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Posts by Jean Chemnick

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From EPA to DOJ? Zeldin’s words may haunt him. The EPA chief’s partisan attacks energize the base but risk weakening cases he’d oversee if he's named attorney general.

EPA Chief Lee Zeldin is good at tailoring his message to MAGA media. But that sometimes puts him at odds with EPA's official justifications for actions -- whether it be a rule or the cancellation of a grant. And that could be a liability if he moves over to DOJ: www.eenews.net/articles/fro...

1 hour ago 4 4 0 0

EPA finalized its endangerment finding repeal on legal grounds. But today, Zeldin told the Heartland gathering that their view that greenhouse gases would be net beneficial to humanity would be proved right in the coming decades as harmful warming fails to materialize.

1 week ago 0 1 1 0
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E&E News: Why EPA may need a new strategy to repeal power plant pollution limits The agency is expected to soon finalize the repeal, which was proposed before the Trump administration's elimination of the 2009 endangerment finding.

EPA is due to finalize its repeal of Biden power plant climate rules in "early spring." Tick tock. It hasn't gone to OMB. But there is growing speculation that it will pull the rule back based on a critique of CCS, with a supplemental "endangerment" draft.

subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

3 weeks ago 1 2 0 0
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‘Alarm bells’: Early Western heat wave foreshadows future danger Vanishing snowpack, dwindling water supplies, high summer heat and severe wildfires could all be in store later this season.

The unprecedented heat wave currently enveloping the western U.S. could portend intensifying drought, water shortages, strong summer heat and intense wildfires later this year, scientists warn. My story: 🔏www.eenews.net/articles/alarm-bells-ear...

1 month ago 7 11 0 0
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EPA tied its climate rollback to low oil prices. Then came the Iran war. The Trump administration relied on rosy price estimates to argue that repealing emissions limits for cars would save consumers money.

EPA's endangerment finding and car rules repeal suggested that oil prices fall because of Trump policies. Lower future prices at the pump would mean consumers pay less for policies that keep demand high.

But then came Trump's war...

www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

1 month ago 7 6 1 4
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One obstacle for Trump’s AI power pledge: The neighbors Getting data centers to generate their own electricity may ease one obstacle to public acceptance of data centers. But it creates new hurdles.

Trump wants more data centers to generate their own power.

But living next to tech industry gas turbines has made this VA neighborhood "unbearable" due to noise. One resident is taking sleeping pills, another can't walk his dog.

My latest for @eenews.bsky.social

www.eenews.net/articles/one...

1 month ago 5 3 1 0
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Why the Clean Air Act was never a ‘good fit’ for climate The lawyers who successfully won the law’s climate authority once thought of it as a placeholder for stronger legislation.

The Clean Air Act is a somewhat clunky instrument for tackling climate change -- at least for some sectors.

So, if the Clean Air Act is going to be broadly unavailable for greenhouse gas regulation post-endangerment repeal, what comes after that?

www.eenews.net/articles/Why...

1 month ago 2 1 0 1
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Trump cuts threaten US role in global climate modeling Agency cuts, layoffs and policy shifts are throwing America’s role into question.

Trump administration cuts, layoffs and restructurings have cast a shadow over U.S. participation in a major international climate modeling initiative -- a collaboration that federal scientists have been at the forefront of for decades. My story today: www.eenews.net/articles/tru...

1 month ago 12 6 0 1
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Dispatch from my other life: Our upcoming concerts (Mar 13 & 14!) celebrate composer & long-time Cantori collaborator Adolphus Hailstork. I wrote a lil note on the program, which explores themes of freedom, resistance to tyranny & rebuilding after devastating conflict. 👇
www.van.org/articles/Can...

1 month ago 2 1 0 1
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The awkward exception in EPA’s climate repeal: Methane The agency’s effort to maintain methane rules could create legal woes as it argues greenhouse gas curbs lack clear congressional backing.

The fact that Congress has signed off on Clean Air Act methane rules (three times, actually. CRA,IRA,OBBBA) could be a problem as EPA prepares to defend the endangerment repeal. www.eenews.net/articles/the...

1 month ago 2 0 0 1
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4 takeaways from the DC Circuit’s big climate hearing Nonprofits appeared likely to prevail on their argument that the Trump administration wrongly terminated their Biden-era grants.

The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sounded highly skeptical of EPA's case for cancelling the "green bank" grants yesterday, though that probably doesn't mean the nonprofits will be able to access their award funds anytime soon. Takeaways with @lesleyclark.bsky.social: www.eenews.net/articles/4-t...

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I went on C-Span's Washington Journal this morning to talk about EPA's endangerment finding rollback. People on the other site had a lot of opinions about that, let me tell you.

www.c-span.org/program/wash...

