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Keeping It Green

GOVERNMENTAL DIRECTORY

• Note Worthy

Page Updated:
Sept. 19, 2025

• • 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.

• • Energy Department Climate Report Riddled With Errors

  80+ Climate Scientists Released a Rebuttal to DOE’s “Critical Review” of Greenhouse Gases Released Earlier This Summer
  
  {Energy Central}
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -DOE’s report, authored by a small group of contrarian scientists, underpins the EPA’s effort to repeal the “endangerment finding,” the legal basis for federal emissions rules. Legal experts say the rebuttal will likely be central evidence in court challenges if the repeal moves forward.

  The rebuttal alleges pervasive flaws on issues including health risks, wildfire links, hurricane intensity, and model accuracy.

• • What the EPA’s Plan to Deregulate
  Greenhouse Gas Emissions Means for WA

  The Revocation Would Also Make Reinstating Such Regulations Difficult For Any Future Presidents, Said State Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon, D-West Seattle
  
  
  
  

  Sept. 2, 2025 -The federal government is attempting to abandon years of climate science and regulation, and officials from Washington state are warning those efforts will drastically slow the country’s ability to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency no longer wants to classify greenhouse gas emissions as dangerous and, therefore, something that must be regulated. The agency is now in the middle of a public comment process to reverse its long-standing course. Public officials and climate change experts from across the country are testifying against the federal government’s new direction.

• • FEMA: The US Disaster Agency Was Breaking Long Before Trump

  To Fulfill Its Mission, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Needs Investment in the Kind of work That Voters Rarely See
  
  {Bloomberg}
  
  

  August 29, 2025 -When Hurricane Erin brushed the US East Coast last week, it left behind little more than flooded roads, turbulent waves and collective relief. But it’s easy to imagine how devastating a direct hit could have been. Almost exactly 20 years ago, Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast, displacing more than a million people and submerging parts of New Orleans for weeks.

  The two storms couldn’t be more different in their outcomes, but in another sense they are bookends that frame the rise and fall of the US Federal Emergency Management Agency. After Katrina, Congress poured money and authority into FEMA, expanding its mandate and professionalizing its operations.

• • Hundreds of Americans Begged the EPA
  Not to Roll Back Climate Protections

  Almost No One Listened
  
  
  
  

  August 27, 2025 -Advocates, scientists, doctors, members of Congress, kids, parents, and other individuals spoke out in a series of hearings last week to let the Environmental Protection Agency know how they feel about a potential sea change in climate and environmental policy: the proposed repeal of the 2009 Endangerment Finding.

  In 2009, the EPA found that current and projected concentrations of greenhouse gases threatened the public health and welfare of current and future generations. The finding is the legal underpinning for many EPA greenhouse gas regulations. The EPA announced a proposal to rescind the finding on 29 July at an auto dealership in Indiana. If finalized, the proposed rule would repeal “all greenhouse gas emissions regulations for motor vehicles,” according to the EPA.

• • FEMA Staffers Warn that Trump
  Officials’ Actions Risk a Katrina-level Disaster

  About 180 FEMA Employees Signed a Letter to Congress Arguing that the Agency’s Leadership has Hindered Its Ability to Effectively Manage Emergencies
  
  
  
  

  Aug. 25, 2025 -More than 180 Federal Emergency Management Agency employees sent a letter Monday to members of Congress and other officials, arguing that the agency’s direction and current leaders’ inexperience harm FEMA’s mission and could result in a disaster on the level of Hurricane Katrina.

  The letter, on which three dozen employees signed their full names, says that since January, staffers have been operating under leaders — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem, acting FEMA administrator David Richardson and former leader Cameron Hamilton — who lack the legal qualifications and authority to manage FEMA’s operations.

