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Page Updated:
Jujly 12, 2025

• • House Select Committee
  on the Climate Crisis

  Climate Change: The Science
  is In -We Know the Cause

  The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is charged with delivering ambitious climate policy recommendations to Congress, in order to achieve substantial and permanent reductions in pollution and other activities that contribute to the climate crisis.

  The select committee was authorized by House Resolution 6 on January 9, 2019, and will publish a set of public policy recommendations for congressional climate action by March 31, 2020.

  Its members include experts in environmental justice, coastal flooding, clean energy development and other issues that are vital for addressing the climate crisis.

  Click now for their website.

• • Memorable Presidential
  Environmental Quotes

  Six Memorable Presidential
  Environmental Quotes

  Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama had something to say

  Some didn't always follow up on those quotes.

  Click now to read the article
  From the Earth Matters News.
• • Political Scorecard

  How Did Congress Do in 2022

  Mar. 6, 2023, (League pf Conservation Voters) -The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) provides maps showing how both the Senate and House voted on environmental issues (LCV)

  It's not quite time to celebrate.

• • Ted Cruz Ensured Trump Spending
  Bill Slashed Weather Forecasting Funding

  Senator on Vacation Abroad While Texas Was Hit By Deadly Floods, a Disaster Worsened By Forecasting Cuts
  
  
  
  

  July 9, 2024 -Ted Cruz has had quite a week. On Tuesday, the Texas senator ensured the Republican spending bill slashed funding for weather forecasting, only to then go on vacation to Greece while his state was hit by deadly flooding, a disaster critics say was worsened by cuts to forecasting.

  Cruz, who infamously fled Texas for Cancún when a crippling winter storm ravaged his state in 2021, was seen visiting the Parthenon in Athens with his wife, Heidi, on Saturday, a day after a flash flood along the Guadalupe River in central Texas killed more than 100 people, including dozens of children and counselors at a camp.

• • Chantal Wreaks Havoc in North Carolina as State Lawmakers
  Try to Repeal an Ambitious Climate Change Goal

  The Tropical System Dumped Massive Rain Across Central North Carolina on Sunday, Days After the State’s Democratic Governor Vetoed a Bill Canceling an Interim Carbon Reduction Goal
  
  
  
  

  July 8, 2024 -Perched above the Bolin Creek Trail, 46,000 tons of coal ash appeared to be intact Monday afternoon, the mound’s slopes anchored by bushes and vines.

  But at the foot of the ash pile outside its fence, the force of the floodwaters from Tropical Depression Chantal had evicted large trees from the banks of the nearby creek. Rocks larger than bowling balls had caromed off one another. A dead crawdad lay on the trail, washed out from the creek. The air smelled vaguely of sewage.

• • California Democrats Retreat On Climate

  ‘It’s One of the More Disappointing Turnabouts’
  
  
  
  

  July 7, 2024 - Donald Trump is coming for California’s signature climate policies — and so is California.

  Stung by the party’s sweeping losses in November and desperate to win back working-class voters, the Democratic Party is in retreat on climate change. Nowhere is that retrenchment more jarring than in the nation’s most populous state, a longtime bastion of progressive politics on the environment.

• • How the Clean Energy Industry is Responding to the GOP’s Tax Bill

  As the Industry Grapples With a New Reality, They’re Emphasizing Jobs and Competitiveness — Not Climate
  
  {LATITUDE MEDIA}
  
  

  July 7, 2025 -It was almost exactly a year ago that the clean energy industry started to grapple seriously with a possible repeal of the Inflation Reduction Act.

  Candidate Trump had spent a year on the campaign trail talking about killing the “Green New Scam.” But after President Biden’s disastrous debate performance, the reality of the tight race set in. Suddenly, everyone started gaming out the possibility of IRA repeal — while also hoping the benefits to red districts would insulate the industry from radical change in a tax and spending bill.

• • What Trump’s Big Bill Means For Clean Energy in Washington State

  Congressional Republicans Voted To Slash The Very Tools The Federal Government Has Used to Encourage Green Energy Projects
  
  {bioGraphic}
  
  

  July 4, 2025 -Voting along razor-thin margins, Congress approved a huge spending bill championed by President Donald Trump on Thursday. It extends tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term and includes new ones, greatly increases spending on immigration enforcement and offsets some of this new spending with cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and a series of clean energy tax breaks.

  The pullback on clean energy support has public officials, energy experts and green industry leaders across Washington state bracing for a devastating blow.

• • Praying the World Halts Climate Change?

  There's Now a Catholic Mass for That
  
  
  
  

  July 3 , 2024 -A new rite published by the Vatican on Thursday will allow priests to celebrate a Mass to exhort Catholics to exercise care for the Earth, in the latest push by the 1.4-billion-member global Church to address global climate change.

  For centuries, Catholic priests have been able to celebrate special Masses to pray for their country, give thanks after a harvest or ask God to end a natural disaster.

  The new "Mass for the care of creation," prepared by two Vatican offices, allows priests to pray that Catholics will "lovingly care" for creation and "learn to live in harmony with all creatures".

• • Roughly 140 EPA Staffers Who Signed ‘Dissent’ Letter Are Put On Leave

  Trump Officials have Placed 139 Employees Who Signed a Letter of Dissent Protesting the Environmental Protection Agency’s Current Direction and Policies on Leave
  
  
  
  

  July 3, 2024 -The Trump administration has placed on leave roughly 140 staffers at the Environmental Protection Agency who signed a letter of dissent protesting the agency’s current direction and policies, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.

  Nearly 300 EPA workers had signed the letter, sent Monday to Administrator Lee Zeldin, which said President Donald Trump’s changes to the agency “undermine the EPA mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

• • Scientists Warn US Will Lose a Generation of Talent Because of Trump Cuts

  Political Interference and Chaotic Cuts to Staff, Programs and Grants At the National Science Foundation Are Producing ‘Devastating Consequences’
  
  
  
  

  July 3, 2024 -A generation of scientific talent is at the brink of being lost to overseas competitors by the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Science Foundation (NSF), with unprecedented political interference at the agency jeopardizing the future of US industries and economic growth, according to a Guardian investigation.

