Matt Daily

Trump administration taking new steps to block wind and solar projects, undisclosed memo says The directive puts these renewable energy projects under heightened scrutiny at Interior in a move that could slow approvals and construction.

ICYMI: Solar and wind energy projects must now get Interior Sec. Doug Burgum’s personal sign-off to receive permits across the hundreds of millions of federal acres under his control, according to an internal memo obtained by POLITICO. @zcolman.bsky.social
www.politico.com/news/2025/07...

Text from the 1990 global change research act (see link above).

The US Global Change Research Program's website, including all its sub-domains that host the National Climate Assessments and related reports, is now offline.

The 1990 Global Change Research Act (see below) mandates its research findings be available to all federal agencies & departments.

EPA’s fight to freeze climate grants has ‘significant legal vulnerabilities,’ top attorney warned in email The Trump administration's effort to regain control of $20 billion in already-distributed funding could expose the agency to billions in damages, a career lawyer wrote in an internal message obtained ...

They know they're doing illegal shit.

EPA’s fight to freeze climate grants has ‘significant legal vulnerabilities,’ top attorney warned in email The Trump administration's effort to regain control of $20 billion in already-distributed funding could expose the agency to billions in damages, a career lawyer wrote in an internal message obtained ...

SCOOP: EPA's own legal team was raising red flags about their challenge to Biden's climate spending.

EPA’s fight to freeze climate grants has ‘significant legal vulnerabilities,’ top attorney warned in email politi.co/44CMZnS via @politico

Federal judge orders immediate thaw of climate, infrastructure funds President Donald Trump does not have "unfettered power to hamstring in perpetuity" duly passed funding laws, the judge ruled.

The legal fight over releasing the Biden administration climate and infrastructure funding takes another step forward...

www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

With all that's going on, my story on the Trump administration's actions contributing to a science brain drain didn't make it outside the paywall. But I thought this portion on how it's affecting international students & interest was worth sharing.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

I recently received an e-mail from a Canadian university I'm affiliated with containing 3 lengthy attachments advising that "Canadian university researchers are advised to be extra careful when traveling to US," discussing recommended safety precautions and advice re cancelled collaboration funding.

It always boggles my mind that I, a journalist, am expressly forbidden from trading stocks, but members of Congress, with vastly greater knowledge of market-moving news, are allowed to profit by front-running markets, and so may profit by in essence stealing from the public they represent.

POLITICO Pro: Trump moves to hobble major US climate change study The cuts are a potentially fatal blow to the National Climate Assessment that Congress mandated to ensure the government understands the threats posed by rising temperatures.

SCOOP: Trump canceled funding for the US Global Change Research Program, imperiling the sweeping federal government National Climate Assessment climate study due by 2027.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

The Wisconsin elections should have nothing to do with Tesla’s awful sales numbers.

But Elon Musk’s companies and his politics now exist in self-made symbiosis, says @liamdenning.bsky.social 🎥

Judge hammers EPA over lack of proof of wrongdoing in terminating $20B in climate grants "Here we are, weeks in, and you're still unable to proffer me any information with regard to any kind of investigation or malfeasance," U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan said.

The latest in the saga over the climate spending the Trump EPA is trying to claw back, courtesy of @alexguillen.bsky.social:
www.politico.com/news/2025/04...

Robert McChesney, the Great Champion of Journalism and Democracy, Has Died The academic and activist inspired generations of people to challenge corporate power and support a media reform movement that lives on.

R.I.P Rob McChesney. He was a trenchant critic who saw corporate & commercial media as corrosive to democracy. I admired how his analysis & polemics were grounded in an intimate understanding of the history, structure & power--the political economy--of media. www.thenation.com/article/soci...

Climate groups could beat Trump in fight for $20B. It may be too late. The controversy over $20 billion of climate grants is stalling projects across the country and could force cancelation of projects designed to help people lower their energy costs.

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Judge bars Trump’s EPA from taking back $20B in climate grants — for now The ruling orders EPA and climate change groups to return to court to argue about the fate of the money.

Judge bars Trump’s EPA from taking back $20B in climate grants — for now. "The ruling orders EPA and climate change groups to return to court to argue about the fate of the money."
www.politico.com/news/2025/03...
🔌💡

Plus a couple more this evening ...

Judge bars Trump’s EPA from taking back $20B in climate grants — for now The ruling orders EPA and climate change groups to return to court to argue about the fate of the money.

BREAKING: Federal judge blocks Trump EPA move to claw back $20B in climate grants.

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Top broadband official exits Commerce Department with sharp Musk warning “Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world's richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington,” Evan Feinman warned.