• • I.R.S. Makes It Harder for Wind
  and Solar Projects to Claim Tax Breaks

  The Move Comes as the Trump Administration Issues a Barrage of New Restrictions on Renewable Energy Across the USA
  
  
  
  

  August 15, 2025 -The Internal Revenue Service on Friday issued new rules that would restrict the ability of wind and solar companies to claim federal tax breaks, a move that could hinder a number of renewable energy projects under development.

  Trump’s giant domestic policy bill, which was signed into law on July 4, was already set to rapidly phase out lucrative tax credits for new wind and solar farms unless they began construction in the next 12 months.

• • Popular E.P.A. Database Is in Limbo Amid Science Cuts

  The Database Helps Companies Calculate Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  
  
  
  

  August 8, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency said it would stop updating research that hundreds of companies use to calculate their greenhouse gas emissions after the agency suspended the database’s creator because he had signed a letter criticizing the Trump administration’s approach to scientific research.

  The researcher, Wesley Ingwersen, is leaving the E.P.A. to pursue his work at Stanford University. He was one of 139 E.P.A. employees suspended and investigated by the agency after signing the June letter, which charged that Mr. Trump’s policies “undermine the E.P.A. mission of protecting human health and the environment.”

• • As Trump Shrinks FEMA, State and Local
  Emergency Managers Say They’re Barely Getting By

  In a Government Survey, State and Local Officials Said They Were Overworked, Underpaid and Underappreciated
  
  
  
  

  July 28, 2025 -For months, President Donald Trump threatened to dismantle the Federal Emergency Management Agency, arguing that it is “extremely expensive” and that emergency management should be left to the states.

  “When you have a tornado or a hurricane or you have a problem of any kind, in a state, that’s what you have governors for,” he said in June. “They’re supposed to fix those problems, and it’s much more local and they’ll develop a system, and it will be a great system.”

• • DOE’s National Labs Reportedly
  Consider Layoffs Amid Budget Cuts

  Could Lead to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Each Laying Off Around a Thousand Employees
  
  {UTILTY DIVE}
  
  

  July 23, 2025 -The Department of Energy budget cuts proposed by the Trump administration are leading national labs like the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to each consider laying off up to 1,000 employees, according to recent reports.

  The group Friends of PNNL, which includes several former PNNL employees, said July 13 in the Tri-City Herald that the lab is considering laying off around 1,100 employees, and Politico reported Wednesday that NREL could let more than 1,000 people go.

• • EPA Drafts Rule to Strike Down Landmark Climate Finding

  The Agency Proposes to Overturn the 2009 “Endangerment Finding,” Which Underpins Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions For Vehicles and Power Plants
  
  
  
  

  July 23, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to rescind a landmark 2009 legal opinion that greenhouse gas emissions put human health at risk, which underpins many of the government’s actions to combat climate change, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision was not yet public.

  The “endangerment finding,” which determined that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health and welfare, provides the legal justification for regulating them under the Clean Air Act.

• • EPA Eliminates Its Scientific Research Arm

  The Office of Research and Development Conducted Research Into Hazardous Chemicals, With Studies That Often Underpinned Stricter Regulations
  
  
  
  

  July 18, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency said on Friday it was dismantling its scientific research branch, expanding the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the agency.

  The move to eliminate the Office of Research and Development, which will prompt the exodus of hundreds of chemists and scientists assigned to conduct independent research on a range of environmental hazards, is part of a push to cut 23 percent of the agency’s staff. Its work, which often underpinned stricter federal regulations, was criticized by chemical manufacturers and other industries.

• • In Flooded Texas, Questions About FEMA’s Role and Fate

  President Trump Wants to Shutter the Agency and Shift Responsibility and Costs of Emergency Management to the States
  
  
  
  

  July 8, 2025 -At a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, President Trump said that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had swiftly deployed personnel to Central Texas, as catastrophic floods roared through the region.

  “You had people there as fast as anybody’s ever seen,” Mr. Trump told Kristi Noem, who leads the Department of Homeland Security, FEMA’s parent agency.

