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Keeping It Green

GOVERNMENTAL DIRECTORY

• Note Worthy

Page Updated:
Feb. 2, 2026

• • Anxious Greens Await Death of Endangerment Finding

  Environmental Groups Are Planning Protests to Oppose EPA’s Upcoming Move to Repeal the Scientific Finding
  
  {E&E NEWS}
  
  

  Jan 23, 2026 -Environmentalists are bracing for the imminent release of an EPA rule that would gut the agency’s ability to regulate climate pollution.

  EPA is poised to finalize its rollback of the endangerment finding — a scientific assertion that undergirds its authority over greenhouse gases — within weeks, or sooner. The move promises to help the Trump administration demolish existing climate rules that force industries to reduce global warming pollution from sources like cars and power plants.

  But when and how it will be released are such tightly held secrets that environmental groups have been scouring the travel itinerary of EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for signs of a high-profile announcement.

• • Energy Dept. Is Canceling $30 Billion in Clean Energy Loans

  The Announcement Underscored the Drastic Change In the Energy Landscape Under President Trump.

  
  

  Jan. 22, 2026 - The Energy Department said on Thursday that it was in the process of revising or canceling more than $83 billion in loans for clean energy technologies that had been approved under the Biden administration.

  The announcement came from the agency’s loan programs office, which played a central role in the Biden administration’s efforts to develop new technologies to fight climate change. Under President Biden, that office finalized or issued conditional commitments for roughly $104 billion in lending for battery factories, transmission lines, hydrogen plants and many other projects.

• • Will Trump’s Push to Drill on California Public
  Lands be More Successful This Time Around?

  The BLM has Revived Its Effort to Open More of California’s Public Lands to Oil Extraction

  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -While President Donald Trump pursues Venezuelan oil reserves abroad, his administration continues to double down on efforts to expand drilling in the United States, most recently in California.

  The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) on Monday proposed plans to open nearly 2 million acres of land from Santa Barbara to the Bay Area for oil drilling and fracking, including land adjacent to national and state parks, along coastlines and waterways, and areas near schools and homes.

• • 3 Things to Watch in EPA’s Endangerment Repeal

  Legal Experts Say Its Success Could Hinge On These Details
  
  {E&E News}
  
  

  Jan. 16, 2026 -EPA is on the verge of finalizing its sweeping rollback of the endangerment finding — the scientific cornerstone that allows it to regulate climate pollution — in a move that would help President Donald Trump topple multiple rules aimed at forcing American industries to reduce their carbon emissions.

  It stands to be a game changer for a president who has rejected the basic tenets of climate science as he works to accelerate the production of fossil fuels, the main source of pollution that has led global temperatures to reach levels never seen before by modern humans. Repealing the 2009 finding would eliminate the regulatory authority that EPA relied on to enact climate rules on sources such as power plants and vehicles, easing Trump’s ability to revoke them — and making it harder for future presidents to replace them.

• • E.P.A. Moves to Limit States’ Ability to Block Pipelines

  The EPA Will Limit States’ Ability to Block the Buildout of Oil Pipelines, Coal Export Terminals, and Other Potentially Polluting Energy Projects
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 14, 2026 -The EPA aims to narrow Section 401 of the Clean Water Act, which allows states and tribes to review federal permits for energy projects that could impact nearby waterways.

  The rationale: Citing the urgent need to power data centers, officials aim to stop governors from using the law as a means to restrict fossil fuel infrastructure.

• • Trump’s DOJ Turns Its Attention to Local Gas Bans

  It Has Sued Two California Cities to Overturn Their Gas Bans, Arguing Local “Zero-Emission” Rules Violate Federal Law
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Jan. 13, 2026 -Following an executive order to protect domestic energy resources, the DOJ is suing Morgan Hill and Petaluma, alleging their bans on gas hookups in new buildings violate the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) by effectively regulating appliance standards—a power reserved for the feds.

  Yes, but: Legal experts argue this is a symbolic victory. California's state-level building codes have already "moved on," using strict efficiency standards and subsidy cuts to make gas construction economically unviable regardless of municipal bans.

