‘Green News Report’ – April 29, 2025

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Trump Administration denies disaster aid for Arkansas, Kentucky and other states; Nationwide blackouts hit Spain and Portugal; The world’s biggest oil companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damages; PLUS: Trump fires all the scientists working on the U.S. Government’s flagship climate change assessment… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): A grim signal: Atmospheric CO2 soared in 2024; DOGE employees gain accounts on classified networks holding nuclear secrets; Scientists are raising the alarm about Trump’s deep sea mining executive order; Oil companies downplayed extent of spills in Gulf of Mexico; North Dakota enacts first US law shielding Roundup from some cancer lawsuits; Interior plan slashes oil and gas environmental reviews to 1 month… PLUS: Report on national monuments being eyed for energy draws concerns… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Trump Admin. fires hundreds of scientists working on National Climate Assessment:
• Trump administration dismisses all authors of major climate report, throwing US assessment into limbo (CNN):
  The move will allow the administration to either skip the congressionally mandated report altogether, or pursue an alternative, potentially far more skeptical take on what is otherwise widely accepted climate science. The latter would fly in the face of the overwhelming scientific evidence pointing to the threats global warming poses to the US.
• All Authors Working on Flagship U.S. Climate Report Are Dismissed (NY Times):
  The Trump administration told researchers it was “releasing” them from their roles. It puts the future of the assessment, which is required by Congress, in doubt.
• Rubio eliminates office that oversees climate talks (Politico)
• The costs of Trump’s NOAA science purge (Politico)
• White House Proposal Could Gut Climate Modeling the World Depends On (Pro Publica)
• Proposed NOAA budget cuts would end climate research. ‘Huge impacts’ are expected (Post and Courier)
• 2025 sees second-hottest first quarter ever recorded:
• State of the climate: 2025 close behind 2024 as the hottest start to a year (Carbon Brief):
  Global temperatures in the first quarter of 2025 were the second warmest on record, extending a remarkable run of exceptional warmth that began in July 2023. This is despite weak La Niña conditions during the first two months of the year – which typically result in cooler temperatures.
• World’s biggest oil companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damages:
• The world’s biggest companies have caused $28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates (AP):
  The world’s biggest corporations have caused $28 trillion in climate damage, a new study estimates as part of an effort to make it easier for people and governments to hold companies financially accountable, like the tobacco giants have been…At the top of the list, Saudi Aramco and Gazprom have each caused a bit more than $2 trillion in heat damage over the decades, the team calculated in a study published in Wednesday’s journal Nature. The researchers figured that every 1% of greenhouse gas put into the atmosphere since 1990 has caused $502 billion in damage from heat alone, which doesn’t include the costs incurred by other extreme weather such as hurricanes, droughts and floods.
• New Study Could Bolster Climate Laws to Make Polluters Pay (NY Times):
  Since 2017, more than 100 climate-related lawsuits have been filed each year, according to the new study. But the attribution studies those cases relied on often failed to link emissions to estimated economic damages. This new framework could provide a function similar to other big damage and loss cases, like holding tobacco companies responsible for lung cancer cases or pharmaceutical companies for opiate addiction.
• Spain and Portugal crippled by nationwide blackouts:
• Live updates: Cause of power cut still unknown, Spain will take ‘all necessary measures’ to prevent another blackout, says PM (BBC):
  Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said the government will consider all possible “hypotheses” in an update earlier today. The Portuguese government and Spain’s power grid have ruled out a cyber attack.
• Power mostly restored to Spain, Portugal; officials rule out cyberattack as cause of outage (UPI)
• Trump Admin. denies disaster aid to Arkansas, Kentucky, and other states:
• Tornado victims blocked from federal recovery aid after Trump denied request (CNN)
• Flood Funding Fiasco is FEMA FAFO (This Is Not Cool blog)
• GOP Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Arkansas Republican lawmakers urge Trump to reconsider denial of disaster relief (ABC News):
  This isn’t the first time FEMA has denied state requests recently. Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, of Washington, said FEMA had denied his state’s application for federal disaster relief stemming from a “bomb cyclone” that slammed the state last November.
• VIDEO: AR Democratic Party responds to Trump’s denial of major disaster aid after severe weather (KATV-Little Rock):
  Infrastructure losses alone are estimated at $25 million, about five times the $5.6 million threshold for Arkansas to receive federal disaster aid in the Public Assistance (PA) category. There is no threshold for Individual Assistance (IA).
• VIDEO: Kentucky joins multiple states in being denied FEMA disaster relief (NPR)

‘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

• DOGE employees gain accounts on classified networks holding nuclear secrets (NPR)
• A grim signal: Atmospheric CO2 soared in 2024 (Inside Climate News)
• Scientists are raising the alarm about Trump’s deep sea mining executive order (NPR)
• Oil companies downplayed extent of spills in Gulf of Mexico: investigation (Mongabay)
• North Dakota enacts first US law shielding Roundup from some cancer lawsuits (AP)
• EPA allows high-ethanol gasoline to be used all year (The Hill)
• FDA moves to phase out petroleum-based food dyes (The New Lede)
• Interior plan slashes oil and gas environmental reviews to 1 month (E&E News)
• Report on national monuments being eyed for energy draws concerns (National Parks Traveler)
• UK activist group Just Stop Oil holds its last climate protest (Al Jazeera)
• U.S. replaces lawyers who exposed flaws in their own case on NYC congestion pricing (NY times)
• How the closure of EPA offices puts poor and minority communities at risk (PBS NewsHour)
• A guide to the 4 minerals shaping the world’s energy future (Grist)
• 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)