  But FEMA has been slow to activate certain teams that coordinate response and search-and-rescue efforts, according to half a dozen current and former FEMA officials and disaster experts, most of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.

• • Top Website for Crucial U.S. Climate Information Goes Dark

  Links to the U.S.’s Most Comprehensive Climate Reports—The National Climate Assessments—Disappeared From the Internet on Monday
  
  {SCI AM}
  
  

  July 1, 2025 -Links to the nation's most comprehensive climate reports disappeared from the internet on Monday — along with the official government website that houses them.

  The White House did not respond Monday to questions from POLITICO's E&E News on what happened to the reports or to the website for the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which coordinates federal climate research. An archived version of the USGCRP site confirms it was still active as of Sunday.

• • Trump’s Cuts Bring Climate and Energy Agencies to a Standstill

  Federal Workers Say Taxpayers Are Now Getting Far Less From the Government Because of the DOGE-led Effort to Cut the Workforce
  
  
  
  

  June 17, 2025 -Cuts and freezes are jamming up some of the basic functions of government at agencies targeted in Trump’s rollbacks of his predecessors’ energy and environmental policies, more than a dozen federal employees told POLITICOM.

  Lockdowns of spending and an absence of guidance from political appointees are leaving Environmental Protection Agency scientists unable to publish their research, preventing some Energy Department officials from visiting their department’s laboratories and forcing the cancellation of disaster planning exercises at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

• • In Puerto Rico, a Struggle for Power Comes to Light

  The Trump Administration is Clawing Back Millions in Climate Grants Promised to Credit Unions in Puerto Rico
  
  

  June 4, 2025 -Reporting on the effects of the Environmental Protection Agency’s attempts to claw back some $20 billion in climate grants: Of that, more than $100 million had been promised to credit unions in Puerto Rico. They planned to use the grants to offer people low-cost loans for rooftop solar installations.

  As of this month, the money still hasn’t arrived.

• • Interior Moves to Rescind 2024 Rule on Alaska’s Petroleum Reserve

  Regulation Overstepped Legal Limits, Hindered Responsible Energy Development in the Resource-Rich Region
  
  {U.S. Department of the Interior}
  
  

  June 2, 2025 -The Department of the Interior has proposed rescinding a rule put in place last year that added new restrictions on oil and gas development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska. Rescinding the 2024 rule will remove regulations that are inconsistent with the Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 (NPRA), restore the original intent of the Act for the management of the area, and eliminate roadblocks to responsible energy production.

  After a thorough legal and policy review, Bureau of Land Management and Department officials concluded that the 2024 Bureau of Land Management rule entitled “Management and Protection of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska” exceeds the agency’s statutory authority under the NPRA, conflicts with the Act’s purpose, and imposes unnecessary barriers to responsible energy development in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

• • Energy Dept. Cancels $3.7 Billion
  for New Technologies to Lower Emissions

  The 24 awards Would have Gone to a Range of Companies Trying to Reduce Pollution That's Heating the Planet
  
  

  May 30, 2025 -The Energy Department announced on Friday that it was terminating $3.7 billion in Biden-era awards to companies trying to demonstrate technologies that might one day help tackle global warming.

  Some of the 24 canceled awards would have gone to industrial companies that were aiming to reduce emissions from cement, iron, glass and chemicals production.

• • E.P.A. Wants to Erase Greenhouse Gas Limits on Power Plants

  Agency Plans to argue that Carbon Emissions From Power Plants do Not Contribute “Significantly” to Climate Change
  
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  May 24, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency has drafted a plan to eliminate all limits on greenhouse gases from coal and gas-fired power plants in the United States, according to internal agency documents reviewed by The New York Times.

  In its proposed regulation, the agency argued that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from power plants that burn fossil fuels “do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution” or to climate change because they are a small and declining share of global emissions. Eliminating those emissions would have no meaningful effect on public health and welfare, the agency said.

