The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is firing hundreds of staffers who worked to protect overpolluted, underserved neighborhoods, effectively gutting its environmental justice efforts.
The EPA is laying off 280 environmental justice staffers and reassigning another 175, a move critics say targets communities that suffer the most from pollution.
The agency says the cuts are part of dismantling diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs in line with Trump administration goals to shrink government.
Black, low-income, and rural white communities — often on the frontlines of industrial pollution — will likely bear the brunt of these changes.
Key quote:
“EPA is taking the next step to terminate the Biden-Harris Administration’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and Environmental Justice arms of the agency.”
— EPA spokesperson
Why this matters:
Cutting environmental justice programs means fewer protections for people already hit hardest by pollution, from asthma to cancer risk, and continues a national shift away from addressing health disparities caused by toxic exposures, while leaving vulnerable communities even more at risk. It's part of a broader plan by the Trump administration to drastically reduce the EPA's budget by 65%, with significant hits likely for both environmental justice and scientific research.
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A former oil executive with ties to Elon Musk now holds expansive authority to reshape operations at the Interior Department, raising alarms among conservationists and longtime federal employees.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum appointed Tyler Hassen, a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representative and ex-oil executive, to oversee a broad cost-cutting initiative across the department without Senate confirmation.
Hassen and fellow DOGE aide Matt Luby are scrutinizing grants and contracts, seeking access to sensitive payroll and personnel systems, and pushing for the elimination of discretionary funding, including specific targeting of grants to Maine.
Career officials have raised legal and procedural concerns about DOGE’s overreach, including attempts to remove an attorney who challenged their authority, while critics say the actions undermine the Interior Department’s mission to protect public lands and wildlife.
Key quote:
“If Doug Burgum doesn’t want this job, he should quit now.— Jennifer Rokala, executive director of the Center for Western Priorities
Why this matters:
The Interior Department oversees some of the nation’s most treasured natural resources, including national parks, endangered species habitats, and vast public lands. Its mission is inherently conservation-focused, but giving unchecked power to political appointees — especially those with ties to the fossil fuel industry — risks shifting that mission toward deregulation and privatization. The Department of Government Efficiency, though not a cabinet-level agency, is now deeply embedded in major environmental and public land agencies, prompting worries of political loyalty outweighing science or legal process.
A warming Arctic is complicating Canada’s military operations, with unpredictable weather destroying equipment, thwarting training, and eroding the region’s role as a natural line of defense.
Canadian and allied forces were unable to locate sea ice thick enough for a Hercules aircraft to land during winter military exercises, highlighting how warming has disrupted Arctic conditions.
Frigid temperatures still break down advanced machinery and endanger military personnel, even as unseasonable thaws render traditional transport routes dangerous or unusable.
Local Indigenous knowledge remains critical, as modern technology often fails in the extreme and fluctuating Arctic environment.
Key quote:
“Our first level of defense is leaving us.”
— Lt Col Darren Turner, commander of Operation Nanook’s land forces
Why this matters:
Scientists have long warned that the Arctic is warming up to four times faster than the rest of the planet, and the result is an erratic climate that swings from dangerous cold to dangerous warmth. This shift threatens not just military strategy, but also the Indigenous communities who live there, relying on ice roads and steady seasonal rhythms for food, travel, and survival. Melting permafrost is collapsing coastlines, flooding homes, and releasing long-trapped greenhouse gases. And as polar thaw opens sea routes to cargo and military ships, the Arctic’s strategic importance increases — while its livability and habitability decrease. What was once one of Earth’s most formidable natural fortresses is becoming a front line of climate disruption.
The World Bank has scaled back public climate advocacy as it navigates the political risks posed by President Trump’s administration and its review of U.S. involvement in global institutions.
World Bank President Ajay Banga continues climate-related investments but now frames them in terms of jobs and energy access to appeal to Republican priorities, including nuclear and natural gas.
The U.S., its largest shareholder, is reevaluating support for the bank under Trump, with allies pushing for a full withdrawal and framing climate finance as contrary to national interests.
Although the World Bank's climate policies remain, its leadership and communication now emphasize an “all of the above” energy strategy and job creation over environmental rhetoric.
Key quote:
“Now, do you want to scream this all loudly? Probably not in this environment. You don’t get much from doing that.”
