Jeff St John

Trump administration says it's axing $7B program for low-income solar EPA chief Lee Zeldin claims the “big beautiful bill” allows funds for the Solar for All program to be rescinded. Advocates say that’s false and promise to…

The Trump administration has terminated Solar for All. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claims the “big beautiful bill” authorizes clawback of $7B in contracted funds — a claim that Sen. Moore Capito (R) has called "ridiculous." Cue the court challenges: www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
#energysky

California lawmakers have a radical idea for lowering electricity… Two bills would replace $15 billion in utility power-grid investments with cheaper public financing — a new approach to cutting sky-high electricity rates.

California lawmakers have a radical idea for controlling the state's sky-high electricity costs — replacing billions of dollars in utility grid spending with state-backed financing. Here's how it could work — and why advocates say it's the right move:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/uti...
#energysky

Trump looks to kill 'Solar for All' just as it starts to deliver The $7B program builds low-cost solar projects to slash bills for nearly 1 million families and help bolster the grid. The Trump administration is trying…

The Trump administration is threatening to kill the $7B Solar for All program, just as grantees across the U.S. are ramping up work to cut utility bills for nearly 1M low-income households and add 4GW of much-needed grid capacity. Here's what's at risk:
www.canarymedia.com/articles/sol...
#energysky

Opinion | The Era of A.I. Propaganda Has Arrived, and America Must Act

We gotta figure out some way to verify that there's a human being on the other end of every online interaction we engage in from now on: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/05/o...

HB 6 regulatory cases weigh what FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities should… The company's utilities argue they obeyed Ohio’s corporate separation law and that other issues merit only minor consequences. Opponents disagree.

Ohio’s consumers counsel says FirstEnergy’s utilities should pay more than $500 million for their role in the HB 6 power plant bailout scandal. The utility claims otherwise.

Remember all of those new clean energy investments under Biden?

“President Donald Trump has turned that wave into a ripple.”

Great story from @canarymedia.com

This chart.

Damn.

And I've heard not a peep from the GOP lawmakers who went to all those ribbon cutting ceremonies at the factories.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

(chart by @danmccarthy.bsky.social)

HB 6 regulatory cases weigh what FirstEnergy’s Ohio utilities should… The company's utilities argue they obeyed Ohio’s corporate separation law and that other issues merit only minor consequences. Opponents disagree.

Criminal investigations revealed how FirstEnergy’s corruption Public Utilities of Commission of Ohio cost Ohio ratepayers millions. The @PUCOhio now has a chance to hold FirstEnergy accountable by returning hundreds of millions of dollars to ratepayers www.canarymedia.com/articles/uti...

LA has a plan to stop copper thieves: Solar-powered streetlights As U.S. cities battle thieves who swipe copper wiring from streetlights, solar fixtures are becoming a financial no-brainer despite their higher price tag.

Copper thieves are tearing wire out of Los Angeles streetlights, and both residents and city workers are fed up. That’s why the city is swapping in solar-powered, wire-free streetlights that aren’t connected to the grid.

Can EV ambassadors help Chicago drivers go electric? Aiming to help Illinois get 1 million EVs on the road by 2030, the state’s largest utility is tapping community leaders to convince neighbors to ditch gas…

Illinois has big EV adoption goals, but it’s a long way from achieving them. That’s where a new group of EV ambassadors come in.

Meet Minnesota’s electric coffee roasting pioneers Minneapolis-based Coffeewomple is one of the first U.S. roasters to use a commercial-scale electric coffee roaster, navigating higher costs for climate…

Planting, harvesting, and shipping coffee beans around the world are responsible for most of your morning brew’s emissions, but roasting still does some damage.

In Minneapolis, Coffeewomple’s all-electric roaster is taking a bite — or a sip — out of coffee’s climate impact.

California halts building code updates in a blow to electrification Local jurisdictions may still be able to adopt ambitious codes that help homes ditch gas and promote heat pumps under exceptions in the new law, AB 130.

California is pausing building code updates in the hopes of speeding home construction. Advocates say that’ll only delay climate progress.

Very important reporting on the president's attacks on renewable energy.

Holzman has been on 🔥 the past several weeks with many important stories, including several scoops, and this latest one does an excellent job of integrating all this to explain how the different pieces add up to a war on wind.

RFK Jr. pulls funding for vaccines being developed to fight respiratory viruses The projects — 22 of them — are being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections.

