Episodes

  • States Battle Trump's Climate Rollbacks With Clean Energy Laws and Emissions Rules

    States Battle Trump's Climate Rollbacks With Clean Energy Laws and Emissions Rules
    Mar 14 2026
    In the past week, the United States has seen intense battles over climate policies amid the Trump administrations aggressive rollbacks. The Environmental Protection Agency revoked the 2009 endangerment finding, a cornerstone that established greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide endanger public health and welfare, stripping the legal basis for federal regulations on emissions from vehicles, power plants, and industry. According to the League of Conservation Voters, this move aligns with broader efforts to dismantle protections, including plans to remove eight Superfund sites contaminated with hazardous chemicals and radioactive waste from the national cleanup priority list to speed up data center construction.

    States are pushing back fiercely. Massachusetts House of Representatives passed bill H.5151, advancing clean energy goals, solar reforms, and grid upgrades, though it controversially cuts one billion dollars from the Mass Save efficiency program that has saved residents over forty billion dollars in energy bills since inception. In New York, a report from New Yorkers for Clean Air reveals a proposed cap-and-invest program under the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act could deliver two hundred seventy dollars in annual rebates to millions of households while funding three billion dollars in grid upgrades to cut emissions forty percent by 2030, despite Governor Kathy Hochuls hesitancy. California Air Resources Board approved rules for corporate climate disclosure laws, mandating companies with over one billion dollars in revenue to report greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks by August tenth, 2026, filling the void left by federal inaction.

    Public lands face threats too. MAGA Republicans introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to gut protections for Utahs Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, risking mining and oil extraction after years of tribal and local input. The Interior Department approved a Montana Bull Mountains coal mine expansion for fifty-seven million tons of coal, prompting lawsuits over skipped environmental reviews that endanger ecology and tribal communities. Washington state sued over a Trump order forcing its last coal plant, TransAlta, to stay open, prolonging air pollution and health risks.

    Emerging patterns show federal deregulation accelerating fossil fuel reliance and weakening conservation across two hundred forty-five million acres, while blue states like Colorado offer two thousand dollar electric vehicle rebates and Virginia rejoins the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for pollution cuts. Meanwhile, the National Marine Fisheries Service considers rolling back vessel speed rules on the Atlantic coast, endangering the critically endangered North Atlantic right whale, with only two hundred to two hundred fifty mature individuals left amid ship strikes worsened by shifting ocean patterns. These clashes highlight deepening divides, with states racing to curb emissions as disasters like floods, heat waves, and wildfires intensify nationwide.

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    3 mins
  • Trump Administration Rolls Back Climate Protections While States Fight Back With Bold Green Energy Initiatives

    Trump Administration Rolls Back Climate Protections While States Fight Back With Bold Green Energy Initiatives
    Mar 11 2026
    In the past week, the United States has seen intense battles over climate policies under the Trump administration. The League of Conservation Voters reports that the administration plans to revoke the Bureau of Land Management's conservation rule, which protected 245 million acres from development, framing the repeal as removing barriers to mining and timber extraction. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum targets these lands for resource extraction, alarming conservationists who warn of environmental damage.

    In Utah, MAGA Republicans introduced a Congressional Review Act resolution to overturn protections for Grand Staircase Escalante National Monument, the first such attempt against a monument and potentially opening it to oil, gas, and mining, despite opposition from tribes and local groups. The Environmental Protection Agency also intends to remove eight Superfund sites from its National Priorities List, deleting six fully and two partially, amid efforts to redefine cleanup standards and speed data center construction on polluted lands.

    States are pushing back forcefully. Washington's Conservation Action sued over a Trump Energy Department order keeping the TransAlta coal plant open beyond its closure date, citing air pollution risks and cost hikes from abusing emergency powers. In Massachusetts, the House passed energy bill H.5151 with clean energy goals and grid upgrades but slashed one billion dollars from the Mass Save efficiency program, which has saved residents 40 billion dollars in bills; advocates urge the Senate to restore funding to meet net zero targets.

    New York gained from a federal judge ruling Trump's halt on congestion pricing illegal, preserving the program that cuts traffic and pollution while funding transit since January 2025. California's Air Resources Board approved rules for corporate climate disclosures, mandating emissions and risk reports from firms over one billion dollars in revenue by August 2026, filling gaps left by federal retreat. Montana faces a lawsuit against Interior's approval of a Bull Mountains coal mine expansion for 57 million tons, skipping required environmental reviews and threatening ecology and tribes.

