Currently in Toronto — June 24th, 2022
The weather, currently.
Another dry day, unfortunately. Tomorrow will mark the 8th consecutive day without rain in the GTA. We will have mainly sunny skies from start to finish as we wrap up the week. Your wake-up temperature will be near 17°C. The good news is that the humidity levels will not be extreme. The high of 29°C will seem closer to 31°C. There will be a light SW breeze of 10-15km/h and the UV index will be 9 or very high.
Thursday Night: Mainly clear with a low of 18°C.
Side Note: The first chance of rain will likely develop late afternoon on Sunday, with a risk of thunderstorms.
What you need to know, currently.
The Biden Administration is currently weighing the relative risks of banning new offshore oil and gas leases, according to the New York Times. The Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Act (OCSLA) is renewed every five years and Interior Secretary Deb Haaland expects to have a draft ready by the end of June.
The argument for expanding oil and gas leases at the moment is fairly nonsensical. Inflation is high, gas prices are exorbitant, and Democrats are worried that a ban will hurt them in the polls, but issuing new licenses will do essentially nothing to alleviate the burden on consumers. It takes years to drill, man, and bring an oil rig online — by the time these new leases bear fruit, the United States should be well on its way to transitioning to clean energy sources.
The IPCC has repeatedly warned that countries need to move away from fossil fuels in order to avoid the most catastrophic consequences of climate change. The oil and gas industry currently has 11 million acres leased offshore, most of which are not in use.
Gas prices are high because oil and gas executives are keeping them high out of greed, not because of a scarcity of oil rigs. Should the government issue these new leases in a deranged gesture towards bipartisanship, it will be nearly impossible for us to keep warming under 1.5°C.