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A topic regarding anti-environment policies and Republican rhetoric/reasoning for causing more harm to the environment
Republican war against the environment
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Here are a few things from the past few days:
electrek.co
STATE's RIGHTS!!! (unless they go against what republicans want)
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Energy star has been, by all accounts, been highly popular since it has been implemented
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www.motherjones.com
In February, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced it was delaying efficiency regulation of appliances ranging from central air conditioners and freezers to washing machines and dryers. In March, it said it was withdrawing four efficiency standards that the Biden administration had proposed and was pushing back the implementation date of others. Last month, Trump issued an executive order titled, in all caps, “MAINTAINING ACCEPTABLE WATER PRESSURE IN SHOWERHEADS.”
The Energy Star rollback would likely be the most visible attack yet on appliance efficiency, and it even has manufacturers worried. Last month, more than 1,000 companies, cities, and groups wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urging him to support the program.
electrek.co
Massive tax annual tax on Evs
The Feds Want A $250 Annual EV Tax. Here's Why It's A Sham - It's equivalent to paying tax on nearly 1,400 gallons of gasoline, nearly triple the amount the average ICE commuter uses annually.
GOP proposes sending US EV jobs to China, giving money to elites instead
The republican party's tax proposal is out, and it's about as bad for Americans as expected - killing jobs and harming working families.
electrek.co- Attaching restrictions to clean energy and manufacturing tax credits that would make them unusable in practical terms while also “sunsetting” those tax credits early, a move that research suggests will increase costs for American families;
- Repealing the Clean Vehicle Tax Credits;
- Repealing the Clean Hydrogen Tax Credit;
- Clawing back unspent funds for air quality monitoring in schools, clean manufacturing, state and community energy programs, and electric grid upgrades;
- Defunding and delaying the Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP), which reduces pollution and protects the health of workers and communities;
- Clawing back all unspent Inflation Reduction Act funds, including many provisions that would have lowered energy bills, created jobs, and reduced pollution; and
- Attacks on many additional Inflation Reduction Act programs and initiatives.
STATE's RIGHTS!!! (unless they go against what republicans want)
Senate votes to block California’s rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035
The Senate has voted to block California’s first-in-the nation rule banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035.
apnews.comRepublicans in Congress illegally vote to end clean air rules they can't actually end
Republicans in Congress passed a bill to raise Americans' fuel and health costs by $100s of billions - even though they don't have that power.
electrek.coEnergy star has been, by all accounts, been highly popular since it has been implemented
Trump wants to kill ENERGY STAR – here's how that impacts you
The Trump administration plans to kill ENERGY STAR. Here’s how it could hit your wallet and make energy-wasting appliances harder to avoid.
electrek.coTrump's killing of Energy Star program will cost families a bundle
Created to encourage efficient appliances, the initiative has saved US households and businesses more than $500 billion.
www.motherjones.comThe Energy Star rollback would likely be the most visible attack yet on appliance efficiency, and it even has manufacturers worried. Last month, more than 1,000 companies, cities, and groups wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin urging him to support the program.
States and nonprofits sue feds for illegal withholding of $5B in EV charger funds
17 States sued the feds for illegally withholding NEVI funds, calling it a $5B "gift to China." Now, nonprofits are joining the fray too.
electrek.coMassive tax annual tax on Evs
The Feds Want A $250 Annual EV Tax. Here's Why It's A Sham - It's equivalent to paying tax on nearly 1,400 gallons of gasoline, nearly triple the amount the average ICE commuter uses annually.
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Not the "climate" they were looking for, but this is what happens when they just search by keywords
OSU researcher: $700K grant canceled when DOGE misunderstood use of ‘climate’
her grant was canceled because it was titled “The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the retention of students from underrepresented groups in doctoral engineering programs.”
...
Aldridge said she and her colleagues knew it might be coming. Her project had been included under the environmental justice category in Ted Cruz’s list of “promoting neo-Marxist propaganda.” Aldridge said it was flagged because her award included the term “climate,” used in this case to describe the environment of an organization
OSU researcher: $700K grant canceled when DOGE misunderstood use of ‘climate’
her grant was canceled because it was titled “The Organizational Climate Challenge: Promoting the retention of students from underrepresented groups in doctoral engineering programs.”
...
Aldridge said she and her colleagues knew it might be coming. Her project had been included under the environmental justice category in Ted Cruz’s list of “promoting neo-Marxist propaganda.” Aldridge said it was flagged because her award included the term “climate,” used in this case to describe the environment of an organization
Just as stupid as the forestry programs that were cancelled because they contained the word “biodiversity” as it relates to plants.
