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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: U.S. seizes sanctioned oil tanker off coast of Venezuela; Trump EPA deletes mentions about humanity’s role in causing climate change; Oil giant Exxon asks U.S. Supreme Court to halt state-level climate liability lawsuits; PLUS: U.S. court strikes down Trump’s Executive Order blocking wind energy… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!

Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 12/11/2025

‘Green News Report’ – December 11, 2025  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – December 11, 2025  |  With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Bill McKibben: A low point of human inaction on climate change? Not really; Deadly November Asian storms ‘supercharged’ by climate change: researchers; Chemicals in food system creating health burden of $2.2 trillion a year: report; Key Senate Democrats oppose permitting bill; Rising electric bills drive DIY solar in the US; What caused a massive die-off of penguins off the South African coast? … PLUS: Greenpeace scrutinizes environmental record of the company that sued them… and much, MUCH more! …

STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…

• U.S. military seizes oil tanker off coast of Venezuela:
• US seizes sanctioned oil tanker off coast of Venezuela, Trump says (Reuters)
• Trump says U.S. will keep seized oil tanker, as Venezuela calls it piracy (NBC Miami)
• Why is Trump so obsessed with Venezuela? His new security strategy provides some clues (The Conversation):
  In Trump’s “America First” calculus, pardoning Hernà¡ndez also sends a couple clear signals. Obedient partners are rewarded. And power, not principle, determines US policy in the region…For US and European corporations, the message is clear: regime change could unlock vast wealth.
• GOP Rep. Salazar Says U.S. Is ‘About To Go In’ Venezuela: ‘For Oil Companies It Will Be a Field Day’ (Latin Times)
• How Venezuela’s Broken Oil Sector Became a Fault Line in U.S. Power Politics (Oil Price):
  Even with potential regime change, experts say reviving Venezuela’s oil sector would require massive investment and that no government is likely to cede control of its resources to the United States.
• Venezuela’s crisis is not an oil grab but a power grab (Al Jazeera)
• Venezuela’s Maduro Offered the U.S. His Nation’s Riches to Avoid Conflict (NY Times, 10/18/2025):
  Venezuela’s autocrat had proposed allocating his country’s oil wealth and other natural resources to the U.S. and ending deals with American adversaries to appease President Trump.
• Trump EPA deletes human activity from webpages on climate causes:
• EPA Eliminates Mention Of Fossil Fuels In Website On Warming’s Causes. Scientists Call It Misleading (AP)
• E.P.A. Erases Mention of Humans Causing Climate Change From Some Web Pages (NY Times):
  The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly removed the fact that human activity is driving climate change from a handful of pages on its website. The information was deleted from one webpage titled “Causes of Climate Change,” and another that tracks the impacts of the global warming in the United States.
• The EPA Is Wiping Mention Of Human-Caused Climate Change From Its Website (Washington Post)
• Trump taps election denier for key FEMA leadership role:
• Conspiracy theorist election denier given FEMA’s second-most important role (Marisa Kabas, The Handbasket):
  Now this turducken of evil with a penchant for threats will head up what one staffer called “the heart of what FEMA does.” “This is not a game. Americans will lose their lives because this administration refuses to put in competent leadership,” the FEMA staffer said of Phillips’ hiring. “There is no genuine effort to make sure that we can help people in their time of need and instead they are making it impossible for experienced emergency managers to do their job.”
• Election denier tapped for FEMA leadership role (Washington Post, no paywall):
  In one LinkedIn post, Phillips said he has been “a very vocal opponent of FEMA” and believes that the agency has failed people in need. On Monday, he starts as administrator of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery, known as ORR, four current and former FEMA officials said.
• Gregg Phillips, election denier and FEMA critic, to help lead agency (UPI)
• Exxon sues to stop 2 California climate disclosure laws as ‘free speech’ violation:
• Exxon Asserts First Amendment “Right to Hide” What They are Doing to Climate (This Is Not Cool)
• Exxon sues California over climate disclosure laws (Reuters)
• Exxon Mobil sues California over emissions reporting laws (UPI)
• Appeals court pauses California law requiring companies to report climate-related financial risk (AP)
• Connecticut appeals court rejects Exxon effort to halt climate deception lawsuit:
• Connecticut Trial Court Denied Motion to Strike State’s Claims that Exxon’s Climate Change-Related Statements Violated Unfair Trade Practices Act (Sabin Center)
• Exxon asks SCOTUS to halt state climate liability lawsuits:
• Exxon’s Next Supreme Court Play (DeSmogBlog):
  Oil companies are once again asking the high court to intervene in climate deception lawsuits across the U.S. “” part of an all-hands-on-deck effort by Big Oil and the Trump administration to shut the cases down.
• Washington State homeowners sue Big Oil over climate-related insurance crisis:
• Up To 100,000 Face Evacuation Orders As Washington Flooding Worsens (Weather Channel)
• Homeowners Sue Oil Companies as Climate Damage Drives up Insurance Rates (Inside Climate News):
  The class-action lawsuit is the first of its kind to target Big Oil over rising home insurance costs.
• Judge strikes down Trump order blocking wind energy:
• US judge strikes down Trump order blocking wind energy projects (Guardian)
• Federal judge throws out Trump order blocking development of wind energy (AP)
• Federal judge strikes down Trump’s anti-wind directive (Axios)
• VIDEO: Gov. Dan McKee on economic fallout of wind project cancellations (PBS NewsHour)
• ‘Victory for Everyone Who Pays an Electricity Bill’: Judge Tosses Trump Ban on New Wind Energy Projects (Common Dreams)

‘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

• Bill McKibben: “A low point of human inaction on climate change? Not really. (The New Yorker, no paywall)
• More than 200 environmental groups demand halt to new US datacenters (Guardian)
• Key Senate Democrats oppose permitting bill (Heatmap)
• Rising electric bills drive DIY solar in the US (This Is Not Cool)
• What caused a massive die-off of penguins off the South African coast? (Washington Post)
• Top Trump officials has financial ties to controverisal Nevada lithium mine (Public Domain)
• Deadly November Asian storms ‘supercharged’ by climate change: researchers (Reuters)
• Chemicals in food system creating health burden of $2.2 trillion a year: report (Guardian)
• Greenpeace scrutinizes environmental record of the company that sued them (Inside Climate News)
• There’s a $10 trillion antidote to Trump’s climate backlash (Bloomberg)
• Climate change is accelerating, scientists find in ‘grim’ report (Yale Climate Connections)
• How Trump’s War on Climate Science impacts all Americans (Bloomberg)
• Solar Is Liberation (Rolling Stone)
• Governments legally required to address climate change, global court says (Inside Climate News)
• David Attenborough’s ‘Ocean’ is a brutal, beautiful wake-up call from the sea (AP)
• Wall Street Journal: Clean energy transition is unstoppable (This Is Not Cool blog)
• 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)
• 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)
• How To Spot 5 Of The Fossil Fuel Industry’s Biggest Disinformation Tactics (Guardian)
• The Oceans We Knew Are Already Gone (The Atlantic)
• 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)