— Samir Suleymanov, former World Bank official
Why this matters:
The World Bank’s subtle shift in tone reflects how environmental priorities are increasingly shaped by political pressure, especially from the U.S., its largest shareholder. With climate change continuing to drive extreme weather, food insecurity, and displacement, development banks play a critical role in funding clean energy and adaptation projects across low-income nations. Yet the Bank’s pivot away from vocal climate advocacy raises questions about whether financial institutions can maintain credibility with developing countries while appeasing donor governments that are retreating from global climate leadership.
A growing number of evangelical churches and universities in Indiana are embracing renewable energy and environmental stewardship as a religious duty, reframing climate action through a spiritual lens.
Churches across Indiana, including Christ’s Community Church and Grace Church, are installing solar panels, planting native gardens, and hosting events like Indy Creation Fest to promote environmental stewardship.
Evangelical leaders say their work aligns with a biblical call to care for creation, distancing it from politicized language around climate change to appeal to more conservative congregations.
Christian universities such as Indiana Wesleyan and Taylor are integrating environmental science into academics and campus life, fostering student-led sustainability efforts rooted in faith.
Key quote:
“It’s a quiet movement.”
— Rev. Jeremy Summers, director of church and community engagement for the Evangelical Environmental Network
Why this matters:
The intersection of faith and environmental action challenges longstanding cultural divides in the climate conversation. Evangelical communities — historically less engaged on climate issues — hold substantial political and social influence, particularly across the Midwest and South. Framing sustainability as a religious obligation sidesteps partisan divides and invites wider participation. These faith-led movements can help shift attitudes in rural and suburban America, where skepticism of climate science and federal intervention runs high. And as the environmental impacts of fossil fuel dependence grow — heatwaves, water scarcity, air pollution— the health and well-being of families in these communities are increasingly at stake.
Two lawsuits allege that major insurance companies coordinated to drop coverage in wildfire-prone California areas, pushing homeowners onto a costly, state-backed insurance plan.
A group of homeowners filed a lawsuit claiming insurers like State Farm conspired to stop issuing policies in high-risk wildfire zones, including areas devastated by Los Angeles-area fires in January.
The FAIR Plan, a last-resort insurance option with limited coverage and high premiums, now covers more than 555,000 homes — more than twice the number from 2020.
A separate lawsuit aims to block a state regulation that lets insurers recoup half of a $1 billion FAIR Plan funding order from policyholders across California.
Key quote:
“By colluding to push plaintiffs and so many like them to the FAIR Plan, the defendants have reaped the benefits of high premiums while depriving homeowners of coverage that they were ready, willing, and able to purchase to ensure that they could recover after a disaster like January’s wildfires.”
— Michael J. Bidart, attorney for homeowners
Why this matters:
California’s wildfire insurance crisis is a growing threat to financial stability and community resilience. As wildfires intensify due to climate change, insurers are increasingly pulling out of high-risk areas, leaving homeowners to rely on the FAIR Plan, a state-mandated program with higher premiums and weaker protection. This shift disproportionately impacts working- and middle-class families who can't absorb rebuilding costs or risk losing their homes entirely. With over half a million homes now on emergency coverage, the state faces mounting pressure to protect its residents from both the flames and financial fallout.
A tweak in tax law that made clean energy credits transferable has helped small developers build solar and wind projects in low-income areas, but congressional Republicans may roll back the benefit as part of federal budget talks.
The Boston Community Solar Cooperative plans to fund a new solar project in a low-income neighborhood by selling federal tax credits made transferable by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Transferability, a 2022 change in federal law, has enabled $24 billion in renewable energy credit trades, helping smaller and community-based developers fund projects they couldn’t otherwise afford.
Congressional Republicans are considering repealing or cutting these tax credits during budget reconciliation, despite most clean energy investments landing in GOP-led districts.
Key quote:
“Transferability was a godsend in many ways, because it simplified the process.”
— Derek Silverman, co-founder of Basis Climate
Why this matters:
Renewable energy development has long skewed toward wealthier regions and large corporate players. Making federal tax credits transferable leveled the playing field, especially for community-based solar cooperatives and projects serving tribal communities and low-income neighborhoods. These credits have helped displace fossil fuel dependence, reduce energy costs, and stimulate local jobs without forcing developers to take on risky debt. But their future is precarious. Efforts to cut federal spending or reshape tax policy — often framed as budget tightening — could gut the very incentives that made these projects viable. Communities already bearing the brunt of pollution and energy insecurity may lose out if the policy is reversed. The next few months of congressional debate will determine whether this critical funding stream remains intact or fades just as it's starting to show results.
thehill.com