  The gold standard peer-reviewed process used by the NSF to support cutting-edge, high-impact science is being undermined by the chaotic cuts to staff, programs and grants, and by meddling by the so-called department of government efficiency (Doge), according to multiple current and former NSF employees who spoke with the Guardian.

• • How the G.O.P. Bill Will Reshape America’s Energy Landscape

  A Rundown On the Winners and Losers in the Legislation Muscled Through Congress
  
  
  
  

  July 3, 2025 -The giant policy bill muscled through Congress by Republicans is poised to remake American energy by slashing tax breaks for wind and solar power and electric cars while maintaining some federal support for sources like nuclear reactors and geothermal plants.

  The legislation, which carries Trump’s domestic policy agenda, provides a boost to fossil fuels and dismantles many of the biggest actions the federal government has ever taken to fight climate change, even as scientists warn that rising temperatures are creating acute dangers from extreme heat, deadly wildfires, crop failures and floods.

• • Political Cowardice Hindering Europe’s Climate Efforts

  Effects of Crisis Are Becoming Increasingly Obvious But Not Translating Into Proper Action
  
  
  
  

  July 2, 2025 -Political cowardice is hindering European efforts to face up to the effects of the climate crisis, even as the continent is pummelled by a record-breaking heatwave, the EU’s green transition chief has warned.

  In an interview with the Guardian, EU's Green Chief, Teresa Ribera said that although the effects of the climate emergency were becoming increasingly obvious, they were still not translating into proper action.

• • Republican Budget Bill Dismantles Climate Law Passed by Democrats

  Removes a Proposed Tax On Solar and Wind Energy Projects But Quickly Phases Out Tax Credits For Wind, Solar and Other Renewable Energy
  
  {abc NEWS}
  
  

  July 1, 2025 -The sprawling Republican budget bill approved by the Senate Tuesday removes a proposed tax on solar and wind energy projects but quickly phases out tax credits for wind, solar and other renewable energy.

  The Senate approved the bill 51-50 as President Donald Trump and GOP lawmakers move to dismantle the 2022 climate law passed by Democrats under former President Joe Biden. Vice President JD Vance broke a tie after three Republican senators voted no.

• • Democrats Bet Jobs in Red States Would Save Clean Power Projects

  They Lost
  
  
  
  

  July 1, 2025 -When Congress enacted President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s signature climate law in 2022, Democrats made a bet. They knew the law would spur billions of dollars of investments in solar arrays, battery factories and other clean energy projects, primarily in Republican-led districts. That was designed to give the law staying power.

  But that wager failed spectacularly on Tuesday as Senate Republicans voted to dismantle many of the law’s lucrative tax credits for solar panels, wind turbines, electric cars and other green technologies as part of President Trump’s giant domestic policy bill.

• • The latest on the Big Beautiful Bill
  —and What it Means for Energy and Power

  Former Trump Senior Adviser Elon Musk Said the Senate’s Latest Draft of The Budget Bill, With the Tax, “Gives Handouts to Industries of the Past While Severely Damaging Industries of the Future”
  
  {energycentral}
  
  

  June 30, 2025 -In a 940-page bill the Senate released late on Friday, there was an important tax provision—one that would both 1) quickly phase out existing federal tax subsidies for wind and solar power by 2027 and 2) add a new tax on future projects.

  That means not just unwinding IRA tax credits, but adding a penalty on all new wind and solar that comes online after 2027, even if the projects didn’t get earlier federal subsidies.

• • Senate Proposes Harsh Tax on Renewables

  Former Trump Senior Adviser Elon Musk Said the Senate’s Latest Draft of The Budget Bill, With the Tax, “Gives Handouts to Industries of the Past While Severely Damaging Industries of the Future”
  
  {UTILITYDIVE}
  
  

  June 30, 2025 -After initially proposing a softened version of the Inflation Reduction Act cuts in the House’s proposed budget legislation, the Senate’s Republican leadership flip-flopped this weekend and proposed not only stiff IRA cuts but an outright excise tax on wind and solar projects.

  The bill now terminates the 45Y clean energy production tax credit and 48E clean energy manufacturing credit for wind and solar projects after 2027, and it levies a penalty against new wind and solar projects that come online after 2027 unless they can completely disentangle their supply chains from prohibited foreign entities like China.

• • GOP Tax Bill Draws Flak on Energy Provisions From Some Onetime Allies

  The Massive Legislation Slashes Federal Funding on Renewables and Clean Energy Initiatives Just as U.S. Energy Demand Soars
  
  
  
  

  June 28, 2025 -The massive tax and immigration bill advancing through Congress could raise energy prices in much of the United States and make it harder for American companies to compete globally on artificial intelligence and manufacturing as a result of deep cuts to federal support for wind and solar power, batteries and other renewable technologies, a wide range of experts warned on Sunday.

  Click now of the rest of the story.

• • Louisiana is Latest State to Redefine Natural Gas
  -- A Planet-Warming Fossil Fuel -- As Green Energy

  Even Though it’s a Fossil Fuel That Emits Planet-Warming Greenhouse Gases
  
  
  
  

  June 27, 2025 -Three other states led by Republicans— Indiana, Ohio and Tennessee— have passed similar legislation. In some Democratic-led states, there have been efforts to phase out natural gas. New York and California cities like San Francisco and Berkeley have moved to ban natural gas hookups in new buildings, though some of these policies have been successfully challenged in court.

  Trump has signed a spate of executive orders promoting oil, gas and coal, which all warm the planet when burned to produce electricity. The European Union previously designated natural gas and nuclear as sustainable, a move that Greenpeace and the Austrian government are suing over.

