Environment

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge temporarily blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from suddenly canceling three multibillion-dollar clean energy grants on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that the EPA had likely violated the law by issuing identical termination letters to Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, which said their grants were terminated, effective …

Bloomberg reports: US President Donald Trump said he would look to counter China’s economic advantage from coal-based electricity by authorizing his administration to ramp up production of power from the fossil fuel. It’s not clear what Trump was referring to or how his social media decree would affect US policy. Trump already signed an executive order declaring a national energy …

The New York Times reports: The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The strategy is part of large-scale layoffs, known as a “reduction in force,” being planned by the Trump …

Reuters reports: The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday that included a repeal of emissions limits on power plants, reduced protections for waterways and a rollback of tailpipe pollution curbs in an effort to deliver on President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to unwind 31 Biden-era regulations intended to boost …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration intends to eliminate Environmental Protection Agency offices responsible for addressing the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor communities, according to a memo from Lee Zeldin, the agency administrator. In the internal memo, viewed by The New York Times, Mr. Zeldin informed agency leaders that he was directing “the reorganization and elimination” …

The Telegraph reports: More than 30 casualties have been brought ashore after a cargo vessel collided with an oil tanker in the North Sea. Some crew members are yet to be accounted for with both vessels ablaze off the coast of east Yorkshire. A Coastguard helicopter and other aircraft were deployed alongside lifeboats from Skegness, Bridlington, Maplethorpe and Cleethorpes to …

NBC News reports: U.S. embassies and consulates have stopped monitoring air quality abroad, ending a program that had provided essential public health data for more than a decade. The State Department said its collection of air pollution data at more than 60 U.S. embassies and consulates around the world had been suspended as of Tuesday due to “budget constraints.” The …

From the Nature Conservancy: We carefully review the implications of the multiple executive orders and instructions from the new administration to ensure we can continue to make progress for people and nature. The Nature Conservancy has been working in the Gulf for more than 40 years, through hurricanes and oil spills, in close partnership with private, state and federal partners. …

The Associated Press reports: Environmental groups sued President Donald Trump and other federal officials Wednesday, arguing that Trump exceeded his authority with an executive order that seeks to reverse the Biden administration’s ban on new offshore oil and gas leasing in vast swaths of U.S. coastal waters. Earthjustice filed the lawsuit in federal court in Alaska on behalf of a …

USA Today reports: High flow toilets and incandescent light bulbs could make comebacks as President Donald Trump works to end previous environmental standards. Trump called for “common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS” on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, and said he was instructing Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately change the requirements. High-efficiency toilet standards were …

The Ohio Capital Journal reports: President Donald Trump comes into office vowing to ease environmental regulations on the utility industry. Now companies that own coal-burning plants in Ohio are asking the new administration to excuse them from cleaning up acres of toxic waste that is soaked in groundwater. They include the owners of what has been called the nation’s deadliest …

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees who work on climate change, reducing air pollution, enforcing environmental laws and other programs that they could be fired at any time. Many had been hired to work on programs that Congress created through two recent laws, doing things like helping communities replace …

USA Today reports: The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm former congressman Lee Zeldin as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Zeldin, who is expected to pursue a deregulation push at the EPA, was confirmed by a vote of 56 to 42. Trump wants to rollback environmental rules, declaring when he announced Zeldin as his choice for EPA administrator that …

The Hill reports: In his first moments after being sworn in as Transportation secretary, Sean Duffy sought to reverse Biden regulations requiring passenger cars to be more efficient. The Biden administration rule in question would require cars to be about 2 percent more fuel efficient each year. The memo does not immediately rescind the rule — instead it kicks off …

NOAA reports: Last year was a record-warm year for the U.S., as the nation was hit by numerous tornadoes and devastating hurricanes, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The average annual temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 55.5 degrees F — 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average — ranking as the nation’s warmest year in NOAA’s …

The Washington Post reports: The widespread use of pharmaceuticals in America is introducing even more toxic “forever chemicals” into the environment through wastewater, according to a study released Monday, and large municipal wastewater treatment plants are not capable of fully filtering them out. The plants’ inability to remove compounds known as organofluorines from wastewater before it enters drinking water supplies …

Reuters reports: U.S. President Joe Biden will ban new offshore oil and gas development along most U.S. coastlines, a decision President-elect Donald Trump, who has vowed to boost domestic energy production, may find difficult to reverse. The move is considered mostly symbolic, as it will not impact areas where oil and gas development is currently underway, and mainly covers zones …

The Florida Phoenix reports: The Fifth District Court of Appeal ruled Thursday that although 83% of voters in Titusville approved a 2022 initiative establishing the right to clean water, the city in Brevard County couldn’t enact it because of a 2020 state law preventing local government from giving rights to bodies of water, plants, and animals. The City of Titusville …

The New York Times reports: The attorney general of California, Rob Bonta, sued Exxon Mobil on Monday alleging that the oil giant carried out a “decades-long campaign of deception” that overhyped the promise of recycling and spawned a plastic pollution crisis. The suit, filed in superior court in San Francisco, argued that people were more likely to buy single-use plastics …

Axios reports: California is banning all plastic shopping bags at grocery store checkouts under legislation that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed on Sunday. The law that takes effect on Jan. 1, 2026, honors the intent of a ban on single-use bags “enacted 10 years ago that allowed stores to sell customers thicker plastic carryout bags that were considered reusable and met …