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Power companies would rather not clean their toxic messes. Trump’s EPA is granting their wish.
Advocates fear the agency will “justify avoiding any enforcement whatsoever” of millions of tons of coal ash nationwide.
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Young people sue Donald Trump over climate change
If they’re successful, they’ll stop executive orders boosting fossil fuels.
www.theverge.comExecutive orders President Donald Trump signed to promote fossil fuels amount to an “unconstitutional” overreach of power, they allege in a complaint filed Thursday at a US District Court in Montana.
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Yes, Trump wants more oil usage. because who will benefit??? Sure, not the people having lower mileage per gallon who are being affected by that, the consumer??? nope.A group of young people — as young as 7 and as old as 25 — are suing the Trump administration to stop its assault on renewable energy and climate action.Young people sue Donald Trump over climate change
If they’re successful, they’ll stop executive orders boosting fossil fuels.
Executive orders President Donald Trump signed to promote fossil fuels amount to an “unconstitutional” overreach of power, they allege in a complaint filed Thursday at a US District Court in Montana.
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Trump cuts hundreds of EPA grants, leaving cities on the hook for climate resiliency
Critics argue the projects losing funding aren’t "woke," they’re essential.
grist.org“Do you commit to new programs? Do you commit to services?” he said. “Here you are sitting in limbo for months.”
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He Built Airstrip on Protected Land. Now He May Lead the Forest Service.
"Michael Boren, nominated by President Trump, is accused of threatening trail workers with a helicopter, building an airstrip without a permit and putting a cabin on federal property."
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A major US government website supporting public education on climate science looks likely to be shuttered after almost all of its staff were fired, the Guardian has learned.
Climate.gov, the gateway website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)’s Climate Program Office, will imminently no longer publish new content, according to multiple former staff responsible for the site’s content whose contracts were recently terminated.
“The entire content production staff at climate.gov (including me) were let go from our government contract on 31 May,” said a former government contractor who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “We were told that our positions within the contract were being eliminated.”
Rebecca Lindsey, the website’s former program manager, who was fired in February as part of the government’s purge of probationary employees, described a months-long situation within Noaa where political appointees and career staff argued over the fate of the website.
“I had gotten a stellar performance review, gotten a bonus, gotten a raise. I was performing very well. And then I was part of that group who got the form letter saying, ‘Your knowledge, skills, and abilities are no longer of use to Noaa’ – or something to that effect.”
Lindsey said she had been worried that climate.gov might be a target of the new administration soon after the election, but when a large Noaa contract was up for renewal at the end of May, her former boss told her that a demand came “from above” to rewrite parts of the contract to remove the team’s funding.
“It was a very deliberate, targeted attack,” said Lindsey.……….
www.theguardian.com
Climate.gov, the gateway website for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa)’s Climate Program Office, will imminently no longer publish new content, according to multiple former staff responsible for the site’s content whose contracts were recently terminated.
“The entire content production staff at climate.gov (including me) were let go from our government contract on 31 May,” said a former government contractor who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. “We were told that our positions within the contract were being eliminated.”
Rebecca Lindsey, the website’s former program manager, who was fired in February as part of the government’s purge of probationary employees, described a months-long situation within Noaa where political appointees and career staff argued over the fate of the website.
“I had gotten a stellar performance review, gotten a bonus, gotten a raise. I was performing very well. And then I was part of that group who got the form letter saying, ‘Your knowledge, skills, and abilities are no longer of use to Noaa’ – or something to that effect.”
Lindsey said she had been worried that climate.gov might be a target of the new administration soon after the election, but when a large Noaa contract was up for renewal at the end of May, her former boss told her that a demand came “from above” to rewrite parts of the contract to remove the team’s funding.
“It was a very deliberate, targeted attack,” said Lindsey.……….
Major US climate website likely to be shut down after almost all staff fired
Exclusive: Climate.gov, which supports public education on climate science, will soon no longer publish new content
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US power plants will be allowed to pollute nearby communities and the wider world with more unhealthy air toxins and an unlimited amount of planet-heating gases under new regulatory rollbacks proposed by Donald Trump’s administration, experts warned.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a plan on Wednesday that would repeal a landmark climate rule that aims to mostly eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by the 2030s and would, separately, weaken another regulation that restricts power plants’ release of hazardous air pollutants such as mercury.
“We choose to both protect the environment and grow the economy,” said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the EPA, at an event to announce the plans. He said the rollbacks will save households money while also defying what he called “the climate change cult”.
The climate rule has “saddled our critical power sector with expensive, unreasonable and burdensome regulations”, Zeldin said. “American energy suffered and Americans who rely on reliable, affordable energy suffered. The good news is those days are over.”
