Free Republic

An alliance of grassroots environmental groups could lose $60 million in federal funding after calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. The Climate Justice Alliance (CJA) was named one of the Environmental Protection Agency’s “grantmakers” more than a year ago, putting it in charge of distributing subgrants for locally led environmental projects. But out of 11 of the EPA’s grantmakers, the CJA is the only one that has yet to receive any funding. The group has faced a barrage of attacks for publicly opposing the Israel-Hamas war, and some EPA staffers say the group has been singled out as a result....

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...