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IN TODAY’S RADIO REPORT: Environmental and public health groups sue Trump EPA over repeal of the EPA’s Endangerment Finding; New data suggest the rate of man-made global warming may be accelerating; Trump EPA to loosen mercury pollution rules for coal plants; PLUS: The Trump Administration has effectively canceled enforcement of environmental laws… All that and more in today’s Green News Report!
Green News Report
with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen
2/19/2026
‘Green News Report’ – February 19, 2026 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen... · · · · · ‘Green News Report’ – February 19, 2026 | With Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...
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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): Trump already decimated the EPA. It wasn’t enough for Big Business; Trump Taps Ex-RFK Jr. Aide To Lead National Science Foundation; Environmental Protest Group Extinction Rebellion Says FBI Is Investigating It For Terrorism; How The NRC Lost Its Independence; Climate Change Threatens Winter Olympics’ Future — And Snowmaking Has Limits; The Quest To Warn Everyone On Earth About Deadly Weather … PLUS: >What’s Behind Your Eye-Popping Power Bill? We Broke It Down By Region… and much, MUCH more! …
STORIES DISCUSSED ON TODAY’S ‘GREEN NEWS REPORT’…
- Court battle begins over Trump EPA’s Endangerment Finding repeal:
- Environmental Groups Sue Trump EPA Over Repeal Of Landmark Climate Finding (Guardian):
“EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding and safeguards to limit vehicle emissions marks a complete dereliction of the agency’s mission to protect people’s health and its legal obligation under the Clean Air Act,” said Gretchen Goldman, president and CEO at the Union of Concerned Scientists, another one of the groups behind the lawsuit. “This shameful and dangerous action by the Trump administration and EPA administrator Zeldin is rooted in falsehoods, not facts, and is at complete odds with the public interest and the best available science.”…In an emailed statement, the EPA said it “carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation” of the endangerment finding and revoked it to comply with the law.
- Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Climate Science, Tailpipe Rule Rollbacks (Center for Biological Diversity):
Revoking those lifesaving and gas-saving clean air standards will allow automakers to make cars that guzzle more gas and pollute more. It will force consumers to pay more at the gas pump. The vehicle rules Trump plans to scrap would cut 7 billion metric tons of emissions and save the average American driver $6,000 in fuel and maintenance costs over the lifetimes of the vehicles made under the standards.
- VIDEO: EPA sued over end of endangerment findings (9News-Denver)
- Trump’s repeal of landmark Obama-era climate rule: four key takeaways (Guardian)
- Trump Guts Basis For Climate Regulation, Setting Up A Courtroom Clash (E&E News)
- What to know about EPA decision to revoke a scientific finding that helped fight climate change (EPA)
- Long term impacts of EPA’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding:
- Q&A: What does Trump’s repeal of US ‘endangerment finding’ mean for climate action? (Carbon Brief)
- VIDEO: Dr. Michael Mann, Trump’s FATAL DECISION Sends WORLD Towards DISASTER (Katie Phang, Meidas Touch/Youtube)
- How EPA ‘endangerment finding’ repeal could impact your wallet (CNBC):
A warming climate will fuel more extreme weather events, which can have profound financial impacts for households, experts said — including higher costs for insurance, relocation, home repair, health care, food, and electricity to heat and cool homes.
- Rate of global warming may be accelerating:
- Is Global Temperature Rise Accelerating? (This Is Not Cool):
Over the previous 50 years, global warming has preceded in an almost linear fashion, consistent with an almost linear increase in the total greenhouse gas forcing. The warming spike in 2023 to 2025 suggests that the past warming rate is no longer a reliable predictor of the future, and additional factors have created conditions for faster warming, at least in the short-term.
- Scientists thought they understood global warming. Then the past three years happened. (Washington Post)
- Accelerated Global Warming Could Lock Earth Into a Hothouse Future (Inside Climate News):
Scientists say warming is increasing faster than at any time in at least 3 million years. There is no guide for what comes next.
- Trump EPA has effectively halted environmental enforcement:
- Under Trump, EPA’s Enforcement of Environmental Laws Collapses, Report Finds (Inside Climate News):
Enforcement against polluters in the United States plunged in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term, a far bigger drop than in the same period of his first term, according to a new report from a watchdog group.
- Declining Environmental Enforcement in Trump’s Second Term [PDF] (Environmental Integrity Project)
- The Laws Still Exist, the Consequences Don’t: America’s Vanishing Environmental Enforcement (Earth Justice)
- Trump EPA loosens pollution rules to prop up dying coal industry:
- EPA delays cleanups of harmful coal ash (Indianaopolis Recorder):
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a rule delaying key cleanup deadlines for coal ash disposal sites across the country “at the request of electric utility companies,” extending timelines that environmental advocates say were already overdue and will allow continued toxic pollution of groundwater…until January 2032.
- US EPA plans to loosen mercury rules for coal plants this week (Reuters)
- E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show (NY Times):
In loosening the mercury limits, the E.P.A. is arguing that it would reduce “unwarranted costs” for utilities that own and operate coal plants across the country, according to the documents reviewed by The Times. The E.P.A. estimates that the change would save companies as much as $670 million between 2028 and 2037, the documents show. It was not immediately clear how the agency arrived at that number…Besides mercury, the move this week would relax limits on other pollutants released by burning coal, including arsenic, cadmium, chromium, lead and nickel. Lead in particular is another potent neurotoxin linked to developmental delays in children.
- Groups sue Trump Administration over attacks on facts, public lands:
- Groups Sue Over Trump Effort To ‘Erase’ History, Science In National Parks
(Washington Post):A coalition of scientific, preservation and historical groups on Tuesday sued the Trump administration, arguing that the removal of information about civil rights, climate change and other topics at multiple national parks amounts to illegal censorship. - Lawsuits challenge renewed push for oil drilling in Alaska petroleum reserve and upcoming lease sale (AP)
‘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 already decimated the EPA. It wasn’t enough for Big Business (Revolving Door Project)
- Trump Taps Ex-RFK Jr. Aide To Lead National Science Foundation (E&E News)
- Environmental Protest Group Extinction Rebellion Says FBI Is Investigating It For Terrorism (Guardian)
- How The NRC Lost Its Independence (E&E News)
- Potomac Sewage Spill Becomes Ecological Disaster and Political Fight (NY Times. gift link)
- The Quest To Warn Everyone On Earth About Deadly Weather (NPR)
- What’s Behind Your Eye-Popping Power Bill? We Broke It Down By Region (Grist)
- Climate Change Threatens Winter Olympics’ Future — And Snowmaking Has Limits (The Conversation)
- Yes, Climate Still Matters. Here’s How It Connects to Every Other Crisis in the World Today. (Drilled)
- What Are The Biggest Climate Polluters Near You? (Yale Climate Connections)
- 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)
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Reader Comments on
‘Green News Report’ – February 19, 2026
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“Lawsuit Challenges Trump’s Climate Science” – Desi link up-thread
Did they leave out the ocean again?
That is hot hysterical but it is historical:
(The Saturation Chronicles – 20).