The EPA’s proposals will go out for public comment and are likely to face legal challenges.
They target a rule crafted last year by the Biden administration to phase out emissions from electricity-producing fossil fuel plants, which are responsible for around a quarter of US greenhouse gases, and a regulation called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which Biden toughened in 2023 to slash harmful pollution suffered by communities.
These rollbacks come despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the dire consequences of the worsening climate crisis and the harm caused by pollutants such as mercury, which can seep into water, soils and the air and has been linked to neurological damage in young children as well as heart, lung and immune system ailments in adults.
Coal-fired power plants cause nearly half of all mercury emissions in the US, according to the EPA.
More than 200 health experts wrote to the EPA on Wednesday warning the moves “would lead to the biggest pollution increases in decades and is a blatant give-away to polluters”.
The experts added the reversals are “a direct contradiction to the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission of protecting public health and the environment”.…..
www.theguardian.com
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled a plan on Wednesday that would repeal a landmark climate rule that aims to mostly eliminate greenhouse gases from power plants by the 2030s and would, separately, weaken another regulation that restricts power plants’ release of hazardous air pollutants such as mercury.
“We choose to both protect the environment and grow the economy,” said Lee Zeldin, administrator of the EPA, at an event to announce the plans. He said the rollbacks will save households money while also defying what he called “the climate change cult”.
The climate rule has “saddled our critical power sector with expensive, unreasonable and burdensome regulations”, Zeldin said. “American energy suffered and Americans who rely on reliable, affordable energy suffered. The good news is those days are over.”
The EPA’s proposals will go out for public comment and are likely to face legal challenges.
They target a rule crafted last year by the Biden administration to phase out emissions from electricity-producing fossil fuel plants, which are responsible for around a quarter of US greenhouse gases, and a regulation called the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which Biden toughened in 2023 to slash harmful pollution suffered by communities.
These rollbacks come despite overwhelming scientific evidence of the dire consequences of the worsening climate crisis and the harm caused by pollutants such as mercury, which can seep into water, soils and the air and has been linked to neurological damage in young children as well as heart, lung and immune system ailments in adults.
Coal-fired power plants cause nearly half of all mercury emissions in the US, according to the EPA.
More than 200 health experts wrote to the EPA on Wednesday warning the moves “would lead to the biggest pollution increases in decades and is a blatant give-away to polluters”.
The experts added the reversals are “a direct contradiction to the Environmental Protection Agency’s mission of protecting public health and the environment”.…..
Trump’s EPA announces major rollbacks to power plant pollution limits
More than 200 health experts say regulatory proposals will lead to biggest increase in pollution in decades
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US Justice Department says Trump can cancel national monuments that protect landscapes
Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites.
apnews.comA Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act can’t be revoked. The department said presidents can cancel monument designations if protections aren’t warranted.
The finding comes as the Interior Department under Trump weighs changes to monuments across the nation as part of the administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production.
This is not about survival. This is about profits at all our expense.The Trump Administration REEKS of poison, spreading poison to reap profits is his predicted, assured path, with zero doubt.US Justice Department says Trump can cancel national monuments that protect landscapes
Lawyers for President Donald Trump’s administration say he has the authority to abolish national monuments meant to protect historical and archaeological sites.
A Justice Department legal opinion released Tuesday disavowed a 1938 determination that monuments created by previous presidents under the Antiquities Act can’t be revoked. The department said presidents can cancel monument designations if protections aren’t warranted.
The finding comes as the Interior Department under Trump weighs changes to monuments across the nation as part of the administration’s push to expand U.S. energy production.
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When DOGE started I said that there are a lot of smaller groups and programs that do really good work that most people never heard of, and frankly never thought about the work they do
This is one of them. Never knew this was a thing
==============
The Trump administration appears poised to cut the US Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division (NSNSD), a little-known office that works to rein in noise and light pollution in national parks, a task that is seen as a vital environmental endeavor.
Advocates say the division’s work is quiet but important – many plants and animals rely on the darkness, and light pollution is contributing to firefly and other insect die-offs.
The office led efforts to reduce light pollution at the Grand Canyon and snowmobile noise that drowned out sounds emanating from the Old Faithful geyser, among other initiatives.
“They’re a small but mighty program,” said Kristen Brengel, vice-president of government affairs for the National Park Conservation Association, which advocates for the national park system.
“When you think about it, the national parks are a full sensory experience … and there are scientists behind the scenes who are making sure that you have that world-class experience,” Brengel added.