• • US Wildland Fire Service Launched, Despite Lack of Funding

  And Without Majority of Nation’s Firefighting Resources
  
  {Wildfire Today}
  
  

  Jan. 12, 2026 -The United States Department of the Interior on Monday officially announced the launch of the “U.S. Wildland Fire Service,” an effort by the department to unify the wildfire-fighting resources of numerous agencies.

  Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum first announced the department’s intent to establish the new service in September as a continuation of President Donald Trump’s executive order in June, which directed all agencies represented by the National Interagency Fire Center to enhance their wildland firefighting capabilities. The new Service will consolidate all department sub-agencies’ wildland firefighting forces, including those in the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

• • NASA’s Largest Library Is Closing Amid Staff and Lab Cuts

  Holdings From the Library At the Goddard Space Flight Center, Which Includes Unique Documents From The Early 20Th Century to the Soviet Space Race, Will Be Warehoused Or Thrown Out
  
  
  

  Dec. 31, 2025 -The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else.

  Jacob Richmond, a NASA spokesman, said the agency would review the library holdings over the next 60 days and some material would be stored in a government warehouse while the rest would be tossed away.

• • Scientists Denounce Trump’s Plan to
  Kill Crucial Atmospheric Science Center

  The U.S. Government Is Dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Jettisoning Key Climate Science Projects In the Process
  
  
  

  Dec. 17, 2025 -The Trump administration is dismantling the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), long considered the crown jewel in the U.S.’s earth science infrastructure. Scientists who study climate, weather and other earth sciences have decried the move, first reported by USA Today, as “taking a sledgehammer” to an “iconic” center dedicated to studying our planet.

  “NCAR is quite literally our global mothership,” wrote Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University and chief scientist of the Nature Conservancy, on Bluesky. “Dismantling NCAR is like taking a sledgehammer to the keystone holding up our scientific understanding of the planet. Unbelievable.”

• • The EPA Is Wiping Mention of Human-
  Caused Climate Change From Its Website

  Some Pages Have Been Tweaked to Emphasize “Natural Forces”; Others Have Been Deleted Entirely
  
  
  

  Dec. 9, 2025 - The Environmental Protection Agency has removed references to human-caused climate change from its website — tweaking some pages to focus on the “natural processes” driving climate change and wiping other pages from the internet.

  In October, the EPA page on “Causes of Climate Change,” for example, included a statement from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that noted, “It is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.”

• • Trump Returns to Gasoline as Fuel of Choice for Cars

  Gutting Biden’s Climate Policy
  
  
  

  Dec. 3, 2025 - President Trump on Wednesday threw the weight of the federal government behind vehicles that burn gasoline rather than electric cars, gutting one of the country’s most significant efforts to address climate change and thrusting the automobile industry into greater uncertainty.

  Flanked by executives from major automakers in the Oval Office, Mr. Trump said the Transportation Department would significantly weaken fuel efficiency requirements for tens of millions of new cars and light trucks. The administration claimed the changes would save Americans $109 billion over five years and shave $1,000 off the average cost of a new car.

• • EPA to Abandon Air Pollution Rule That
  Would Prevent Thousands of U.S. Deaths

  The Environmental Protection Agency Will No Longer Defend Biden-Era Limits On Fine-Particle Pollution, Which Causes Heart and Lung Disease
  
  
  

  Nov. 25, 2025 -The EPA is abandoning a rule that would strengthen limits on fine-particle pollution, a move scientists and experts say could lead to dirtier air and more U.S. deaths.

  On Monday night, the agency moved to vacate defense of the rule, which the Biden administration finalized last year, arguing that the previous administration did not have the authority to tighten it.

• • In One Week, Trump Moves
  to Reshape U.S. Environmental Policy

  The Administration This Week Moved to Weaken the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act
  
  
  

  Nov. 22, 2025 - The environmental rollbacks came one after the next this week, potentially affecting everything from the survival of rare whales to the health of the Hudson River.

  On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency proposed to strip federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands and streams, narrowing the reach of the Clean Water Act.

