Matthew Daly, Author at The Rapid City Post

FILE - EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin listens during the annual Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference on June 3, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane, File)

EPA plan would begin rolling back ‘good neighbor’ rule on downwind pollution from smokestacks

January 28, 2026

The Trump administration is taking a step toward rolling back a rule that limits smokestack emissions that burden downwind areas in neighboring states. The so-called “good neighbor” rule is intended to block coal-fired power plants and other industrial sites from adding significantly to air pollution across state lines. The rule is one of dozens of regulations that Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has targeted for reconsideration or repeal. The EPA said Wednesday it is proposing to approve plans by eight states to regulate ozone air pollution as they see fit. Environmental groups said the EPA proposal would reward states for being bad neighbors.

FILE - Emissions rise from the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets, near Emmett, Kansas, Sept. 18, 2021. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

EPA says it will stop calculating the economic savings to health in key air pollution rules

January 13, 2026

The Environmental Protection Agency says it will stop calculating the economic savings of health benefits from air pollution rules. The change means the agency will focuses only on industry costs. It aligns with President Donald Trump’s business-friendly approach. On Monday, the agency stated it remains committed to health protection but won’t monetize impacts now. Environmental and public health advocates called the agency’s action a dangerous abdication of one of its core missions. Since the EPA’s creation more than 50 years ago, Republican and Democratic administrations have used different estimates to assign monetary value to a human life in cost-benefit analyses.

FILE - Director of the Office of Management and Budget Russell Vought speaks to reporters at the White House, Thursday, July 24, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

Court says Trump administration illegally blocked $7.6B in clean energy grants to Democratic states

January 12, 2026

A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration acted illegally when it canceled $7.6 billion in clean energy grants for projects in states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 election. The grants supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, including battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and efforts to capture carbon dioxide emissions. The Energy Department said the projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable. Russell Vought, the White House budget director, said on social media that “the Left’s climate agenda is being canceled.”

FILE - The White House is reflected in a puddle, Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)

White House completes plan to curb bedrock environmental law

January 7, 2026

The Trump administration has finalized a plan to roll back regulations implementing a landmark environmental law that the White House says needlessly delays federal approvals for energy and infrastructure projects. The action Wednesday by the White House Council on Environmental Quality rescinds regulations related to the National Environmental Policy Act. That law requires federal agencies to consider a project’s possible environmental impacts before it is approved. The council’s leader says the directive will “restore common sense to the environmental review and permitting process.” Congress is considering legislation intended to speed up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects and limit judicial review under that law.

Wind turbine bases, generators and blades are positioned along with support ships at The Portsmouth Marine terminal at the staging area for Dominion Energy's wind turbine project Monday Dec. 22, 2025, in Portsmouth, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Trump order halts offshore wind projects for at least 90 days

December 23, 2025

A stop-work order by the Trump administration directs offshore wind developers to “suspend all ongoing activities” related to five large-scale projects under construction along the East Coast “for the next 90 days for reasons of national security.” During the pause, the Interior Department said it will coordinate with project developers “to determine whether the national security threats posed by this project can be adequately mitigated.” The 90-day period can be extended if necessary. The letters, obtained by The Associated Press, provide additional details after the Trump administration on Monday suspended leases for five large-scale wind projects off the Atlantic coast from Virginia to Massachusetts. Governors of four affected states vowed to fight the order.

House backs bill to speed permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects

December 18, 2025

The House has approved bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up permitting reviews for new energy and infrastructure projects and limiting judicial review. The bill, known as the SPEED Act, would enact the most significant change in decades to the National Environmental Policy Act. That bedrock environmental law requires federal agencies to consider a project’s possible environmental impacts before it is approved. The bill was approved, 221-196, Thursday and now goes to the Senate. Republicans and many Democrats blame NEPA for red tape that routinely results in years-long delays for major projects. The House bill would place statutory limits on environmental review It also limits who can bring legal challenges and legal remedies that courts can impose.

FILE - A natural gas platform is shown, April 13, 2006, off the coast of Fort Morgan, Ala. (AP Photo/Rob Carr, File)

Florida congressional Republicans tell Trump to keep oil drilling off state’s coasts

December 5, 2025

Florida’s Republican-dominated congressional delegation is urging the Trump administration to drop a plan that would allow new oil drilling off the state’s coast. A letter Thursday signed by Republican Sens. Rick Scott and Ashley Moody says the Interior Department plan would put the state’s thriving tourism industry at risk and disrupt military operations in a key training area. The letter to President Donald Trump is signed by all 30 members of Congress from Florida, including 22 Republicans and eight Democrats. The letter represents rare pushback against the Republican president by GOP lawmakers and demonstrates how important Florida’s beaches and coastal waters are to its economy.