    These actions reveal a pattern of federal rollbacks clashing with state innovations, highlighting tensions in America's climate fight as protections erode amid extraction pushes.(378 words)

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    3 mins
  • Trump Administration Moves to Revoke EPA Climate Endangerment Finding Amid Global Climate Action Push

    Trump Administration Moves to Revoke EPA Climate Endangerment Finding Amid Global Climate Action Push
    Mar 7 2026
    In the United States this week, climate change has been at the center of a fierce policy and science clash in Washington. The Los Angeles Times reports that the Trump administration is preparing a rule to revoke the Environmental Protection Agency endangerment finding, the 2009 scientific determination that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. According to the article, this move would undercut the legal basis for federal limits on pollution from cars, power plants, and other major sources, even as Americans face more deadly floods, extreme heat waves, and catastrophic wildfires. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently reaffirmed that the science behind the original finding is accurate and now backed by stronger evidence, describing the harms from human caused greenhouse gases as beyond scientific dispute.

    Environmental groups and many health experts warn that reversing the endangerment finding could increase climate pollution, health care costs, and thousands of avoidable premature deaths in the United States. Lawyers point out that courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in twenty twenty three, have repeatedly upheld the finding, and any repeal would trigger years of legal challenges. Meanwhile, Euronews Green is tracking an expanding list of federal rollbacks of climate and environmental protections in early twenty twenty six, describing them as a direct assault on climate progress and noting that these steps run counter to the rapid growth of clean energy at home and abroad.

    Across the wider world, climate impacts and diplomacy are moving in the opposite direction from United States deregulation. The United Nations and other international bodies highlight that global temperatures continue to rise, ocean acidification has breached key planetary boundaries, and climate fueled extremes are disrupting communities from North America to Asia and the Mediterranean. According to coverage of upcoming climate events compiled by the Global Landscapes Forum and the United Nations, governments and scientists are preparing for a series of major gatherings in twenty twenty six, including climate and energy summits in New York and London, a United Nations convention to combat desertification in Mongolia, and the next United Nations climate change conference, known as Conference of the Parties thirty one, in Turkey. These meetings are focused on transitioning away from fossil fuels, restoring degraded land, and tripling finance for adaptation, reflecting a global pattern of intensifying efforts to curb emissions even as some United States policies move in the opposite direction.

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    3 mins
  • Trump Administration Dismantles US Climate Policies: EPA Revokes Endangerment Finding, Emissions Rise

    Trump Administration Dismantles US Climate Policies: EPA Revokes Endangerment Finding, Emissions Rise
    Mar 4 2026
    The Trump administration is moving aggressively to dismantle key United States climate policies, with the Environmental Protection Agency set to revoke the 2009 endangerment finding this week, according to a White House official cited by the Los Angeles Times. This Obama-era declaration established that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, forming the legal basis for regulations on vehicle emissions, power plants, and other sources driving planetary warming. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the actions as the most significant deregulatory steps in history to boost American energy dominance and lower costs. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who has criticized past efforts to combat climate change as economically ruinous, is leading the charge, calling the original finding one of the most damaging decisions in modern history.

    These moves build on a year of rollbacks since Trump's return, including Congress eliminating most tax credits for solar and wind energy last summer, as reported by Le Monde. United States greenhouse gas emissions rose 2.4 percent in 2025 after two years of decline, driven by a cold winter, surging electricity demand, and revived coal use, with power sector emissions up 3.8 percent for the second straight year, per Rhodium Group estimates. Federal approvals for coal, oil, and gas projects have accelerated while renewable permits slowed, canceling billions in clean energy investments and threatening over 100,000 jobs, according to Climate Power analysis. The Rhodium Group now projects emissions cuts of only 26 to 35 percent by 2035 from 2005 levels, far below Paris Agreement targets of 61 to 66 percent.

    Adding to the retreat, the United States is withdrawing from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, effective January 20, and has ceased publishing national emissions inventories, undermining tracking efforts, Le Monde notes. Environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund decry this as the biggest attack on federal climate action ever, warning of more pollution, higher health and fuel costs, and preventable deaths amid intensifying disasters like floods, heat waves, and wildfires. Courts have pushed back, with federal judges in Washington and Virginia recently restarting three offshore wind farms, including one off New York by Equinor. Globally, eyes turn to upcoming events like the World Ocean Summit in Montreal on March 4 and 5, and preparations for COP31 in Antalya, Turkey, in November, highlighting a widening United States divergence from international momentum.

