Don’t Mess With Solar
A new clean energy PAC has become a big player in GOP primaries. But what happens in November?
Congressmember Andy Ogles of Tennessee is a zit on the face of American politics: a white nationalist and Islamophobe who started out as a flunkie for the Koch Brothers and lied about his credentials when he first ran for Congress. Unsurprisingly, he is also a climate denier, (in)famously stating during a 2024 House debate on an Interior-Environment spending bill that "You know, we may have had a hot summer, but I just went trick or treating with my kids and it was like,...
CONTINUE READINGYou May Have Forgotten About Climate Change. But It Hasn’t Forgotten About You
Denial is a great coping mechanism. Until reality turns around and bites you.
Climate change is, apparently, passé. Democratic politicians are avoiding the topic and dialing back ambitious plans to reduce emissions. The President apparently doesn’t think it exists, and the government’s official position is that its effects are too uncertain to worry about. Amazon and other corporations had solemnly pledged to become carbon neutral. Now Amazon is about to open its own power plant for an AI data center, which will instantly become the l...
CONTINUE READINGTurning Methane Pledges into Action
Inside Canada’s 2025 Enhanced Methane Regulations
While transitioning away from fossil fuels and accelerating renewable energy deployment remains the ultimate goal, we need to minimize the climate impact of the existing oil and gas industry. According to the Global Methane Budget, human activity is responsible for roughly 60% of the 580 million tonnes of methane entering the atmosphere every year. The oil and gas sector alone accounts for more than a fifth of those human-caused emissions, making it the world’s second...
CONTINUE READINGClimate at SCOTUS, Electrification Victories, Media Moves
The Drain is a regular roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
It’s not every year that climate change looms large at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it will this coming term. The Supreme Court will begin its 2026-2027 term with a case brought by a Colorado county seeking millions of dollars from oil and gas companies for their role in exacerbating climate change. The justices announced recently that they will hear argument in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County on October 5, the first hearing of the term. ...
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Interpreting the Clean Air Act After Chevron’s Demise
A recent Ninth Circuit case requires states to do more to achieve clean air goals.
Last week, the Ninth Circuit decided Committee for a Better Arvin v. EPA, which is both a significant air pollution case and an interesting case study in how the Supreme Court has changed judicial review of agency actions. The case was brought by a group in Arvin, CA, a small city near Bakersfield. When an area has failed to attain the air quality required by the Clean Air Act, special “nonattainment” provisions go into effect. In particular, the state is required t...
CONTINUE READINGScience Wins A Skirmish
The Senate's Continuing Resolution Blocks Russ Vought's Odious Politicization of Science -- Temporarily
Thank heaven for small favors: Senators on the Appropriations Committee on Sunday released a stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown by Oct. 1 and temporarily block a White House proposal that would fundamentally change how the federal government awards and manages grants. In late May, the Office of Management and Budget released a proposed rule to overhaul the Uniform Guidance (2 C.F.R. Part 200) that reshapes how billions of dollars in r...
CONTINUE READINGWhat the Disappearing Danube Could Tell Us About the Colorado
Today’s drought may not be the worst-case scenario for the Colorado
The Colorado River is suffering from the worst drought in at least 1200 years, raising fears about the fate of its shrinking reservoirs. According to the Wall Street Journal, if the drought continues through the winter, the entire system of managing water along the river may break down. This may not be the worst case scenario. Across the Atlantic, the situation on the Danube is truly dire. The “Blue Danube” memorialized by the Strauss waltz is now only nine inc...
CONTINUE READINGElection 2026: Three Months to Go
Gerrymandering has given House Republicans a boost, and the Senate leans toward the GOP, but it still promises to be a real horse race.
Given partisan polarization on climate change and other environmental issues, the composition of Congress makes a big impact. We’re three months from election day. This post scopes out what things look like now. Obviously, things will change between now and the election. It’s worth reflecting, however, on how it would impact policy if current trends continue. President Trump will continue to have a huge amount of power either way, but a new Congress could still ma...
CONTINUE READINGEnough With The Doomscrolling
Environmental Progress Does Exist - And So Does Good News
So much is awful nowadays, that we need to share good news at Legal Planet, and there actually is some. For the first time ever, German solar and wind electricity production outpaced that of fossil fuels. In 1987, forest cover in Costa Rica, one of the famously most biodiverse nations on the face of the Earth, had collapsed to just 21% of its original amount. But now, thanks in part to a gasoline tax that goes to pay for ecosystem services, that number ...
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