The Washington Post reports that conclusions from climate science have been removed from the website of the U.S. EPA. This includes the fundamental finding from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that ‟it is unequivocal that human influence has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land.” Pages that reviewed indicators of climate change, such as the reduction in ice cover and rising sea levels, have also been eliminated. Instead, the website now mentions only natural factors that influence climate, such as variations in solar output and volcanic eruptions. Grist notes that over 80 pages were removed from the EPA website in a ‟radical rejection of mainstream science.”

This is not a mistake or oversight. The EPA press secretary wrote that ‟the Trump EPA is focused on protecting human health and the environment while Powering the Great American Comeback, not left-wing political agendas. As such, this agency no longer takes marching orders from the climate cult.” Of course, in this instance it is the Trump Administration that is acting like a cult by replacing objective facts with its own beliefs.

Meanwhile, in the real world, floods caused by intense rainfall continue to take lives. Reuters reports that ‟at least 37 people were killed in flash floods triggered by torrential rains on Sunday in Morocco’s Atlantic coastal province of Safi,” and flooding in Bolivia after heavy rainfall has killed over 20 and left hundreds of families without shelter.

Canary Media examines the enormous projected load from new data centers, and how that is impacting utility planning and electricity costs for consumers. The projected loads are startling, and rising very quickly in just the last few years. The Texas grid operator (ERCOT) is actually considering projected loads for the future that have quadrupled in just the last year, and the ‟state legislature passed a law this spring that requires new data centers to disconnect at moments of peak grid stress.” Many question the accuracy of these projections but, in response, utilities are proposing the construction of scores of gas-fired power plants. How this issue is resolved will have an enormous impact on our ability to continue to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions from the power sector.

Trump’s foolish and reckless attacks on the wind industry continue. Just for perspective, let’s recognize that the U.S. has a new, emerging industry that takes advantage of domestic resources to generate vital carbon-free electricity. This industry supports good union jobs, revitalizes wharf districts of coastal cities, creates revenue for the federal government, and helps our most-densely populated regions meet the growing electricity demand. Despite these benefits, the President is trying to destroy it.

As I reported before, the Trump Administration ordered construction on the Revolution Wind power plant offshore Connecticut and Rhode Island to cease when construction was almost 70% completed. The Administration then lost a lawsuit, and construction resumed, with the judge admonishing the Administration for arbitrary and capricious behavior. The CT Mirror notes that the Trump Administration allowed the deadline to appeal the decision to quietly pass. This is just further evidence that this embarrassing and incompetent effort to damage the offshore-wind industry is being conducted in bad faith. The Attorney General of Connecticut observed that “the Trump administration is rightly choosing not to continue to defend the indefensible.”

In addition to this specific victory, the AP reports that a federal judge struck down Trump’s original executive order that halted all leasing for wind farms on federal lands and waters, calling it “arbitrary and capricious” and a violation of U.S. law. The suit was brought by ‟a coalition of state attorneys general from 17 states.”

Trump is even beginning to experience push-back from his own party. Semafor reports on criticism of Trump’s efforts by Oklahoma’s Republican governor, who stated that trying to kill nearly completed wind projects ‟just looks like politics” (you don’t say!). Politico notes that ‟In New England, the regional grid operator warned the stoppage could send power prices soaring and threaten the reliability of its six-state electric system. In Virginia, the utility building the country’s largest coastal wind project said the pause hinders its ability to keep up with rising electricity consumption from data centers.”

The New York Times visits Block Island (offshore of Rhode Island), where the first offshore-wind plant in the U.S. has been operating for several years. The residents of Block Island have benefited from the elimination of polluting diesel generators, enhanced tourism and electricity costs less than a third of past rates.

Despite all the court decisions and political blowback, in late December the Trump Administration doubled-down on this reckless and foolish campaign. The New York Times reports that ‟citing unspecified national security concerns, the Trump administration said it would freeze offshore wind leases, effectively blocking construction or operations and jeopardizing billions of dollars that had already been invested.” As of this writing, several companies developing the affected wind-power installations have again filed suit against the government.

One affected project, Vineyard Wind 1 off Massachusetts, already has half of its turbine array sending power to the grid. The Department of Interior was unwilling to detail or substantiate its concerns, despite the Department of Defense and related agencies having been consulted during permitting. Canary Media describes the extensive regulatory review conducted by the Pentagon, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

These pointless and capricious attacks on the industry have unfortunately had a devastating impact, especially in combination with several years of higher interest rates and supply-chain disruptions. Canary Media reviews the entire sordid history of these attacks. The article explains that, in late 2024, BloombergNEF was projecting that the U.S. would have 39 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2035. Now, that number is just 6 GW.

Canary Media reports that residents in Ohio are pushing back against local government restrictions on solar and wind farms. ‟Ohio has become a hot spot for anti-clean-energy rules. As of this fall, more than three dozen counties in the state have outlawed utility-scale solar in at least one of their townships.” In May, one Ohio county will have a referendum forced to the ballot by opponents of these bans. This will be the first time a county-scale renewable-energy restriction will be on the ballot in Ohio.

Canary Media examines the growing EV-charging business sector. Many fast-food and other highway-adjacent businesses are beginning to offer EV charging, as they adapt their gasoline-selling business model for the electric world. Establishing a high-voltage EV charging station can cost over $100,000, and ‟Retailers won’t recover that by selling electrons alone, given that the machines might generate just $10,000 in revenue each year. Making this work for retailers requires getting people out of their cars and into the stores.” Given that most people will continue to plug-in largely at home, some providers ‟are skipping partnerships with fuel retailers, focusing instead on slower and cheaper level 2 chargers that are convenient for apartments or homes without garages and do the job in four to 10 hours.”

While I reported previously on the struggles Ford is having with sales of the electric version of its popular F-150 pickup, it is not correct to infer that Ford will be leaving the EV space. In fact, the New York Times reports that Ford has created an independent section of the company to ‟reinvent” their EVs. Jim Farley, Ford’s chief executive, notes that Ford sells many vehicles outside the U.S. and “we are running into the Chinese.” The article reviews a variety of innovative manufacturing techniques being developed by Ford and various American companies that are seeking to build cars to compete with China.

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