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IN TODAY'S RADIO REPORT: Future Winter Olympic Games may start earlier due to warming winters; Low-income Heating Assistance Program (LIHEAP) survives the Congressional budget process and Trump's attempt to kill it; PLUS: Trump Energy Department secretly gutted nuclear plant safety rules... All that and more in today's Green News Report!

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IN 'GREEN NEWS EXTRA' (see links below): The toxic legacy of Georgia's carpet empire: PFAS contamination; A Trump 'blockade' is stalling hundreds of wind and solar projects nationwide; Trump's EPA issues record low legal actions against polluters; Study ties pollution from wildfire smoke to 24,100 US deaths per year; Why China is building so many coal pants despite its solar and wind boom ... PLUS: US-driven gas turbine crunch may speed up global clean power uptake... and much, MUCH more! ...

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

• Future Winter Olympics Games may start ealier due to climate change:
• Winter Olympics officials suggest date shift due to climate change (MSN)
• Climate change threatens the Winter Olympics' future - and even snowmaking has limits for saving the Games (The Weather Channel/Yahoo News)
• VIDEO: How Climate Change Is Impacting The 2026 Winter Olympics (The Weather Channel/Yahoo News)
• IOC must 'be better' on climate change (BBC)
• Japan slammed by record-breaking, deadly snowfall:
• Record-breaking snow blankets Japan, killing at least 30 people (Al Jazeera):
  
  Japan deploys troops to help residents and warns people to watch for avalanches and snow falling from roofs.
• At least 30 dead as Japan battles winter storms with soldiers and snow plows (NBC News)
• Trump Energy Department has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules:
• AUDIO: Trump Energy Dept. Exempts New Nuclear Reactors From Environmental Review (NPR):
  
  The Trump administration has created an exclusion for new experimental reactors being built at sites around the U.S. from a major environmental law. The law would have required them to disclose how their construction and operation might harm the environment, and it also typically required a written, public assessment of the possible consequences of a nuclear accident.
• AUDIO: The Trump administration has secretly rewritten nuclear safety rules (NPR):
  
  Outside experts who helped review the rules for NPR criticized the decision to revise them without any public knowledge..."I would argue that the Department of Energy relaxing its nuclear safety and security standards in secret is not the best way to engender the kind of public trust that's going to be needed for nuclear to succeed more broadly," said Christopher Hanson, who chaired the Nuclear Regulatory Commission from 2021 to 2025, when he was fired by President Trump.
• Trump's rush to build nuclear reactors across the U.S. raises safety worries (NPR):
  
  Critics, however, worry that the tight July 4 deadline, political pressure and a lack of transparency are all compromising safety. Even a "small" release of radioactive material could cause damage to people and the environment around the test sites. "This is not normal, and this is not OK, and this is not going to lead to success," warned Allison Macfarlane, a professor at the University of British Columbia who served as chairman of the NRC under President Barack Obama. "This is how to have an accident."
• LIHEAP survives the congressional budget process:
• Federal energy assistance programs survive budget gauntlet (Utility Dive):
  
  Budget bills passed by Congress and signed by President Trump maintain funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and the Weatherization Assistance Program.
• Energy Star gets full 2026 funding from Congress (Utility Dive):
  
  Despite the Trump administration’s effort to eliminate the program, it received $33 million as part of a fiscal 2026 funding bill signed by the president.
• Dutch court rules Netherlands must assist Bonaire with climate adaptation:
• Dutch government is ordered to protect residents on Caribbean island of Bonaire from climate change (AP)
• Court Orders the Netherlands to Protect a Caribbean Island From Climate Change (NY Times):
  
  Bonaire, a Dutch overseas territory, deserves the same protections as Europe, the ruling said. The decision adds to a growing body of precedent worldwide...In a statement accompanying Wednesday’s decision, the court said, "There is no good reason why measures for the inhabitants of Bonaire, who will be affected by climate change sooner and more severely, should be taken later and less systematically than for the inhabitants of the European part of the Netherlands."
• Renewable energy to comprise the majority of new U.S. electricity capacity in 2026:
• EIA: 99%+ of new US capacity in 2026 will be solar, wind + storage (Electrek):
  
  "For more than a year now, members of the Trump administration have sought to stop the growth of wind and solar … and have failed," said Ken Bossong, the SUN DAY Campaign’s executive director. "Perhaps it is time for them to finally recognize renewable energy’s unstoppable growth and either get with the program or else just get out of the way."

'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

• The toxic legacy of Georgia's carpet empire (AP)
• US-driven gas turbine crunch may speed global clean power uptake (Reuters)
• A Trump 'blockade' is stalling hundreds of wind and solar projects nationwide (NY Times)
• Trump's EPA Issues Record Low Legal Actions Against Polluters: Watchdog (NPR)
• Study Ties Pollution From Wildfire Smoke To 24,100 US Deaths Per Year (AP)
• Trouble on the Elwha: Trump’s Budget Cuts Undermine Salmon Restoration (The Revelator)
• Energy Star has emerged stronger after Trump's EPA tried to end it (NPR)
• Mexico’s push for US natural gas sparks community opposition (AP)
• Why China is building so many coal pants despite its solar and wind boom (AP)
• Colorado River negotiators are nearly out of time and snowpack (Inside Climate News)
• Trump Admin uses new mascot called 'Coalie' to push dirtiest fossil fuel (Guardian)
• 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)

                 

Article Categories: Environment, Green News, Japan, Nuclear power/weapons, Wind energy, Solar energy, Climate change, Extreme weather, Italy, Dept. of Energy, Caribbean, Netherlands, Electricity