How does rising authoritarianism threaten environmental protection and public service? Experts from PEER, Environmental Protection Network, and Next Interior shared their insights during last week's webinar. Watch the recording today. 🔗 https://ow.ly/EPQ950X9QH7 #CivilService #PublicEmployees

glad the AI slop machine enjoys my work

David Horsey, Seattle Times

BLM is now trying to say the Esmeralda 7 solar project is not canceled because now companies have to submit their projects individually for environmental review. This, err, means it is canceled, because what was once a giant solar project is now a bunch of separate little independent solar projects

“The proponents and BLM agreed to change their approach for Esmeralda 7 Solar,” BLM spokesperson Kristen Peters said. “Instead of pursuing a programmatic level environmental analysis, they have the option to submit individual project proposals to the BLM”. www.reviewjournal.com/business/ene...

Now that we know the Executive can just permit some energy projects & refuse to permit others, if a Dem ever gets back in the White House, we should stop negotiating w oil and gas Republicans for "permitting reform" and just stop permitting fossil fuels while permitting the fuck out of clean energy.

“The BLM wouldn’t cancel it unless the proponents wanted it cancelled,” said Shaaron Netherton, director of Friends of Nevada Wilderness. “I just can’t think of any other reason why it would be cancelled.” We don’t know why yet and I wouldn’t make assumptions thenevadaindependent.com/article/feds...

NextEra Energy has written me back saying they remain committed to their solar projects that used to be a part of Esmeralda 7 Calling them “early stage” and confirming they’ll need their own “comprehensive environmental analysis” So, yeah, Esmeralda 7 is Joever

Not surprising that this solar project, that burns enough gas to participate in cap and trade, was built by taxpayers and a venture capital firm advised by RFK Jr.

SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency @heatmap.news

I spent 4 years working on this, but it was a bad project, not least due to the location next to a big golf course w/ prominent water features that attracted large numbers of migratory birds that were incinerated flying through the solar fields. www.instituteforenergyresearch.org/big-green/ca...

Federal agencies are drawing up plans to fire employees who would typically be furloughed during a shutdown. For the National Park Service, the proposed layoffs would be devastating. 🔗 https://ow.ly/AeLE50X9fnL #shutdown #NationalParks

🎵 They did the Monster Slash 😭 @ellecordova.bsky.social

Some additional info on the new list of axed DOE projects circulating. - All 7 H2 Hubs - All 13 IRA grants to convert at-risk auto plants to EV mfg - 11 of 15 grants to speed domestic clean energy mfg in former coal communities - 10 of 38 grants for battery materials heatmap.news/politics/doe...

wouldn't it be nice to walk away from the consequences of one's bad decisions? "heads I win, tails we flip again"

The ESA protects wildlife and its habitat by preventing illegal “Take“, a legal word meaning “harass, harm, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect or attempt to engage in any such conduct“ except by federal permit. Removing HARM protection will increase their greatest threat: habitat loss.

"Book Review: A Call to Arms About the Threat of Anti-Science" | Great review of #ScienceUnderSiege by Dan Falk for @undark.org magazine: undark.org/2025/10/03/b...

Despite what some want you to believe, the U.S. science enterprise is far from defunct. New projects that could make make important data and reports more accessible than ever are in progress ...

The government shutdown will halt some federal research at agencies already struggling with staff and funding cuts 🧪 eos.org/research-and...

Folks — this is not a normal government shutdown. Let me explain the stakes and how we got here.

Most people don’t know the backlash to the federal listing of the Mojave desert tortoise includes the Bundy standoff. The initial dispute that led to the standoff w/ the BLM began w/ a 1993 modification to his grazing permit to protect the Mojave desert tortoise www.reviewjournal.com/news/bundy-b...

I’ve seen this anti-science attitude before when the Mojave desert tortoise was federally listed in 1989. There was significant backlash in the Las Vegas area from developers, homebuilders, and some government officials, w/ accusations of biologists in a federal government plot to hurt Las Vegas.

The US military was a *very* early adopter of climate adaptation for a reason: they rightly recognized it as a threat multiplier for national security.

🧪🧬🌎❄️🌨️💔

In his speech this morning at Quantico, “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth attacked climate change research, calling it "climate change worship" and a "distraction". He declared, "No more climate change worship," and stated, "We are done with that s***". The demonization of climate science continues.

Another expert review of the science behind the endangerment finding, this time from health professionals. they conclude that CO2 emissions "pose a clear and indisputable danger to human health and well-being." drive.google.com/fil...

this is a really good video about how increases in CO2 affect plant growth. the channel only has a few dozen subscribers, which is criminal.