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

  From Bee Science to Understanding the Impact Of a Warming World on Plant Life, Here’s What the Ecosystems Mission Area Does
  
  

  May 21, 2025 -The Trump administration’s proposed budget for 2026 ends 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.

• • States and Cities Fear a Disaster Season
  Full of Unknowns Amid Federal Cuts

  Trump’s Efforts to Downsize the Government Threaten Essential Functions that Americans Have Come to Rely On Before, During and After Natural Disasters
  
  

  May 21, 2025 -States and cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are heading into hurricane season? with an extraordinary level of uncertainty, unable to gauge how significant cuts at vital federal agencies will affect weather forecasts, emergency response and long-term recovery.

  They're bracing for the likelihood that fewer meteorologists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will lead to less accurate forecasts, and that the loss of experienced managers at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will lead to less coordination and more inaction.

• • Where Local Forecast Offices No Longer
  Monitor Weather Around-the-Clock

  For at Least Half a Century, the National Weather Service has been an Around-the-clock Operation. That is No Longer Possible in Parts of the Country
  
  

  May 16, 2025 -For at least half a century, the National Weather Service (NWS) has been an around-the-clock operation. But after the U.S. DOGE Service led efforts to shrink the federal government, that is no longer possible in some parts of the country.

  In four of the agency’s 122 weather forecasting offices around the country, there aren’t enough meteorologists to staff an overnight shift, according to the NWS Employees Organization, a union representing agency workers. And at least several more forecast offices are expected to stop staffing an overnight shift as early as Sunday.

• • EPA Will Weaken Rule Curbing
  ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Drinking Water

  The Agency said it Will Reconsider Drinking Water Standards for Four Chemicals that have been Linked to a Range of Illnesses
  
  

  May 14, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that it plans to rescind and reconsider limits on four “forever chemicals” under a landmark drinking water standard implemented last year by President Joe Biden.

  The drinking water rules were adopted as part of the Biden administration’s efforts to limit public exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), hazardous chemicals linked to a range of serious illnesses. The original rule covered six common PFAS contaminants, including PFOA, a known human carcinogen, and PFOS, a likely carcinogen.

• • Trump Administration to Fast-
  Track Permits for Utah Uranium Mine

  An Environmental Review of the Project, Known as Velvet-Wood, Would Normally Take Roughly a Year, But...
  
  

  May 12, 2025 -The Interior Department said it would fast-track the permitting process for a uranium mine in Utah as part of President Trump’s plan to shorten environmental reviews and speed the construction of certain types of energy projects.

  An environmental assessment of the Velvet-Wood mine project will be completed in 14 days, the agency announced. Such a review would typically take about one year.

• • U.S. Government to Stop Tracking the Costs of Extreme Weather

  Making it Harder to Study Wildfires, Storms and Other “Billion Dollar Disasters”
  
  

  May 8, 2025 -The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said on Thursday it would stop tracking the cost of the country’s most expensive disasters, those which cause at least $1 billion in damage.

  The move would leave insurance companies, researchers and government policymakers without information to help understand the patterns of major disasters like hurricanes, drought or wildfires, and their economic consequences, starting this year. Those events are becoming more frequent or severe as the planet grows hotter, although not all disasters are linked to climate change.

• • E.P.A. Plans to Shut Down the Energy Star Program

  Employees were Told that the Popular Energy Efficiency Certification Program Would Be “De-Prioritized and Eliminated”
  
  

  May 6, 2025 -The Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) plans to eliminate Energy Star, the popular energy efficiency certification for dishwashers, refrigerators, dryers and other home appliances, according to agency documents and a recording of an internal meeting.

  E.P.A. managers announced during a staff meeting on Monday that divisions that oversee climate change and energy efficiency would be eliminated as part of an agency reorganization. That includes the E.P.A.’s climate change office as well as the division that oversees Energy Star.

