Fwd: another "emergency"
JBL
From: Bob Donnan <donnanl...@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, Jul 14, 2025, 6:09 AM
Subject: another "emergency"
To:
# # #
· “The Allegheny National Forest has been ordered to construct thousands of miles of new roads for future timber sales!”
· “I’m not sure there is any room for more roads!”
· “Just about every acre is within a mile of an existing road.”
End
of Roadless Rule brings increase in timber sales on ANF
July 1, 2025 – The Bradford
Era - Locally, in the Allegheny National Forest, approximately 25,000 acres of
roadless areas were protected under this rule. However, the Allegheny’s unique
situation with private mineral rights under 93% of the forest made it
accessible for drilling and other development despite the Roadless Rule.
FLASHBACK to a blog 5 years ago on August 21, 2020:
Trump
Administration Eyes Forests for Oil and Gas Drilling
By Josh Axelrod - NRDC - If the Trump administration gets its way, a new
rule—first teased back in the summer of 2018 and expected to be
finalized soon—could drastically alter U.S. Forest Service regulations
surrounding oil and gas leasing and operations on National Forest land. In
doing so, the rule seeks to ensure “better alignment with BLM [Bureau of Land
Management] regulations”—a laughable goal given the outlandish and irresponsible practices
of the Bureau in regard to leasing the lands it manages for oil and gas
production.
If past is prologue, this deregulatory effort is a needless and risky waste of
Forest Service resources. Consider the Allegheny National Forest as
a prime example of why national forest lands should be the last place oil and
gas companies are allowed to explore and extract their dirty products. The
Allegheny, which is heavily developed due to some quirks in who “owns” its
underground minerals versus the surface land, is home to the most oil and gas
production of any national forest in the country. Since 2016 alone, 3,000 oil and gas wells have been
abandoned, leaving taxpayers on the hook to clean up these toxic wells
that dot the landscape.
PDF of Agriculture Secretary’s Memorandum is attached. Excerpt:
4. DIRECTIVE
a. EMERGENCY SITUATION DETERMINATION
To address this crisis, I am making an Emergency Situation Determination (ESD)
under section 40807 of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). This
ESD encompasses 66,940,000 acres of NFS lands rated as very high or high
wildfire risk that are hereby determined to be an emergency situation as
defined by IIJA. In addition, I have determined that the 78,800,000 acres of
NFS lands designated under Section 602 of the Healthy Forest Restoration Act
(HFRA), that are experiencing declining forest health; at risk of experiencing
substantially increased tree mortality over the next 15 years [ from time of
designation] from insect and disease infestation; or containing hazard trees
posing an imminent risk to public health, infrastructure, and safety, are an
emergency situation as defined in the IIJA. There are approximately 33,846,000
acres of NFS lands which overlap between wildfire and insect and disease risk.
In total, this ESD designates 112,646,000 acres of NFS lands as an IIJA
emergency situation, which is 59 percent of all NFS lands.
PDF of April 3, 2025 US Forest Service Memo is also attached.
# # #
Who was John
Lewis?
John Lewis was an American civil rights leader and politician who served as a
U.S. Representative from Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until
his death in 2020. He was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement, known for
his role in organizing events like the March on Washington and the Selma to
Montgomery marches, and he dedicated his life to advocating for social justice
and voting rights.
Legacy
John Lewis is remembered as a courageous leader and a moral compass in American
politics. His commitment to nonviolence and social justice has left a lasting
impact on the civil rights movement and American society. He passed away on
July 17, 2020, after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
# # #
SUN DAY CAMPAIGN (founded 1992)
8606 Greenwood Avenue, Suite #2
Takoma Park, MD 20912-6656
301-588-4741
sun-day-...@hotmail.com
July 12, 2025
Ken Bossong, editor
News Story
Excerpts:
Trump Administration Impacts on Energy & Climate
Note: News story headlines provided below do not necessarily reflect the views of the SUN DAY Campaign or any of its respective members.
# # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #
Trump’s Science Guidelines Could Amplify Climate Skeptics:
E&E News, by Scott Waldman, July 3, 2025
https://www.eenews.net/articles/trumps-science-guidelines-could-amplify-climate-skeptics
The Trump administration’s assault on climate science is entering a new phase as it helps to elevate the voices of those who disagree with the scientific consensus that humanity’s burning of fossil fuels is heating the Earth to dangerous levels. This approach is subtle and is being done through changes in federal guidelines. An insistence on “viewpoint diversity” when evaluating scientific endeavors can open the door for climate conspiracy theories and allow industry-affiliated researchers to be given more weight than they would otherwise get. Moreover, the underlying executive order instructs agency heads to “establish internal processes to evaluate alleged violations of the requirements of this order and other applicable agency policies governing the generation, use, interpretation, and communication of scientific information.”
=======================
DOGE Cuts to NOAA May Have Led to the Devastating Flooding Deaths in Texas:
Common Dreams, by Jake Johnson, July 7, 2025
and
and
and
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5386760-joaquin-castro-climate-change-texas-floods
In addition to years of neglect and failures by Texas Republicans at the state level, the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans have fired meteorologists, cut emergency disaster aid. Since the start of his second term, Trump has dismissed the hundreds of scientists and experts who were working on the National Climate Assessment, moved to slash NOAA's workforce, and announced a halt to climate disaster tracking, among other changes. In addition it has been working to accelerate gas, oil, and coal extraction and use by giving an extra $18 billion to the fossil fuel corporations that are supercharging extreme weather events and causing this crisis. Consequently, the resulting flash-flood deaths in Texas are on Trump's hands and those of MAGA voters.
