Trump

Trump and Xi Meet in Beijing

The presidents of the US and China standing on a stage and shaking hands with flags behind them

As the U.S. and China meet, climate change is NOT on the agenda.

When Presidents Trump and Xi meet this week in Beijing, climate and environment will not be on the agenda. That absence is striking, because the U.S. and China are now moving in radically different directions on climate, energy, and environmental protection. The US is in an extraordinarily anti-environmental moment. It has exited both the Paris …

CONTINUE READING

Roundup at the Supreme Court

A corner of the Supreme Court building being hit by afternoon sun

Bayer and its allies in the Trump Administration got their day in court.

Today, the Supreme Court heard arguments in Monsanto v. Durnell.  As discussed in a previous blog post, the broader context of the case is significant even though the question before the Court was a narrow one: “Whether the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act preempts a label-based failure-to-warn claim where EPA has not required the …

CONTINUE READING

Trump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge: More BS on Electricity Prices

Within the White House, Donald Trump leans in from within a line of attendees at a dinner table and talks to a small microphone.

In his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” from technology companies.

Last night, in his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” from technology companies as his latest effort to respond to rising electricity prices across the country.  In his brief remarks on the pledge, the President said that it “obligated” the technology companies to provide for their own power, …

CONTINUE READING

More Pesticides Please!

In a cartoon Donald Trump stands over a pile of toxic waste in an extremely polluted and apocalyptic scene holding a shovel and a paper that reads, "TRUMP'S TOXICS FIRST AGENDA".

Trump’s ‘Toxics First’ Agenda continues with a new executive order mandating the production of glyphosate . . . as a matter of national security!

Late last Wednesday, sandwiched between all of the news about the repeal of the endangerment finding and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Trump tariffs, the White House issued a new Executive Order invoking a Korean War era statute, the Defense Production Act of 1950, to ensure that chemical companies can continue to manufacture a …

CONTINUE READING

The Trump Administration is Squandering Our Natural Heritage

A face first shot of a frizzly bear.

Proposed Endangered Species Act regulations are designed to stifle protections and provide developers even more power.

The world’s ecosystems have been subject to an increasingly dangerous cocktail of stressors from land and ocean over-development, invasive species, and pollution. But rather than stem the tide of these harms, the Trump administration has resurrected several regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act designed to stifle species’ protections and provide land developers even more power to …

CONTINUE READING

Rollin’ Coal!

A black pickup truck driving down a road and releasing a lot of very dark black smoke from the exhaust.

One year in on Trump’s ‘Toxic First’ Agenda and the MAGA assault on environmental law.

They call it Rollin’ Coal — when you retrofit your diesel truck (and they are always trucks) to emit more pollution.  A lot more.  You may have seen the pictures: big dark clouds of fine particulates and a bounty of air toxics — a big f*#ck you to Prius drivers, environmentalists, and, well, all of …

CONTINUE READING

States Become “Norm Sustainers” on Environmental Justice

Guest Contributor Sharmila L. Murthy explains how state Attorneys General are acting as important counterweights to the federal government on environmental justice.

Guest contributor Sharmila L. Murthy is a Professor of Law and Public Policy at Northeastern University In the wake of misleading and inaccurate characterizations by the Trump Administration that wrongly label environmental justice activities as illegal discrimination, the Attorneys General of California, Massachusetts, and New York, joined by the Attorneys General of Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, …

CONTINUE READING

Trump’s Funniest Executive Orders

Yes, they’re destructive and often cruel. But sometimes, they’re also unintentionally funny.

Imagine some later historian flipping through the pages of the Federal Register and coming upon Executive Order 14264, “Maintaining Acceptable Water Pressure in Showerhead.” Think of it: he went to incredible lengths to attain the ultimate power, and this is what Trump does with it.  Or there’s the one where he aims the full might of the U.S. government at the goal of “Ending Procurement and Forced Use of Paper Straws.”   Who says Americans can’t dream big anymore?   

CONTINUE READING

Immigration Raids are an Attack on Climate

The Drain

The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

It’s hard to watch the Trump administration test drive authoritarianism in California. Since the inauguration, I’ve found solace in slowly rewatching The West Wing, a good bedtime story for anyone who feels nostalgia for partisan politics of yesteryear. Anyone else doing this? It’s uncanny how my rewatching has lined up with real world events. In …

CONTINUE READING

Why Do Heat Pumps Have a Bad Rap? Lies

The Drain

The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.

I just listened to dozens of people tell me that heat pumps don’t work, may cause homelessness, and can bankrupt small businesses. This was shocking news to me, in no small part because I’m currently in the process of installing a heat pump in my condo. Obviously, I don’t want to waste money, sleep on …

CONTINUE READING

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

Join Our Mailing List

TRENDING