• • First-of-its-Kind Hawaii Bill Raises
  Tourist Taxes to Fund Climate Relief

  Governor is Expected to Sign the ‘Green Fee’, Which Adds 0.75% Levy to State’s Existing Tax on Short-Term Lodging
  
  

  May 5, 2025 -Lawmakers in Hawaii have passed first-of-its-kind legislation that will increase the state’s lodging tax to raise money for environmental protection and strengthening defenses against natural disasters fueled by the climate crisis.

  Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, supports the creation of the so-called “green fee”, and is expected to sign it.

• • Hawaii Announced a Climate Lawsuit

  So the Government Sued Hawaii First
  
  

  May 1, 2025 -On Monday, Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii said his state intended to sue fossil fuel companies over their role in climate change to make them pay for damage from its effects, like the 2023 wildfires that devastated Maui.

  “I guess this might be breaking news,” he said during an interview on local television. “We will be filing suit.”

  On Wednesday, the Trump administration sued Hawaii first, seeking to block the lawsuit before it could even be filed.

• • House Votes to Block California from Banning Sales of Gas Cars by 2035

  Both the Senate Parliamentarian and the Government Accountability Office Have Concluded that Congress Lacks Authority to Block California’s Climate Policy
  
  

  May 1, 2025 -The House voted Thursday to block California from enforcing a rule that would ban sales of new gasoline-powered cars in the state by 2035.

  Lawmakers voted 246-164 to pass a resolution targeting the rule, which ranks as one of the nation’s most ambitious policies aimed at combating climate change and promoting electric vehicles. However, it is unclear whether the Senate will follow suit and send the measure to President Trump’s desk.

• • As US Dismantles Its Climate Policy, Other World Leaders Seek Solidarity

  The U.N.’s Secretary-General Said, “No Group or Government Can Stop the Clean Energy Revolution”
  
  

  Apr. 25, 2025 -As the U.S. Department of State proposed this week to shut down its office managing international climate policy, leaders from several other countries that are key to the climate fight said they are determined to press ahead with global action.

  If it withstands congressional review, the State Department’s move, announced Tuesday, could further solidify the Trump administration’s intentions to withdraw from international climate processes, as announced in a Jan. 20 executive order.

• • Interior Department to Fast-Track Oil, Gas and Mining Projects

  Trump Plans to Dramatically Reduce Environmental Reviews Before Permitting Drilling and Mining Projects on public Lands and in Federal Waters
  
  

  Apr. 23, 2025 -The Interior Department said late Wednesday that it would fast-track approvals for projects involving coal, gas, oil and minerals on public lands, arguing that President Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency allowed it to radically reduce lengthy reviews required by the nation’s bedrock environmental laws.

  Environmental reviews that typically take a year to complete would be finished in 14 days, administration officials said. More complicated environmental impact statements that usually take two years would be completed in 28 days, they said.

• • Release of E.P.A. Climate Grants Is Paused by New Court Ruling

  After a Federal Judge on Wednesday Ordered the Release of Up to $650 Million in Frozen Grants, an Appeals Court Temporarily Halted the Payouts
  
  

  Apr. 17, 2025 -Hours after a federal judge ordered Citibank to pay out as much as $625 million in federal climate grant money that had been frozen at the Trump administration’s request, an appeals court stayed the decision. The grant money was frozen again before any was sent to recipients.

  It amounted to at least a temporary setback for nonprofit recipients of $20 billion in funds that were appropriated by Congress through the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act.

• • The States Where You Can Still Get Cash For Clean Energy

  Trump has Taken Aim at Green Programs — but These States are Forging Ahead
  
  

  Mar. 22, 2025 -Over the past two months, Trump has targeted or frozen many programs that he calls part of the Green New Deal — including grants for electric-vehicle chargers and community solar.

  But some programs are still underway in several states, including one that gives homeowners thousands of dollars off a new heat pump, electrical panel or other home efficiency improvements.

• • 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.