Every President has a moment when they learn -- painfully -- that there is very little they can do quickly to bring down gasoline prices. @politico.com

Epic Fury in Global Energy Markets What closure of the Strait of Hormuz could mean for the domestic energy prices, AI data centers, and the transition to renewables.

Nearly 20% of the world’s oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz. A sustained conflict could significantly impact U.S. energy prices, AI data center economics, and the pace of the clean energy transition. Read more:
open.substack.com/pub/zealan/p...

As a reminder, they could decide TODAY to restore over $27 billion in grants at EPA alone that would make a material difference for low income families struggling to afford electricity.

Heating Costs Expected to Rise 9.2% This Winter

Heating Costs ⬆️ 9.2% This Winter. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration continues their work to terminate billions in grants that would reduce those costs through better insulation, more efficient appliances, and cheaper electricity.
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/17/b...

Fascinating to see a Fox News poll where concerns about climate change (narrowly) edge out concerns about illegal immigration

Cloudflare has realized the internet is safest when turned off. Exciting new feature.

Before Alaska Flooding, E.P.A. Canceled $20 Million Flood Protection Grant

Tragic flooding in rural Alaska made worse after EPA terminated a $20 million grant for flood resilience.
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/14/c...

The Bolt is back! Great to see a domestic EV with over 250 miles of range at <$30,000.
www.caranddriver.com/news/a689884...

I had the good fortune to work with Dr. Monarez during the COVID-19 emergency response. She is a consummate professional and deeply committed to public health.

Grieve, pray, and hug your loved ones. But also reach out and make connections with those who hold different political views. Love your neighbors. And remember that we are in this together even when - and especially when - it feels hardest.

Words can be more dangerous than weapons.

If we don't take responsibility for how we talk about tragedy, we’re preparing the ground for something far worse.

Northern Ireland only reached an uneasy peace after decades of bloodshed, thousands of deaths, and generations scarred. The U.S. doesn’t have to repeat that history. But if we keep pouring gasoline on every fire, then we risk our own American-style sectarian conflict.

This is how sectarian violence takes form. Not overnight. But drip by drip, word by word, until escalation feels like the only path left.

That’s the danger now. The murder itself is horrific. But the stories being told about it — martyrdom, revenge, collective blame — may be even more dangerous.

It didn’t start with bombs. It started with words.
+Politicians framing neighbors as enemies
+Leaders stripping away nuance
+Narratives that made violence feel inevitable

Context: in a country the size of Houston, there were 3,500+ political murders in Northern Ireland over just three decades — and tens of thousands of bombings, shootings, and kidnappings.

The murder of Charlie Kirk — and the rhetoric that’s followed — has me more concerned than ever about America’s direction.

I wrote my thesis on conflict in Northern Ireland. What I see here feels eerily familiar to that violent conflict between Catholics & Protestants. 🧵

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
—Martin Luther King, Jr.

Trump’s war on wind just got much bigger In moving to block New England Wind, the administration is seeking to halt a third offshore wind project in less than two weeks.

The federal government is killing wind projects at the same time China is installing 5,000+ wind turbines a month. This is a dangerous setback to 21st century energy leadership.
www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

Now is not the time to be throttling cheap wind and solar. Electricity prices are up 6.5% in the past year with major jumps in places as diverse as Maine (+36%), Utah (+15%), and Louisiana (+14%). See here:
www.usatoday.com/story/money/...

Trump officials fire EPA employees for signing dissent letter The move to terminate the staffers marks an escalation in the Trump administration’s effort to clamp down on dissent within the federal bureaucracy.

Donald Trump @ Inauguration: “I will sign an executive order to immediately stop all government censorship and bring back free speech to America.”

Trump Admin when employees raise serious concerns about public health: You’re fired.

www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

The Trump Admin's love affair with coal continues this morning with a photo of...anthracite coal, which hasn't been mined in the United States since the 1960s.

Trump Administration Wrongly Impounded Infrastructure Aid, Watchdog Finds

The GAO's finding today that the Trump Administration impounded the EV charging funds is significant and should put more pressure on Congress to assert their Constitutional role.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

Republican's proposed tax provisions that dropped today are as bad as they could be.

Lastly, I'd be remiss if I didn't note that EPA is <0.2% of the federal budget. If Trump cuts the budget by 50% he will have achieved nothing to solve the federal deficit but he will make us all sicker and weaker.

If you do believe the federal government should protect you from deadly pollution, then there is a set of fixed costs to run that pollution monitoring and enforcement structure. Making the regulations less stringent does not mean you need fewer staff.

If you do not want the federal government to limit air and water pollution, then sure, you can eliminate an entire office. (That is also how you end up with rivers so polluted that they catch up fire).

We don't yet know what the Trump Administration will propose as alternatives as they roll back many regulations protecting public health. But much of their rhetoric on staffing reductions implies a false correlation between regulations and staffing levels.

FEDERAL STAFFING DOES NOT SCALE LINEARLY WITH REGULATORY STRINGENCY! Cut the action level for mercury (a deadly neurotoxin) by 50% and you still need comparable monitoring and enforcement capacity to enforce that weaker threshold. You cut staff 50% when you don't want to enforce pollution standards.

WMATA has been rolling this out successfully in DC where the video is manually reviewed. More here: ddot.dc.gov/page/ddot-bu...