Follow @GreenNewsReport...




(Or use "Click here to listen..." link below.)

IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Top federal prosecutor resigns over improper Trump order to claw back EPA grants for clean energy; Fossil-fueled extreme weather has tripled the price of cocoa and coffee; PLUS: 'King' Trump cancels New York City's successful, first-in-the-nation congestion pricing... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

Click here to listen or download MP3 (6 mins)...

Link:
Embed:

Got comments, tips, love letters, hate mail? Drop us a line at GreenNews@BradBlog.com or right here at the comments link below. All GNRs are always archived at GreenNews.BradBlog.com.

IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): Trump moves to claw back almost 50 years of NEPA regulations; Electricity demand surges for the world’s two biggest polluters; New EV batteries are making electric cars cheaper and safer; We may be able to trap climate pollution in ordinary rocks; Trump clamps down on independent agencies' power... PLUS: Hurricane Helene’s profound impact on N.C. farms is only now coming into clearer focus... and much, MUCH more! ...

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY'S 'GREEN NEWS REPORT'...

• Climate-intensified extreme weather spiked prices of cocoa and coffee:
• Extreme weather expected to cause food price volatility in 2025 after cost of cocoa and coffee doubles (Guardian):
  
  In an apparent confirmation of warnings that climate breakdown could lead to food shortages, research by the consultancy Inverto found steep rises in the prices of a number of food commodities in the year to January that correlated with unexpected weather. The highest price rises were for cocoa and coffee, up 163% and 103% respectively, due to a combination of higher than average rainfall and temperatures in producing regions, according to the research.
• Food prices expected to remain volatile (Inverto)
• Why chocolate is ridiculously expensive right now (Grist):
  
  Rising temperatures, erratic rainfall, and other climate impacts are throttling cocoa production and driving up chocolate prices.
• With cocoa prices at 50 year high, how experts see the state of chocolate (ABC News)
• Trump hiring freeze is degrading services at national parks:
• Long lines and canceled rentals: Firings bring chaos to national parks (Washington Post):
  
  Trump's purge of federal employees is already harming the visitor experience at national parks across the country.
• Trump Fires 1,000 National Park Workers, Raising Operational Concerns (AP)
  
  The Trump administration has fired about 1,000 newly hired National Park Service employees who maintain and clean parks, educate visitors and perform other functions as part of its broad-based effort to downsize government.
• After landing his dream job as a park ranger, he's 'heartbroken' to be let go in federal cuts (CNN)
• Yosemite National Park delays summer reservations (ABC News)
• 'Crisis' at Zion as mandated job cuts hit popular national park (Fox 13-Salt Lake city)
• Trump purges threaten viability of US science research:
• NASA and NSF layoffs raise alarm about future of U.S. science (Axios)
• National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers as Federal Purge Continues (Wired)
Firings at the NSF included permanent employees who had already completed their one-year probationary period, as well as at-will workers.
• ‘You screwed people’: Inside the National Science Foundation’s firing of 168 workers (Politico)
• 10% of NASA Workforce Laid Off Amid Trump Administration Cuts: Report (Newsweek)
• Trump officials signal potential changes at NOAA, the weather and climate agency (NPR)
• Mass firings strike USDA across agencies, including field staff (Agri-Pulse):
  
  The Trump administration’s mass firing of probationary federal employees has swept out workers across USDA, including loan analysts in Farm Service Agency field offices, ag scientists and about 1,200 staff of the Natural Resources Conservation Service, according to sources.
• USDA probationary staff fired at three agencies, sources say (Reuters)
• EPA fires nearly 400 workers after OPM order (The Hill)
• NOAA imposes limits on scientists, sparking concerns over global forecasts (Guardian)
• Trump mass firing purge endangers public health and safety:
• DHS: Trump Ends Climate Work Inside Agency That Responds to Disasters (Bloomberg/Yahoo News)
• FDA’s food safety head resigns over mass layoffs (The Hill)
• Trump administration trying to rehire USDA bird flu officials it fired (BBC)
• Delayed CDC report shows increased evidence of bird flu spread to people (Washington Post)
• Trump's US AID cuts halt Agent Orange victims program in Vietnam (NY Times):
  
  As Mr. Trump and Elon Musk gut U.S.A.I.D., this can now be added to the list of effects: Two months before the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War’s end, with ceremonies already planned, they have demolished the main American outlet for making amends, shaking the foundation of a partnership meant to be a bulwark against China...Bulldozers that were cleaning up contamination at a former American air base in southern Vietnam — which both countries might eventually want to use — have gone silent. Around 1,000 mine-removal workers in central Vietnam have been sent home.
• Hundreds of FAA probationary workers fired by Trump administration, union says (CNN)
• Top federal prosecutor resigns over improper Trump order to claw back EPA grants
• High-ranking D.C. federal prosecutor resigns in protest (Washington Post):
  