• • Republicans Propose a New Way to Scrap
  Fuel Economy Rules: No Fines

  For 50 years, Automakers Have Had to Increase the Fuel Efficiency of Their Vehicles Or Pay Fines
  
  
  
  

  June 26, 2025 -Republicans in the Senate are considering a measure in President Trump’s big domestic policy bill that would essentially nullify the fuel efficiency rules for cars and light trucks that have been in place for nearly 50 years.

  “The provision would eliminate fines for any automaker that failed to comply with federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards, which were created by Congress in 1975. Over time, those efficiency rules have gotten stricter, pushing automakers to improve the mileage of their cars and trucks and to introduce innovations like the Toyota Prius hybrid.

• • In Georgia, a Runoff Looms For Democrats
  After Primary Results For Public Utility Commission Seat

  In a State With Rising Energy Bills, the Race Is Key For Its Climate Future
  
  
  
  

  June 21, 2025 -The Democratic primary for the seat representing part of metro Atlanta on the Georgia Public Service Commission appears to be headed to a runoff. In the other competitive race in this week’s PSC primaries, Republican incumbent Tim Echols won his party’s primary in district two in east Georgia.

  The commission oversees utilities, including Georgia Power, the state’s largest electric provider and a subsidiary of one of the largest utilities in the country. The PSC commissioners have final say over Georgia Power’s plans and rates – meaning they make decisions that affect millions of Georgia households’ finances, as well as how the state responds to climate change.

• • Senate GOP Seeks to Reward Oil Drillers
  Amid Deep Cuts to Wind and Solar

  The Senate Version of the Republican Tax Bill Carves Out New and Expanded Subsidies for Fossil Fuel Companies
  
  
  
  

  June 18, 2025 -Senate Republicans have added tax breaks and other subsidies for oil drillers to the GOP tax bill making its way through Congress, including a provision that would reward companies for using an emerging greenhouse-gas-fighting technology — capturing carbon from the atmosphere — to boost production of oil by billions of barrels a year.

  The massive bill eliminates large swaths of federal funding for wind, solar and other green energy initiatives, reversing many of the Biden-era initiatives aimed at developing clean sources of fuel.

• • Senate Republicans Decline to Save Clean Energy Tax Credits

  If enacted, Republicans’ Draft Legislation Would Mean Neutering Biden’s Signature Climate Legislation
  
  
  
  

  June 17, 2025 -Climate activists and business leaders were watching to see if Republicans in the Senate would step up and support the clean energy industry.

  But when the Senate Finance Committee unveiled its draft of a sprawling domestic policy bill on Monday, it all but did away with most of the tax breaks for wind and solar power, electric vehicles and other clean energy solutions that were passed during the Biden administration.

• • Many Hoped Senate Republicans Would Save Clean Energy

  They Mostly Didn’t
  
  
  
  

  June 16, 2025 -Climate advocates, Democrats, and even some House Republicans who last month had supported a tax package that gutted federal support for clean energy were hoping the Senate would make fixes to protect energy manufacturing and jobs.

  But on Monday, Senate Republicans disappointed them, proposing to quickly end most tax breaks for wind and solar power, electric vehicles and other clean energy.

• • What Small Business Owners From
  Rural America Are Urging Congress to Do

  Keep Clean Energy Tax Credits
  
  {The Minnesota Reformer}
  
  

  June 13, 2025 -Small business owners and community leaders from rural regions in Western states including Alaska, Colorado, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota and Utah pressed lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week to preserve clean energy tax credits on the chopping block in the Republicans’ “one big beautiful” mega-bill, now in the Senate.

  The suite of investment, production and residential tax credits enacted and expanded under the Democrats’ own big budget reconciliation bill in 2022, titled the “Inflation Reduction Act,” incentivized homeowners, car buyers, energy producers and manufacturers to invest in types of energy beyond fossil fuels, with the aim of reducing the effects of climate change.

• • Phase-Out of FEMA On Course

  Raising Worries About a Weakened National Disaster Response
  
  

  June 11, 2025 -The Trump administration will begin dismantling the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) later this year, the president announced on Tuesday, setting a tight timeframe for a breakup that many experts warned would likely harm the nation’s ability to respond to disasters.

  FEMA leads and funds long-term recovery efforts after natural disasters, which are growing in frequency, intensity and cost, in part because of climate change. Neither President Trump nor Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who attended the Oval Office announcement, offered specific alternatives.

• • Illinois Hopes to Continue Solar Boom Despite Federal Headwinds

  Renewable Energy Advocates Point to a 2021 Law and State Dollars As Reasons for Optimism In a Challenging Time
  
  

  June 9, 2025 -Illinois saw unprecedented solar growth in 2024, adding 2.5 gigawatts of capacity to nearly double its total generation potential from the year before. But this year, the state faces some big speed bumps.

  A budget reconciliation bill passed by Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives in late May, now under consideration in the Senate, would gut nearly all the clean-energy incentives laid out in former President Joe Biden’s 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act.

• • Democrats Scrambling to Convince GOP to Save Green Credits

  The Clock's Ticking on the GOP’s Reconciliation Bill
  
  {energycentral}
  
  

  June 9, 2025 -Dems are working back channels with Republicans in states with big clean energy industries like TX and NC. The ask? Don’t hamstring a market your own utilities are finally scaling.

  Why it matters: The next two weeks will define the energy investment landscape for the next decade. Grid resilience, rate structures, and interconnection timelines are all in play.

• • In Georgia, Republicans Vote to Kill Green Jobs but Face Little Fallout

  In Cedartown, Ga., a Solar Recycling Company’s Plan to Hire 1,200 people Could Be Upended by Republicans in Congress
  
  

  June 7, 2025 -Outside the husk of a shuttered yarn factory, thousands of old solar panels lie stacked on the gravel. Local leaders say they can see the future here: 1,200 people recycling millions of those panels each year and making the glass to build new ones.

  This is no field of dreams. A company, Solarcycle, has already spent about $50 million of $500 million it plans to invest to turn the empty space into a recycling operation and build an adjacent glass manufacturing plant.

  And yet President Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill has stopped the factory in its tracks.

