Despite opinions from the Senate Parliamentarian and the General Accounting Office (GAO) that their action was illegal, both the House and Senate voted to revoke a waiver granted to the State of California by the Biden Administration to reduce harmful emissions from cars and trucks. California regulators adopted a rule that would phase out sales of new gas-powered cars by 2035 and, in December 2024, the EPA granted California a waiver that would allow the state to enforce the rule. Inside Climate News states that, because California had particularly egregious air-pollution problems that were impacting public health, and because the state had already moved to limit tailpipe emissions before passage of the Clean Air Act in 1970, the Act included a provision that allows the state to adopt air-quality standards more stringent than the federal government’s.

Congress overturned the waiver using the Congressional Review Act, which the Parliamentarian and the GAO concluded does not apply to waivers. Eleven other states have pledged to adopt California’s rule and end sales of gas cars within their own borders by 2035, and together these states account for about 40% of the U.S. auto market. The automobile industry and the fossil-fuel industry lobbied hard to get this action taken by Congress. Pursuant to the waiver provisions of the Clean Air Act, the EPA has provided 131 waivers to California over the years; this is the first time that a waiver has been blocked by Congress.

The New York Times notes that, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, California will sue the Trump Administration, arguing that the Congressional action is illegal and interferes with California administering its own laws. The U.S. Senate actually took three votes, also overturning California’s rule requiring half of all new trucks sold in the state be electric by 2035 and preventing the state from limiting emissions of nitrogen oxide from cars and trucks.

Inside Climate News describes how the decision by the Senate to ignore the opinions of the Parliamentarian and the GAO sets a precedent that will enable future senators to eliminate any regulation they do not like with just a majority vote. If this action is not struck down in court, it will essentially end the filibuster in the Senate for many votes. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) detailed the misuse of the Congressional Review Act on the floor of the Senate, during which he noted that “the fossil-fuel industry essentially runs the Republican Party right now.”

The New York Times describes how the ability of California to receive waivers has generated “resentment from Republican states where the fossil fuel industry still undergirds their present and future.” The decision to revoke the waivers was seen by Republicans in Congress “as a statement that liberal California should be put in its place.” As evidence of how conflated this air-quality action has become with the culture wars, in his floor speech Senator Barrasso (R-WY) stated: “The American public on Election Day rejected the liberal agenda of California, whether it comes to E.V.s, whether it comes to open borders, whether it comes to sanctuary cities, a sanctuary state, their efforts to defund police.” Senator Adam Schiff (D-CA) thinks that Republicans were upset that so many states wanted to follow California’s lead. He noted that, rather than supporting “energy independence,” the Republicans’ goal is “oil dependence” for the U.S.

The New York Times reports that the Republican budget passed by the House would further attack the EV industry by gutting “subsidies for battery manufacturing, incentives for purchases of electric vehicles by individuals and businesses, and money for charging stations that Congress passed during the Biden administration. And it would impose a new annual fee on owners of electric cars and trucks.” This will leave the U.S. further behind Europe and Asia in the transition to electric vehicles, even as most auto executives think that this transition is inevitable. The $250 annual fee on owners of electric vehicles contained in the legislation, which is meant to compensate for lost revenue from gasoline taxes, is more than double the average yearly fuel taxes that owners of conventional vehicles pay. EV sales in April were up 35% over last year in China and up 25% in Europe, but only up 5% in North America.

The New York Times reports that CATL, the worlds biggest supplier of EV batteries, has “made technological advances that would allow it to produce batteries that are cheaper, lighter, faster to recharge and more resistant to cold, while providing greater driving range.” The company claims that its new battery system would allow an electric vehicle to be charged enough in five minutes to drive 320 miles. A five-minute charging system has also been announced by BYD and Huawei. The Detroit Free Press reports that Ford claims to have perfected a battery chemistry using lithium and manganese that will expand the range of its EVs within this decade.

Grist describes research efforts aimed at thickening Arctic sea ice to reverse the effects of global warming. Although the techniques are very straightforward, their overall impact (both physical and social) are still being assessed. Initial studies indicate that the process, in which water is brought to the surface in the winter, encourages ice formation from above and below. This leads to thicker ice, which is exactly the type of ice that has been most damaged by climate change.

The increasing frequency and intensity of major hurricanes is challenging the ability of impacted communities to recover before the next storm hits. Dealing with the aftermath of one storm takes years, but the Guardian examines the challenge of multiple-storm impacts by visiting northern Florida. This region experienced Hurricanes Idalia (2023), Debby (2024) and Helene (2024), and was therefore unable to recover from one storm before the next one struck. Insurance payments can be slow and inadequate, and contractors and building materials — both in high demand and short supply — can be difficult to secure. Local government experience with major storms is growing, and they are hoping to use this experience to minimize damage as the 2025 hurricane season approaches.

