Consumer

"With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, President Donald Trump has lashed out at renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, blaming them for skyrocketing energy costs. ... Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes, which are based on increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change."

"The Interior Department is deputizing federal border agents and sending them to National Park Service sites amid the federal law enforcement takeover of Washington, D.C., Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said Wednesday."

"A decades-long battle to transform a Southeast Chicago lakefront property into a public park is starting to bear fruit. But where the new toxic sludge will go has yet to be determined."

"Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said he halted construction of a wind project off the coast of New York earlier this year because scientists revealed that the Biden administration “rushed approval” of the development based on “flawed science. But Burgum himself won’t reveal what those scientists said — or present the flaws."

"Renewable projects have historically been able to qualify for federal tax credits once a developer spent 5 percent of a project’s cost. But that threshold would be scrapped under the new Treasury Department guidance."

"The plastics contaminating every corner of the Earth contain thousands of unregulated toxic chemicals. As global plastic talks end without a treaty, health experts say negotiators must consider their toxic cargo."

"EPA expressed alarm at contamination in a creek near a predominantly Black neighborhood. Then the agency eliminated its civil-rights office and has taken no further action."

"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declared that an emissions agreement between California and four major truck makers is “unenforceable” — paving the way for noncompliance with the Golden State’s pollution rules, which are stricter than federal standards."

"The Trump admin’s scheme to keep old fossil-fuel plants running could saddle utility customers with nearly $6 billion a year in unnecessary costs, a report finds."

"As the Trump administration aims to bolster fossil fuels at the expense of clean energy expansion, new research shows the oil and gas sector has so far failed to become a major jobs creator for heavily fracked areas of northern Appalachia."