• • Electricity Prices Are Surging.
  The G.O.P. Megabill Could Push Them Higher

  The Combination of a Data Center Boom, Rising Gas Exports and Cuts to Clean Energy Tax Breaks Could Spike American Energy Bills
  
  

  June 4, 2025 -The cost of electricity is rising across the country, forcing Americans to pay more on their monthly bills and squeezing manufacturers and small businesses that rely on cheap power.

  And some of President Trump’s policies risk making things worse, despite his promises to slash energy prices, companies and researchers say.

• • He Built an Airstrip on Protected Land.
  Now He’s in Line to Lead the Forest Service

  Michael Boren, Nominated by Trump, Accused of Threatening Trail Workers With a Helicopter, Building an Airstrip Without a Permit and Putting a Cabin on Federal Property
  
  

  June 3, 2025 -Michael Boren, founder of a billion-dollar tech company, Idaho ranch owner and Trump donor, has clashed with the U.S. Forest Service for years.

  He was accused of flying a helicopter dangerously close to a crew building a Forest Service trail, prompting officials to seek a restraining order.

• • White House Proposes Shutting Down Chemical Safety Agency

  Since 1998, the Chemical Safety Board has Played a Key Role In Probing the Causes of Major Chemical Accidents
  
  

  June 3, 2025 -An independent agency that investigates chemical disasters — including fatal fires and explosions at chemical plants and oil refineries nationwide — would shutter by October 2026 under little-noticed language in White House budget documents released Friday.

  The proposal to eliminate the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board is almost certain to face pushback from lawmakers in both parties.

• • Trump’s Budget Wish Could Threaten
  Billions in Clean Energy Investment in Virginia

  A Range of Solar, Offshore Wind and Manufacturing Jobs Would Be Jeopardized
  
  

  June 2, 2025 -The One Big Beautiful Bill, President Donald Trump’s budget wishlist with tax cuts for the wealthy, could have an enormous impact on Virginia’s ability to address the climate crisis, produce renewable energy and generate economic activity for its communities.

  The bill, passed by House Congressional Republicans May 22, effectively kills several investment and production tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, former President Joe Biden’s signature climate law.

• • Trump’s Proposed Budget Would Cut a Major Ecology Program

  Here’s What the Ecosystems
  Mission Area Does
  
  

  May 31, 2025 -The Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2026 slashes about 90 percent of the funding for one of the country’s cornerstone biological and ecological research programs.

  Known as the Ecosystems Mission Area, the program is part of the U.S. Geological Survey and studies nearly every aspect of the ecology and biology of natural and human-altered landscapes and waters around the country.

• • A Court Debates Whether a Climate Lawsuit Threatens National Security

  Claiming Oil Companies Misled People About Climate Risks
  
  

  May 30, 2025 -Two teams of high-powered lawyers clashed this week in Charleston, S.C., over a global-warming question with major implications: Do climate lawsuits against oil companies threaten national security, as President Trump has claimed?

  In the lawsuit, the City of Charleston is arguing that oil companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron? and about a dozen others carried out a sophisticated, decades-long misinformation campaign to cover up what they knew about the dangers of climate change.

• • Trump Takes Aim At the One Climate Solution Republicans Love

  The Energy Department Announced Friday That it Was Terminating $3.7 Billion in Grants for Carbon Capture and Other Projects
  
  

  May 30, 2025 -Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Friday announced that his department would cancel $3.7 billion in grants awarded to 24 projects that were primarily directed at helping companies decarbonize or implement carbon capture and sequestration technology, one of the few climate solutions that many Republicans agree on.

  Click now to read more.

• • Will Charleston’s Climate Lawsuit Survive the Week?

  The City is Suing Oil Companies Over Global Warming. Trump Says Lawsuits Like These Threaten National Security
  
  

  May 29, 2025 -Charleston, a port city draped in Spanish moss and history, and surrounded by rivers and marshland in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, is intensely vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The sea level nearby has already risen a foot. Severe storms and flooding have dramatically increased.

  So,Charleston Sued.

  The city is one of numerous states and communities suing the world’s biggest oil companies, claiming they misled the public about the dangers of climate change.

• • N.Y. Natural Gas Pipelines Get a Second Chance Under Trump

  An Energy Company Plans to Revive Pipelines That Were Blocked on Environmental Grounds, as President Trump Pushes States on Fossil Fuel Projects
  
  

  May 29, 2025 -A pipeline company is reviving plans to build two natural gas pipelines into New York State, a major reversal that amounts to a bet that the Trump administration will be able to strong-arm states into signing off on energy projects.

  New York had blocked both pipelines, called Constitution and Northeast Supply Enhancement, over environmental concerns. But the Trump administration has made clear that it wants more oil and gas infrastructure, including in the Northeast, where pipelines had become so hard to build that companies had all but given up on them.

• • Trump Hates Wind Power.
  But These Texas Republicans are Embracing It

  Wind Turbines have Become a Financial Lifeline in Rural Areas, But State Legislators Are Now Targeting Them
  
  

  May 27, 2025 -As a Republican state lawmaker for 16 years, a Texas rancher and a staunch supporter of Donald Trump, John Davis’s conservative credentials are impeccable. But Davis has become horrified at his party’s assault upon an increasingly vital lifeline to many rural, conservative areas of the US – clean energy development.

  Davis allowed seven wind turbines to be situated on his ranch, in the rolling hill country near Menard, west of Austin, and has seen the income provide opportunities not only for his family but also his local community in what is one of the poorest counties in Texas.

• • On Chemicals and Food, RFK Jr.
  Runs Up Against Powerful GOP Constituencies

  A Striking Clash is Playing Out Between the Make America Healthy Again movement and Anti-Regulation Republicans Who Still Hold Much Power in Washington
  
  {Christian Science MONITOR}
  
  

  May 23, 2025 -Only a week after the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency announced plans to weaken limits on some of the “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in drinking water, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Make America Healthy Again Commission released a much-anticipated report Thursday outlining what it sees as a health crisis among American children. And it pointed to environmental chemicals – including PFAS – as a likely cause of today’s children being what it calls “the sickest generation in American history.”