• • EPA Just Approved New ‘Forever
  Chemical’ Pesticides For Use On Food

  Critics Warn the EPA’s Approvals of New PFAS Pesticides Could Expose More Americans to “Forever Chemicals”
  
  
  

  Nov. 22, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with approvals for pesticides containing “forever chemicals” as an active ingredient, dismissing concerns about health and environmental impacts raised by some scientists and activists.

  This month, the agency approved two new pesticides that meet the internationally recognized definition for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, also known as PFAS or fluorinated substances, and has announced plans for four additional approvals.

• • E.P.A. Rule Would Drastically Curb Protections for Wetlands

  The Rule Could Strip Federal Protections From Most U.S. Wetlands, Some of Which Feed Drinking Water Systems
  
  
  

  Nov. 17, 2025 -The Trump administration proposed on Monday to significantly limit the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to limit pollution in wetlands, rivers and other bodies of water across the country.

  The proposed rule could strip federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands and streams, potentially threatening sources of clean drinking water for millions of Americans. It was a victory for a range of business interests that have lobbied to scale back the Clean Water Act of 1972, including farmers, home builders, real estate developers, oil drillers and petrochemical manufacturers.

• • Mass. House Moves Forward With
  Bill to Weaken 2030 Climate Goals

  State Lawmakers Advance a Bill That Would Pull Back Major Pieces of the State’s 2030 Climate Plan in the Name of Affordability
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Nov. 13, 2025 -The proposal would make the 2030 emissions target effectively optional if the state cites federal rollbacks as the cause of missed progress. It trims the Mass Save efficiency budget, downgrades its carbon-reduction requirements, and lowers the annual clean-energy purchases utilities must make through 2033.

  It also delays offshore wind contracting, rewrites solar net-metering rules, and removes the requirement that regulators include the social cost of carbon when judging program cost-effectiveness.

• • As the Government Abandons Clean Energy, Green
  Steelmaking Advocates Look for Other Paths Forward

  Increased Tariffs, Canceled Federal Funding For Clean Energy Projects and the Sale of U.S. Steel Have Complicated the Outlook For Decarbonizing the Steel Industry
  
  
  

  Nov. 11, 2025 -After a year of political and economic upheaval, the movement to transition the American steel industry away from fossil fuels faces opportunities and growing challenges, according to three new reports.

  “There is so much changing at the federal level and so much happening within the steel industry,” said Justine Hackimer, a co-author of the Ohio River Valley Institute’s report, which focuses on the potential economic benefits of adopting green steel in the U.S. and especially in western Pennsylvania, where U.S. Steel is headquartered.

• • This Lab Is Key For Tracking Deadly Waves

  Its Sensors Are About to Go Offline
  
  
  

  Nov. 11, 2024 -After surging through the Pacific Ocean, a massive tsunami crashed into Hawaii in 1946, killing 159 people and destroying hundreds of buildings. It was the deadliest such event in modern U.S. history — and it sparked a reckoning.

  The wave was caused by a distant underwater earthquake near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Few in Hawaii knew the deadly tremor had occurred, or that a massive wall of water that reached as high as 130 feet, was on its way, moving as fast as a commercial jet. The disaster, along with another earthquake-caused tsunami in 1964, pushed the United States to beef up its alert systems in part through the National Tsunami Warning Center, operated under National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and track seismic activity in that remote area, an earthquake hot spot.

• • U.S. Tsunami Warning System, Reeling From
  Funding and Staffing Cuts, is Dealt Another Blow

  Seismic Monitoring Stations in Alaska are Closing After a Denied Federal Grant, Risking Delayed Tsunami Warnings For People Living on the West Coast
  
  {NBC News}
  
  

  Nov. 8, 2024 -Nine seismic stations in Alaska are set to go dark this month, leaving tsunami forecasters without important data used to determine whether an earthquake will send a destructive wave barreling toward the West Coast.

  The stations relied on a federal grant that lapsed last year; this fall, the Trump administration declined to renew it. Data from the stations helps researchers determine the magnitude and shape of earthquakes along the Alaskan Subduction Zone, a fault that can produce some of the most powerful quakes in the world and put California, Oregon, Washington and Hawaii at risk.