  The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with a Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative, according to two sources familiar with the matter...Cheung’s resignation came in connection with a Justice Department effort to assist President Donald Trump’s new head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who said last week that he would try to rescind $20 billion in grants awarded by the Biden administration for climate and clean energy projects.
• Senior DOJ prosecutor quit after being told to investigate Biden climate spending, sources say (CNN):
  
  Cheung’s departure revolves around the implementation of stopping some funding from the EPA to non-profit groups... Zeldin has suggested the funding was rushed to eight non-profits to distribute at the end of the Biden administration through the Inflation Reduction Act, but a former EPA official responsible for implementing the funding told CNN last week it wasn’t rushed or set up nefariously. EPA had worked with the Treasury Department to set up a financial agent arrangement with Citibank to distribute funding to grantees...a longstanding process that Treasury has used for years.
• Top US prosecutor quits over pressure to investigate Biden climate spending (Guardian):
  
  A top federal prosecutor has quit after refusing to launch what she called a politically driven investigation into Biden-era climate spending, exposing deepening rifts in the US’s premier law enforcement agency.
• VIDEO: EPA Admin. Lee Zeldin misleads public regarding deceptive video (Lee Zeldin/Twitter)
• EPA chief seeks to claw back $20 billion in climate funding (Reuters)
• Trump cancels NYC's successful congestion pricing toll:
• VIDEO: Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on Congestion Pricing (Office of Gov. Hochul/Youtube)
• IT'S WORKING: Initial Data Show Congestion Pricing Has Stemmed The Tide of Years of Increasing Traffic (StreetsBlog NYC)
• 'King' Trump Kills Congestion Pricing: Can He Really Do This? (Not Legally!) (StreetsBlog NYC):
  
  On the one hand: no! On the other hand, well, he certainly thinks he can!.
• Gov. Hochul stands by congestion pricing, vows to fight in court: 'We do not back down' (ABC-New York City)
• NYC Subway Riders to Trump: Drop Dead (StreetsBlog NYC)

'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (Stuff we didn't have time for in today's audio report)...

For a comprehensive roundup of daily environmental news you can trust, see the Society of Environmental Journalists' Daily Headlines page

• Trump Administration moves to fast-track hundreds of fossil fuel projects (NY Times)
• Electricity demand surges for the world’s two biggest polluters (The Verge)
• Hurricane Helene’s profound impact on N.C. farms is only now coming into clearer focus(Washington Post)
• New EV batteries are making electric cars cheaper and safer (Washington Post)
• We may be able to trap climate pollution in ordinary rocks (Washington Post)
• Trump moves to claw back almost 50 years of NEPA regulations (E&E News)
• Trump clamps down on independent agencies' power (E&E News)
• Climate advocacy groups file two lawsuits against Trump Administration (Guardian)
• Rural Ohioans Oppose Solar Farms, Right? Not So, Developer Finds (Canary Media)
• Louisiana Gas Export Terminal Gets Key Approval to Move Ahead (Inside Climate News)
• How Corporate Manipulation of Science and Regulation Makes People Sick (Inside Climate News)
• Can we avoid the enshittification of clean-energy tech? (David Roberts, Volts)
• Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)
• The Climate Fight Will Continue (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Who Will Care for Americans Left Behind by Climate Migration? (Pro Publica)
• Is the Atlantic Overturning Circulation Approaching a Tipping Point? (The Oceanography Society)
• How Oil Companies Manipulate Journalists (Drilled)
• Abrupt reduction in shipping emission as an inadvertent geoengineering termination shock produces substantial radiative warming (Nature)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry's Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• Plug-in hybrids vs. electric cars: We did the math on which is better for you (Washington Post)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• Complete Series: Farmers Under Attack for Supporting Clean Energy (This Is Not Cool blog)
• Feeling Overwhelmed About Going All-Electric at Home? Here's How to Get Started (Inside Climate News)
• Feeling Hopeless About the Climate? Try Our 30-Day Action Plan (The Revelator)
• Climate Change Will Force a New American Migration (Pro Publica)
• Exxon's Snake Oil: 100 years of deception (Columbia Journalism Review)
• Project Drawdown: 100 Solutions to Reverse Global Warming (Drawdown.org)

                 

Article Categories: New York, Environment, Green News, EPA, Donald Trump, DHS, Climate change, Extreme weather, FDA, Food/Food Safety, Agriculture, Transportation, Public lands, Vietnam, Infrastructure, Dept. of Agriculture, Pollution, Dept. of Transportation, Kathy Hochul, Lee Zeldin, Inflation Reduction Act, USAID