• • Clean Energy Cash Gushing into
  Red States Puts GOP Senators in a Bind

  The Trump Tax Bill Passed By the House Would Wipe Out Hundreds of Billions of Dollars For Solar, Wind and Other Projects in Republican Districts
  
  

  May 23, 2025 -Donald Trump campaigned last year on reversing what he called the “Green New Scam,” but Republican senators now must grapple with the reality behind the slogan: cutting hundreds of billions of dollars of clean energy subsidies that are flowing to their own states.

  The House advanced a tax measure Thursday that sets the stage for an epic lobbying battle in the Senate over the future of U.S. energy...

• • Trump and Republicans Target Blue States’ Climate Policies

  Thursday’s Senate Vote to Block California’s Ban on Sales of Gas Cars is the Latest GOP Effort to Stop State Climate Policies
  
  

  May 22, 2025 -The Senate voted Thursday to block California from enforcing a rule that would ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035, a move that could have far-reaching implications for auto sales in a dozen states.

  The vote marks Republicans’ latest effort to curtail state-level efforts to tackle climate change, even as President Donald Trump and congressional leaders have empowered states to set their own education policies and abortion laws.

• • House Bill Would Derail Biden’s Signature Climate Law

  House Bill Would Sharply Curtail the Tax Credits That Have Spurred a Rise in Clean Energy Investments
  
  

  May 22, 2025 -The wide-ranging bill passed by the House last night would do many things: slash taxes, increase military and border spending, pare back Medicaid.

  If enacted into law, it would also effectively gut the Inflation Reduction Act, the sweeping law signed by President Biden that was designed to reduce America’s planet-warming emissions and spur a domestic boom in clean energy.

• • Senate Republicans Kill California’s Ban on Gas-Powered Cars

  In 50 years, California’s Authority to Set Environmental Rules that are Tougher than National Standards had Never Before Been Challenged By Congress
  
  

  May 22, 2025 -The Senate on Thursday blocked California’s landmark plan to phase out the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles, setting up a legal battle that could shape the electric car market in the United States.

  The 51-44 vote was a victory for the oil and gas industry and for Republicans who muscled through the vote by deploying an unusual legislative tactic that Democrats denounced as a “nuclear” option that would affect the way the Senate operates way beyond climate policy.

• • The Big Domestic Policy Bill to Deliver Trump’s Agenda

  Here’s What’s in It
  
  

  May 22, 2025 -House Republicans approved a domestic policy bill to enact President Trump’s agenda, prevailing by a single vote after a bitter fight over tax and spending priorities that had divided their conference.

  The legislation would slash taxes, providing the biggest savings to the wealthy, and steer more money to the military and immigration enforcement, while cutting health, nutrition, education and clean energy programs to cover part of the cost.

• • A Rare Olive-Colored Fish Could Soon
  Be Listed as an Endangered Species

  U.S. Wildlife Officials Want to Add a Rare Nevada Fish to the Endangered Species List
  
  {The Press Democrat}
  
  

  May 21, 2025 -LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal protections could soon be extended to a rare Nevada fish that environmentalists say is “barely clinging to existence" because of rapid groundwater pumping in a remote region experiencing extreme drought conditions.

  A proposal to list the tiny Fish Lake Valley tui chub as an endangered species was issued Wednesday by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, kicking off a 60-day public comment period.

• • Biden Fumbled the Energy Debate.
  But Another World Leader Won on Clean Power

  Climate Doesn’t Usually Win Elections — but It Can Lose Them. Australia is Breaking the Political Logjam
  
  

  May 21, 2025 -Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese took office in 2022 pledging to end the country’s climate wars — and he may have just done it.

  “The wars are on, but the good guys are winning them more,” Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen told me ahead of Albanese reappointing him to his post last week, after his Labor Party won its largest majority in 80 years.

• • Don’t Ever Mention Climate:

  Now, Clean Energy
  Is All About the Money
  
  

  May 21, 2025 -When it passed in 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act was hailed by Democrats and environmentalists as the most important piece of climate legislation in American history.

  But today, as House Republicans debate whether to repeal the hundreds of billions of dollars that the law provides for solar panels, electric vehicles and other technologies designed to fight global warming, supporters of the law rarely mention the planet.

• • The U.S. Under Trump: Alone in Its Climate Denial

  Really, The Administration is Not Only Allowing More Greenhouse Gases. It's Undermining the Nation’s Ability to Understand and Respond to a Hotter Planet
  
  

  May 19, 2025 -When the Trump administration declared two weeks ago that it would largely disregard the economic cost of climate change as it sets policies and regulations, it was just the latest step in a multipronged effort to erase global warming from the American agenda.

  But Trump is doing more than just turning a blind eye to the fact that the planet is growing hotter. He is weakening the country’s capacity to understand global warming and to prepare for its consequences.

• • The Weather Service Had a Plan to Reinvent Itself

  Did DOGE Stop It?
  
  

  May 15, 2025 -Ken Graham had a plan.

  When he became the director of the National Weather Service during the Biden administration, Mr. Graham introduced “Ken’s 10,” a list of priorities he hoped would streamline the department.

  In January, addressing a conference hall full of meteorologists in New Orleans, he ticked off some successes, like replacing an antiquated and siloed communications system.

• • A Clean Energy Boom Was Just Starting

  Now, a Republican Bill Aims to End It
  
  

  May 13, 2025 -Sprawling wind farms in Wyoming. A huge solar factory expansion in Georgia. Lithium mines in Nevada. Vacuums that suck carbon from the air in Louisiana.

  Over the past three years, companies have made plans to invest more than $843 billion across the United States in projects aimed at reducing planet-warming emissions, driven by lucrative tax credits for clean energy provided by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. But...

