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Matthew Daly.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum watches as President Donald Trump speaks to reporters aboard Air Force One while en route to Joint Base Andrews, Md. after attending a memorial for conservative activist Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Ariz., Sunday, Sept. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Trump administration opens more land for coal mining, offers $625M to boost coal-fired power plants

September 29, 2025

The Trump administration said it will open 13 million acres of federal lands for coal mining and provide $625 million to recommission or modernize coal-fired power plants. The moves come as President Donald Trump has vowed to reverse the year-long decline in the U.S. coal industry. Coal is a reliable but polluting energy source that’s long been shrinking amid environmental regulations and competition from cheaper natural gas. Under Trump’s orders, the Energy Department has required fossil-fueled power plants in Michigan and Pennsylvania to keep operating past their retirement dates to meet rising U.S. power demand amid growth in data centers, artificial intelligence and electric cars. The latest announcement on Monday would allow those efforts to expand.

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FILE - Construction continues at the Lithium Nevada Corp. mine site Thacker Pass project, April 24, 2023, near Orovada, Nev. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

Trump moves toward deal to give US an equity stake in company developing Nevada lithium mine

September 26, 2025

The White House is moving forward with a deal that would allow the U.S. government to take a small equity stake in a Canadian company that is developing one of the world’s largest lithium mines. The Department of Energy and Lithium Americas, developer of the proposed Thacker Pass lithium mine and processing plant in Nevada, have agreed on changes to a $2.3 billion federal loan that could allow the project to move forward to extract the silver-white metal used in electric vehicle batteries. The proposed equity stake in Vancouver-based Lithium Americas is the latest example of President Donald Trump’s administration intervening directly in private companies.

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This photo released by the Nation Park Service shows Turbid Lake on a sunny on Sept. 21, 2024, in Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. (Jacob W. Frank/National Park Service via AP)

Former national park superintendents urge Trump administration to close parks in case of shutdown

September 26, 2025

A group of former national park superintendents is calling on the Trump administration to close the parks to visitors in case of a government shutdown. Forty former superintendents said in a letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum that past shutdowns in which parks have remained opened have led to the vandalism of iconic symbols, destruction of wildlife habitats and possible endangerment of visitors. They said parks are already under strain from a 24% reduction in staff and severe budget cuts. Leaving parks open to visitors in a possible shutdown will make it much worse, they said.

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Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin arrives for a ceremony in the Pentagon courtyard to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

The EPA wants to end a requirement that large polluters report their greenhouse gas emissions

September 12, 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed doing away with a program that has required large, mostly industrial polluters to report their planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to the government. The program requires refineries, power plants, oil wells and landfills to report their emissions without risk of penalty as officials seek to identify high-polluting facilities and develop policies to lower carbon dioxide emissions. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the program “burdensome” and unhelpful to improving human health and the environment. He said removing the rule would save American businesses up to $2.4 billion in regulatory costs while maintaining EPA’s statutory obligations under the Clean Air Act.

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FILE - Environmental Protection Agency employees and their supporters take part in a national march against actions taken by the Trump administration March 25, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

EPA fires employees who publicly criticized agency policies under Trump

August 29, 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency has fired at least eight employees who signed a letter criticizing the agency’s leadership under Administrator Lee Zeldin and President Donald Trump. An EPA spokeswoman said the actions Friday followed a “thorough internal investigation” in which supervisors “made decisions on an individualized basis.” The spokeswoman, Molly Vaseliou, said the so-called declaration of dissent signed by more than 170 employees in late June “contains inaccurate information designed to mislead the public about agency business.” The EPA’s largest union condemned the firings, calling them “an assault on labor and free-speech rights.”

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Patrick Crowley, president of the Rhode Island AFL-CIO, calls on the Trump administration to allow work to resume on the Revolution Wind offshore wind farm during a news conference in North Kingstown, R.I., Monday, Aug. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Jennifer McDermott)

Trump admin cancels $679 million for offshore wind projects as attacks on reeling industry continue

August 29, 2025

The Transportation Department has canceled $679 million in federal funding for a dozen offshore wind projects. It’s the latest attack by the Trump administration on the reeling U.S. offshore wind industry. Funding was rescinded on Friday for projects in 11 states, including $435 million for a floating wind farm in Northern California. The action comes as the administration abruptly halted construction of a nearly complete wind farm off the New England coast. President Donald Trump has long expressed disdain for wind power, frequently calling it an ugly and expensive form of energy that “smart” countries don’t use. Critics say Trump is baselessly attacking clean energy sources that are crucial to the fight against climate change.

