What is Life Like Inside Trump’s EPA?
Three EPA employees talk about DOGE, work anxiety, regulatory rollbacks, and the impact on protecting health and the environment.
The new head of the U.S. the Environmental Protection Agency — whose mission is to protect human health and the environment by developing and enforcing regulations — this week made what he proudly called the “largest deregulatory announcement in history” in the form of nearly three dozen policy reversals and “reconsiderations.” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s video announcement confirmed many of the sweeping changes that were reportedly in the pip...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Stand Up for Science? Ask Kim Stanley Robinson
The acclaimed science fiction author says at a UCLA talk that Trump’s attack on science is “a murder suicide” that won’t work because “you cannot kill the future.”
One day before thousands of Americans took to the streets to protest cuts to scientific research, Kim Stanley Robinson gave a barn burner of a defense of science in the “Optimist Room” of a UCLA conference center. The author of “The Ministry for the Future,” “The Mars Trilogy,” and other books with scientists and climate diplomats as heroes, is himself a calm, deliberate speaker — the very image of equanimity. But the Trump administration’s attacks on...
CONTINUE READINGState-Level Actions To Decarbonize Aviation
New CLEE report explores the risks of federal preemption.
Aviation is a significant and growing source of greenhouse gas emissions. But the federal government in the United States has failed to address it so far. In response, some state policy makers and advocates are now considering legal avenues to effectively require the use of sustainable aviation fuels, which emit less carbon than traditional jet fuel when burned — and in some cases can eliminate these emissions altogether. Opponents will undoubtedly argue that such s...
CONTINUE READINGLegal Safeguards Against Deregulation
Congress was aware that there could be a backlash against environmental standards. It took precautions.
While Trump finds “tariff” one of the most beautiful words in the English language, I myself prefer “anti-backsliding.” Back in January, Trump told EPA to roll back efficiency standards on everything from lightbulbs to shower heads. Some news outlets viewed this as an accomplished task, with headlines like “Trump Rolls Back Energy Standard.” But, as it turned out, not only was it not a done deal, it was also legally impossible. The reason: an anti-backsli...
CONTINUE READINGEPA Jumps the Shark
Just as a past dictator rejected modern genetics, Trump rejects climate science. For both, evidence was no match for ideology and ego.
“We are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age,” or so said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, who used to be considered a fairly rational person. This is known as drinking the Kool-Aid, and it's something that usually ends badly. Specifically, Zeldin said EPA would reconsider (and presumably revoke) its finding that greenhouse gases "may endanger human health or welfare." This is actually a position t...
CONTINUE READINGMake America’s Environment Filthy Again
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has launched a full-scale attack on climate, air and water pollution.
In what is one of the most mind-boggling press releases ever to come out of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Lee Zeldin today declared that he wants to make America's air and water dirty again and to make the planet still warmer. He announced 31 actions that will obliterate protections for cleaner air, cleaner water, and a more stable climate. Each of the regulations Zeldin is seeking to roll back is worthy of a separate blog post. Each tackles a...
CONTINUE READINGU.S. Resistance to Trump is Alive and Well
Thousands of people rallied at more than 100 Stand Up for Science events from Missouri to France. Where will the movement go from here?
Several thousands of people took to the streets this past weekend in more than 100 cities to protest the Trump administration’s wide-ranging attacks on vital scientific research, including its attempts to slash funding to the National Institutes of Health and hence local universities and research labs across the country. The result was small but potent demonstrations in red states like Missouri, Montana, and Ohio as well as big crowds in Boston, New York, Philad...
CONTINUE READINGThe Legal Complexities of Deregulating Power Plant Carbon Emissions
The Supreme Court struck down Obama’s powerplant regulation. but it didn’t endorse Trump’s first try either.
EPA’s efforts to regulate carbon emissions from powerplants have had a tortuous history, and we’re about to go through another round, with a rule from a Democratic Administration being repealed and replaced by a Trump rule. The last time this happened, the Trump EPA said that its interpretation of the statute required an extraordinarily narrow substitute rule. Because of intervening legal changes, it won’t find it as easy to make that argument this time. In the end...
CONTINUE READINGShould Blue States Punish Tesla?
The political economy implications of how EV tax credits are distributed
In the wake of Elon Musk’s role in the new administration and its efforts to fire large numbers of federal employees, some Democratic state elected officials have called for rethinking EV subsidies to cut out Tesla. There is also evidence that Democratic state legislators have become much more hostile to Tesla lobbying. Matthew Yglesias, a well-known commentator on the center-left, has argued that this is a misguided response, and instead that Democrats should trim...
CONTINUE READINGEmergency!
The risks of politicizing emergency provisions in statutes and regulations
This article notes that the Army Corps of Engineers is going to try to use emergency designations to reduce or eliminate environmental requirements (environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Endangered Species Act (ESA)) for hundreds of projects that it is reviewing permits for. The projects include a number of large-scale natural gas pipelines and other major infrastructure projects. There is obviously a debate to be had about ...
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