The office is an example of what would be lost if the Trump administration is successful in implementing deep cuts to the US National Park Service, shifting its focus from enhancing and preserving parks to simply managing visitors.
The agency’s stewardship budget, which funds the NSNSD’s office of about 10 employees, is facing a proposed reduction from about $375m to $185m, and advocates say the office is almost certainly threatened……..
The NSNSD was established in 2000 with an aim to “protect, maintain, and restore acoustical and dark night sky environments” throughout the park system.
In practice, that’s meant a combination of improving lighting in public parks, preserving darkness for wildlife, performing research and promoting dark sky tourism, which is booming, Hartley said.
Light pollution is increasing globally at about 10% annually, and around 60% of all known species are nocturnal and rely on the darkness, DarkSky estimates.
Light pollution is particularly hard on migratory birds that rely on the moon and stars to navigate, and are drawn to bright light sources, and the light can also disrupt plants’ photosynthesis process.
The NSNSD in recent decades helped lead projects that aimed to improve lighting at many of the nation’s 430 parks, seashores and sites.
It retrofitted 5,000 lights in the Grand Canyon national park with lower-watt LEDs that reduced spillage into the sky, and which turned the area into a certified dark sky park.
It also adjusted the lighting at the Mt Rushmore national park to reduce spillover, and improved lighting at the Gateway Arch in St Louis. The latter’s lights are now turned off during periods of heavy bird traffic in migratory season.
The NSNSD also aims to ensure people can see the stars. For its purposes and those of DarkSky International, the definition of a “dark sky” is anywhere in which one can view the Milky Way, Hartley said. About 83% of the US population lives in an area where they cannot.
“You want to have lighting that protects and respects the natural darkness in those parks,” Hartley said. The NSNSD has also “pioneered” ways to measure, assess, and track changes in natural darkness over time, and it publishes papers on night sky quality, Hartley said.
The NSNSD’s sounds department helped resolve a 2013 controversy over snowmobiles at Yellowstone.
Dozens of extremely loud two-stroke snowmobiles that would gather daily at the Old Faithful geyser were drowning out its sounds, scaring bison and generally degrading the experience, Brengel said.
Employees from the NSNSD measured the noise, determined the level at which natural sounds could be heard and wildlife would be less scared.
It helped develop rules that required quieter four-stroke snowmobile engines, and limited their numbers to 10 at a time. The effort was seen as a happy compromise, Brengel said.…….
www.theguardian.com
This is one of them. Never knew this was a thing
==============
The Trump administration appears poised to cut the US Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division (NSNSD), a little-known office that works to rein in noise and light pollution in national parks, a task that is seen as a vital environmental endeavor.
Advocates say the division’s work is quiet but important – many plants and animals rely on the darkness, and light pollution is contributing to firefly and other insect die-offs.
The office led efforts to reduce light pollution at the Grand Canyon and snowmobile noise that drowned out sounds emanating from the Old Faithful geyser, among other initiatives.
“They’re a small but mighty program,” said Kristen Brengel, vice-president of government affairs for the National Park Conservation Association, which advocates for the national park system.
“When you think about it, the national parks are a full sensory experience … and there are scientists behind the scenes who are making sure that you have that world-class experience,” Brengel added.
The office is an example of what would be lost if the Trump administration is successful in implementing deep cuts to the US National Park Service, shifting its focus from enhancing and preserving parks to simply managing visitors.
The agency’s stewardship budget, which funds the NSNSD’s office of about 10 employees, is facing a proposed reduction from about $375m to $185m, and advocates say the office is almost certainly threatened……..
The NSNSD was established in 2000 with an aim to “protect, maintain, and restore acoustical and dark night sky environments” throughout the park system.
In practice, that’s meant a combination of improving lighting in public parks, preserving darkness for wildlife, performing research and promoting dark sky tourism, which is booming, Hartley said.
Light pollution is increasing globally at about 10% annually, and around 60% of all known species are nocturnal and rely on the darkness, DarkSky estimates.
Light pollution is particularly hard on migratory birds that rely on the moon and stars to navigate, and are drawn to bright light sources, and the light can also disrupt plants’ photosynthesis process.
The NSNSD in recent decades helped lead projects that aimed to improve lighting at many of the nation’s 430 parks, seashores and sites.
It retrofitted 5,000 lights in the Grand Canyon national park with lower-watt LEDs that reduced spillage into the sky, and which turned the area into a certified dark sky park.
It also adjusted the lighting at the Mt Rushmore national park to reduce spillover, and improved lighting at the Gateway Arch in St Louis. The latter’s lights are now turned off during periods of heavy bird traffic in migratory season.