• • E.P.A. Retreats From Plans to End the Energy Star Program

  The EPA is Backing Away From Plans to Shut Down Energy Star
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Nov. 3, 2024 -Nov. 6, 2025 -Administrator Lee Zeldin is reportedly reconsidering the move after fierce resistance from business groups, manufacturers, and even Republicans, who argued the label saves consumers money and boosts sales.

  By the numbers: The program costs $32M a year to operate and helps cut US energy bills by $40B annually, making it one of the government’s most cost-effective climate initiatives.

• • Volunteers Step In to Help
  Understaffed NOAA Track Hurricane Melissa

  Staffing Cuts and a Federal Government Shutdown Are Stretching Scientists’ Ability to Make Valuable Hurricane Observations
  
  
  

  Oct. 28, 2025 -Frank Marks has flown aboard hurricane hunter aircraft dozens of times over the past 45 years, collecting data that has revolutionized meteorologists’ ability to predict how tropical cyclones will strengthen. When he retired from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last year, the veteran scientist told colleagues, “If they ever need anything, I’m available.”

  It didn’t take long for them to take him up on that.

  Dr. Marks is one of a handful of NOAA retirees who have been working on a volunteer basis this hurricane season to make sure that the significant improvements in forecasting capabilities over recent decades can continue despite large staff losses orchestrated by the Trump administration earlier this year. He even returned to the air on a mission into Hurricane Erin in August.

• • US Government Funnels Billions of Dollars to O&G Industry Giants

  A New Analysis From Oil Change International Found That the Federal Government Provides $30B+ in Annual Subsidies to the Fossil Fuel Industry—2X the Amount from 2017
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 27, 2025 -The report says most of the money benefits major producers like ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell, and TotalEnergies, which collectively earned $100B+ in profits last year.

  Subsidies often take the form of tax breaks, direct payments, or price controls, which researchers say encourage new fossil fuel production that wouldn’t otherwise happen.

• • Trump Administration Reignites the Push to 'Drill, Baby, Drill'

  The Administration is Reigniting Its Drilling Push
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 27, 2025 -The Interior Department will open Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas drilling for the first time since Biden-era leases were canceled, reinstating seven prior leases and authorizing a controversial road through a wildlife refuge. Secretary Doug Burgum said the decisions show “Alaska is open for business.”

  Simultaneously, the Trump administration is preparing to expand offshore drilling in federal waters along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, including parts of California and the eastern Gulf, according to internal planning documents.

• • An E.P.A. Plan to Kill a Major Climate
  Rule Is Worrying Business Leaders

  Some Carmakers and Energy Executives Say the Plan Would Trigger Costly Litigation and Spur Individual States to Create a Patchwork of Tighter Rules
  May Be Some 'Good Signs'
  
  
  

  Oct. 25, 2024 -The Environmental Protection Agency is promising to erase a scientific finding that underpins climate regulations nationwide. But some business leaders said they are wary that the move could lead to a costly legal quagmire.

  The rule, known as the “endangerment finding,” is the conclusion by the E.P.A. that greenhouse gases endanger public health and therefore must be regulated by the federal government. Lee Zeldin, the E.P.A. administrator, has said the agency would repeal the finding, claiming that the burden to industries of cutting greenhouse gas emissions is more harmful than a warming planet.

• • Lobbyist Now Oversees Pesticide Rules

  From Industry to E.P.A.
  
  
  

  Oct. 21, 2024 -Until recently, Kyle Kunkler was the top lobbyist for America’s soybean industry. In that job he once boasted of helping to keep a controversial weedkiller called dicamba in use, likening his back-and-forth with regulators to a tennis match full of “rocketing volleys.”

  Now, he is that regulator.

  In June, Mr. Kunkler was named the Trump administration’s top official in charge of pesticide policy at the Environmental Protection Agency. Less than a month later, the E.P.A. proposed allowing the use of herbicides containing dicamba, a chemical whose use has twice been restricted by a federal court. Critics of the proposal say it closely aligns with the soybean industry’s priorities.

• • How FEMA Is Forcing Disaster-
  Struck Towns to Fend for Themselves

  Trump Wants to Eventually Shift the Burden of Disaster Relief and Recovery onto States
  
  
  

  Oct. 16, 2024 -Life is inching back to normal in the town of Cave City seven months after a tornado slammed into its corner of northeastern Arkansas. The only grocery store is about to reopen. Crews are starting to dig the foundation for a rebuilt funeral home.

