Weekend Reader for Sun., Jan. 28

Weekend Reader for Sun., Jan. 28

"The State of the Union is the Most Excellent Ever, That I Can Tell You."

On Tuesday, President Donald J. Trump will take the podium to renew the annual American tradition of the State of the Union Address (SOTU). His audience will include both houses of Congress, some special guests, and most of the memberships of the Supreme Court, Cabinet, and the Joint Chiefs of the military.


There's a tradition of Presidential lip service paid to second- and third-tier issues. Environment usually rates a sentence, maybe two:

1) "I'd like to use that Superfund to clean up pollution for a change and not just pay lawyers." (Bill Clinton, 1993)

2) "We have no intention of dismantling the regulatory agencies, especially those necessary to protect environment and assure the public health and safety." (Ronald Reagan, 1981)

3) "Preservation of our environment is not a liberal or conservative challenge, it's common sense," (Reagan in 1984).

4) "Restoring Nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions" (Richard Nixon, 1970).

Clinton, of course, did little to reverse the sputtering failures of Superfund; Reagan's team did a pretty good job of dismantling regulatory agencies -- but 2017 far outpaced his accomplishments; and there was some truth to Reagan's and Nixon's bipartisanism, but that was the 20th century and this isn't.

Tuesday's mystery is whether Trump will go as far as presidents past, or whether he'll do away with environmental lip service entirely. If Trump's Thursday speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland provides a clue, he'll brag about the Administration's regulatory purge as a key to economic growth.

A couple more curiosities: Bill Nye the Science Guy, the owlish nerd who has done yeoman's work battling climate denial, says he'll attend the Address as the guest of a well-heeled climate denier. Jim Bridenstine is a two-term congressman from Tulsa -- a protege and soulmate of uber-denier Senator Jim Inhofe. Bridenstine has a lifetime score of 3% from the League of Conservation Voters and pulled a goose egg for 2016. In other words, he's the perfect guy to run Donald Trump's NASA. He's an enthusiast of missions to Mars and privatization of much of the agency's mission. Bridenstine's nomination hit a snag last year due to bipartisan concern that he has no training or credentials in science or engineering. There's also widespread concern that he would zero out NASA's Earth Science budget, including the agency's critical climate change research. Maybe a tongue-lashing from the Science Guy will turn him around.

And finally, there's the Designated Survivor: the one Cabinet member who's sequestered away from the speech in case of disaster. Is this how Ryan Zinke gets to be President? Since the Reagan Administration, at least seven Interior Secretaries have been the SOTU designated survivor. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has four predecessors as the D.S. And while the EPA Administrator is considered to be a Cabinet-level position, it's not included in the official Line of Succession.

So come Wednesday morning, even in the worst case scenario, Scott Pruitt will not be the leader of the free world.

Top Weekend News

New research with dire implications for corals: They actually prefer the taste of plastics.

EHN Senior Editor Brian Bienkowski on a groundbreaking report: The pervasive presence of pesticides in Great Lakes freshwater tributaries.

Huff Post launched a major, must-read series on "Dirty Air" around the world.

In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on England's ITV, President Trump went full denial. The AP's Seth Borenstein contacted ten climate scientists for a point-by-point refutation of what the President pretty much said was Fake Climate Science.

Tom Henry reports on moves by Ohio-based FirstEnergy's indications that it may dramatically shrink both its nuclear and coal fleets.

Trumpweek: Rollbacks and denial

Pruitt meets the press -- not. A barnstorming tour of the states by EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt seems to be missing a traditional element: Contact with the press and general public.

A rare un-rollback: Scott Pruitt's EPA may keep restrictions on the controversial Pebble Mine in Alaska. The massive gold and copper mining project could jeopardize the prolific Bristol Bay fishery. (E&E)

Tim Cama reports on EPA moves to roll back "major" air pollution rules. (The Hill)

High Country News's Elizabeth Shogren reports that former wildlife officials from the Nixon to the Obama Administration oppose Trump's rollbacks on migratory bird protections.

