EnviroPolitics Blog

Trump’s out to reverse Biden curbs on oil and gas methane emissions

An oil drilling operation in Carlsbad, N.M.Credit…Susan Montoya Bryan/Associated Press

By Brad Plumer, The New York Times, Oct. 27, 2026

The move would mark one of the most significant steps by the Trump administration to scale back federal policies designed to tackle climate change.

Methane, the main component of natural gas, traps about 80 times more heat in the atmosphere in the short term than carbon dioxide does. It is responsible for nearly one-third of the rise in global temperatures since the start of the Industrial Revolution, and experts have said that reducing methane leaks is one of the fastest ways to slow global warming.

The Biden administration issued rules in 2023 that would have required oil and gas facilities to monitor their operations and prevent methane from leaking into the atmosphere. The Trump administration has already delayed those rules from taking effect.

Now the Environmental Protection Agency is moving to relax requirements to curb methane emissions from hundreds of thousands of “marginal” oil and gas wells that are nearing the end of their useful lives and have relatively low output. These wells account for around 7 percent of U.S. oil and gas production but produce roughly half of the industry’s methane emissions, the agency has previously said.

Opinion: NJ Gov. Sherrill Goes All In For AI and Data Centers

We Told You This Was Coming

By Bill Wolfe, Wolflenotes, Oct 20, 2026

(Meet NJ’s new “partner”. Gov. Sherrill just announced that NJ now is directly involved in AI development and deployment)

From day one, we told you Gov. Sherrill was a technological utopian, a Neoliberal fan of privatization and deregulation, and a corporate Democrat hiding behind slogans like “innovation”:

The Democrats are pursuing an “abundance” strategy that seeks to promote “affordability” through “innovation”, “modernization”, “streamlining”, and “permit reform”.

They seek to promote “government accountability” (the softer version of right wing corporate attacks on “unelected bureaucrats”), “transparency” and “disclosure”, and pursue “public-privater partnerships” (the softer version of right wing demands for market based policies and privatization).

All that was obvious by her Big Tech donors and her rhetoric, which openly echoes the Trump game plan: A 2025 Blueprint for a Competitive New Jersey:

NJBIA announced on Wednesday the release of its 2025 Blueprint for a Competitive New Jersey, a 28-page policy document that offers elected officials and candidates a guide for how to drive innovation and prosperity in New Jersey and provides a roadmap to get there.

And we warned that she would power that “innovation” with nuclear power and fossil gas turbines – while doing nothing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or improve environmental quality.

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Massachusetts sets big battery goals — and the policies to back them up

Energy storage is taking off as the state moves to make development easier and more profitable, but the horizon isn’t all clear for the sector.

By Sarah Shemkus, Canary Media, 26 October 2026

Woman sitting and signing a paper, surrounded by people holding signs reading "Powering our clean energy future" — Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey holds a ceremonial signing celebration in Boston for climate legislation in late 2024. Expanding energy storage is key to the state’s clean energy strategy. (David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Just outside Boston, a developer is getting set to build a 700-megawatt storage facility that is expected to dwarf every other battery project in New England. One town over, another energy company just closed on $850 million in financing to build a 250-MW battery. Down near the Rhode Island border, ground has been broken on a 200-MW storage facility that is expected to be up and running by the end of the year.

These and roughly a half dozen other projects at various stages are taking advantage of policies Massachusetts has put in place to help reach its goal of getting 5 gigawatts of battery storage capacity online by 2030, with another 5 GW to follow by 2035.

While several larger and generally sunnier states top the list for installed storage capacity — California boasts a whopping 23 GW — Massachusetts’ ambition and policies put it at the forefront of the push to get more batteries on the grid. Thirteen states have set procurement targets for battery storage, but Massachusetts’ total of 10 GW by 2035 is the highest. And its policy landscape is setting the state up for success, observers say.