2 months ago 1 1 0 0

Well, I was up really, really early. I was on C-span. It was fun, but the callers asked questions about chem trails and salmon and the Hanford Nuclear site that I was hopelessly ill-equipped to answer.

2 months ago 1 0 1 0
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EPA invites Supreme Court to upend major climate precedent With its repeal of a scientific finding that requires greenhouse gas regulation, the agency has reopened a long-settled legal question over its own

Instead, it's betting that recent Supreme Court decisions and a more conservative bench will allow it to walk away from regulating climate pollution (with Lesley Clark): www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

2 months ago 1 0 0 0
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Trump sidelines climate contrarians in science rollback The president has mocked global warming as a “hoax,” but his administration avoided testing that claim in court as it targeted the endangerment finding.

And it sidelined the five contrarians DOE picked to write that "review" of science last summer, that has run into so many problems: (by @scottpwaldman.bsky.social) www.eenews.net/articles/tru...

2 months ago 4 1 1 0
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EPA yanks attacks on climate science from endangerment repeal The agency relied on legal arguments to erase the basis for climate rules, ditching provisions that tried to poke holes in the scientific consensus on

EPA dropped its assault on climate science: www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

2 months ago 7 6 1 3

Thank you for that!

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Final Rule: Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards Under the Clean Air Act | US EPA The final rule on the reconsideration of the greenhouse gas endangerment finding and motor vehicle rule.

Here's the final rule on endangerment (finally): www.epa.gov/regulations-...

2 months ago 5 5 0 0
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People briefed on the endangerment finding repeal tell me that it's based on legal arguments only. It doesn't take aim at the actual science of warming.

The repeal could decimate federal climate policy -- if it survives legal challenge.

2 months ago 8 4 2 1

So, has anyone out there actually seen the text of the endangerment finding rollback? Because they haven't put it out. And I'm told Zeldin might not even have signed it yet?

on Signal at jchemnick.01

2 months ago 13 6 1 2
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President Trump and Administrator Zeldin Deliver Single Largest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History | US EPA Alongside the President, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history.

Here's what EPA just put up on the endangerment finding repeal: www.epa.gov/newsreleases...

2 months ago 8 14 2 1
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Here’s what could happen when the endangerment finding dies States, courts and Congress could be forced to fill the climate policy vacuum.

I'm told that the endangerment finding repeal package lands next week. I look at what that could mean for other climate rules, state action, and the future of U.S. climate policy.

And on Signal at jchemnick.01, for any tips on when, where, etc.!

www.eenews.net/articles/Her....

2 months ago 8 9 0 0

But public comments from major cities and organizations -- which would not be part of any form letter campaign -- aren't there. Where are they? Isn't EPA supposed to be making them available at this stage?

2 months ago 4 0 0 0

A tiny fraction of the 572k public comments EPA received on the endangerment draft have been posted. When I asked EPA about that recently, it said that was because only one sample comment for mass mailer campaigns was posted, “As any reporter familiar with EPA rulemakings would know."

2 months ago 5 1 2 0
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JUST IN: In a new lawsuit, Minnesota officials say DHS mishandled evidence from today's crime scene and made "astonishing" law enforcement decisions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

2 months ago 16390 5514 394 228
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E&E News: 3 things to watch in EPA’s endangerment repeal The agency is close to finalizing its rollback of the endangerment finding. Legal experts say its success could hinge on these details.

EPA will soon release its final repeal of Obama's greenhouse gas endangerment finding and all climate regulations for cars and trucks. Then comes all the litigation. Here's my cheat sheet about what folks will be looking for in the final version: subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

3 months ago 5 6 0 0

And thank you, @jamesgoodwin.bsky.social, for your help with the story.

5 months ago 2 0 0 0
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White House wrote half of EPA’s cost-benefit analysis for climate rule rollback The move — revealed in emails and internal drafts — sidelined EPA's deep bench of career economists.

Anybody know if a University of Chicago economist who wasn't even in the government at the time wrote almost half of the regulatory impact analysis for EPA's endangerment/car rules draft repeal? Because it sure looks like he did. Signal jchemnick.01.

www.eenews.net/articles/whi...

5 months ago 13 11 1 1

Are you an OAR employee who worked on climate issues and has been reassigned somewhere else? I'd love to know where they're sending you. On Signal at jchemnick.01

5 months ago 1 0 0 0
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EPA flush with cash for ‘priority’ staff The agency is taking an unprecedented approach to furloughs during this latest government shutdown.

EPA still has a "walking around money" left over in fy 2026. But it's choosing to furlough some people while others remain on the job and drawing a paycheck. It appears to be keeping those working on deregulation and other priorities. @ellieborst.bsky.social and I: www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

5 months ago 6 5 0 2