Fwd: where have all the flowers gone
JBL
From: Bob Donnan <donnanl...@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, Jul 19, 2025, 9:24 AM
Subject: where have all the flowers gone
To:
Do you want federal money for an EV or home solar? Time is running out — fast
https://www.npr.org/2025/07/16/nx-s1-5462190/trump-tax-credit-solar-ev-heat-pump
By Julia Simon, Camila Domonoske | NPR | July 16, 2025
Home solar tax credits end Dec. 31, 2025
The country's first major climate policy under the Biden
administration secured at least a decade of federal tax incentives for
rooftop solar panels, solar water heaters and geothermal heat pumps.
Ari Matusiak, CEO of the nonprofit Rewiring America, suggests that people sign a contract with a contractor and pay for and install the project before the end of the calendar year so that they can secure their eligibility for the tax credit. Solar project installation can take a few months and some contractors can have long wait times.
Another incentive for heat pumps and insulation
ends Dec. 31
In addition to the 30%
off investments in things like home solar, a federal incentive called the Energy
Efficient Home Improvement Credit will also disappear later this year. That
credit meant up to $2,000 off heat pumps, water heaters, biomass stoves or
biomass boilers on your tax bill. The tax credit
also offered up to $1,200 off home upgrades like new insulation, doors and
windows.
Federal tax credits for electric vehicles end
Sept. 30
Currently, some electric
vehicle buyers are eligible for a federal tax credit worth up to $7,500 for
buying or leasing a new EV, and up to $4,000 for a used vehicle. That money is
available as a cash rebate at the time of purchase and can be used as a down
payment. (Not every buyer and not every vehicle qualifies. You can read more
about these credits here.)
There's still money available from some states and
utilities, for now
Some local utility
companies offer incentives for technologies like heat pumps, residential solar,
or insulation, so experts suggest checking in with your local utility.
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Trump exempts more than 100 polluters from environmental standards
By Rachel Frazin | THE HILL | July 18, 2025
The Trump administration is exempting dozens of chemical manufacturers, oil refineries, coal plants, medical device sterilizers and other polluters from Clean Air Act rules. On Thursday, the White House announced it would exempt more than 100 plants from pollution limits established by the Biden administration.
The limits are aimed at reducing the releases of toxic chemicals, including those that cause cancer. One rule that the Trump administration is exempting about 50 polluters from would have been expected to reduce cancer risks of people living within 6 miles of a chemical plant by 96 percent.
The Trump administration touted its decision as being supportive of fossil fuels and manufacturing. The move also stands in contrast with the administration’s pledge to “make America healthy again.”
One of the proclamations exempts six coal plants from restrictions on releases of mercury, nickel, arsenic and lead. The Biden-era rule in question was expected to reduce exposure to substances that can cause developmental delays in children, as well as heart attacks and cancer.
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VIDEO: EPA, Norfolk Southern manipulated East Palestine soil testing data, report says
KDKA | July 17, 2025
A new report alleges that soil samples following the 2023 fiery train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio were manipulated by the EPA and Norfolk Southern.
The whistleblower group Government Accountability Project uncovered a letter they say allegedly proves negligence in testing for contaminated soil at the site of the crash.
According to the whistleblowers, the key flaw was that baseline samples were inappropriately collected based on likely wind directions near the time of the burn of chemicals like vinyl chloride and butyl acrylate. They say this compromised the entire sampling plan.
Those whistleblowers also believe that officials who tested intentionally avoided testing in areas to show dioxin contamination.
[You may recall that DIOXIN was the contaminant in AGENT ORANGE herbicide production attributed to most Vietnam veterans’ related illnesses].
Agent Orange & Dioxin Committee Update
By Sandie Wilson | VVA Magazine | March-April 2025 Update
https://vva.org/programs/agent-orange/agent-orange-dioxin-committee-update-march-april-2025/
The committee strives to make life better for sprayed and betrayed veterans, as well as their children and offspring. The task seems to last forever. Because we now have a newly elected Congress and White House, our major recurring job is to educate those involved in the decision-making process. The importance of this hits home when you are talking with congressional staff. A young staffer said, “My grandfather was in Vietnam. I do not know a lot about Vietnam.”
Our subcommittee on VA disability application for veteran children and grandchildren has concluded its work. The VA form for Spina Bifida has been modified to include all inherited diseases believed to be related to the veteran parent’s toxic exposure. More
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Online tool launched to help identify chemical exposure
https://www.alleghenyfront.org/online-tool-identify-chemical-exposure-compunds-concern/
By Kara Holsopple | The Allegheny Front | July 18, 2025
Fracking began in Pennsylvania more than 15 years ago, and there is continuing concern for the potential health impacts related to the shale industry.
The Allegheny Front’s Kara Holsopple recently spoke with Nathan Deron, project manager at the Environmental Health Project, a nonprofit that has been working on these issues for over a decade. The organization debuted a new online tool called Compounds of Concern, which they’ve developed to help residents navigate exposure to chemicals and compounds from industrial facilities.
“Some of the things in those samples were things that people had heard of before, things like benzene or formaldehyde. But a lot of them were compounds or chemicals that people weren’t necessarily familiar with.” Nathan Deron, EHP
“One compound that can be emitted from industrial facilities is toluene. So toluene is one of those core BTEX compounds, and can have impacts on just about every organ system from your central nervous system to your respiratory and cardiovascular systems as well as your bone marrow and reproductive systems.
MORE GAS WELLS = MORE COMPRESSOR STATIONS
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Trump came to Pittsburgh to promote AI in Pennsylvania. Here’s what you need to know.
https://www.alleghenyfront.org/trump-pittsburgh-ai-pennsylvania-cmu-natural-gas/
By Reid Frazier | The Allegheny Front | July 18, 2025
The summit was organized and hosted by McCormick, a Republican and former finance executive who was first elected to the Senate in 2024. Basically, there were a lot of very rich, powerful people in one room.
They were there to talk about and hype the oncoming rush for artificial intelligence, which we and other outlets have reported is going to need a lot of electricity to power the advanced computing that goes into it.
Even Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, a Democrat who has talked about climate change in the past as a big problem, didn’t mention it.
[Mock-up of his dealmaking with CNX. Is he setting himself up for a presidential run?]
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VIDEO: Climate change is amplifying extreme rain events in the Northeast, research shows
By Ginger Zee and Julia Jacobo | ABC News | July 15, 2025
The Northeast has experienced the largest regional increase of extreme precipitation in the U.S., with a 60% increase in recent decades, according to the U.S. government's Fifth National Climate Assessment, a summary of the latest climate science research findings by 14 different federal agencies, published in November 2023.
New York City's Central Park preliminarily recorded its second-highest hourly rainfall total since 1943, measuring 2.07 inches of precipitation in one hour. The deluge of water caused subway lines to flood, with water even rushing from platforms and into train cars. In at least one instance, the city sewer overflowed into the subway system, according to the city's Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
According to climate scientists, human-amplified climate change is causing extreme rainfall events to become more frequent and more intense. More intense extreme rainfall events also increase the frequency and scale of flash flooding as the influx of water is more than existing infrastructure was built to handle.
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