“This order will pass tens of millions in costs to Colorado ratepayers, in order to keep a coal plant open that is broken and not needed," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said of the lastest DOE “emergency” order. tinyurl.com/3b5rncbh

The US Department of Interior no longer mentions climate-warming methane leaking from orphaned wells. But the agency is once again offering federal grants to seal such wells. It’s a rare federal climate program to survive in 2025. tinyurl.com/nhks484e

US coal plant operators get a 5-year reprieve from Biden-era regulations seeking to limit wastewater discharges carrying arsenic, mercury and other toxins into drinking water sources. Just in time for the holidays. tinyurl.com/3f4tvpxa

You force 317,000 federal workers out the door and — ooops! — unemployment creeps up. www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Look for more unpaid power bills and service shut-offs as US energy costs soar. Average residential electricity costs have risen 32% since 2020, S&P Global data shows. #affordability tinyurl.com/tjtbpnes

Amazing — Congress finally did the right thing. www.cnn.com/2025/11/12/p...

The bill to reopen the US government could avoid further furloughs at already-struggling energy and environmental agencies. It would also delay layoffs, at least for a little while. Our take on today's big story in DC. tinyurl.com/d6v4afhj

The Trump administration wants to eliminate a greenhouse gas reporting program covering large US emitters. Companies warn the proposal will hurt US exports and raise business costs. An investor said it could erode “market confidence in US companies.” tinyurl.com/mr4cew5y

Seems we don’t!

Montgomery County, Maryland, today announced a package of nearly $8 million for food assistance and other services to help people get by. Since the Trump administration would rather Americans go hungry than release emergency funds during the shutdown. www2.montgomerycountymd.gov/mcgportalapp...

The US Department of Energy said a Michigan coal plant and Pennsylvania gas units had to continue to operate past their May 31 retirement to avoid blackouts. Our data shows the plants have been of limited use at best, while adding tens of millions to your power bills. tinyurl.com/2ww5kbad

Renewables deal flow is ramping back up, but developers and financiers remain apprehensive about the longer-term fallout from disappearing wind and solar incentives. My latest: 🔌💡 www.spglobal.com/market-intel...

“As Washington has left friends and foes grappling with how to respond to its volley of tariffs and insults, China presents itself as a serious country with predictable, consistent policies.”

2025 has seen a significant drop in "high-priority violations" that the EPA issues under the Clean Air Act, suggesting that companies are getting a break. Such violations involve pollution that can endanger public health. tinyurl.com/b8prn5py

The Trump administration's plan to rescind the 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding is fraught with legal risks for oil and gas companies hoping for a regulatory break. As of this morning, EPA staff had logged 351,300 public comments on the controversial proposal. tinyurl.com/mrxvwdbp

In a UN speech today, President Trump said that "all of these [climate] predictions were wrong". Back in 2019 I led a research effort to digitize old climate model projections and assess how well they did. Turns out they got future warming pretty spot on!

You can’t make this stuff up.

@hausfath.bsky.social and David Keith note that geoengineering would be a temporary “Band-Aid.” But some worry that by focusing attention and funding on geoengineering — like spending billions on CCS for coal plants — we focus less on dealing with the actual problem: our dependency on fossil fuels.

Posting this for no particular reason -->

UNREAL… Anatomy of Two Giant Deals: The U.A.E. Got Chips. The Trump Team Got Crypto Riches. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/15/u...

”Charlie Kirk built one of the most effective youth mobilization machines in recent memory. He helped elect a president. Unless Democrats respond, the next generation of young men will belong to someone else. And the future of American democracy may go with them.” @nytimes.com

The Trump administration is censoring signs, exhibits and photos related to slavery at US national parks, The Washington Post reports. Anyone who studied 20th century European history will recognize the push to erase and rewrite history. 🤔

I never thought I’d live in a military state where people with machine guns try to intimidate people just going about their lives. These soldiers were at the NoMa-Gaullaudet station in Washington, DC, the other day. Photo courtesy of my friend Lisa.

Some good news from our (dark) corner of the world! 🌞 via ‪@ember-energy.org‬

My best day of staycation this past week was biking down the Capital Crescent trail to Georgetown and Theodore Island. Reminded me of what a great city Washington, DC, is!

Days after filing a whistleblower complaint claiming that DOGE put Americans’ Social Security data at risk, the agency’s chief data officer “involuntarily” resigned.

Let’s not lose sight of this: The Trump administration’s Medicaid cuts will deprive an estimated 156,000 Americans of treatment for opiod addiction. Researchers say it will lead to some 1,000 more fatal overdoses annually, reversing a recent decline. ldi.upenn.edu/our-work/res...