• • Challenge: Raising Trillions to Fight Climate Change

  With or Without the U.S. Presidential Cooperation
  
  

  Nov. 12, 2024 - Getting big cash commitments would be hard enough without wars, a pandemic and inflation having drained the reserves of rich countries that are expected to help poorer ones cope with climate hazards.

  It just got even harder. The election of Trump as president of the U.S. all but guarantees that the world’s richest country will not chip in.

• • Climate Hawks 2020 Endorsements

  What It Takes to Be Endorsed

  (CLIMATEHAWKS), -What we consider in issuing endorsements: First and foremost, a candidate’s public statements regarding climate change. Do you mention specific climate change action in your stump speech? Did you show up at a People’s Climate March? Do you have a thoughtful statement on your website? We also look at viability, although we will back longshots when we find a compelling reason to do so.

  We do not endorse mediocre Democrats, no matter how vehemently a Republican opponent may deny climate science. We only endorse when we are convinced that the candidate will commit to strong climate action in Congress.

  We like primaries. And in 2018 we won 6 out of 8 primaries in which we endorsed — a better track record than any of the larger groups whose endorsement records were compiled by FiveThirtyEight.

  Climate Hawks Vote does not accept contributions from fossil-fuel corporations, executives, or lobbyists. We are a federal Super PAC, which means that we are an independent expenditure committee and can’t endorse in state/local races. We do network with others on the lookout for climate hawks who can think globally and lead locally.

• • Conservatives and Liberals Want
  a Green Energy Future - But..

  They Want it For Different Reasons

  May 5, 2020,(The Conversation)-Political divisions are a growing fixture in the United States today, whether the topic is marriage across party lines, responding to climate change or concern about coronavirus exposure. Especially in a presidential election year, the vast divide between conservatives and liberals often feels nearly impossible to bridge.

  Our research examines what people know about the energy sources in use today in the United States, and what types of energy they would like to see the nation using in 2050. Energy connects to many important issues, including climate change, jobs and economic growth, equity and social justice, and international relations. It would be easy to assume that America’s energy future is a highly polarized topic, especially when the Trump administration is clashing with many states led by Democrats over energy policies.

  Click now to learn what the 'BUT' means.

• • Trump's Early Environmental Rollbacks

  23 Environmental Rules Rolled
  Back in Trump’s First 100 Days

  May 2, 2017 (NY Times Climate Forward) - President Trump, with help from his administration and Republicans in Congress, has reversed course on nearly two dozen environmental rules, regulations and other Obama-era policies during his first 100 days in office.

  Citing federal overreach and burdensome regulations, Mr. Trump has prioritized domestic fossil fuel interests and undone measures aimed at protecting the environment and limiting global warming.

• • The Climate President Action Plan

  10 Climate Actions
  the Next President
  Can Take Without Congress

  Dec. 23, 2019 (ClimatePresident.org)-The United States faces an indisputable climate emergency. The solution to the crisis is also inarguable: We must transform our extractive economy to a regenerative and inclusive one.

  The actions called for in this Presidential action plan can be implemented by the President acting alone without any Congressional action. These ten actions form the necessary foundation for the country's true transformation to a safer, healthier, and more equitable world for everyone.

• • Why Not a Green Marshall Plan?

  Elizabeth Warren Has
  Added a Green Marshall
  Plan to Her List of Proposals

  June 4, 2019  ( Mother Jones)- Elizabeth Warren has ascended in recent Democratic presidential polls atop a growing stack of audacious proposals to wipe out student debt, break up giant companies like Amazon and Facebook , and slap new taxes on the ultra-rich.

  Yet the senator from Massachusetts is taking a different approach to the climate crisis, weaving a patchwork that will likely amount to Warren’s answer to the Green New Deal.

• • Who Are the Climate Mayors?

  We Are Climate Mayors

  Climate Mayors, founfed in 2014, is a bi-partisan, peer-to-peer network of U.S. mayors working together to demonstrate leadership on Climate Chane through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy action.

  The Climate Mayors coalition has emerged as a key voice anddemonstration of the ongoing commitment of U.S. cities to accelerate climate progress.

• • Congress Should Be
  Supporting Clean Energy Incentives

  Tell Congress to Support
  Clean Energy Incentives

  July, 2019  (Environment Florida)) -

  By going big on renewable energy, we can stop polluting our communities and planet with dirty energy sources and make real strides in tackling the climate crisis. Tell your representatives to expand their support for clean energy incentives.

  
  Click now to sign on.
• • Jay Inslee’s Campaign Pledge: No Fossil Fuel Money

  Jay Inslee’s Pledge to
  Reject Fossil Fuel Money

  Mar. 1, 2019 (Huffington Post)) -Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a pledge Tuesday promising to reject donations from the fossil fuel industry ahead of a likely run for the White House that he’s vowed to uniquely center on climate change.

  In an interview with HuffPost, Inslee, 67, said he added his name to the list of more than 1,300 politicians across the United States who took the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.

  Almost every Democratic candidate running in 2020 has signed the pledge.

  Click now to read more.

• • The Green New Deal Explained

  What Is the Green New Deal?
  A Climate Proposal, Explained

  NY Times Climate Forward, Feb. 21, 2019  - The Green New Deal is a congressional resolution that lays out a grand plan for tackling climate change.

  Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, the proposal calls on the federal government to wean the United States from fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy. It also aims to guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean energy industries.

  Interested? Click now for whole story.

• • Burn It or Eat It (Trump’s Choices)

  Food Vs. Fuel: What Trump's Ethanol
  Policy Means For the Food System

  Oct. 25, 2018 (Forbes) -The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with President Trump’s directive to lift a federal ban on high ethanol blended gas during the summer months, though not quickly enough for Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who Reuters reports is urging the EPA to lift the ban on a much quicker timeline. Lifting the ban is a policy shift that’s being celebrated by large-scale corn growers and decried by biofuel opponents. But the policy has implications for the food system too, as many food system reformers say the last thing U.S. farmers should be growing is more corn.

