‘Green News Report’ – March 13, 2025

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Trump EPA announces plans to Make America Polluted Again; Trump Energy Secretary vows to reverse U.S. climate progress; PLUS: Climate whiplash is hammering major cities around the world, study finds… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): The Arctic is in trouble. The consequences will be felt around the world; Microplastics are messing with photosynthesis in plants; EPA eliminating environmental justice jobs; Birds face weakened protections under Trump move; Trump cuts target world-leading greenhouse gas observatory in Hawaii… PLUS: Water officials knew that opening dams to meet Trump’s wishes was ill-advised. Here’s why it happened anyway… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• Trump EPA announces plans to Make America Polluted Again:
• EPA head says he’ll roll back dozens of environmental regulations, including rules on climate change (AP):
  University of Pennsylvania climate scientist Michael Mann called the EPA’s action “just the latest form of Republican climate denial. They can no longer deny climate change is happening, so instead they’re pretending it’s not a threat, despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that it is, perhaps, the greatest threat that we face today.”
• EPA moves to dismantle dozens of Biden’s environmental rules (Washington Post):
  Taken together, the announcements herald a seismic shift in U.S. environmental policy, one that could ease restrictions on nearly every sector of the economy. Yet rewriting many of the rules could take the agency months or even years.
• Trump takes an ax to more than a dozen pollution rules in rapid-fire deregulation (CNN):
  The changes are expected to inject even more uncertainty into key industries, including manufacturing, which President Donald Trump has pledged to support.
• Trump officials decimate climate protections and consider axeing key greenhouse gas finding (Guardian)
• The EPA is scrapping fuel economy regs, claiming it will bring back US jobs (Ars Technica)
• EPA Moves to Sacrifice Public Health and the Environment to Polluting Special Interests (Union of Concerned Scientists)
• VIDEO: EPA to review landmark 2009 finding that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health (CBS News)
• Capito warns of legal hurdles in EPA endangerment rollback (E&E News)
• Climate whiplash hitting major cities around the world:
• ‘Global weirding’: climate whiplash hitting world’s biggest cities, study reveals (Guardian):
  Dozens more cities, including Lucknow, Madrid and Riyadh have suffered a climate “flip” in the last 20 years, switching from dry to wet extremes, or vice versa. The report analysed the 100 most populous cities, plus 12 selected ones, and found that 95% of them showed a distinct trend towards wetter or drier weather.
• Cities face ‘whiplash’ of floods, droughts as temperatures rise, study warns (Yahoo News)
• Water and climate: Rising risks for urban populations (Water Aid)
• Adaptation Gap Report 2024 (UN Environment Programme)
• Trump Energy Secretary vows to reverse U.S. climate policies:
• What the world needs now is more fossil fuels, says Trump’s energy secretary (Guardian):
  Chris Wright signals abandonment of Biden’s ‘irrational, quasi-religious’ climate policies at industry conference .
• U.S. Energy Secretary Pledges to Reverse Focus on Climate Change (NY Times)
• DOE chief Chris Wright vows to reverse ‘irrational’ climate policies (E&E News)
• VIDEO: Secretary Wright delivers remarks at CERAWeek 2025 – March 10th, 2025 (Dept. of Energy/Youtube)
• Transcript: Secretary of Energy Chris Wright Delivers Keynote Remarks at CERAWeek 2025 (Dept. of Energy)
• VIDEO, transcript: Chris Wright Confirmation Hearing (Rev)
• Climate law sparks swing-state boom in clean energy manufacturing (E&E News, 10/16/2024)
• EIA: US clean energy on pace for record growth in 2025:
• America’s clean-energy industry is growing despite Trump’s attacks. At least for now (NPR):
  The buildout of big solar and battery plants is expected to hit an all-time high in 2025, accounting for 81% of new power generation that companies will add to America’s electric grids, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in a recent report. Including wind projects, the share of new power capacity that’s expected to come online this year from renewables and batteries jumps to 93%, the EIA said.
• Renewables generated 24.2% of US electricity in 2024 – EIA data (Electrek)

‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (Stuff we didn’t have time for in today’s audio report)…

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Daily Headlines page

• The Arctic is in trouble. The consequences will be felt around the world (CNN)
• Microplastics are messing with photosynthesis in plants (Scientific American)
• EPA eliminating environmental justice jobs (CBS News)
• Birds face weakened protections under Trump move (NY Times)
• Trump cuts target world-leading greenhouse gas observatory in Hawaii (Reuters)
• Elon Musk is giving Trump another $100 million just after the President did an ad for Tesla (Electrek)
• Illinois lawmakers propose 15 GW energy storage target by 2035 (PV Magazine)
• Landmark Navajo, Hopi water settlement is reintroduced in Congress with bipartisan support (AZ Central)
• Water officials knew that opening dams to meet Trump’s wishes was ill-advised. Here’s why it happened anyway (LA Times)
• Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)
• Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)
• The Climate Fight Will Continue (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)
• Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)
• How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)
• Abrupt reduction in shipping emission as an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock produces substantial radiative warming (Nature)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here’s How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon’s Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)