On the same day the FDA restricted access to COVID vaccines, the CDC director was sacked and top CDC scientists are resigning. And it’s barely been two weeks since an antivax conspiracy theorist fired 180 bullets at CDC headquarters. None of this is making America healthier. What a disaster.

Finally, a forecast with sunny days for the foreseeable future. Dry warm days to enjoy!

Just had a conversation with a friend about “civil courage,” or standing up for what’s right — even if it may hurt you. This is such courage. www.standupforscience.net/fema-katrina...

An analysis found that real-time monitoring of hazardous pollutants from coal-fired power plants can yield nine times higher emission rates than traditional stack tests. Power sector trade groups and electric utilities say the systems are too costly, asking the EPA for relief. tinyurl.com/4jec49d6

"For a party that talks about state rights, it's amazing how they're having such a big government approach." - Governor Wes Moore on Trump's unconstitutional ICE actions

In @nytopinion.nytimes.com Through the recent FBI raid on John Bolton’s home, “the president has given all Americans reason to believe that justice is now applied selectively and unfairly,” the editorial board writes.

The order to keep this Michigan coal plant open through late November--as the weather cools and power demand drops--will likely be followed soon by an order extending operations at an aging Pennsylvania fossil fueled plant. Both were set to shut down May 31.

The Trump administration ordered a Michigan coal plant to stay open for another 3 months due to an "energy emergency" state regulators say doesn't exist. In 2023, this plant released 6.7 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions, along with other pollutants. 🤔 tinyurl.com/y89sckup

A deep-sea battery mine may become a reality as nations rush to electrify their economies. In Samoa, they're not so thrilled. "Our major concern is the lack of comprehensive, peer-reviewed science on the long-term effects of deep-sea mining," a local official said. tinyurl.com/4jc6cp3d

My colleague @georgeweykamp.bsky.social and I combed through thousands of comments on the EPA's proposal to scrap all greenhouse gas limits for US fossil fuel-fired power plants. As it turns out, many power companies with #climate goals think it's a good idea. tinyurl.com/mrxre5fb

Late last night I mapped crime rates for cities in OH, SC and WV to show how often they exceeded the rate in DC — where those states’ governors are sending National Guard troops to “combat crime.” www.pbump.net/o/more-peopl...

Soldiers patrol our streets like the Ordnungspolizei back in the day. Also today, the White House ordered a review of exhibits at the Smithsonian to remove “divisive or partisan narratives.” The Nazis, too, believed art helps define a society’s values. encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/a...

This screenshot from The New York Times shows what’s really going on with crime in DC. So much for an emergency.

Washington, DC, isn't even among the top 25 most dangerous US cities, federal data shows. Yet this is the city for which the president just declared a "crime emergency." So he could dispatch the National Guard. 🤔https://realestate.usnews.com/places/rankings/most-dangerous-places

The Hopi Tribe in Arizona has to tell 650 households that the electricity they were getting through the $7 billion Solar for All program was canceled. "It feels like we stepped back 100 years," Hopi Chairman Tim Nuvangyaoma said of the government's broken promise. tinyurl.com/ym959wcu

Went to the farmers market this morning after yoga class to pick up some beautiful flowers. Important to take care of ourselves and those around us these scary times.

US states and Native American tribes are blasting the Trump administration and Congress for canceling a $7 billion solar grant program for low-income communities. 650 homes on the Hopi Reservation that lack electricity are among those affected by the cut. tinyurl.com/ym959wcu

A federal judge in Texas said a lawsuit accusing BlackRock and two other leading asset managers of conspiring to suppress the US coal industry can move forward. 13 Republican attorneys general opposed to corporate #climate policies are pursuing the antitrust case. tinyurl.com/4zu44jj2

Also novel for the US, I think, is for the president to fire the country's head of labor statistics when jobs numbers don't look good. www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/b...

Legal scholars analyzed EPA's novel argument for revoking the 2009 landmark greenhouse gas endangerment finding. "This is an elaborate, complicated work-around." tinyurl.com/4662933d

The EPA cited my paper in their argument against the endangerment finding today. However, their point is completely backwards: my paper actually supports the EPA's 2009 range of 1.8C to 4C warming by 2100. www.nature.com/artic...

The EPA cited this DOE report as evidence for why the US should not regulate greenhouse gas emissions. EPA has "serious concerns that many of the scientific underpinnings of the Endangerment Finding are contradicted by empirical data, peer-reviewed studies, and scientific developments since 2009." 🤔

Get ready for more legal fights — this time over whether #climate change endangers human health and the environment. Via @georgeweykamp.bsky.social