  But the town — like so many others facing daunting recoveries from recent disaster — has had to go it alone, Mayor Jonas Anderson said.

• • Federal Actions Make New York’s Energy Future More Uncertain

  Governor Kathy Hochul Faces Tough Choices and Lofty Expectations.
  
  
  

  Oct. 15, 2024 -During a recent visit to a Long Island power station, U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright criticized Biden-era policies that supported the development of renewable energy sources.

  “There was a lot of that money allocated under the Biden administration that was to encourage business and utilities to … spend money to make electricity more expensive and less reliable,” Wright said during a press conference.

• • Trump’s Energy Cuts Punished Mostly Blue States.

  Red States Might Be Next
  
  
  

  Oct. 8, 2025 -The Energy Department’s cancellation of $7.5 billion in Biden-era awards for clean energy projects is poised to cause significant job losses and disruptions, leaders of several states have said, even as internal documents suggest that the agency may be contemplating deeper cuts in the months ahead.

  The agency’s termination of more than two dozen grants in New York State alone would threaten more than 1,000 jobs and nearly $500 million in investments in the state, according to figures compiled by the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and reviewed by The New York Times.

• • The Trump Administration May Cut
  Funding For Two Major Direct-Air-Capture Plants

  At Least Tens of Millions of Dollars Are On the Line For Big Carbon Removal Projects in Louisiana and Texas
  
  
  

  Oct. 7, 2025 -The US Department of Energy appears poised to terminate funding for a pair of large carbon-sucking factories that were originally set to receive more than $1 billion in government grants, according to a department-issued list of projects obtained by MIT Technology Review and circulating among federal agencies.

  One of the projects is the South Texas Direct Air Capture Hub, a facility that Occidental Petroleum’s 1PointFive subsidiary planned to develop in Kleberg County, Texas. The other is Project Cypress in Louisiana, a collaboration between Battelle, Climeworks, and Heirloom.

• • Trump Mulls Cutting Billions in Funds
  From List of Clean Energy Projects

  Learn Which Ones Are on the Chopping Block
  
  
  

  Oct. 7, 2025 -The U.S. government is considering cancelling billions of dollars in funding for clean energy programs, including awards for auto manufacturing and carbon capture, according to a list of targeted projects seen by Reuters.

  Projects on the list include two major direct air capture hubs that received billion-dollar awards from former President Joe Biden's administration, including one that involves oil company Occidental (OXY.N)

• • Trump’s Cuts Hurt Climate Tech
  Favored By Big Tech and Big Oil

  The Unlikely Complainers
  
  {SEMAFOR}
  
  

  Oct. 7, 2025 -The Trump administration’s recent decision to rescind nearly $8 billion in funding for innovative energy projects could drive tech and fossil fuel companies to look outside the US for technologies both industries are keen to make use of.

  The cuts affected more than 300 projects that received funding from the Department of Energy under the Biden administration, and overwhelmingly targeted projects located in majority-Democrat states.

• • Fossil Fuels Are (Sort of) Spared in the Shutdown

  Interior Department Documents Show That Oil, Gas, and Coal Projects Will Be Disrupted Less Than Other Sectors During the Government Shutdown
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Oct. 3, 2025 -The Bureau of Land Management is continuing leasing and permitting tied to fossil fuels, funded through industry fees and exemptions tied to “national energy emergency” work.

  The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management has staff in place to advance Gulf America Lease Sale 262 and prep 2026 offshore mineral lease sales, though only for time-sensitive projects.

  The Office of Surface Mining will keep employees on to handle mining plan reviews and NEPA work for priority coal projects.

• • National Parks Are Staying Open
  During the Government Shutdown

  Putting Visitors and Resources at Risk
  
  
  

  Oct. 1, 2025 -Overflowing bathrooms. Illegal off-road driving through fragile habitats. Historic petroglyphs damaged beyond repair. Iconic Joshua trees chopped down.