=======================
Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ Law Tethers the U.S. to the Past:
Canary Media, by Dan McCarthy, July 7, 2025
https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/clean-energy/trump-big-beautiful-bill-industry-impacts
The One Big, Beautiful Bill Act is a law not of creation but destruction. The law takes a sledgehammer to key pieces of American industrial policy, threatening the development of clean energy - a vital 21st century technology. It eliminates a set of subsidies that have, over decades, helped solar and wind mature from niche technologies to cornerstones of the nation’s power grid. It scraps tax credits for rooftop solar, electric vehicles, and heat pumps, making it more expensive for the average person to buy these cleaner options. It threatens to pull the rug out from under manufacturers who, encouraged by the incentives created by the Inflation Reduction Act, had chosen to build new factories to make products like solar panels and lithium-ion batteries in the U.S. Jobs will be lost. Energy will get even more expensive as billions more tons of carbon dioxide escape into the atmosphere.
===============================
Backlash Mounts Over EPA’s ‘Political Retaliation’ Handling of Dissent Letter:
E&E News, by Kevin Bogardus, July 7, 2025
and
EPA’s push to quash dissent within its ranks is rippling in and outside the agency. EPA has placed 139 employees on administrative leave for signing onto an open letter criticizing the Trump administration’s policies on climate change and science and for instilling an intimidating workplace. The widespread targeting of dissenters has angered employees, sparked a backlash on Capitol Hill and likely will result in litigation from EPA’s unions.
===============================
Trump Orders Strict Limits on Wind and Solar Tax Credit Eligibility:
The Hill, July 7, 2025
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5389084-trump-wind-and-solar-tax-credits
and
and
https://www.workboat.com/wind/trump-moves-to-restrict-wind-power-tax-credits
and
https://www.pv-tech.org/trump-executive-order-seeks-to-limit-access-to-solar-deployment-subsidies
and
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/trump-executive-order-obbba-wind-solar-48e-45y-tax-credits/752559
Trump has issued a new executive order directing the Treasury Department to strictly limit which wind and solar projects can access tax credits in line with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. To qualify, projects must begin construction within the next year and, to help determine that, the Treasury should limit "the use of broad safe harbors unless a substantial portion of a subject facility has been built." The order also asks the Treasury to prevent "the artificial acceleration or manipulation of eligibility," while the Interior Department has been asked to identify and stop policies that give "preferential treatment" to the industry.
===============================
DOE Defies Congress by Shifting Funds from Wind, Solar and EVs:
Politico.com, by Zack Colman, July 8, 2025
The Trump administration is diverting federal funds away from the Energy Department’s wind, solar and electric vehicles programs, despite the spending levels set under the current congressionally passed budget. The DOE spending plan posted on the agency’s website reveals sharp reductions for clean energy for the fiscal year 2025, a move Democrats said defies the spending law (H.R. 1968)(119)) that Trump signed in March that kept funding levels across the federal government unchanged from the previous fiscal year. Lawmakers and watchdogs question whether DOE has legal authority to make the reductions, noting potential violations of the Impoundment Control Act, which prohibits the executive branch from withholding congressionally approved funds. The cuts represent another front in the Trump administration’s battle to exert more control over congressionally approved spending.
===============================
Trump Says No thanks to Clean Energy for Cities:
Politico.com, by Brian Dabbs, July 9, 2025
The Trump administration is taking an ax to programs that help cities move away from diesel-powered transportation, which can cause respiratory illnesses. Two long-running federal programs that help cities cut diesel pollution and transition to cleaner vehicle fleets are on the chopping block under the Trump administration’s latest budget and executive actions. The Clean Cities Program and the EPA’s diesel replacement grants both face elimination, despite decades of bipartisan support and economic gains across both red and blue states.
===============================
What’s Left of DOE’s Loan Program Office After the One Big Beautiful Bill?
Heatmap News, by Katie Brigham, July 9, 2025
https://heatmap.news/climate-tech/obbba-loan-programs-office
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has essentially crippled DOE’s Loan Programs Office's ability to support clean energy initiatives. The LPO has the statutory authority to back projects, but won't be able to do much without credit subsidies. The law rescinds unobligated credit subsidies for a number of the office’s key programs, including portions of the $3.6 billion allocated to the Loan Guarantee Program, $5 billion for the Energy Infrastructure Reinvestment Program, $3 billion for the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Program, and $75 million for the Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program. Consequently, some of the Loan Programs Office’s signature programs are hollowed-out shells.
==============================
Interior’s NEPA Changes Largely Cut Public Out of Permitting Process:
E&E News, by Ian M. Stevenson, July 10, 2025
https://www.eenews.net/articles/interiors-nepa-changes-largely-cuts-public-out-of-permitting-process
Agencies are rewriting their National Environmental Policy Act regulations, potentially muting public input and curtailing environmental reviews for everything from new railroads to oil wells. The broad changes, enacted by at least four agencies, will narrow the scope of environmental analyses, cut down on public comment periods and speed up environmental permitting. At the Interior Department, the changes include cutting close to one-sixth of the regulations implementing NEPA - and switching most of the remaining rules to less-stringent guidelines. Thus, reviews for energy projects will require less public input and analysis.
===============================
Trump’s Megalaw Ravages Rooftop Solar:
E&E News, by Christa Marshall, July 11, 2025
https://www.eenews.net/articles/how-trumps-megalaw-ravages-rooftop-solar
and
One of the biggest casualties of the Republicans’ megalaw may be rooftop solar, setting up a downturn that could change the makeup of the grid in multiple states. Tax credits allowing homeowners to cut the cost of putting up a rooftop system by 30 percent and which built the industry over the past two decades are being phased out by the end of the year. The termination is faster than other parts of the solar sector and almost a decade faster than originally planned. Companies that install solar panels on homes are bracing for a major drop in business as the federal tax credits go away.
# # #
# # #