Energy Archives - Page 11 of 175

Energy

The U.S. Has Now Become a Rogue Nation

By pulling out of the UNFCCC and dozens of international organizations, Trump has isolated the United States and ceded influence to China and the EU.

In the past few days, Trump has kidnapped the head of state of Venezuela, threatened to invade Greenland, and withdrawn from a 1992 climate treaty negotiated by George H.W. Bush. The treaty, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change, has been the basis for international climate cooperation for the past thirty years, including the Paris Agreement. In addition, Trump is withdrawing from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which will make it harder for American scientists to contribute to the periodic reports on the state of climate science. Trump’s action is basically a big middle finger toward the rest of the world. If anyone wins from this, it’s China, which can now claim to be the responsible adult in the room.

2026: The Year Ahead

Here are six big things to watch.

What to watch for environmentally in 2026: court tests of Trump’s power, midterms, China, grid issues, and state energy moves. In 2025, Trump rolled out new initiatives at a dizzying rate. That story, in one form or another, dominated the news. This year, much of the news will again be about Trump, but he will have less control of the narrative. Legal and political responses to Trump will play a greater role, as will economic developments. Trump’s anti-environmental crusade could run into strong headwinds.

Is Venezuela a “War For Oil”?

A black and white picture of King Leopold II.

It’s an overused cliche, but there is one way in which oil might figure in the recent illegal war: go to Africa to see it

One of the more annoying phrases in the political chant lexicon is “No War For Oil!!” Oil is the mainstay of the world, and the American, economy: blocking supplies of it could be a perfectly legitimate casus belli. In addition, many times when protestors attack a war as being “for oil” they are actually wrong: …

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Some Good News To Close Out This Year

A pie chart titled, "Clean energy is dominating U.S. power plant construction in 2025. Share of new utility-scale capacity additions, January-November 2025," demonstrates 50.5% of that chart going to solar, 31.3% going to battery storage, 10.3% going to wind, and 7.7% going to natural gas.

Despite the Trump Administration’s attempts to bring the world into the dark ages, lots of light is blazing

I’m a pretty pessimistic guy. Finding the dark cloud behind the silver lining is something of a specialty for me. But maybe at the end of an atrocious year for environmental law and policy in the United States, we should look for the good news, and thanks to the good people at Canary Media, there …

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That Was the Year That Was

A claw excavator tearing down cement and brick on the side of the White House.

2025 had a lot of bad environmental news, but also a few rays of hope.

2025 has been a dark time for Americanswho care about the environment. Rather than being a repeat of his first term, which had been bad enough environmentally, Trump’s second term has been a tsunami of bad news. Besides some outright rollbacks, Trump has done his best to purge the government of programs and people implementing environmental law. Much of that has been illegal but effective anyway. The demolition of the East Wing will be remembered as a defining moment, the perfect metaphor for an Administration that has religiously embraced the motto, “move fast and break things.”

NEPA and Democracy

The Trump Administration is at war with transparency and public input.

The Administration is out to limit public oversight of government actions that, taken alone or as a group, will have major environmental impacts – notably, oil production, coal mining, nuclear reactors, and pipelines. Congress will also have less visibility into these important decisions. People are often impatient about procedures that slow decision making, sometimes properly so. But the solution is not a secretive decision-making process. If it’s true that democracy dies in darkness, it’s also true that ugly things rawl out of the woodwork when the lights are off.

Poisoning the well

Trump Administration “pause” on offshore wind projects undermines prospect of permitting deal

Yesterday, the Trump Administration announced that it was “pausing” construction for the five major offshore wind projects on the East Coast, based on “national security” grounds – because of the possibility that wind turbines can interfere with radar operations. This announcement is, to say the least, not helpful for current permitting reform discussions. It emphasizes …

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NEPA Reform and Transmission

Reducing NEPA compliance alone won’t solve our transmission problems, and it might be a bad deal for the climate

The recent passage of the SPEED Act highlights one angle in current permitting reform debates: A focus on NEPA, which as a procedural statute might be more feasible to reform than other substantive statutes. Advocates for the SPEED Act have argued that it will help with a range of infrastructure projects, including transmission. But a …

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It’s Not the Generation

In the middle of a field and in front of a mountain range sits a solar facility with one very reflective tower.

Ivanpah Solar Energy Generating Project, April 29, 2013, Wikimedia Commons

Abandoning low cost renewable energy generation is not the solution to electricity affordability

The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board should not be your first stop for unbiased opinion on the state of energy policy in California. Nevertheless, I could not stop myself from reading Wednesday’s Op-Ed, California’s Stranded Solar Assets, about the ongoing saga of the Ivanpah solar thermal project, a 386 MW power plant near the California/Nevada …

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Permit Certainty

Revised SPEED Act tries to give certainty to permit holders, and probably fails.

The SPEED Act will be up for a vote in the House of Representatives later this week, and the vote will likely be close. The Act is an effort to do permitting reform for NEPA compliance, in theory to accelerate reviews and provide more certainty about what those reviews cover. I’ve already provided an assessment …

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Permitting Reform Bill: NEPA Remedies

Efforts to tailor remedies for NEPA violations address an important issue, but may have misfired

Permitting Wars

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

How to Deconstruct Federal Regulation

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Improving permitting reform

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

NEPA Remedies Revisited

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

Energy

By pulling out of the UNFCCC and dozens of international organizations, Trump has isolated the United States and ceded influence to China and the EU.

Here are six big things to watch.

It’s an overused cliche, but there is one way in which oil might figure in the recent illegal war: go to Africa to see it

Despite the Trump Administration’s attempts to bring the world into the dark ages, lots of light is blazing

2025 had a lot of bad environmental news, but also a few rays of hope.

The Trump Administration is at war with transparency and public input.

Trump Administration “pause” on offshore wind projects undermines prospect of permitting deal

Reducing NEPA compliance alone won’t solve our transmission problems, and it might be a bad deal for the climate

Abandoning low cost renewable energy generation is not the solution to electricity affordability

Revised SPEED Act tries to give certainty to permit holders, and probably fails.

Join Our Mailing List

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

The Drain is a roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet delivered to your Inbox once a week.

TRENDING

All my posts (to date) on the permitting reform bill before the Senate

Drawing a false dichotomy between procedure and substance does not lead to good policy

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

This October, we officially celebrate the coal and oil industries. Says President Trump.

What can we expect if Dems flip the governorships in red states?

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

Efforts to tailor remedies for NEPA violations address an important issue, but may have misfired

Environmental groups should engage constructively with permitting reform

Section 1401 of the Permitting Reform Bill is a stealth repeal of a wide swath of federal regulatory law, not just environmental law

Suggestions to make the permitting reform bill work better and avoid unintended results

Guest contributor Justin Pidot writes that the permitting bill known as BAAJA would end judicial review of most NEPA claims — but it sure is hard to figure that out.

The permit certainty provision in the permitting reform bill appears to (inadvertently) change the basic standard for enforcement of most federal law

Concerns about passing 1.5C and ‘global dimming’ are driving attention to the prospect of large-scale interventions in Earth systems.

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

NEPA provisions are substantial in their changes, but (mostly) leave the core of the Act in place

What began as a war on science has now reached your kid’s doctor.