  Those were the impacts to national parks during the last federal shutdown in 2018, the longest in U.S. history, which lasted 35 days. With the federal government shutting down again, but national parks slated to remain open, advocates fear the situation may be worse because it comes after the Trump administration slashed staff.

• • How Shutdown Gridlock Could Impede Disaster Preparedness

  Turmoil in Washington is Distracting From Efforts to Fix a Flood Insurance Gap and Replenish a Key Disaster Relief Fund
  
  
  

  Sept. 30, 2025 -A government shutdown is converging with key deadlines for funding of disaster preparedness and federal flood insurance, threatening to expose thousands of Americans to flood losses and stall thousands of real estate sales.

  The National Flood Insurance Program, the main source of coverage against flood damage for most Americans, lapsed just after midnight Wednesday, at the same time a funding gap shut down the federal government.

• • Federal Support for Wind and Solar Are Waning

  States Are Trying to Push Policy Through on Their Own
  
  
  

  Sept. 29, 2025 -This hasn’t been a kind year for developers looking to break ground on renewable energy projects.

  On President Donald Trump’s first day in office, he issued a memorandum halting approvals, permits, leases and loans for both offshore and onshore wind projects.

  The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed in July with exclusively Republican support, accelerated the phaseout of tax credits promised under the Inflation Reduction Act for wind and solar projects. Subsequent guidance from the U.S. Treasury Department further constrained eligibility rules.

• • Energy Dept. Adds ‘Climate Change’
  and ‘Emissions’ to Banned Words List

  The Energy Department Has Added “Climate Change,” “Green” and “Decarbonization” to Its Growing “List of Words to Avoid”
  
  {yahoo!news}
  
  

  Sept. 28, 2025 -The words on the DOE list are at the heart of EERE’s mission: It is the government’s largest investor in technologies that help reduce heat-trapping emissions that cause climate change as well as the hazardous pollution from fossil fuels. It is the latest in a series of Trump administration efforts to dispute, silence or downplay the realities of climate change.

  “Please ensure that every member of your team is aware that this is the latest list of words to avoid — and continue to be conscientious about avoiding any terminology that you know to be misaligned with the Administration’s perspectives and priorities,” the directive from acting director of external affairs Rachel Overbey said.

• • National Weather Service at
  ‘Breaking Point’ as Storm Approaches

  Staffing cuts Mean Forecasters are Struggling to Maintain Normal Operations
  
  
  

  Sept. 27, 2025 -Some National Weather Service staffers are working double shifts to keep forecasting offices open. Others are operating under a “buddy system,” in which adjacent offices help monitor severe weather in understaffed regions. Still others are jettisoning services deemed not absolutely necessary, such as making presentations to schoolchildren.

  The Trump administration’s cuts to the Weather Service — where nearly 600 workers, or about 1 in every 7, have left through firings, resignations or retirements — are pushing the agency to its limits, according to interviews with current and former staffers.

• • As Texas Flooded, Key Staff Say
  FEMA’s Leader Could Not Be Reached

  David Richardson, is Often Inaccessible, Several Current and Former Officials Say
  
  
  

  Sept. 24, 2025 -On a Friday morning in July, shortly after deadly Independence Day floods swept through parts of Texas Hill Country packed with camps full of young children, the Federal Emergency Management Agency scrambled to coordinate a response. The next afternoon, teams readied search-and-rescue crews, imagery and other emergency equipment. Then their hustling hit a roadblock.

  They couldn’t reach a key U.S. official needed to deploy the resources, one required by law to be accessible during emergencies: FEMA’s acting administrator, David Richardson.

• • EPA Tells Some Scientists to Stop Publishing Studies

  Staff From the EPA’s Office of Water Were Summoned to a Town Hall Meeting This Week and Told to Pause the Publication of Most Research
  
  
  

  Sept. 20, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered scientists in at least one of its research offices to immediately pause almost all efforts to publish research, according to two agency employees familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

  Click now to learn more.

• • Lawmakers Send Newsom a High-Stakes
  Energy Overhaul Tied to Wildfires, Utilities and Oil

  California Lawmakers Just Pushed Through One of the Biggest Energy Overhauls in Years
  
  {energy central}
  
  

  Sept. 15, 2025 -Cap-and-trade extended: The state’s carbon market—renamed “cap and invest”—will now run through 2045. Lawmakers earmarked $1B a year for high-speed rail and another $1B for general budget use starting in 2026.