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    3 mins
  • Trump Administration Repeals Landmark Climate Rules: EPA's Historic Deregulation Sparks Legal Battles and Environmental Backlash

    Trump Administration Repeals Landmark Climate Rules: EPA's Historic Deregulation Sparks Legal Battles and Environmental Backlash
    Feb 28 2026
    In the past week, the United States has seen major shifts in climate policy under President Donald Trump. During his State of the Union address on February 27, Trump doubled down on his drill baby drill agenda, touting support for the fossil fuel industry and attacking the green new scam, according to Carbon Briefs DeBriefed report. He renewed focus on electricity affordability amid rising costs. Earlier that week, the Trump administration watered down limits on mercury pollution from aging coal fired power plants, as reported by the Financial Times, though experts note coal continues to decline against cheaper natural gas and renewables.

    The Environmental Protection Agency took its boldest step yet. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in US history, repealing the Obama era 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding and all related federal emission standards for vehicles and engines from model years 2012 through 2027 and beyond, saving taxpayers over 1.3 trillion dollars, per the EPAs official release. The agency argued that even eliminating all US vehicle emissions would have no material impact on global climate through 2100, dismantling what it called legal fictions from prior administrations.

    This repeal, finalized around February 12 but highlighted this week, sparked immediate backlash. Seventeen environmental groups, including the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, American Lung Association, and Center for Biological Diversity, sued the EPA over removing this landmark finding that enabled federal greenhouse gas limits, as detailed by The Guardian and the Clean Air Task Force. Critics like attorney Frank Sturges called it unlawful, citing reinforced scientific evidence from the nonpartisan National Academies.

    The US Supreme Court also agreed to hear a major lawsuit from the oil industry aiming to block dozens of state level climate suits blaming firms for global warming, reported the New York Times. Meanwhile, the administration seeks to permanently kill a global carbon levy on shipping at the United Nations, with Panama reversing support after US pressure, per Politico and The Guardian.

    Worldwide, floods killed at least 53 in Brazils Minas Gerais state after 170 millimeters of rain in hours, per CNN Brasil, highlighting extreme weather patterns. Emerging insights show US policy rolling back federal climate guardrails while states and groups fight back, potentially deepening divides as renewables grow despite rhetoric. These moves signal a fossil fuel push amid ongoing global emission challenges.[349 words]

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    3 mins
  • EPA Greenhouse Gas Rollback Sparks Legal Backlash as Cities and Nations Lead Climate Action Forward

    EPA Greenhouse Gas Rollback Sparks Legal Backlash as Cities and Nations Lead Climate Action Forward
    Feb 25 2026
    The Trump administration has escalated its rollback of climate protections by finalizing a rule that undermines the Environmental Protection Agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. According to the World Resources Institute, on February 12th the EPA reversed its own scientific finding established after years of analysis that concluded greenhouse gas pollution endangers human health. This reversal allows the agency to avoid regulating emissions under the Clean Air Act. The action also included the repeal of greenhouse gas emissions standards for light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles. Environmental groups have responded swiftly, with 17 leading public health and environmental organizations filing suit against the decision. These groups include the American Public Health Association, American Lung Association, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, and the Natural Resources Defense Council. According to the World Resources Institute, this rollback sends a message that the government no longer cares about rising energy bills, extreme weather increasing homeowner insurance costs, or farmers losing crops due to climate impacts.

    Meanwhile, positive developments are emerging internationally. Yale Environment 360 reports that Brazil's Amazon rainforest is on track for record low deforestation, with only 516 square miles cleared over the past six months, the lowest amount since 2014. Researchers attribute this success to improved enforcement against illegal logging, farming, and ranching. This reduction in forest clearing has also led to significant decreases in Brazil's greenhouse gas emissions.

    In the United States, cities are taking climate adaptation into their own hands. Urban Land Magazine reports that flooding caused two trillion dollars in economic losses in 2024, prompting cities to develop networks of green infrastructure systems to reduce property and infrastructure damage from water. The Urban Land Institute convened 40 leaders to establish eight key findings on supporting urban green infrastructure despite policy and financing obstacles.

    Additionally, South Carolina is pioneering innovative approaches to coastal climate adaptation. Governing Magazine reports that South Carolina's Lowcountry, made up of tidal marshes, uplands, barrier islands, and oyster reefs, faces increasing threats from sea-level rise, storm surges, and saltwater intrusion. A new mapping tool funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation enables planners, communities, and conservationists to track salt-marsh migration and prepare for rising seas.

    Looking ahead, major climate events are scheduled throughout 2026, including the World Sustainable Development Summit in New Delhi from February 25th to 27th and COP31 in Antalya, Turkey in November, where Australia will lead negotiations.

