Free Republic

The Trump administration’s plan to override a late Biden-era waiver approving California’s 2035 ban on gas-powered cars — embraced by 12 states and Washington, D.C. — hit a major roadblock as the Senate’s parliamentarian ruled the act is not subject to standard congressional review. ... the EPA, which falls under the president’s authority, must approve waivers for each new California policy. That’s why California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the capital in the waning days of the Biden administration to secure approval of several waivers — including its ban on emissions-producing cars in 2035 — before the Trump administration took power....

A bombshell report from a clean energy group admitted that shifting to solar and wind may mean chaos for New York’s power grid as the state’s green energy law creates hurdles for cost and reliability. The report from the New York Affordable Clean Power Alliance, which represents solar and wind energy firms, noted that the state’s timetable to phase out energy generated by fossil fuel is unrealistic — and even dangerous. “The New York City area is forecasted to experience a generation shortfall starting in 2033, driven by an increase in peak demand and the planned retirement of existing dispatchable...

TRENTON, N.J. — A new bill introduced in the New Jersey Legislature aims to phase out gas-powered lawn equipment statewide, prohibiting its sale within three years and its use within five. The bill, sponsored by Democratic Assemblymembers Herbert Conaway and Mila Jasey, seeks to curb emissions from gas-powered devices such as lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and chainsaws, which contribute to air pollution and health risks. This bill doesn’t just seek to make it illegal to buy gas powered lawn equipment. It is intended to criminalize the actual use of any gas powered lawn tools within 5 years.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) plans to ban the use of plants within five feet of residential homes in what are designated as “fire-prone” areas — which could include much of the state of California, given the recent wildfires. ..... Snip..... The San Francisco Chronicle reported: Gov. Gavin Newsom is ordering the state to speed up its rulemaking for wildfire safety around homes in fire-prone areas that would ban most plants and combustible materials like mulch and wood fencing. The rules would require people to clear an area within 5 feet of homes — dubbed zone zero, or an ember...

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says he will again withdraw the United States, a top carbon polluting nation, from the landmark Paris climate agreement, dealing a blow to worldwide efforts to combat global warming and once again distancing the U.S. from its closest allies.The White House announcement, which came as Trump was sworn in Monday to a second term, echoed Trump’s actions in 2017, when he announced that the U.S. would abandon the global Paris accord. The pact is aimed at limiting long-term global warming to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial levels or, failing that, keeping...

Welcome to Germany’s green economic miracle. The year is 2025! Germany’s so-called Energiewende (transition to renewable energies) has had one unmistakable result: Germany now finds itself rapidly nearing the brink of a third world country where the power supply is no longer reliable and brownouts becoming more and more a daily routine. What’s happening is the opposite of what was once promised by the know-it-all climate wisemen: “Green energies would lead to a clean and prosperous country that would be the envy of the world. So much for their fantasies. The reality, as reported yesterday by Germany’s leading daily, Bild...

The new year will ring in new “green” requirements from the Environmental Protection Agency for heating and air conditioning units that threaten to raise prices and, for the first time, require flammable refrigerants in residential and commercial HVAC units. The new rule has triggered special training requirements for technicians and fire departments as they grapple with dealing with the possibility of HVAC systems catching fire, although testing shows the risk under most circumstances is low.“It’s certainly a unique challenge. We’re trying to balance environmental considerations with fire safety in this particular instance,” said Robin Zevotek, an engineer at the National...

New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed a $75 billion climate change bill that will fine fossil fuel companies for the damage caused to the environment. “With nearly every record rainfall, heatwave, and coastal storm, New Yorkers are increasingly burdened with billions of dollars in health, safety, and environmental consequences due to polluters that have historically harmed our environment,” Governor Hochul said. “Establishing the Climate Superfund is the latest example of my administration taking action to hold polluters responsible for the damage done to our environment and requiring major investments in infrastructure and other projects critical to protecting our communities and...

Attorney General Ken Paxton sued BlackRock, State Street Corporation, and Vanguard Group, three of the largest institutional investors in the world, for conspiring to artificially constrict the market for coal through anticompetitive trade practices. Over several years, the three asset managers acquired substantial stockholdings in every significant publicly held coal producer in the United States, thereby gaining the power to control the policies of the coal companies. Using their combined influence over the coal market, the investment cartel collectively announced in 2021 their commitment to weaponize their shares to pressure the coal companies to accommodate “green energy” goals. To achieve...

Laura Helmuth, the editor-in-chief of Scientific American, has resigned after receiving fierce backlash for her online expletive-filled tirade where she called Trump voters “f–king fascists” on election night. “I’ve decided to leave Scientific American after an exciting 4.5 years as editor in chief,” Helmuth announced on her Bluesky account Thursday. “I’m going to take some time to think about what comes next (and go birdwatching).” The president of the magazine, Kimberly Lau, said that Helmuth decided to step down on her own. She thanked Helmuth for her time leading Scientific American, noting that the magazine “won major science communications awards...