  Corn is a complicated crop. It’s highly efficient, nutrient-packed and yet, on the other hand, the U.S. probably grows too much of it. Corn has earned its fair share of criticism — it’s starchy, grown industrially and ubiquitous in ultra-processed food — but this leading cereal crop has also more than earned its place as an agricultural success story.

  Click now to stay on top of the situation.

• • How the Border Wall Affect Wildlife Near the Border

  ‘This Is Not Like a Fence in a Backyard’
  — Trump’s Border Wall vs. Wildlife

  The Revelator Podcasts, Apr. 11, 2019 - As was discussed recently on the Sciencentric podcast, the wall’s true impact becomes more evident when you envision all of the things that accompany it: Roads, vehicles, lights, and acres upon acres of cleared habitat. That’s bad news for jaguars, bears, birds, bees and hundreds, if not thousands, of other species.

  Check out the video interview, where host Eric R. Olson and John Platt also discuss The Revelator, my work on “Extinction Countdown,” and what technologies might work instead of a wall.

  
  Click now to watch the interview.
• • Trump Wants to Tell the Polar Bears Where to Get Off

  Help Protect the Arctic Refuge
  Before It’s Too Late!

  NRDC -The Trump administration is closer than ever to tearing open the heart of Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for dangerous oil and gas drilling — and if they succeed, it will have devastating, irreversible consequences for our waters, wildlife, climate, and the region’s Gwich’in people.

  NRDC is fighting back in and out of the courtroom in an unprecedented battle to protect the Arctic Refuge and its fragile Arctic coastline.

• • Trump is Not the 1st to Assault Env. Protection

  History of US Presidential Assaults
  on Environmental Health Protection

  Apr. 26, 2018 American Public Health Association - The Trump administration has undertaken an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency critical to environmental health. This assault has precedents in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

  The early Reagan administration (1981–1983) launched an overt attack on the EPA, combining deregulation with budget and staff cuts, whereas the George W. Bush administration (2001–2008) adopted a subtler approach, undermining science-based policy.

  Wait, there’s more…

• • Some Republicans Support Carbon Fee/Dividend

  Exceeding Paris

  Contain Forewords by: Ted Halstead, George P. Schultz, Lawrence Summers, Rob Walton, Christine Todd Whitman and Janet Yellen.

  The Baker-Shultz plan would achieve approximately 32% in greenhouse gas reductions by 2025, thereby exceeding our Paris commitment by a wide margin

  The Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan is not only the most environmentally ambitious plan, but also the most politically-viable. Why? Because it addresses the legitimate concerns of all key stakeholders in the climate debate and enables each to realize an important victory.

  Click to read the PDF from the
  Climate Leadership Council.

• • Attention Humanists: You Have a Role to Play

  Ask What You Can Do for Your Climate(1)

  Apr. 18, 2017 -While the federal government is becoming a follower rather than a leader on climate change, humanists can fight on the state, local, and personal levels

  IF THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL, then climate change is personal, too. As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump campaigned against the Paris Agreement negotiated in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. With President Trump signing an executive order to roll back federal efforts to reduce global warming, humanists must do more at the state and local levels to fight climate change. If you’re up for it, there are many things you can do to help.

  
  Click now if you’re ready to learn more.
• • We Can Take Active Role in the Climate Crisis

  Ask What You Can Do for Your Climate<2>

  Join a Climate Reality Chapter,and be part of a sustainable future. You’ve heard about “the future.” It’s not that far away, and your children and grandchildren will be living in it, long after you’re gone.

  Chapters give you the opportunity to draw on Climate Reality’s support and expertise, while creating and executing plans for climate action that make the most sense for your community.

  Already, Climate Reality chapters have become a vital force for progress, helping expand clean energy alternatives, tackling the legacy of fossil fuels in low-income communities, and pushing for carbon pricing policies, to name just a few of the many campaigns underway across the US.

  
  Click now if you’re ready to take action too.

• • Science Under Attack:

  Sidelining Researchers and Their Work

  Dec. 28, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward -In just three years, the Trump administration has diminished the role of science in federal policymaking while halting or disrupting research projects nationwide, marking a transformation of the federal government whose effects, experts say, could reverberate for years.

  Political appointees have shut down government studies, reduced the influence of scientists over regulatory decisions and in some cases pressured researchers not to speak publicly. The administration has particularly challenged scientific findings related to the environment and public health opposed by industries such as oil drilling and coal mining. It has also impeded research around human-caused climate change, which President Trump has dismissed despite a global scientific consensus.

• • Politicians Voting Against
  Climate Change Get More Corporate Cash

  Voters Seem to Care About Climate
  Change, But Do Big Corporations?

  Oct. 23, 2020, (Bloomberg Green)-As Americans vote in an election that will redefine national climate priorities, the biggest U.S. companies—even those with ambitious green agendas—are throwing their support behind lawmakers who routinely stall climate legislation.

  Bloomberg Green examined political donations by businesses in the S&P 100 and large U.S.-based corporate contributors to climate change identified by the Climate Action 100+, which seeks to help them lower their emissions.

• • Dems to Fossil Fuel Contributions: No Thanks

  DNC Votes to Ban Fossil
  Fuel Company Donations

  June 12, 2018 -The move is a step toward purging oil, gas and coal industry influence on the Democratic Party’s climate policies.

  The Democratic National Committee voted over the weekend to ban donations from fossil fuel companies, HuffPost has learned.

  The resolution — proposed by Christine Pelosi, a party activist and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter — bars the organization from accepting contributions from corporate political action committees tied to the oil, gas and coal industries. The executive committee voted unanimously to approve the motion.

• • Clean Energy Research Not a Priority

  White House Seeks 72% Cut to
  Clean Energy Research,Underscoring
  Its Preference for Fossil Fuels

  Feb. 1, 2018 -The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall in fiscal 2019, according to draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post.

  Many of the sharp cuts would probably be restored by Congress, but President Trump’s budget, due out in February, will mark a starting point for negotiations and offer a statement of intent and policy priorities.

