{beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment   The Big Story  Oil and gas tycoons open wallets for Trump The executives made significant contributions supporting former President Trump's campaign after the GOP nominee asked the industry for $1 billion to support his reelection bid.© Illustration / Courtney Jones; Alex Brandon and Carlos Osorio, Associated Press; and Adobe Stock Trump reportedly said at an April fundraiser that the $1 billion request  would be a “deal” for energy executives, while a source told The Hill earlier this year it was not framed as any sort of quid pro quo.  Still, Democrats have described the incident as corruption and have vowed to investigate it. Two executives who reportedly attended Trump oil industry fundraisers this spring later made significant contributions to Trump-aligned political committees — something they hadn’t done in previous presidential cycles.  Cheniere Energy CEO Jack Fusco donated $250,000 to the joint fundraising Trump 47 Committee in June, according to records from the Federal Election Commission (FEC). The committee then distributed $6,600 to the Trump campaign and $243,400 to the Republican National Committee (RNC).   In July, Occidental President and CEO Vicki Hollub appears to have donated $41,300 to the RNC through the Trump 47 Committee, according to the contribution memo, and another $41,300 to the RNC on the same day. Campaign finance records show she gave $6,600 to the Trump campaign and $5,000 to Save America, Trump’s leadership PAC, through Trump 47.   The Washington Post reported that Fusco attended a dinner where Trump told energy executives they should raise $1 billion to support his return to the presidency and that doing so would be a “deal” because of the money they would save on taxes and regulations. Occidental was also represented at that dinner, per the report.   Separately, the Post reported that at a different fundraiser in May, Trump promised oil and gas executives including Hollub that he would make sure they were treated better by the Federal Trade Commission. Read more from Rachel and our colleague Taylor Giorno at TheHill.com.   Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter, we’re Rachel Frazin and Zack Budryk — keeping you up to speed on the policies impacting everything from oil and gas to new supply chains.   Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.   Essential Reads  How policy will affect the energy and environment sectors now and in the future:  Climate change worsened disasters that caused half a million deaths: Report The 10 deadliest extreme weather events of the previous two decades, which contributed to some 570,000 deaths, were all intensified by human-caused climate change, according to a new study from World Weather Attribution.  Full Story   California inks sustainable aviation fuel deal with major airlines California signed an agreement Wednesday with the country’s leading passenger and cargo airlines to accelerate the use of sustainable aviation fuels across the state.  Full Story   More than 90 killed in Spanish flash floods: What to know Flooding from excessive rainfall killed dozens of people in Spain, according to Wednesday reports from The Associated Press.   Full Story  In Other News  Branch out with a different read from The Hill: Lead poisoning costs world’s children 765 million IQ points a year: Study Low-level lead poisoning remains pervasive in the U.S. and world populations despite decades of efforts to end the use of lead in infrastructure, according to a study by researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. Full Story   Quote of Note   Asked about climate priorities for the next administration, White House Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi told reporters: "There are other places where the U.S. and the world need to build out the platform, build out the technologies and build out policy to achieve our goals against that 1.5 degree target," he said, referring to the Paris Agreement goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. "And that's a focus in agriculture and forestry, getting more revenue to our farmers and our ranchers, getting more opportunity out to the global South, where places like in the Amazon, the DRC and Indonesia, there's tremendous capacity to breathe in the carbon that's in the sky if the markets will meet people where they are." "So I think in places like that and in places where I think we have now run out ahead, the industrial sector, clean steel, cement, aluminum, continuing to propel the U.S. advantage in that space by investing in our workers and investing in the tech."  What We're Reading  News we've flagged from other outlets touching on energy issues, the environment and other topics: Texas State Senator Aided a Utility He Was Doing Business With (Texas Monthly)  A ‘first step’ toward landback: Tribes call for three new monuments in California (Grist) ‘You can’t even wash your hands’: is a global industrial hub responsible for the destruction of Mexico’s Atoyac River? (The Guardian)   What Others are Reading  Two key stories on The Hill right now: Conservatives in furor over Julia Roberts ad A new Harris-Walz campaign ad voiced by actor Julia Roberts encourages women to vote for Vice President Harris in the presidential election, even if their husbands are backing former President Trump. Read more Trump sues CBS for $10B over Harris’s ’60 Minutes’ interview Former President Trump is suing CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview it broadcast with Vice President Harris earlier this month that he and his allies have claimed was edited to cast her in a positive light. Read more  You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!  Close Thank you for signing up! Subscribe to more newsletters here The latest in politics and policy. Direct to your inbox. Sign up for the Energy and Environment newsletter Subscribe