One of the strangest, and stupidest, moments yet in Trump’s war on renewable energy has been transpiring in New York. The April 30 In Brief noted a federal government announcement that the previous approval of construction for the Empire Offshore Wind project in New York had been paused. This announcement was made eight years after the U.S. awarded offshore leases, over a year after the final permits were given, and with construction underway on land and at sea. Empire Wind is the first large-scale offshore-wind project in New York, and is the state’s largest energy-infrastructure initiative in the last 50 years. It would create over 1,500 jobs and ultimately power 500,000 homes with over 50 wind turbines, while contributing to the revitalization of the Sunset Park neighborhood of Brooklyn.

No rationale for the April decision was publicly offered. Canary Media now reports that Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum posted that “Scientists at [the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration] have revealed that the Biden administration’s rushed approval of the Empire Wind project was built on bad & flawed science.” This appears to be an utter fabrication. Burgum’s office did not respond to Canary Media’s requests to share these NOAA findings. The Secretary also has not shown the findings to the project developer (Equinor), the office of New York Senator Chuck Schumer nor to key members of his own staff. A career employee at the Interior Department, who Canary Media granted anonymity to speak freely for fear of retribution, said nobody’s seen the report. “My personal opinion is that it’s all bullshit.”

Burgum’s action, which appears to be a bad-faith attempt to follow through on Trump’s antipathy to offshore wind, has caused enormous damage and disruption. The project developer, Equinor, was burning through $50 million a week as multiple boats that were supposed to be working offshore idled in the harbor with their crews and equipment. Work at the 73-acre onshore terminal, which has not been halted by the Secretary, is halfway complete. Industry groups are now worried that “Burgum’s order sets a dangerous precedent for vaporizing energy projects mid-construction on the premise of politics.”

Inside Climate News reports that “Equinor was days away from pulling out completely or taking legal action against the federal government,” and German renewable-energy developer RWE “announced it had stopped all its offshore activities in the U.S. due to political uncertainty.” What a ridiculous state of affairs.

The Washington Post reports that the federal government has now rescinded the stop-work order, allowing construction activities to resume offshore. No explanation has been provided for why the order was issued in the first place (beyond the mysterious “scientific report”), but Governor Hochul of New York had three hour-long conversations with President Trump to try and convince him to allow the project to go forward (Inside Climate News describes her pitch).

Canary Media reports on two lawsuits filed by state attorneys general claiming that Trump’s executive orders to stop permitting wind-power projects and construction of EV charging stations are illegal (in addition to being counter to American interests). While these suits have been filed by states led by Democrats, the article notes that “Republican-led states may become quiet backers of the suit, given that Trump’s order also targets onshore wind farms, which many of them have benefited from.” Climate Central produced an excellent animated graphic that shows the nationwide growth of EV charging stations over the last several years.

In addition to interfering with previously approved wind projects and EV charging stations, the Trump Administration is actively fighting to prevent Americans from saving money through energy efficiency. Canary Media notes that “From proposing to eliminate the popular Energy Star and Low Income Home Energy Assistance programs to firing staff and delaying building efficiency standards, President Donald Trump’s moves threaten to upend decades of progress on making appliances and structures do more with less energy.” Energy efficiency is also an important climate solution. The Rocky Mountain Institute has concluded that, if maximized globally, energy-efficiency efforts would allow for the phase-out of fossil fuels by 2040 (a key reason Trump is fighting this battle). The rise in electricity demand, especially from data centers, makes efficiency efforts even more important.

In The New York Times, David Gelles summarizes the breadth of Trump’s efforts to kneecap renewable energy, boost fossil fuels and deny climate science. He notes that the “American retreat from climate action has made the United States a global outlier. China, the only other superpower, has made a strategic decision to adopt clean energy and then sell it abroad, dominating the global markets for electric vehicles, solar panels and other technologies. Even Saudi Arabia, the second-largest producer of oil after the United States, is spending heavily on wind and solar power.”

Residents of Texas are experiencing extraordinary increases in the price of insurance due to the rise of extreme weather events in the state (a particular concern is the escalating property-damage claims from hail). The Washington Post reports that homeowners insurance premiums rose by 19% last year, after jumping 21% in 2023. “There are signs that it is becoming more difficult for Texas homeowners to get insurance, not only in the most hurricane-prone parts of the state but farther inland as well.” Years of losses are prompting insurance companies to limit coverage, raise rates and pull out of risky areas. As a consequence, the state-sponsored insurance of last resort is set to have a record number of policies by the end of this year. This is happening in California as well, as I can attest from personal experience that has left me on California’s insurance of last resort, the FAIR plan.

The New York Times reports that “Fifteen states sued the Trump administration over its declaration of an ‘energy emergency,’ arguing that there is no emergency and that the order instructs regulators to illegally bypass reviews of fossil fuel projects.” The President’s executive order requires the federal government to “speed up energy projects like drilling for oil and natural gas and mining for coal, although it excluded wind and solar energy. It stated that energy production was not meeting the nation’s needs, even though U.S. production has been at record highs.” The states claim in their lawsuit that invoking emergency powers was reserved “for actual emergencies — not changes in presidential policy,” and that Trump’s actions will harm the states’ interests, including “clean drinking water, wildlife habitats and historic and cultural resources.”

The Washington Post notes that NOAA has reported that Earth’s fourth global-bleaching event, when bleaching is confirmed in all of the ocean’s basins at once, is underway. NOAA says the latest global event began on Jan. 1, 2023, and mass bleaching has now been observed across at least 83 countries and territories, threatening marine life from Fiji to the Florida Keys to Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. The intensity of bleaching events in recent years has led NOAA “to introduce a new bleaching alert scale — adding three categories to account for higher coral mortality rates and bleaching levels.”

The Guardian visits the Goddard Institute of Space Studies GISS), which has for years been one of the leading climate-science laboratories in the world. For decades, it was run by James Hansen, who some call “the Godfather of climate science.” It was Hansen’s testimony before Congress in 1988 that brought climate change into the public conversation. The Trump Administration has ordered GISS staff to leave their offices and work from home until they can be reassigned, which has no purpose other than to damage the government’s ability to understand and report on climate change. The lease on the building, however, runs for several more years, and so the American people will continue to pay for what is now empty office space.

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