it.
Developers Push Huge Server Farm in Another Rural Georgia County
—By Edward Donnelly (4 min. read) —
Residents call for more transparency around “hyperscale” data center announced last month for Twiggs County.
FROM OUR 'Inside MAGA’s Global Climate Agenda' SERIES
Google President Praised MAGA Speech Slamming ‘Climate Extremist Agenda’
— By Geoff Dembicki (5 min) —
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told an AI conference that data centers should be powered by coal, gas, and nuclear. Ruth Porat said his “comments were fantastic.”
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
xAI Data Center Emits Plumes of
Pollution, New Video Shows
— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —
A massive data center at xAI’s controversial site in Memphis, Tennessee, is emitting huge plumes of pollution, according to footage recorded by an environmental watchdog group.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: Austrian Economics Center (AEC)
Austrian Economics Center (AEC) is an incorporated society in Vienna Austria that also runs a separate 501(c)(3) organization called “AEC US,” which allows U.S. donors to make contributions to AEC and works to oppose “expanded government.” The group’s stance on climate change is summed up in the following quote from a December, 2014 article published by the Austrian Economics Center: “No one but an idiot would claim that man has had no effect on climate. But, also, no one but a
numbskull would say that natural factors like continental drift, volcanoes, ocean currents and the earth’s tilt have had no impact. Thus, we should be able to place ‘climate deniers’ and the most mulish of climate-change advocates – like, for example, the New York Times and Al Gore – outside the room, so that an intelligent conversation and debate can be had within...”
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database, Ad & PR Database, and Koch Network Database.