Trump EPA moves to abandon rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution

November 25, 2025

The Trump administration is seeking to abandon a rule that sets tough standards for deadly soot pollution, arguing that the Biden administration did not have authority to set the tighter standard on pollution from tailpipes, smokestacks and other industrial sources. The Environmental Protection Agency finalized a rule last year that imposed strict standards for soot pollution, saying that reducing fine particle matter from motor vehicles and industrial sources could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year. Twenty-five Republican-led states and a host of business groups filed lawsuits seeking to block the rule. In a court filing this week, the EPA said the Biden-era rule was unlawful and done “without the rigorous, stepwise process that Congress required.”

Trump administration announces plan for new oil drilling off the coasts of California and Florida

November 20, 2025

The Trump administration is proposing new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production that is already leading the world. A plan proposed Thursday by the Interior Department would open up new drilling on federal waters off California and off the coast of Florida for the first time in decades. The plan was met with strong opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state officials, as well as bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.

A storm moves through a salt marsh at sunset Monday, Oct. 6, 2025, in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

EPA moves to limit scope of clean water law to reduce amount of wetlands it covers

November 17, 2025

The Environmental Protection Agency says it is redefining the scope of the nation’s bedrock clean water law to limit the amount of wetlands it covers. The new rule builds on a 2023 Supreme Court decision that removed federal protections for significant areas. When finalized, the EPA said the rule will ensure that federal jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act is focused on relatively permanent, standing or continuously flowing bodies of water, such as streams, oceans, rivers and lakes, along with wetlands that are connected to such bodies of water. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the rule will help accelerate economic prosperity while protecting vital water resources. It also will fully implement the direction provided by the Supreme Court in case known as Sackett v. EPA.

FILE - Eggs are displayed in refrigerators at a grocery store in Glenview, Ill., Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)

Trump administration moves to loosen restrictions it once supported on a harmful pollutant

November 7, 2025

The Trump administration is loosening a federal rule that requires grocery stores, air-conditioning companies and others to reduce powerful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. Lee Zeldin, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the move would bring regulatory relief to grocery stores and refrigeration companies that have complained about the rule. The Biden-era rule, an outgrowth of a 2020 law signed by President Donald Trump, calls for steep reductions in production and use of hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, starting next year. HFCs, often referred to as “super pollutants,” produce greenhouse gases that are thousands of times more powerful than carbon dioxide and are considered a major driver of climate change.

U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright comments on the National Nuclear Security Administration furloughing 1,400 federal workers as part of the shutdown which began Oct. 1, during a news conference at the Nevada National Security Site (NNSS) in Las Vegas on Monday Oct. 20, 2025. (AP Photo/Ty ONeil)

Nuclear security agency begins furloughing workers as part of shutdown, energy secretary says

October 20, 2025

Furloughs have begun at the federal agency tasked with overseeing the U.S. nuclear stockpile. Energy Secretary Chris Wright says in a social media post the National Nuclear Security Administration is furloughing federal employees as part of the government shutdown, which began Oct. 1. Wright is set to visit the Nevada National Security Site on Monday and pledges to ask Nevada’s leaders to help “end this shutdown.” The National Nuclear Security Administration has said it could furlough up to 1,400 workers as a result of a funding lapse from the shutdown. Nearly 400 federal workers would remain on the job, along with National Nuclear Security Administration contractors.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright listens as President Donald Trump meets with Argentina's President Javier Milei in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Energy Department offers $1.6 billion loan guarantee to upgrade transmission lines across Midwest

October 16, 2025

The Department of Energy says it has finalized a $1.6 billion loan guarantee to a subsidiary of one of the nation’s largest power companies to upgrade nearly 5,000 miles of transmission lines across five states, mostly in the Midwest, for largely fossil fuel-run energy. The project by AEP Transmission, a subsidiary of Ohio-based American Electric Power, will help meet surging electricity demand from data centers and artificial intelligence. The project will upgrade power lines in Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Oklahoma and West Virginia. Thursday’s announcement deepens the Trump administration’s commitment to traditional, polluting energy sources even as it works to discourage the U.S. from clean energy use.

The Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, where the Ambler Road project would pass through, is visible from Ambler, Alaska, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Annika Hammerschlag)

Trump approves Alaska mining road to boost copper, zinc production

October 6, 2025

President Donald Trump on Monday ordered approval of a proposed 211-mile road through an Alaska wilderness to allow mining of copper, cobalt, gold and other minerals. The long-debated Ambler Road project was approved in the first Trump administration, but was later blocked by the Biden administration after an analysis determined the project would threaten caribou and other wildlife and harm Alaska Native tribes that rely on hunting and fishing. Trump said the gravel road is “something that should’ve been long operating and … supplying a lot of energy and minerals.” In a related development, the White House said it is taking 10% equity stake in a Canadian company seeking to develop the Ambler site.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Matthew Daly.