  Wildfire + utility costs: Utilities won broader liability protections, while ratepayers will keep paying into a $9B wildfire fund. New rules aim to hold down transmission costs and limit how much utilities can raise bills for wildfire hardening.

  Regional market: The deal also clears the way for California utilities to join a Western regional power market.

• • Trump Administration Dissolves Climate Contrarian
  Group That Authored Controversial Report

  The Agency Just Scrapped Its Handpicked “Climate Contrarians” Panel, the Group Behind a Federal Report Downplaying Climate Risks and Even Calling Them Beneficial
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 11, 2025 -Trump officials had promoted the report while deleting past National Climate Assessments from federal websites—an effort critics say aimed to rewrite climate science.

  The backlash: Climate researchers submitted over 400 pages of public comments dismantling the group’s claims. One organizer called the dissolution a “white flag” moment. DOE won’t withdraw the report, but the panel is gone.

  Climate scientist Andrew Dessler’s verdict: “Any attempt to respond would have revealed how unscientific the report actually was.”

• • Trump-era Rollbacks and Rising
  Load Are Reshaping the Grid Outlook

  We Find the US is On Track to Reduce GHG emissions by 26-41% in 2040 Relative to 2005 levels
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 11, 2025 -Coal capacity is expected to drop 55–75%, but whether gas or renewables replace it depends heavily on fuel prices and technology costs, Rhodium analysts suggested. In the “high” scenario, gas builds push sector emissions up 8% from 2030–40. And without EPA rules and clean energy tax credits, renewable deployment slows sharply after 2030.

• • Will NASA Kill a Pair of Critical Climate Satellites?

  They're In Good Working Order and Provide Some of the Best Data on CO2 Concentrations in the Atmosphere
  
  
  

  Sept. 8, 2025 - As Congress returns to session this month, the fate of two satellites that have become integral to climate science hangs in the balance.

  The Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 and -3, or OCO-2 and -3, have been circling the globe for years, gathering some of the best data available on carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

• • History of the Clean Water Act

  History of the Clean Water Act

  Sep. 12, 2019  (EPA)- The Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1948 was the first major U.S. law to address water pollution. Growing public awareness and concern for controlling water pollution led to sweeping amendments in 1972. As amended in 1972, the law became commonly known as the Clean Water Act (CWA).

  The 1972 amendments:
  
  Established basic structure for regulating discharges into the waters of the U.S.
  Gave EPA the authority including setting wastewater standards for industry
  Maintained requirements for water quality standards
  Illegalized discharge any pollutant into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained under its provisions
  Funded the construction of sewage treatment plants
  Recognized the need for planning to address the critical source pollution problems

• • Is Ethanol Really a Good Idea?

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

  Forbes Magazine -The EPA moved 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.

• • EPA to Halt Fuel Economy Standards

  California Getting Ready
  to Fight Back

  Mar. 29, 2018 - The Trump administration is poised to abandon America's pioneering fuel economy targets for cars and SUVs, a move that would undermine one of the world's most aggressive programs to confront climate change and invite another major confrontation with California.

  The EPA is expected to announce in the coming days that it will scrap mileage targets the Obama administration drafted in tandem with California that aim to boost average fuel economy for passenger cars and SUVs to 55 miles per gallon by 2025, according to people familiar with the plans.

• • The E.P.A is a Sinking Ship

  E.P.A. Officials,
  Disheartened by Agency’s
  Direction, Are Leaving in Droves

  Dec. 22, 2018 - More than 700 people have left the Environmental Protection Agency since President Trump took office, a wave of departures that puts the administration nearly a quarter of the way toward its goal of shrinking the agency to levels last seen during the Reagan administration.

• • How Low Can the EPA Go?

  EPA Reverses Policy on
  'Major Sources' of Pollution

  Jan. 25, 2018 - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it was withdrawing a provision of the Clean Air Act that requires a major source of pollution like a power plant to always be treated as a major source, even if it makes changes to reduce emissions.