Big Oil is calling on President-elect Donald Trump to keep the U.S. in the Paris climate agreement after withdrawing from the treaty during his first term. The Paris Agreement, established at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in 2015, is a legally binding treaty between nearly 195 parties who are committed to international cooperation on climate change. Trump officially withdrew from the treaty in 2020, but the U.S. was reinstated to the climate agreement in 2021 after President Biden took office. After winning a second term in the 2024 election, Trump is expected to consider a second withdrawal from the agreement....

During an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi stated that “we really ran early this year to finalize” many climate regulations “before May, which, really, I think, ensures durability relative to this arcane statute, the Congressional Review Act. So, I think, because of that foresight, we have, actually, quite a durable regulatory regime going into the next few years.” Host Joumanna Bercetche asked, [relevant exchange begins around 2:10] “Well, there are still a couple of months left, as well, of the administration. I do wonder if there’s anything that can be done on the...

Pope Francis calls for global financial revolution to fight ‘climate change’The Pope's message to the United Nations' COP29 event contained support for the group's goal to orient global finance to the implementation of 'climate change' policies, something drawn from the Great Reset agenda of Klaus Schwab. In an address delivered to the COP29 climate change conference today, Pope Francis urged the international community to respond swiftly to climate change and to implement climate-oriented “finance” plans.“The scientific data available to us do not allow any further delay and make it clear that the preservation of creation is one of the most...

President-elect Donald Trump should keep the U.S. involved in global efforts to address climate change, Exxon Mobil CEO Darren Woods said Tuesday. Trump should try to bring a “common sense” approach to the annual U.N. Climate Change Conference and “continue to have the U.S. influence policy around the world,” Woods told CNBC Tuesday. Woods spoke from the climate conference, which kicked off this week in Baku, Azerbaijan. Exxon has plans to invest $20 billion through 2027 in carbon capture and storage technology, hydrogen fuel, and lithium mining in the U.S. for electric vehicle batteries. Woods told CNBC on Tuesday that...

...as we move to options that have a lower impact” on the environment, said Josh Simpson, co-founder of Little Kamper, a one-pound refillable propane canister exchange company in Manteca....

A coalition of 24 states, led by Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, have signed a brief against a federal electric truck mandate. On March 29, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rolled out a new electric truck mandate to increase sales of electric semitrucks from 2027 through 2032. EPA will require electric models to account for 60% of new urban delivery trucks and 25% of long-haul tractor sales by 2032. The cost of electric trucks are typically two to three times more expensive than diesel trucks, according to the Institute for Energy Research. Truckers will also have to invest $620 billion...

National Public Radio knows who is driving climate change as an existential threat: men who eat meat. And they found the origins of the current crisis in a 2006 television ad for Burger KIng that heralded the fast food chain and its appetite-satisfying whopper as a source of masculine culinary delight totally unlike the small portions of vegetarian food offered by places where women like to frequent. That ad began running when Malcolm Regisford, whom NPR interviewed for the story, was 10 years old, Regisford saw this commercial often in between his cartoons. “Beef is marketed to men — steaks...

“She’s thinking with her heart and not her brain,” said aviation manufacturing consultant Gerald Adler to the Globe on Monday. “Unleaded fuel was approved for piston-engine planes in 2022, but the problem is that a lot of engines are not rated for unleaded fuels. Could they run on it? Yes. But the problem comes with testing. Not all have been tested with it properly and still need leaded av gas. And there is no way that testing of all relevant engines can be done by 2031. More time is needed. Whoever came up with this bill just doesn’t realize the...

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed a bill this week to ban one-pound, single-use propane cylinders, meaning that only more expensive reusable cylinders will be available in the state. The San Francisco Chronicle reported: Disposable propane canisters like the dark green ones used with camping stoves will soon be phased out in California, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Sunday requiring all one-pound cylinders sold in the state to be reusable or refillable starting in 2028. … Between 4 million and 7 million of the single-use cylinders are sold in California each year, according to an estimate from the California...

World leaders at the United Nations Summit have officially adopted the so-called “Pact for the Future,” a sweeping agreement that purportedly aims to address the world’s most pressing issues. However, beneath its glossy promises lies a dangerous move towards centralized, top-down control that could have devastating consequences for individual freedoms, national sovereignty, and democratic governance. The Pact, hailed by the UN Secretary-General as a “vision for the future,” includes initiatives like the Global Digital Compact and the Declaration on Future Generations. But for many, this reads more like a manifesto for totalitarian governance than a collaborative effort to improve international...