The NSNSD also aims to ensure people can see the stars. For its purposes and those of DarkSky International, the definition of a “dark sky” is anywhere in which one can view the Milky Way, Hartley said. About 83% of the US population lives in an area where they cannot.
“You want to have lighting that protects and respects the natural darkness in those parks,” Hartley said. The NSNSD has also “pioneered” ways to measure, assess, and track changes in natural darkness over time, and it publishes papers on night sky quality, Hartley said.
The NSNSD’s sounds department helped resolve a 2013 controversy over snowmobiles at Yellowstone.
Dozens of extremely loud two-stroke snowmobiles that would gather daily at the Old Faithful geyser were drowning out its sounds, scaring bison and generally degrading the experience, Brengel said.
Employees from the NSNSD measured the noise, determined the level at which natural sounds could be heard and wildlife would be less scared.
It helped develop rules that required quieter four-stroke snowmobile engines, and limited their numbers to 10 at a time. The effort was seen as a happy compromise, Brengel said.…….
‘A small but mighty program’: little-known US light pollution agency threatened by Trump funding cuts
The Natural Sounds and Night Skies Division strives to provide ‘full sensory experience’ in country’s national parks
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We were in northern WI on vacation this past week. On the way back south we went by a huge paper mill in Wausau. There was no stench, no foul odor that used to permeate the countryside for miles around any paper mill. Domtar didn’t do this out of respect for the environment and their neighbors. They did it because they were forced to do it by environmental laws and regulations.
I remember vividly the smell of paper mills from my youth. I don’t think a lot of younger people realize how bad things were in the 1960s and 70s. But it looks like we’re going back there, doesn’t it?
I remember vividly the smell of paper mills from my youth. I don’t think a lot of younger people realize how bad things were in the 1960s and 70s. But it looks like we’re going back there, doesn’t it?
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Donald Trump has pulled the US federal government from a historic agreement to recover the salmon population in the Pacific north-west, calling the plan “radical environmentalism”.
A presidential memorandum issued by Trump on Thursday removes the US from a deal brokered by Joe Biden with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes to work to restore salmon populations and develop clean energy for tribes.
Tribes have for decades claimed that four hydroelectric dams on the north-west’s Snake River have depleted salmon populations. The government had committed to analyzing the impact of the dams.
That agreement has now been deleted by the US president, with the order stating that he “continues to prioritize our nation’s energy infrastructure and use of natural resources to lower the cost of living for all Americans over speculative climate change concerns”.…….
www.theguardian.com
A presidential memorandum issued by Trump on Thursday removes the US from a deal brokered by Joe Biden with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes to work to restore salmon populations and develop clean energy for tribes.
Tribes have for decades claimed that four hydroelectric dams on the north-west’s Snake River have depleted salmon populations. The government had committed to analyzing the impact of the dams.
That agreement has now been deleted by the US president, with the order stating that he “continues to prioritize our nation’s energy infrastructure and use of natural resources to lower the cost of living for all Americans over speculative climate change concerns”.…….
Trump pulls US from plan to recover salmon population, calling it ‘radical’
Groups say president ‘grievously wrong’ after withdrawing from Biden-led deal to protect fish in Pacific north-west
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Everything he doesn't like is radical. Right, let's not save salmon. republicans don't fish anyway.Donald Trump has pulled the US federal government from a historic agreement to recover the salmon population in the Pacific north-west, calling the plan “radical environmentalism”.
A presidential memorandum issued by Trump on Thursday removes the US from a deal brokered by Joe Biden with Washington, Oregon and four Native American tribes to work to restore salmon populations and develop clean energy for tribes.
Tribes have for decades claimed that four hydroelectric dams on the north-west’s Snake River have depleted salmon populations. The government had committed to analyzing the impact of the dams.
That agreement has now been deleted by the US president, with the order stating that he “continues to prioritize our nation’s energy infrastructure and use of natural resources to lower the cost of living for all Americans over speculative climate change concerns”.…….
Trump pulls US from plan to recover salmon population, calling it ‘radical’
Groups say president ‘grievously wrong’ after withdrawing from Biden-led deal to protect fish in Pacific north-west
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They did smell awful (like boiled hotdogs or something similar). What was even worse were those creosote plants, which smelled something like burnt tires
Anyways, in today's news about republicans not giving a shirt about anything:
EPA rolls back Biden-era rules against 'forever chemicals' in drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency announced a rollback of Biden-era regulations on PFAS chemicals in drinking water systems. The EPA estimates more than 158 million Americans are exposed to these "forever chemicals" through water. John Yang discussed the move with Amudalat Ajasa of The...
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