• • Donald Trump: Making the Oceans Not-So-Great Again

  Donald Trump Aims to
  Weaken Ocean Protections

  Mar. 16, 2020 (CleanTechnica) -We are approaching the 10th anniversary of the British Petroleum (BP) disaster, which killed 11 men, injured 17 others, and spilled more than 130 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster polluted more than 1,300 miles of coastline, devastated marine life, and cost the Gulf Coast billions in lost revenue.

  The Trump Administration’s aggressive deregulatory agenda threatens to undo many of the safeguards for ocean and coastal ecosystems, including those that regulate the offshore oil industry. We cannot have a repeat of the BP disaster and we need common sense protections for the ocean now more than ever.

• • Strip Mining on Protected
  Tennessee Cumberland Plateau

  Trump May Approve
  Strip Mining on Tennessee’s
  Protected Cumberland Plateau

  Feb. 13, 2020 (inside climate news) -LAFOLLETTE, Tennessee—Even as the nation's demand for coal tumbles, the Trump administration is considering a permit that would allow strip mining on protected ridgelines in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau over the objection of environmental groups and the state's Republican attorney general.

  The wild, scenic terrain is within 75,000 acres designated, at the state's behest, as unsuitable for surface coal mining in 2016 by the Obama administration's Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation, the agency responsible for regulating coal mining in the state.

• • Good Riddance to Climate Denier From NSC

  Climate Denialist to Depart
  White House National Security Council

  Sep. 11, 2019 (New York Times)- William Happer, the White House architect of a stalled plan to attack the established science of climate change, is leaving the Trump administration on Friday, according to three people familiar with his plans.

  Dr. Happer, a physicist who gained notoriety by claiming that the greenhouse gases contributing to warming the planet are beneficial to humanity, and for likening attacks on fossil fuels to “the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler” in a 2014 interview, served on the National Security Council as President Trump’s deputy assistant for emerging technologies.

• • No Lessons Learned From Deepwater Horizon

  Trump Plan Would Open Nearly All
  the Gulf of Mexico to Oil Drilling

  Jan. 4, 2018 - The Trump administration on Thursday (Jan. 4) announced plans for the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. history, putting up for lease federal waters in the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans and millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico, including protected areas in the eastern Gulf.

  Click now for article from azCentral.

• • Clean Energy and Electric Cars Hit By GOP

  Tax Overhaul Hammers
  Clean Energy and Electric Cars

  (M.I.T. Technology Review) Dec. 8, 2017 - Legislators from both chambers are now hashing out their differences in the reconciliation committee in hopes of delivering a final bill to the White House before the end of the year. Clean-energy lobbyists are scrambling to push back on provisions they and others fear could stunt development or deployment of technologies needed to lower the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions.

• • DOW's Campaign Contributions
  Stopped the Banning of Chlorpyrifos

  How Dow Chemical Influenced
  the EPA to Ignore the
  Scientific Evidence on Chlorpyrifos

  (Union of Concerned Scientists) -On March 29, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that his agency would decline to ban chlorpyrifos, despite years of scientific study and deliberation indicating that the pesticide poses a clear risk to children, farmworkers, and users of rural drinking water.

  This was a 180-degree turn from the science-based conclusion reached just a few months before by the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which found that chlorpyrifos has harmful effects on children’s brain development. Both EPA scientists and the American Academy of Pediatrics have urged the EPA to ban the insecticide.

  Click now to read on.

• • The Top Ten Toxic Threats

  The E.P.A.’s Top 10 Toxic
  Threats, and Industry’s Pushback

  Oct. 21, 2017 - The E.P.A.has published a list of 10 toxic threats it will evaluate first under a law passed last year intended to crack down on hazardous chemicals.

  They are among 90 chemicals identified by the agency that may harm children, damage nerve tissue, cause cancer, contaminate the environment, accumulate in the bloodstream or show up in consumer products. As the review begins, industry and other interest groups are urging the E.P.A. to limit any restrictions.

  Click for the list that should
  not be on your top ten.

• • Climate Change Collapsing Australia’s Ecosystems

  Ecosystems Across Australia Are Undergo Climate Change

  The Converstion

  Research, recently published in Nature Climate Change, describes a series of sudden and catastrophic ecosystem shifts that have occurred recently across Australia.

• • CC Advisory Committee Dropped

  Administration Disbands Climate
  Change Advisory Committee

  Aug 20, 2017 - The Trumpv administration of has decided to disband a federal advisory panel on climate change - in a further sign of the White House's view on environmental policy.

  The panel is part of the National Climate Assessment, a group aimed at helping officials and policy makers integrate the US Government's climate change analysis into their long-term planning.

• • Climate Skeptic Heads Top Science Post

  New USDA Research Head
  Thinks Climate Science Is 'Junk'

  July 20, 2017 - President Trump has nominated a well-known climate change doubter to the top science job at the Department of Agriculture.

  The nomination, which had been expected, was announced in a statement by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Sam Clovis, an early campaign adviser to Trump, will serve as undersecretary for research, education and economics.

• • Is the State of the Great Lakes a State Problem?

  Trump Says 'Yes' -
  Congress Says 'No'

  July 14, 2017 - Together, the five lakes hold nearly one-fifth of the earth’s surface freshwater. They’re home to 3500 species of plants and animals, including 170 species of fish. Not to mention the drinking water for about 35 million people, in eight states plus Canada. They have been a major highway for transportation, trade and migration. And more than 1.5 million jobs are directly connected to the lakes.

  But the Trump administration views the health of the Great Lakes as a local issue. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and budget director Mick Mulvaney squared off at a budget hearing a couple months ago on the topic. You can watch the exchange here:

• • Shades of White House Climate Denial

  5 Shades of Climate Denial,
  All on Display in the White House

  June 9.2017 - - From ‘it’s not real’ to ‘it’s not urgent,’ take a tour through the many shades of climate change denial wielded by Donald Trump's administration.