Climate Change

"Facing staunch local opposition and federal roadblocks, a new wind project in Iowa is teetering on the brink, despite growing power demand."

"While record snowfall and single-digit temperatures pummel much of the United States, an extreme snow drought and unusually warm weather are keeping skiers off the mountains, snowmobilers off the trails and water out of the rivers across much of the West."

"President Donald Trump has gone beyond policy overhauls to fundamentally alter the way the government talks about climate change and the environment, limiting or outright deleting countervailing language and evidence during the first year of his second term in office."

"A House hearing exposed sharp divisions over whether loosening environmental laws and expanding logging will protect communities from catastrophic fires. Scientists urged a shift toward investing in fire-resilient homes and landscapes."

"On paper, the public power district serving much of eastern Nebraska has been trying to quit coal at its North Omaha plant since 2014. That June, its board voted to retire three of the plant’s five coal units in 2016 and convert the final two to natural gas in 2023."

"Federal energy regulators last Thursday greenlit a roughly $2 billion renewable energy megaproject on a Yakama Nation sacred site overlooking the Columbia River in Klickitat County."

"A federal court on Monday halted the last of five stop work orders issued by the Trump administration in December to block major offshore wind farms, giving the wind energy industry five legal wins in a row over the government."

"On Friday, a judge ruled that the Trump administration violated the law in forming its Climate Working Group, which released a report that was intended to undercut the rationale behind greenhouse gas regulations. The judge overseeing the case determined that the government tried to treat the Climate Working Group as a formal advisory body, while not having it obey many of the statutory requirements that govern such bodies."

"In his first year back in office, Donald Trump has fundamentally reshaped the Environmental Protection Agency, initiating nearly 70 actions to undo rules protecting ecosystems and the climate."