‘Green News Report’ – May 13, 2025

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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Trump Admin fires Acting FEMA Director just before hurricane season begins; NOAA will stop tracking billion-dollar weather disasters; Forest officials warn wildfire crews are short-staffed due to Trump cuts; PLUS: Texas legislature moves to require solar plants to provide power at night… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Farmer on clean energy foes: “These people are being manipulated”; Running blind: The silencing and censoring of environmental threats to US national security; What’s the cost to society of pollution? Trump says zero; House GOP targets clean energy tax credits and pollution rules in budget bill; Global sea levels are rising faster and faster. It spells catastrophe for coastal towns and cities; PLUS: Enviros release climate emissions data after EPA refused… and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Extreme weather disasters hitting around the world:
• Heavy rains cause flooding in Somalia’s Mogadishu, killing at least seven (Al Jazeera)
• Two dozen people rescued for heat issues during SoCal scorcher (LA Times):
  Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park in the San Joaquin Hills, four hikers were rescued as the temperature spiked to 96 degrees. Three of the hikers were affected by the heat, Nguyen said, including one who was airlifted from the area. “Unless you’ve trained for heat and this tough terrain,” Nguyen said, “we strongly encourage everyone to wait until it cools down.”
• Farmers devastated as strange phenomenon wipes out entire fields: ‘It’s very difficult for farmers to decide … where to plant’ (The Cool Down)
• State officials warn wildfire crews understaffed due to Trump cuts:
• USFS and NPS Worker Cuts Leave Wildland Firefighting Crews Short-Staffed (AP):
  “This is the time when we make certain that we have the aviation we need, when we have the personnel we need and that all of our systems check out and are ready to go when the alarm bell rings,” he said. “Without knowing what our partners are doing or not having a clear understanding of what actions are being taken, we struggle with missing the third leg of the stool that we have.”
• Trump fires Acting FEMA Director weeks before hurricane season:
• The head of FEMA defended the agency on Capitol Hill. Trump fired him. (Grist):
  FEMA’s shake-up follows the cancellation of key climate resilience programs and growing uncertainty over the agency’s future.
• Trump’s acting FEMA chief fired a day after breaking from the administration (CNN):
  “As the senior advisor to the President on disasters and emergency management, and to the Secretary of Homeland Security, I do not believe it is in the best interest the American people to eliminate the Federal Emergency Management Agency,” Hamilton told the committee Wednesday. “Having said that, I am not in a position to make decisions and impact outcomes on whether or not a determination as consequential as that should be made. That is a conversation that should be had between the President of the United States and this governing body.”
• Fired FEMA chief threatened to quit weeks ago (Politico):
  The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency was fired Thursday morning and replaced by a Trump administration official with no disaster response experience.
• Congress asks whether FEMA is ready for hurricane season amid cuts (Inside Climate News)
• VIDEO: Cameron Hamilton, Acting FEMA director, testifies before House as Trump admin moves to shutter agency (The Hill)
• AUDIO: New acting FEMA head David Richardson threatening staff in an all hands meeting (Marisa Kabas, Bluesky)
• Trump wants to wind down FEMA. Could states fill the gap? (Grist)
• Trump’s NOAA will stop tracking billion-dollar weather disasters:
• NOAA Will Stop Tracking Weather Disasters Because Trump Doesn’t Believe in Climate Change: “It’s a major loss.” (Futurism)
• U.S. Government to Stop Tracking the Costs of Extreme Weather (NY Times):
  It would be harder for insurers and scientists to study wildfires, storms and other “billion dollar disasters,: which are growing more frequent as the planet warms.
• Trump White House Terminates Climate Tracker Examining Billion-Dollar Disasters (Truthout)
• Trump administration’s data deletions set off ‘a mad scramble,’ researcher says (AP)
• Texas lawmakers move to require solar plants to producer power at night:
• Texas Senate passes bill requiring solar plants to provide power at night (The Hill)
• Texas Bill Aimed at Choking Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Texas Senate Anti Renewables Bill Could Lead to Higher Prices, Blackouts (This Is Not Cool blog):
  This would require solar plants in particular to buy backup power to “match their output at night – a time when no one expects them to produce energy and when demand is typically at its lowest anyway,” consultant and energy expert Doug Lewin wrote in an April analysis.

‘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

• Farmer on clean energy foes: “These people are being manipulated” (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Running blind: The silencing and censoring of environmental threats to US national security (Bulletin of Atomic Scientists)
• What’s the cost to society of pollution? Trump says zero (NY Times)
• House GOP targets clean energy tax credits and pollution rules in budget bill (AP)
• Newark Airport had 3 controllers on duty when the goal is 14 (NY Times)
• Global sea levels are rising faster and faster. It spells catastrophe for coastal towns and cities (CNN)
• Energy Department proposes to cut 47 rules on energy efficiency, SPR, DEI (The Hill)
• Trump reinstating commercial fishing in Northeast Marine Monument (The HIll)
• Great Lakes may get a reprieve from the Great Carp Invasion after all (AP)
• The Trump Administration has all but stopped enforcing environmental laws (Grist)
• Enviros release climate emissions data after EPA refused (E&E News)
• 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)