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FILE - Amazon Web Services data center is visible on Aug. 22, 2024, in Boardman, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

Trump blames renewable energy for rising electricity prices. Experts point elsewhere

August 21, 2025

President Donald Trump is blaming renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power for skyrocketing energy costs. With electricity prices rising at more than twice the rate of inflation, Trump called wind and solar power “THE SCAM OF THE CENTURY!” in a social media post. He vowed not to approve wind or “farmer destroying Solar” projects. Energy analysts say renewable sources have little to do with recent price hikes. They say it’s due to increased demand, aging infrastructure and increasingly extreme weather events such as wildfires that are exacerbated by climate change.

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Trump attacks Charlamagne Tha God after radio host criticizes his presidency

August 3, 2025

President Donald Trump has criticized radio host Charlamagne Tha God, saying that the broadcaster “knows nothing about me or what I have done.” Trump’s comments on Sunday followed Charlamagne’s criticism on a Fox News show hosted by Lara Trump. Charlamagne said he wouldn’t rate Trump’s presidency highly, citing negative impacts on vulnerable communities. He also predicted traditional conservatives might reclaim the Republican Party from Trump’s movement, referencing controversy over Jeffrey Epstein. Trump called Charlamagne a “racist sleazebag” and criticized his professional nickname.

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FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission Event in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

EPA eliminates research and development office, begins layoffs

July 19, 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency said Friday it is eliminating its research and development arm and reducing agency staff by thousands of employees. The agency’s Office of Research and Development has long provided the scientific underpinnings for EPA’s mission to protect the environment and human health. The EPA said in May it would shift its scientific expertise and research efforts to program offices that focus on major issues like air and water. The agency said Friday it is creating a new Office of Applied Science and Environmental Solutions that will allow it to focus on research and science “more than ever before.″ Once fully implemented, the changes will save EPA nearly $750 million, officials said.

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President Donald Trump speaks during a ceremony to sign the "Halt All Lethal Trafficking of Fentanyl Act," in the East Room of the White House, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Trump offers regulatory relief for coal, iron ore and chemical industries

July 17, 2025

President Donald Trump is granting two years of regulatory relief to coal-fired power plants, chemical manufacturers and other industries as he seeks to reverse Biden-era regulations he considers overly burdensome. Trump issued a series of proclamations late Thursday exempting a range of polluting industries that he calls vital to national security. The proclamations cover coal-fired power plants, taconite iron ore processing facilities used to make steel, and chemical manufacturers that help produce semiconductors and medical device sterilizers. The proclamations allow the facilities to comply with Environmental Protection Agency standards that were in place before rules imposed in recent years by the Biden administration, the White House says.

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FILE - Pumpjacks operate in the foreground while a wind turbines at the Buckeye Wind Energy wind farm rise in the distance Monday, Sept. 30, 2024, near Hays, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

Interior Secretary Burgum must personally approve all wind and solar projects, a new order says

July 17, 2025

All solar and wind energy projects on federal lands and waters must be personally approved by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. That’s according to a new order that authorizes Burgum to conduct “elevated review” of activities ranging from leases to rights of way, construction and operational plans, grants and biological opinions. The Interior Department says the enhanced oversight is aimed at “ending preferential treatment for unreliable, subsidy-dependent wind and solar energy.” Clean-energy advocates say the action could hamstring projects that need to be underway quickly to qualify for federal tax credits that are set to expire under the tax-cut and spending bill that the president signed July 4.

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FILE - Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, speaks during the confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Jan. 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

GOP plan to sell more than 3,200 square miles of federal lands is found to violate Senate rules

June 24, 2025

A plan to sell more than 3,200 square miles of federal lands has been ruled out of Republicans’ big tax and spending cut bill after the Senate parliamentarian determined the proposal by Senate Energy Chairman Mike Lee would violate the chamber’s rules. The Utah Republican has proposed selling public lands in the West to states or other entities for use as housing or infrastructure. The plan would revive a longtime ambition of Western conservatives to cede lands to local control after a similar proposal failed in the House earlier this year. The plan received a mixed reception Monday from the governors of Western states but has been denounced by environmental advocates as a betrayal of public trust.

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FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin speaks during a cabinet meeting at the White House, April 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Budget cuts at Trump EPA become flashpoint at a heated hearing — and, Democrats say, may kill people

May 21, 2025

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency clashed angrily with Democratic senators Wednesday, accusing one of being an “aspiring fiction writer” and saying another does not “care about wasting money.″ Democrats countered that EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s tenure will likely mean more lung cancer and other illnesses suffered by Americans. The heated exchanges, at a Senate hearing to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal to slash the agency’s budget in half, showed the sharp partisan differences over EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin’s deregulatory approach.

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