Greenhouse gases

Friday

February 13, 2026

Trump is right about greenhouse gases

Irresponsible Trump, responsible China: that is the message the BBC's climate editor seemed to be sending us by juxtaposing the news that the President had repealed Barack Obama’s "endangerment finding" and that China’s carbon emissions fell slightly last year. Trump’s critics like to portray him as a rogue figure in a world which is otherwise committed to reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions. But is there any truth in that? The endangerment finding does not appear to have had any obvious impact on US emissions The endangerment finding was a piece of legalese issued in a 2009 ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Tuesday

February 11, 2025

Teresa Mull

Red states sue New York for punitive climate change bill

In what could find itself deemed a new “war of Northern Aggression,” West Virginia and twenty-one other states are looking to defend themselves against New York for what they allege are climate-related crimes. A new lawsuit targets New York’s recently passed “Climate Change Superfund Act.” ABC27 reports the law requires polluters “to pay for environmental damage based on how many tons of fossil fuels they emitted during a specific period of time.” States could be on the hook for as much as $75 billion in fines for emissions going back years. At the time of the act’s passage, State Senator Liz Krueger, co-sponsor of the bill, said, “The Climate Change Superfund Act is now law, and New York has fired a shot that will be heard round the world.