Opinions and Editorials

In a searing piece in the New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert tears into Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke and the "damage done" to public lands.

The Daily Star, the largest English-language paper in Bangladesh, laments the national disinterest in environmental protection.

Canada's most influential newspaper, The Globe and Mail, goes after the Trudeau government on reduced science funding.

Of all the floods in all the cities of the world, it had to be Paris. On CNN.com, historian Jeffrey Jackson looks at why the extreme flooding in Paris should be a cautionary climate tale.

NYT op-ed from a Pacific island facing inundation from high seas.

One worthwhile video

A fox and a snowy owl met on a quiet winter night by the marina in Cobourg, Ontario. A security camera captured their dance.

As EHN executive director Douglas Fischer noted, the interaction is Harry Potteresque: While the world sleeps, magic is happening just outside the window.

Read Douglas' take on the story here. Or check out the town's Facebook feed, where the video has been viewed some 200,000 times.

a row of flags in front of a building.
Credit: Mmoka/Unsplash

World climate talks resume without U.S. as global negotiators assess new path forward

The United States skipped a major round of United Nations climate negotiations in Bonn, Germany this week, leaving other nations and U.S. civil society groups to navigate the talks without the world's largest fossil fuel producer at the table.

Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News.

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Smoke billows from an industrial chimney at sunset near several homes.

Judge rules EPA overstepped in cutting pollution grants

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from canceling $600 million in environmental justice grants aimed at helping underserved communities reduce pollution.

Rachel Frazin reports forThe Hill.

In short:

  • The grants stem from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which set aside $3 billion for environmental justice programs.
  • The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Biden had planned to distribute the $600 million through regional groups, which would fund local efforts, before the Trump EPA terminated the grants earlier this year.
  • Judge Adam Abelson ruled the EPA's cancellation exceeded its authority “precisely because they are ‘environmental justice’ programs."

Key quote:
The move included a “lack of any reasoned decision-making, or reasoned explanation.”

— Judge Adam Abelson, U.S. District Court

Why this matters:
Underserved communities often face the greatest environmental health risks and climate impacts. These grants were designed to help local groups respond to long-standing environmental harms and health risks, and canceling them would have cut off vital support just as cleanup efforts were beginning to gain traction. The Trump administration has also attempted to cancel a similar $20 billion program that would fund climate-friendly projects.

coffee mug near open folder with tax withholding paper.

Senate Republicans move to cut clean energy tax credits despite bipartisan benefits

Congressional Republicans are advancing a tax plan that would slash incentives for clean energy and electric vehicles, drawing criticism from advocates and some GOP members whose districts benefit from green investments.

Alexa St. John reports for The Associated Press.

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A stream running through green forested hills.

Brazil moves to auction vast oil blocks despite climate and Indigenous concerns

Brazil is set to auction off oil and gas exploration rights in a massive offshore and Amazon region sale, prompting backlash from Indigenous groups and environmental advocates just months before it hosts the Cop30 climate summit.

Constance Malleret reports for The Guardian.

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An image showing a downpour with a caution sign.

New research links stalled jet stream to rising summer weather extremes

The number of extreme summer weather events driven by trapped atmospheric waves has tripled since 1950 due to climate change, new research shows.

Seth Borenstein reports for The Associated Press.

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Farm machinery helping harvest turnips.

How agribusiness lobbying boosts corporate control over food and climate policy

Industrial agriculture companies spent hundreds of millions lobbying Congress ahead of the stalled farm bill debate, further distancing everyday Americans from decisions shaping the nation’s food systems and climate future.

Brian Calvert reports for Civil Eats.

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Steel mill under a cloudy sky.
Credit: Michi/Pixabay

Steelmaker retreats from clean energy plans as hydrogen costs and politics shift

Cleveland-Cliffs is scaling back plans to build the nation's first green steel plant in Ohio, pivoting away from hydrogen and back to fossil fuels as federal incentives face repeal and political winds change in Washington.

Alexander C. Kaufman reports for Canary Media.

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