Clean Start: July 20, 2011

Welcome to Clean Start, ThinkProgress Green’s morning round-up of the latest in climate and clean energy. Here is what we’re reading. What are you?

Every state except Delaware has broken heat records so far this month already, and that state is likely to hit record temperatures later this week. [Blue Marble]

Ice sheets in the Arctic and Antarctic will probably keep melting, and sea levels will keep rising for a long time — even if greenhouse gas emissions are curbed in the near future, according to a University of Arizona-led team of researchers who studied the history of rising sea levels during the last interglacial period. [Summit County Voice]

“This week the Environmental Protection Agency is going to come out with new rules and regulations on ozone which have been called the most expensive environmental regulations in the history of the United States,” claimed Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY). [E&E News]

Historic flooding has caused nearly a half-billion dollars in crop damage in Mississippi, and that number could increase. [Clarion-Ledger]

Hurricane Dora formed off of Mexico’s Pacific coast on Tuesday, dumping heavy rains on southern Mexican states and Central America without making a direct hit on land. [Reuters]

The triple-digit temperatures, expected to result in the worst drought north-central Texas has ever experienced, follows spring wildfires, which scorched millions of acres that traditionally nourish the nation’s largest steer population – five million head of cattle. [Christian Science Monitor]

Two years after President Barack Obama and the country’s carmakers embraced ambitious new gas mileage standards, the U.S. auto industry — rebounding after federal bailouts — is pushing back hard against higher efficiency targets for the next generation of vehicles. [Chicago Tribune]

The Australian government is pointing to the coal sector’s $70 billion investment in new projects as proof that the powerful coal industry isn’t as spooked by Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s carbon tax as it claims. Australia’s coal producers have launched a TV advertising campaign asserting that 4,700 coal mining jobs would be lost. [ClimateWire]

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is slated to unveil bipartisan legislation today to delay Environmental Protections Agency air-pollution regulations for industrial boilers. [E2]

A group of seven Democrats in the U.S. Senate have written to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking that the State Department extend their review of the Keystone XL pipeline project. [Colorado Independent]

Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) bashes Republican cuts to the National Weather Service as climate disasters increase: “It’s not the heat, it’s the stupidity.” [Markey]

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists have produced the first detailed data on how large-scale dairy facilities contribute to the emission of greenhouse gases. [Science Daily]