“Stranding all or part of rural America with worse internet so that we can make the world’s richest man even richer is yet another in a long line of betrayals by Washington” Feinman wrote. www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Trump calls for imprisoning his opponents in bellicose speech at Justice Department For more than an hour, he delivered an insult-laden speech that shattered the traditional notion of DOJ independence.

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

POLITICO Pro: Judge slams EPA’s climate grant cancellations: ‘You have to have some kind of evidence’ Judge Tanya Chutkan offered significant criticism of EPA’s action but stopped short of saying she will side with the Climate United Fund.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/2025...

EPA launches attack on ‘holy grail’ of climate science — and dozens of enviro rules The move is the most aggressive attack yet by the Trump administration to undo previous efforts to limit the emissions that are warming the planet.

EPA's Lee Zeldin wants to overturn the federal government’s core scientific finding about the dangers of greenhouse gases — along with 30 other key regulatory actions stretching back decades. Story from @zcolman.bsky.social & @alexguillen.bsky.social

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Oil executives supported Trump. Now he's causing them heartburn. Oil and gas executives were big backers of the Republican president and his "energy dominance' message, but the trade fights he's picked are driving up their costs and threatening to undermine the eco...

www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

Graphic showing slow down in battery electric vehicle sales if current policies supporting EV adoption are repealed. If EPA tailpipe regulations and federal clean vehicle tax credits are repealed, sales of battery electric vehicles could drop about 30% in 2027 and 40% in 2030 relative to a scenario where current policies are continued.

Repealing clean vehicle tax credits would destroy demand for new US EV manufacturing. If federal policies supporting projected market demand for EVs could be met entirely with current assembly plant capacity. This calls into question the economic viability of all additional manufacturing plants that have been announced or are under construction across the US and would potentially result in the idling of some existing EV assembly plants and workers.

Repealing clean vehicle tax credits risks ending America’s battery manufacturing boom. Without clean vehicle tax credits, between 29% and 72% of battery cell manufacturing capacity currently operating or online by the end of 2025 would be unnecessary to meet automotive demand and could be at risk of closure, in addition to 100% of other planned facilities.

New REPEAT Project report: repealing federal tax credits and regs supporting deployment of electric vehicles would slow sales and threaten the economic viability of dozens of manufacturing projects taking shape across the country. zenodo.org/records/1500... 🔌💡

Trump calls for company building Keystone XL Pipeline to return to America and ‘get it built’ President Donald Trump is working to restore the Keystone XL Pipeline construction project and asking the company who was initially tasked to build it to come back and resume operations.

the irony of slapping tariffs on Canadian crude oil and then wanting to move ahead with a pipeline to allow more Canadian oil to flow AWAY from the United States. amazing. www.foxnews.com/politics/tru...

@jessedjenkins.com Story is now public here: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

House Republican support grows for keeping clean energy tax breaks Lawmakers are expected to start the difficult task this week of determining which of the credits are on the chopping block to help pay for the GOP's budget bill.

Republicans are stating to find parts of the Inflation Reduction Act that they plan to save. And they're getting bolder about it: www.politico.com/news/2025/03...

NOAA firings hit the birthplace of weather and climate forecasting Dismissed researchers were improving severe weather predictions

My latest: The mass firings at NOAA can feel abstract. Here's what was lost at one research center -- the birthplace of climate modeling.

Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.

Climate grant recipient to start spending $2B as Trump's EPA tries to claw it back “We have an obligation to fulfill” the grant agreement, Power Forward Communities CEO Tim Mayopoulos said in an interview with POLITICO.

NEW: A group that received a $2B climate grant is spending $539 million — even as EPA tries to claw back those funds.

I spoke w/ Power Forward Communities’ CEO about the plan to use Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund $ for energy efficient housing.

www.politico.com/news/2025/02...

Trump Is About to Wreck U.S. Oil Refineries The American oil industry wasn’t built for Canadian tariffs.

If Trump levies tariffs on Canadian oil, it would raise gasoline prices across the Midwest while absolutely wrecking the economics of US oil refineries. (So it does seem unlikely.) I wrote about it: heatmap.news/politics/tru...

five time series of global mean surface temperature changes starting low and noisy in the 1850s - rising clearly since the 1960s - and showing 2024 was clearly the warmest.

All surface temperature products for 2024 are now live.

All show 2024 is the warmest year (very clearly).

The estimates of the change since the pre-industrial (1850-1900) are more uncertain but range from 1.46 to 1.62ºC.

It is therefore *likely* this was the first year that exceeded 1.5ºC.

This is too good #EnergySky