Tracking Trump’s Biggest Climate Moves

Tracking Trump’s climate moves

Less than a month into President Trump’s second term, a flurry of executive actions, abrupt policy changes and legal challenges have begun to significantly reshape the federal government. The moves have also resulted in an upheaval of the country’s efforts to address climate change.

Given the velocity of the changes, it can be hard to keep track of all the developments. So today, we’re focusing on three areas where the changes to climate policy are easiest to see: federal funding, the work force and the courts.

What’s happening with the federal government’s climate spending and grants?

The Trump administration is still freezing billions of dollars in climate and clean energy spending, despite orders from two federal judges instructing agencies to release the money.

Many agencies have said they are simply reviewing funds that were awarded during the Biden administration.

But on Wednesday, Lee Zeldin, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, went further, saying in a social media post that $20 billion in climate funding had been given out in a “rush job with reduced oversight.” Zeldin said he was ordering an investigation, raising the possibility that the money, which appeared to be aimed at reducing emissions in low-income communities, could be clawed back.

The E.P.A. has also “temporarily paused” grants to help schools buy electric buses, ports clean up air pollution and states monitor air quality in low-income areas, according to an internal email sent Friday. While some states and nonprofit organizations have reported being able to gain access to some funds, others say they are still locked out

The Energy Department, for its part, is reviewing billions of dollars of grants and loans related to the Inflation Reduction Act and bipartisan infrastructure law, two sweeping Biden-era laws that provided hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and clean energy programs. That includes grants for battery factories, loan guarantees for solar and hydrogen projects and more. Many of these contracts are considered legally binding, but some companies are unsure when they might get paid.

And the Transportation Department has suspended approvals made under a $5 billion program to help states install electric vehicle chargers, which has left states like Ohio and Vermont confused about whether they can continue work they had already started.

Not all projects are threatened. On Feb. 7, the Energy Department allowed a big project in Montana that had been backed by a Republican senator to go forward. The company, Montana Renewables, had won a $1.67 billion loan guarantee from the Biden administration to expand a plant in Great Falls, Mont., that converted vegetable oils and fats into diesel and jet fuel. Initially, the Trump administration had blocked the first scheduled $782 million payment for the loan.

But Senator Steve Daines, Republican of Montana, said in a statement that he had pressed the White House to approve the payment because the project would “provide high-paying jobs, boost our economy and provide efficient biofuel production.”

What’s happening with Trump’s attempts to shrink the federal work force?

The Trump administration has moved aggressively to shrink the size of the federal work force. Thousands of workers at U.S.A.I.D. and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau have been targeted, and smaller numbers of employees across a range of other departments have also been fired or placed on leave.

Many of those being dismissed were working on climate and environmental issues.

As Lisa Friedman reported, the Environmental Protection Agency is demoting career employees who oversee scientific research and enforce pollution laws, and plans to replace them with political appointees. The E.P.A. has also placed more than 150 employees who worked on environmental justice issues on leave. And the agency’s new administrator, Lee Zeldin, has warned more than 1,100 employees working on climate change and pollution controls that they could be fired at any time.

At the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the chief financial officer and three others were fired after Elon Musk misleadingly claimed the agency had used disaster relief funds for migrant services.

And with almost all U.S.A.I.D. workers expected to lose their jobs, many projects aimed at helping developing countries adapt to rising seas and hotter temperatures are likely to be terminated.

What’s happening with the cases that have been brought against Trump’s moves?

Trump’s moves have provoked a sharp legal backlash. Two federal judges have explicitly ordered the Trump administration to end its freeze on billions of dollars in grants and loans and release money from programs authorized by Congress. On Monday, one of those judges, Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island federal court, said that the White House was defying his order.

Upon taking office, Trump issued a rash of executive orders that directed agencies to open up more areas for oil drilling and mining, halt permits for wind farms and end subsidies for electric vehicles, among other instructions. But it will take time to translate those directives into actual policy, and environmental groups are watching closely for opportunities to challenge the moves in court.

“It’s just this full-out blitz to prop up oil and gas, to gut essential environmental safeguards and, really, to hobble the government’s ability to hold polluters accountable,” said Taryn Kiekow Heimer, the director of ocean energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The administration’s overall approach rests on Trump’s assertion that the United States is in an “energy emergency” that has driven up consumer costs. But the United States is now producing more crude oil than any other country in history, and experts say there’s no evidence of an energy emergency. Environmentalists counter that the crisis is the climate, not energy production.

Much of the early legal action is over Biden-era Environmental Protection Agency rules, which are still being challenged in numerous court cases. The Trump administration has asked the government to put some policies on hold as it revisits its stance. Already, industry groups are pointing to the executive orders to argue that the E.P.A. should stop defending the standards in court.

Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, pointed to E.P.A. rules on pollution from the oil and gas industry, power plants, tailpipes and toxics from petrochemical facilities as the key areas to watch.

“This is unfolding feverishly in all of the key pollution cases,” Ms. Patton said.

California’s scary product warning labels might be working, study says

The warnings, on thousands of products sold in California, are stark.

“Use of the following products,” one label says, “will expose you to chemicals known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects or other reproductive harm.”

Now, new research shows the warnings may be working. A study published Wednesday in the journal Environmental Science & Technology found that California’s right-to-know law, which requires companies to warn people about harmful chemicals in their products, has swayed many companies to stop using those chemicals altogether.— Hiroko Tabuchi

Read the full article.

Natural gas could get priority over renewable energy in largest U.S. grid

Federal electricity regulators on Tuesday approved a proposal from the nation’s largest electric grid operator that could effectively give new natural gas power plants priority in connecting to the grid over renewable energy sources like solar and wind.

The decision, by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, comes as the United States faces the prospect of the largest increase in electricity demand in recent decades. Technology companies are building hundreds of energy-hungry data centers across the country to power artificial intelligence models and other services.

In practice, analysts said, the proposal will give natural gas plants a leg up over wind and solar projects. — Minho Kim

More climate news:

• Since the devastating Maui fires in 2023, only six homes in the county have been rebuilt, with residents experiencing “only grinding bureaucracy, soaring housing costs and growing frustration.” (The Washington Post)

• Ahead of fire season, Trump’s hiring freeze could mean federal firefighters could lose their jobs. (Bloomberg)

• China’s construction of new coal power plants hit a 10-year high last year, threatening its clean energy progress. (Carbon Brief)

• A landmark report by the German government has found that global warming threatens the European Union’s survival. (Politico)

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