The department recommended higher fees for oil and gas leases, but there was no sign the government planned to take global warming into account when weighing new applications.
The federal government will no longer collect or share data on the financial costs of extreme weather events, a move that scientists and lawmakers say will obscure the growing risks of climate change.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced it will stop tallying the costs of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters, citing changing priorities and staffing limits.
The move ends a critical public dataset used by scientists, insurers, and policymakers to analyze the economic impact of extreme weather events, which have become more frequent and severe.
From 1980 to 2024, NOAA tracked 403 such disasters; that data will remain archived, but events from 2025 onward — like this year’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires — will no longer be assessed.
Key quote:
“You can’t fix what you don’t measure. If we lose this information about the costs of these disasters, the American people and Congress won’t know what risks climate is posing to our country.”
— Erin Sikorsky, director of The Center for Climate and Security
Why this matters:
As extreme weather events intensify across the United States, the decision to stop tracking their financial cost erases a transparent records of how much climate change is affecting the economy and public health. Climate-driven disasters force cities and states to rebuild, often with taxpayer money, and the cumulative toll can shape budgets, insurance markets, and infrastructure priorities. Without centralized, consistent data, decision-makers lose insight into where help is most needed or how much recurring weather patterns are costing communities. Researchers also rely on this information to study trends and assess long-term vulnerabilities, especially in frontline areas already under stress.
More than 100 employees at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory were laid off last week following new federal orders and funding changes under the Trump administration.
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) confirmed that 114 employees were involuntarily laid off, including both research and operations staff.
The lab cited “stop work orders,” “new federal directives,” and “budgetary shifts” from federal agencies as the reasons behind the workforce reductions.
NREL, which employs nearly 3,700 people across its Colorado, Alaska, and Washington, D.C. campuses, is the Department of Energy’s primary research facility for renewable energy systems.
Key quote:
“ ... NREL has experienced workforce impacts affecting 114 employees across the laboratory, including staff from both research and operations, who were involuntarily separated today.”
— NREL spokesperson
Why this matters:
As the Department of Energy’s primary lab for researching wind, solar, and other renewable power sources, NREL supports technology that helps reduce air pollution, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and limit reliance on fossil fuels. The Trump administration’s renewed opposition to renewable energy come amid rising global demand for decarbonization and growing evidence of climate-related harm to human health and ecosystems. Cutting research jobs at a time when extreme weather, wildfire smoke, and grid instability are worsening could slow efforts to modernize the electric grid and reduce the health impacts tied to fossil fuel use. The lab’s downsizing also suggests a broader retreat from science-based energy policy, potentially disrupting ongoing research partnerships and long-term innovation.
Researchers in Washington have developed a new method to recycle aging wind turbine blades, transforming the waste into usable plastic and addressing a growing landfill challenge.
Engineers at Washington State University created a recycling process that breaks down wind turbine blades using zinc acetate and pressurized hot water, yielding materials that can be used in new plastics.
The method tackles the challenge of recycling glass fiber-reinforced polymer (GFRP), a tough, heat-resistant material that doesn’t melt like other plastics.
With thousands of blades already decommissioned in the U.S. and projections of 100,000 tons of blade waste per year in Europe, researchers see urgent need and potential for scaling up the solution.
Key quote:
“As wind energy grows, recycling and reusing wind turbine waste is becoming increasingly urgent.”
— Jinwen Zhang, a Washington State University professor and co-author of the paper
Why this matters:
As the wind energy sector matures, tens of thousands of turbine blades are nearing the end of their operational lives. These blades, typically made of glass fiber-reinforced polymers, are difficult to dispose of or reuse because they don’t melt down like conventional plastics. Most end up in landfills, adding to a growing waste burden. The scale of the problem is only set to rise: The Department of Energy predicts a substantial increase in blade waste by mid-century, with materials that could sit in dumps indefinitely. The new process offers a way to intercept that waste stream and recover valuable resources, potentially reducing landfill overflow and pollution associated with composite materials.
Los Angeles officials waived the city’s all-electric building code to speed post-wildfire recovery, but a new report argues that electric-only reconstruction is actually faster, cheaper, and cleaner.
A University of California, Berkeley report finds that rebuilding all-electric homes after the January wildfires in Los Angeles could be simpler and less expensive than including gas infrastructure, due to lower construction complexity and long-term utility savings.
Electric-only homes avoid costly future retrofits and are expected to have lower energy bills, especially with heat pumps, despite California’s high electricity prices; average savings could reach $300 a year per household in LA County.
Mayor Karen Bass initially waived LA’s all-electric requirement, but a new directive now asks city departments to streamline permitting for those choosing all-electric rebuilds, aligning with state goals for carbon neutrality by 2045.