  The decision to withdraw the "once-in always-in" policy is part of President Donald Trump's effort to roll back federal regulations and was sought by utilities, the petroleum industry and others. Never mind about the health of the American people.

• • Trump Imposed Tariffs on PV Imports

  30% Tariff Disappoints
  Trade Industry

  Jan. 22, 2018 - Trump has agreed to a recommendation by the International Trade Commission (ITC) to grant U.S. solar manufacturers relief from unfair trade practices in the form of tariffs on solar cells and modules imported to the U.S.

  This will hurt the solar industry which currently employs over 250,000 workers.

• • Fed. Compromise on Anti-PACE Law

  Industry, Lawmakers Compromise
  on Anti-Property Assessed
  Clean Energy Legislation

  Dec. 27, 2017 - A financing program that’s let more than 180,000 homeowners pay for solar panels and clean-energy appliances through their local tax bills is poised to survive an effort by Republicans to add regulations that would have effectively shut it down.

• • The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

  Summary of the National
  Environmental Policy Act

  Originally Passed in 1968 (EPA) — NEPA was one of the first laws ever written that establishes the broad national framework for protecting our environment. NEPA's basic policy is to assure that all branches of government give proper consideration to the environment prior to undertaking any major federal action that significantly affects the environment.

  NEPA requirements are invoked when airports, buildings, military complexes, highways, parkland purchases, and other federal activities are proposed. Environmental Assessments (EAs) and Environmental Impact Statements (EISs), which are assessments of the likelihood of impacts from alternative courses of action, are required from all Federal agencies and are the most visible NEPA requirements.

  Click now for more,
  including a history of this act.

• • Shouldn’t We Abolish Fossil Fuel Subsidies?

  America Spends Over $20Bn Per
  Year On Fossil Fuel Subsidies.

  July 30, 2018 (The Guardian) -Imagine that instead of taxing cigarettes, America subsidized the tobacco industry in order to make each pack of smokes cheaper.

  A report from Oil Change International (OCI) investigated American energy industry subsidies and found that in 2015–2016, the federal government provided $14.7bn per year to the oil, gas, and coal industries, on top of $5.8bn of state-level incentives (globally, the figure is around $500bn). And the report only accounted for production subsidies, excluding consumption subsidies (support to consumers to lower the cost of fossil fuel use – another $14.5bn annually) as well as the costs of carbon and other fossil fuel pollutants.

• • The D.O.E. Solar Decathlon

  How To Shine In The Solar Village

  October 6, 2017 - At noon Eastern Standard Time today — the second day of competition for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon in Denver — the Northwestern University team was sitting in first place, according to scores released on the competition website.

  The Solar Village, where all 13 teams’ houses are standing for the competition, is now open to the public.

  With scoring under way on three of the 10 competition categories — Heath & Comfort, Appliances, and Home Life — Northwestern was tied with Swiss Team and UC Berkeley/U of Denver on the three segments in Health & Comfort — temperature, humidity and indoor air quality.

• • Budget Slashed for Clean Energy

  Trump’s Budget Expected
  to Massively Slash Research
  On Renewable Energy
  — And ‘Clean Coal’

  May 18, 2017 -The Trump administration is expected to propose massive cuts to federal government research on wind and solar energy next week, according to current and former Energy Department officials familiar with budget discussions.

  The department’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which funds research on advanced vehicles as well as other aspects of clean energy, would face a roughly 70 percent cut in 2018, carving about $ 1.45 billion from its $2.09 billion 2017 budget.

• • The SunShot Initiative

  What is the SunShot Initiative?

  The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office focuses on achieving the goals of the SunShot Initiative, which seeks to make solar energy cost-competitive with other forms of electricity by the end of the decade.

• • The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

  Notes from the Solar Underground:
  US Solar’s Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act

  The global solar industry relies on mandate. Let's hope it doesn't go away.

• • Carbon Tax Center

  What is the Carbon Tax Center?

  Why revenue-neutral carbon taxes are essential,what’s happening now, and how you can help.

  In a carbon-constrained world, a permanent U.S. carbon tax is essential to reduce emissions that drive global warming.