Unfortunately for local governments, CNN notes that FEMA, under Donald Trump’s leadership, is not ready for the upcoming hurricane season. An internal FEMA document states: “As FEMA transforms to a smaller footprint, the intent for this hurricane season is not well understood. Thus FEMA is not ready.” To mark the beginning of the hurricane season, Climate Brink reviews the major ways that climate change is making hurricanes more destructive. The Kansas Reflector describes the staffing cuts to the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Goodland, Kansas, how it could impact people in the region and the goal of Trump’s Project 2025 to privatize this vital government service.

The Guardian reports on a remarkable on-air presentation by well-respected TV meteorologist John Morales in south Florida, who famously and correctly assured worried Floridians that Hurricane Dorian would turn away from the state in 2019. Due to cuts at NOAA and the NWS, Morales says he’s unsure if he will be able to make a similar prediction this year. His 2.5 minute presentation is worth watching. It starts with his on-air discussion of Dorian’s path in 2019 (yes, that is the path that Trump altered with a Sharpie). The New York Times describes the viral response across the country.

In The New York Times, another meteorologist from Florida points out the absurdity of the Trump Administration’s cuts to NOAA and the NWS. “Without the arsenal of tools from NOAA and its 6.3 billion observations sourced each day, the routinely detected hurricanes of today could become the deadly surprise hurricanes of tomorrow. The National Weather Service costs the average American $4 per year in today’s inflated dollars — about the same as a gallon of milk — and offers an 8,000 percent annual return on investment, according to 2024 estimates.” The Administration’s rationale for their actions is a farce, and appears purposed to privatize the NWS as described in Project 2025. Of course, “if the private sector could have done it better and cheaper, it would have, and it hasn’t.” The hurricane specialist goes on to remind the reader of how our forecasting has improved: “Thirty years ago, forecasters couldn’t detect a hurricane until it formed, and once it formed, we were lucky to give two or three days’ notice that it might strike land. Today, our forecast models — developed, maintained and improved by NOAA scientists and their supercomputers — routinely and reliably predict hurricanes sometimes a week or more before the first puff of clouds. At two or three days out, we’re able to whittle hurricane forecasts to within a county or two.”

The Guardian describes the enormous wildfires burning in Canada. Manitoba and Saskatchewan have declared states of emergency, and the Canadian military is assisting with evacuations in Manitoba due to road closures. “A prolonged period of unusually warm and dry conditions helped to intensify this week’s fires, continuing a trend worsened by climate change. The fire seasons of 2023 and 2024 were the worst two years in Canadian history.”

The Hill reports on the ongoing legislative battle in Texas regarding renewable energy. The “free market” approach to electricity developed over the last several years, and the state’s commitment to build transmission capacity to its less populated windy areas, has allowed cheap renewable electricity to greatly expand at the expense of fossil fuels. Rural counties of the state are profiting from this energy revenue stream and the tax basis it provides. But in the legislature, an ideological back-lash funded by organizations supported by the fossil-fuel industry has resulted in wild legislative proposals (one would require solar developers to provide electricity 24 hours a day by also building gas turbines, which would require more turbines than can currently be supplied by the industry globally). Utility Dive reports that this proposal and others have been defeated for now, but they may reappear in the next session. Meanwhile, Republican legislators continue arguing with each other and business groups are organizing to oppose the fossil-fuel interests.

MinnPost reports on Minnesota’s Solar for Schools grant program, which led to 140 schools installing solar arrays since 2022. In a time of budget crunches for schools, many districts are already coming out ahead on savings compared to costs when state and federal incentives are factored in. In the first year, Minnesota schools that are part of the program saved about $1.4 million and, over the life of the solar installations, savings are projected to be $61 million.

Anthropocene Magazine describes a new approach to the problem of getting renewable electricity from areas where it is generated to cities where it is needed. The startup, SunTrain, proposes to get around grid congestion and connection difficulties by charging battery arrays installed in railcars at sites where the electricity is generated, and then using the railroad to bring the battery into the city where it can be connected to the grid and discharged. The most likely pilot will be “to fill up with surplus energy from southeast Colorado’s solar plants at an Xcel power station in Pueblo, then travel roughly 240 kilometers on the Union Pacific Railroad to Denver, where the trains would release their power at a center-city power plant.”

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