Key quote:
“We’ve seen repeatedly that retrofitting later down the line is more expensive than constructing all-electric to begin with.”
— Kasia Kosmala-Dahlbeck, climate research fellow at UC Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment
Why this matters:
Climate change is intensifying wildfires across the American West, and how cities rebuild in their aftermath will shape emissions trajectories for decades. In California, where buildings produce a quarter of the state’s carbon emissions, natural gas infrastructure locks in decades of fossil fuel use. That matters not only for the planet but for human health: Indoor gas appliances leak pollutants that can worsen asthma and other respiratory conditions, especially in children. Building all-electric homes opens the door to better indoor air quality and safer living environments.
The Trump administration is accelerating domestic mining projects while simultaneously undercutting the clean energy policies that would create a stable U.S. market for critical minerals like lithium and graphite.
President Trump’s executive actions aim to boost U.S. mineral production by fast-tracking mining permits and proposing tariffs on foreign mineral supplies and equipment.
At the same time, cuts to clean energy incentives, such as electric vehicle tax credits and clean-tech loans, are dismantling the demand that would sustain domestic mineral markets.
Legal uncertainty from regulatory rollbacks may further deter investors and delay mining projects despite expedited permitting efforts.
Key quote:
“Without a clear, consistent demand signal, no mining company would put a single drill in the ground to make an investment.”
— Kwasi Ampofo, lead mining and minerals analyst at BloombergNEF
Why this matters:
Critical minerals like lithium, graphite, and rare earths are the backbone of modern clean energy technology, from electric vehicles to renewable grid storage. They are also increasingly important to national defense systems and global tech manufacturing. While China currently dominates mineral processing and pricing, many Western nations, especially the U.S., are eager to diversify supply chains. But these supply chains only function if industries, from car manufacturers to battery makers, are actively buying materials. When governments weaken the market for clean tech, they kneecap their own ability to attract private investment in mining. Without long-term demand, miners won’t take financial risks, and processing facilities stall. The United States' contradictory approach may cost it both economic leverage and environmental resilience.
A malaria-like illness spread by black-legged ticks has taken hold in parts of the mid-Atlantic, raising concern among researchers who warn local doctors may not be prepared to recognize or treat it.
A new study shows that babesiosis, a tick-borne disease once mostly confined to the Northeast and Upper Midwest, has been found in ticks in Virginia, Maryland, and Delaware for the first time.
Climate change — through warmer winters, increased rainfall, and expanded tick habitat — is contributing to the spread of the Babesia parasite and the rodents that carry it.
The disease is often misdiagnosed or missed entirely due to low physician awareness, which researchers say could lead to more severe cases and unnecessary complications.
Key quote:
“Tick range expansion is occurring at such a precipitous rate that public health guidance regarding tick-borne disease prevention and treatment can be rapidly rendered obsolete.”
— Study authors
Why this matters:
As winters grow milder and rainfall increases, ticks once confined to northern forests are making themselves at home in southern states, bringing with them diseases that many doctors outside of tick hotspots don't know to look for. Babesiosis, which destroys red blood cells and can lead to organ failure, is especially dangerous for older adults and people with weakened immune systems. Many cases go undetected because symptoms can mimic other illnesses or appear mild, allowing the infection to progress untreated. When doctors miss diagnoses, the consequences can be deadly.
Gov. Glenn Youngkin vetoed two bipartisan clean energy bills in Virginia that would have expanded small-scale solar and battery storage, despite support from utilities and environmental groups.
The vetoed legislation would have significantly increased solar credits and energy storage targets for Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power, enabling more residential and commercial solar installations and long-duration battery projects.
Youngkin argued the measures would impose costs on fossil fuel-dependent utility customers and said the market should drive adoption of newer technologies, calling battery storage too expensive.
Environmental advocates and some lawmakers criticized the vetoes as part of a broader effort to weaken the Virginia Clean Economy Act, passed in 2020 to transition utilities to carbon-free energy by mid-century.
Key quote:
“I think the amendments just show who he truly is: not an ‘all-of-the-above’ guy. He just doesn’t like clean energy.”
— Josephus Allmond, staff attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center
Why this matters:
Solar and battery storage are important components of efforts to decarbonize the power grid, reduce air pollution, and limit climate change. Small-scale solar gives homeowners and businesses the chance to generate their own electricity, reducing dependence on fossil fuel-powered utilities and softening demand during peak hours. Energy storage, especially long-duration systems, allows renewable energy to be used even when the sun isn’t shining or the wind isn’t blowing. That flexibility is essential as states like Virginia plan to meet ambitious zero-carbon mandates. In Virginia, these vetoes signal a potential retreat from the state’s 2020 climate law just as the grid faces rising stress from growth in energy-hungry data centers and climate-fueled weather extremes.