“Massachusetts is really a leader in this space,” said Erin Smith, energy and grid policy director for the Environmental League of Massachusetts. “We’re ahead of the pack as it relates to encouraging battery buildout.”

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A legal defeat for Trump could free $7B in frozen ‘Solar for All’ funds

Nonprofits and companies are ready to relaunch solar projects to help low-income residents — if the Trump administration obeys a court order to give them the money.

By Jeff St. John, Canary Media, 24 September 2026

Three people on a roof installing solar panels with dramatic clouds overhead — *Sunpath Solar employees install solar panels on the roof of Chamblee First United Methodist Church in Chamblee, Georgia. (Sunpath Solar)*

Denise Abdul-Rahman, founder and CEO of nonprofit Black Sun Light Sustainability, can list in detail the harms that the Trump administration’s shutdown of the $7 billion Solar for All program has caused the Indiana communities she serves.

About 1,000 low-income households have been denied access to low-cost solar that would have cut their electric bills by at least 20%, she said. About 200 jobs installing solar and batteries at homes, community centers, and city buildings, representing roughly $9 million a year in wages, haven’t been created. And residents of Gary, Indiana, have been denied solar-and-battery-equipped resiliency centers that could have helped them recover from a nearly two-week-long grid outage in August.

That’s why Abdul-Rahman joined a lawsuit challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to kill the program. Last week, a Trump-appointed federal judge with the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island upheld that challenge, ruling that the EPA acted illegally and must let the money flow.

“We just want the Trump Administration to comply with the law,” Abdul-Rahman said. “We would like them to resume what has started. We’re committed to this because we truly believe it will save lives and change lives.”

Opinion: A closer look at New Jersey’s nuclear task farce

The state is pushing ahead with costly new reactors without adequately examining alternatives, financial risks, or the potential burden on ratepayers.

By Jeff Tittel in The Jersey Vindicator, Oct. 19, 2026

New Jersey’s Nuclear Power Task Force is supposed to help shape the future of our energy system. But this is not an independent investigation into whether new nuclear reactors are safe, affordable, or necessary. It is a government-organized sales team for a nuclear expansion that politicians have already decided to pursue.

Instead of asking whether New Jersey should build new reactors, the task force is figuring out how to get them built, finance them, streamline permitting, and persuade the public to accept them. That’s government by public relations, not public policy.

On April 8, Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s administration moved to lift New Jersey’s roughly 50-year de facto moratorium on new nuclear construction. On July 13, Sherrill signed the Power NJ Act, establishing a procurement process for at least 1,100 megawatts of new nuclear generation. The law directs the Board of Public Utilities (BPU) and the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) to evaluate proposals and negotiate project terms. At its first meeting Oct. 1, the task force established five subcommittees covering permitting, financing, technology and supply chains, workforce development, and public engagement.

New Jersey is preparing to build a new nuclear industry before answering the most basic questions about whether it should. Where is the independent study demonstrating that new reactors are the best way to lower electricity bills? Where is the comprehensive comparison with solar, wind, battery storage, energy efficiency, demand management, and grid modernization? Where is the analysis showing that the benefits outweigh the financial, environmental, waste, and safety risks?

The state has announced its destination before honestly examining the alternatives. It is putting the cart before the reactor, and asking ratepayers to pick up the tab.

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Grid batteries are surging but fire risks are not

Concerns about fires loom large in communities, but data shows the tech is no more at risk of failure than boring legacy infrastructure like substation transformers.

By Julian Spector, Canary Media, 23 October 2026

Battery fires are like shark attacks: frightening events that loom cinematically large in the American psyche and almost never actually happen.

As batteries have become America’s top choice for new on-demand grid power, community concern about their fire risk has emerged as a limiting factor on the technology’s growth. There’s no disputing that battery fires have happened, and have been nigh impossible to put out by conventional means. But a dataset compiled by the nonprofit Electric Power Research Institute shows that these fires strike in the U.S. even less frequently than sharks.

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