I’ve worked in environmental consulting in the Las Vegas area for 30+ years, and having been involved with the construction of the Greenlink West transmission line between Las Vegas and Reno, the permit issues with the DOD, or DOW, has become a major problem that I believe is politically motivated.

Using an emergency declaration, Trump’s timber production executive order would ease environmental protections so as to greatly expand logging in the national forests. A report from our friends at @highcountrynews.org:

Dear Secretary Wright, here's what's wrong with your climate report:

We have a potential shutdown. DOI is about to share RIF plans with us. We don’t have enough staff/budget already. It’s horrible. Now Mr. “Trauma is the point” is suggesting anyone not funded during a shutdown will be subject to a Reduction in force (terminated)? I am nauseous.

“EPA is gratuitously gutting its scientific capacity to handle a host of critical public health and environmental challenges,” stated PEER Science Policy Director Kyla Bennett, a scientist and attorney formerly with EPA, pointing out that EPA is eliminating its Office of Research and Development.

Today Trump is dismissing as a "hoax" the existential threat posed by climate change. Yesterday he promoted the myth that vaccines cause autism. It's almost as if he's out there trying to underscore the central thesis of our ( @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and my) new book #ScienceUnderSiege:

The bought-and-paid-for Supreme Court agreed to take up whether to overturn a 90-year-old precedent that allows Congress to give certain agencies some independence from the White House. And of course, we can be certain they’ll rule in his favor, leaving us with no truly independent agencies.

"Form the dough. Knead until it’s as elastic as the truth."

From the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory… “We have been asked to take the words climate change, carbon dioxide, green transition, any of those things out of our new proposals” Berkeley Lab scientists feel like they have Trump's 'ax hanging above their head' www.berkeleyside.org/2025/09/22/l...

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪 This was Week 35: - executive order on H-1B visas - travesty of vaccine advisory council updates MMRV & COVID recs - Texas A&M fires president - California faculty file suit & so much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

Just as a distraction from all of the &%#!. Here is a spectacular video of one of the sites we work in with these cave divers as part of our team's work in Madagascar. These guys are just amazing and incredibly nice too. ❤️🧪 youtu.be/n6h-cBOsNSQ?...

Tomorrow is Equinox, a day of special consequence for people Charlie Kirk sneered at as “pagans.” Two (of many) options: Join a local Sun-Day event & celebrate solar power; or watch on TV what ought to be a mournful memorial for a fallen comrade turned into yet another venue for Trump‘s vendettas.

Sun Day is a global day of action on September 21st, 2025, celebrating the power of clean energy. thirdact.org/nevada/event...

Solar works. Clean energy works. Now it’s time to make it work for every one of us. 💡 Tomorrow is #SunDay, Sept. 21: a nationwide day of action to celebrate progress and demand clean energy that lowers bills, cleans our air, and powers #NV's future.

‘Sun day’: US #climate activists to rally for clean energy amid #Trump attacks. 450 events are planned across the US this Sunday to celebrate growth of #solar power and #energy efficiency. www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

National Academies is releasing their fast-tracked review of the science of the endangerment finding in about 1 hour, with a webcast in about 2 hours. www.nationalacademies.org/event/45701_...

Donald Trump is moving to rescind the Endangerment Finding, a meticulously researched multi-year scientific effort which confirmed that six greenhouse gases are impacting the climate. 1/4

The School of Planning, Policy, and Environmental Studies at San José State University is hiring an Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. We welcome applicants from all fields of environmental studies who apply an environmental justice lens to their work. jobs.sjsu.edu/sj/en-us/job...

Each Friday, I summarize what is happening to American science & higher ed. 🧪 This was Week 34: - UC Berkeley feeds the administration a list of targets - Dept of Ed rescinds $350M from minority serving institutions - faculty firings at Texas A&M & so (SO) much more buttondown.com/liminalcreat...

On Friday, the EPA proposed killing the program that requires large factories, refineries, and power plants to report their carbon emissions. But its plan would also hobble the carbon capture industry & basically prevent anyone from using the tax credit. New from me: heatmap.news/energy/epa-g...

When you add in all of the publicly-owned water districts and state-owned canals in California, and top it off with extensive irrigation ditches.. It’s a whole lot more!

This seems better than bulldozing thousands of acres of desert tortoise habitat for solar. Put them over canals, put them on the dried lakebed of Lake Powell, put them on cables over open pit mines, put them over parking lots. But not on wildlife habitat.