Those mRNA vaccine programs that RFK Jr. is killing because he claims they don't work?
The people who invented them got the f***ing Nobel Prize.
And they've saved literally millions of lives already.

www.pbs.org/newshour/hea...

First-of-a-kind US class-action lawsuit would force EPA to reinstate $3bn climate program Coalition of non-profits, tribes and local governments sued EPA chief for halting climate justice grants

#ClimateChange www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

Trump Country Feeling Pain of Environmental Justice Grant Cuts In February the skies opened over southwestern Virginia, dumping seven inches of rain in a torrent that washed out roads, destroyed homes and businesses, and prompted Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) to declar...

Trump Country Feeling Pain of Environmental Justice Grant Cuts - Bloomberg news.bloomberglawcom/environment-...

Donald Trump is not a political story, it’s a crime story. And understanding him does not depend on political science, but psychology.

Several GOP senators from swing states or states with a Dem senator have nonetheless voted consistently for controversial Trump nominees. www.pbump.net/o/the-swing-...

'permitting reform and abundant energy framing won't be used to prioritize fossil fuels'

<record scratch>

bsky.app/profile/jael...

Trump’s Tariffs Are Making Money. That May Make Them Hard to Quit.

This “new” source of federal revenue is going to be sucked right out of Americans’ wallets. The least affluent people will be hit hardest. Former Obama adviser Jared Bernstein says over time the “pass-through” of tariff costs by companies to customers will hit 90%. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/03/b...

Chart: The clean-energy manufacturing boom is going bust Since Trump took office, nearly $28 billion worth of investment in U.S. cleantech factories has been paused, canceled, or otherwise delayed.

www.canarymedia.com/articles/cle...

July 31 #chartoftheday

In Kansas, Atmos Energy wants a $19.1M rate hike in KS—avg $9.12/month more (~29.3%).

They cite rising costs + rural pipeline repairs. New rates aim to better reflect cost of service. #energysky

👉 app.halcyon.io/processes/55...

Energy bill could cost North Carolina billions in lost investments… As lawmakers decide whether to override the governor’s veto of SB 266, new research estimates the massive economic toll of the legislation.

Rolling back a North Carolina climate law that mandates Duke Energy cut emissions could cost the state more than 50,000 jobs and billions of dollars in new investments, a new study finds.

Rural North Carolina town forges ahead on clean energy, despite… Federal lawmakers are throwing a wrench in Enfield’s plans for solar, energy efficiency, and a resilience center. But local leaders refuse to give up.

“We still stand up. We still try.” Despite federal headwinds against clean energy, the largely Black community of Enfield, North Carolina is forging ahead with its clean energy plans, story via @canarymedia.com‬ ow.ly/SpCK50WufY3 🔌💡

Used EV batteries are getting a second life in Texas. B2U Storage Solutions has already proven that its scrappy installations can reduce battery waste and back up the grid with its installations in California, and now it’s expanding its footprint.

As rooftop solar gets hammered, virtual power plants offer a way… VPPs built out of home solar and battery systems could bolster the overtaxed power grid, lower energy costs for consumers, and help invigorate a…

The rooftop solar industry is facing an unprecedented crisis. But when paired with batteries, it’s still the cheapest, easiest-to-deploy way to add much-needed power to the grid.

A retired nuclear plant in Michigan is about to restart, a first for… The 800-MW Palisades plant received key federal approvals to open three years after shutting down and has ambitious plans to be operational by the end of…

New from @ericwesoff.bsky.social: With the NRC on track to approve the restart of the Palisades Nuclear Plant, the long-promised nuclear renaissance may finally be arriving.

US aluminum producers need cheap, clean power. That may be tough to… Century Aluminum and Emirates Global Aluminium want to build the nation’s first smelters in decades, but must compete with data centers for a limited…

It’s getting harder to secure clean power. That’s a problem for aluminum producers looking to build two new smelters in the U.S. From @mariagallucci.bsky.social:

The country’s biggest energy market struggles to reform amid soaring… Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM is under intense political pressure to solve its interconnection backlog and other problems. But experts warn there are no…

Governors and ratepayer advocates are calling out PJM’s spiking prices — but it will take years to fix the broken interconnection queue at the heart of the issue.

New York becomes first state to commit to all-electric new buildings The state finalized rules ensuring most new edifices will install electric heat pumps and stoves instead of gas appliances, lowering costs and improving…

New York just became the first state to bar fossil fuels in most new buildings.

It’s a win for the climate and a win for owners’ utility bills.