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    3 mins
  • Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding Repeal Amid Climate Crisis

    Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding Repeal Amid Climate Crisis
    Feb 21 2026
    Environmental groups filed a major lawsuit against the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency on February 18 over its repeal of the landmark 2009 endangerment finding, a scientific determination that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, according to The Guardian and the Clean Air Task Force. Seventeen organizations, including the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, and American Lung Association, argue the repeal unlawfully strips federal authority to regulate emissions under the Clean Air Act, ignoring overwhelming evidence of climate harms like rising temperatures, wildfires, droughts, and floods across the United States.

    The EPA's action on February 12, as reported by Mongabay, rolls back the foundation for vehicle emissions standards and other protections, drawing sharp criticism from experts. Katie Huffling of the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environment called it climate denialism that abandons the agency's duty amid record heat and toxic wildfire smoke in places like Wisconsin. Tricia Cortez of the Rio Grande International Study Center highlighted real impacts in South Texas, including declining rainfall, extreme heat, and fragile ecosystems along the Rio Grande. Inland Valley communities in California decry risks of more pollution and dangerous heat threatening health and economies.

    This legal challenge emerges as climate patterns intensify nationwide, with heat-trapping emissions from fossil fuels driving economic tolls through deadly weather events. NRDC's Meredith Hankins described the EPA's arguments as a joke that undercuts action on the largest pollution source. Public Citizen's Adina Rosenbaum warned of devastating public health impacts if upheld. Earthjustice's Hana Vizcarra accused the agency of flipping its mission to favor polluters.

    Meanwhile, recovery efforts underscore adaptation needs. In Altadena, California, Los Angeles Times reports progress on rebuilding Charles White County Park after the Eaton and Hughes Fires, funded by five million dollars from the Walt Disney Company and five point five million from California State Parks, toward two hundred fifty million needed for affected communities.

    Worldwide, the Climate and Cryosphere Open Science Conference wrapped up February 9 to 12 in Wellington, New Zealand, focusing on changing ice dynamics, polar amplification, and adaptation strategies, per the event organizers. These developments reveal a stark U.S. policy reversal amid escalating global cryosphere changes and lawsuits aiming to restore science-based safeguards.

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    3 mins
  • Costly Coal Comeback: Trump Administration's Fossil Fuel Agenda Comes at a Price for American Families

    Costly Coal Comeback: Trump Administration's Fossil Fuel Agenda Comes at a Price for American Families
    Feb 18 2026
    In the United States, the Trump administration has intensified efforts to bolster the coal industry amid ongoing climate challenges. According to the League of Conservation Voters, keeping Michigan's J.H. Campbell coal plant open past its planned retirement in May 2025 has now cost ratepayers 135 million dollars, with daily expenses passed on in hundreds of thousands of dollars. This stems from administration directives forcing the plant to continue operations despite its inefficiency.

    President Trump issued an executive order directing the Department of Defense to source energy from costly, dirty coal plants, while the Department of Energy allocated over 175 million dollars to outdated coal facilities in Republican-led states. League of Conservation Voters Vice President Matthew Davis noted that coal has the highest costs and worst reliability among energy sources, with twice as many unplanned shutdowns as wind power, ultimately raising energy prices for American families.

    In a major setback, the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the landmark 2009 Endangerment Finding, which established greenhouse gas emissions as harmful to public health and welfare, forming the basis for federal limits on cars, trucks, power plants, and other emitters. This move, criticized as science denial, underpins rollbacks of vehicle pollution standards, mercury and air toxics rules, and exposes communities to more air pollution, heart disease, strokes, asthma, and premature deaths.

    The Environmental Protection Agency also released a rule delaying cleanup of millions of tons of toxic coal ash, including heavy metals, carcinogens, and neurotoxins, until 2031, risking further water contamination. Earthjustice Senior Counsel Lisa Evans warned that this allows polluters to continue harming water sources and health.

    Additionally, the administration halted work on five offshore wind projects, clawed back 135 million dollars in electric vehicle charging funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, and Minnesota, and rolled back protections for the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine Monument, endangering its fragile ecosystem from commercial fishing.

    Environmental groups, including Clean Wisconsin, the Environmental Defense Fund, and the Center for Community Action and Environmental Justice, filed lawsuits on February 18, 2026, challenging these repeals as illegal, highlighting worsening impacts like record heat, wildfire smoke, and extreme weather in places such as Wisconsin and South Texas.

    These actions reveal an emerging pattern of prioritizing fossil fuels over clean energy transitions, delaying pollution controls, and reversing climate safeguards, even as global events like 2026 Climate Weeks in South Korea and Azerbaijan aim to accelerate Paris Agreement implementation.

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    3 mins