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Green News Report with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen 6/25/2026

‘Green News Report’ – June 25, 2026  |  with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...   · · · · ·   ‘Green News Report’ – June 25, 2026  |  with Brad Friedman & Desi Doyen...

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IN ‘GREEN NEWS EXTRA’ (see links below): India prepares contingency plans due to weak monsoon season; Scientists alarmed after two wildfires hit Greenland within a week; Shoulder season sends Texas wind, solar, and batteries to new highs in a single week; Former NOAA employees revive climate data site shuttered by Trump Administration … PLUS: Australia: Free Electricity. Like, at no cost. For everyone. Now … and much, MUCH more! …

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

• Intense storms batter half of US:
• Over 250 storms strand drivers, ground flights, and threaten more flooding Tuesday (The Cool Down)
• Very large hail possible in Colorado as severe storms threaten Front Range, Eastern Plains (CBS News)
• U.S. Bank Stadium dealing with storm damage, working on long-term solution (CBS News)
• Extreme heat wave intensifies in Europe:
• France records hottest day ever as Europe suffers brutal heat wave (NBC NEws)
• Britain Breaks June Temperature Record as Deadly Heat Stifles Europe (NY Times):
  A Spanish monitoring agency said an estimated 212 deaths could be attributed to the heat wave since Sunday. Five people in Italy have died from heat exposure this week, the country’s main news agency said.
• Extreme heat is melting national records across Europe, with more coming Thursday (CNN)
• Europe is battling a record-breaking heatwave. What’s making it so severe? (The Conversation)
• Unprecedented June heat grips Europe this week (Yale Climate Connections):
  Climate change is making extremely dangerous heat waves like this one more common.
• France hit particularly hard by record heat wave::
• Drowning deaths soar in France as Europe buckles in peak of heatwave (BBC)
• French soccer player drowns in the Rhone River as France swelters in a heat wave (AP)
• Europe’s heatwave curbs French nuclear plants (Reuters)
• European heatwave forces Eiffel Tower early closure and tourist attraction shutdowns (Euronews)
• French farmers suffer arid crops, heat-stricken animals (France24)
• Heatwave kills hundreds of thousands of poultry in France (Reuters)
• NASA warns potential ‘Super’ El Nino is forming unsually quickly:
• ‘Super’ El Niño Risks Rise as Pacific Ocean Heat Soars (gift link, Bloomberg News):
  Even more worrying, he said, is how quickly temperatures in the equatorial Pacific have risen to abnormally warm levels from below normal temperatures just earlier this year. Scientists “have seen water temperatures like this before, but they have never seen the intensification, the rate of change, as we moved out of La Niña” earlier this year, Horton said.
• “Super El Niño” Is Terrible News for Farmers Around the World (Mother Jones)
• VIDEO: Climate Scientist Peter Kalmus on accelerating climate impacts: (Democracy Now):
  I want everyone to know that we are in extreme danger. It gets hotter and hotter and hotter every year. This summer, especially because of the El Niño, could be the hottest summer we’ve ever experienced in our lives, but it could also be the coolest summer for the rest of our lives.
• Prepare to face ‘Super El Nino’ impact: K’taka deputy CM (Press Trust of India)
• Super El Niño could make deadly Europe heat waves even worse (Newsweek)
• Trump’s Reflecting Pool fiasco levels up the absurdity:
• Trump Blames Vandals for Reflecting Pool Problems. Internal Records Tell Another Story. (gift link, NY Times):
  [G]overnment documents obtained by The New York Times show that while National Park Service workers found two cuts in sections of foam between the pool’s expansion joints, those were not directly related to the “American flag blue” coating that is now peeling, or to the algae that has turned the pool a bright shade of green…By June 16, workers had noticed that chunks of blue sealant that covered the pool’s bottom were peeling and floating to the surface, the documents show. That sealant was separate from the foam in the pool’s expansion joints, which allow its concrete slabs to expand and contract.
• Trump’s Algae Problem Is a Lot Bigger Than the Reflecting Pool (The New Republic):
  [A]lgal blooms like the one now bedeviling the Reflecting Pool are “a growing problem,” said marine biologist Gregory Dick. He’s the director of the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research, or CIGLR, a partnership between the University of Michigan and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA. “They’re becoming more frequent as water pollution becomes more of an issue, and they grow more in warming condition,” he explained. “The Reflecting Pool is not an exception.”
• Workers put fence up around Reflecting Pool as Trump’s renovation chaos deepens (Independent)
• Trump Admin. moves to build new coal export terminal in CA:
• Trump wants to put a $75m coal terminal in this liberal California city. Residents aren’t having it (Guardian)
• Even $75M from Trump may not save Oakland’s embattled coal terminal (Grist)
• Trump uses wartime powers to dole out $700m to ‘clean, beautiful’ coal (Guardian)
• Trump DOE gives nuclear energy industry new taxpayer subsidies:
• Trump administration announces $17.5 billion in loans for 10 new large nuclear reactors (AP):
  Energy Secretary Chris Wright cited “tremendous interest” among developers of data centers that would buy the power, as well as utilities and energy companies. The nuclear plants could begin construction by 2030 and become operational in the mid-2030s, Wright and other officials said Tuesday.
• Scientists sound the alarm over new anti-science OMB rule – deadline July 13:
• AUDIO: Help Stop Trump’s Project 2025 Scheme to Kill Science, with Guest: Dr. Colette Delawalla of Stand Up for Science (The BRAD BLOG)
• TAKE ACTION: Stop Russell Vought – Save Science (Stand Up For Science):
  “Why on Earth would anybody do this? It’s very simple,” she explains. “Science in the United States is an independent center of thought. Which means it’s not controlled by the government. Generally speaking, the government funds a lot of science in the United States, of course. And we allow our scientists to ask questions. That becomes a major problem if you are someone who doesn’t want the populace to have access to knowledge that proves your ideology incorrect.”
• How The OMB Rule Could Hurt You And Your Town (Forbes):
  It’s essential to understand that every federal grant will be subject to review by a political appointee rather than undergoing standard peer review by others with experience in the field. The goal is to ensure that the grants are not somehow “un-American” or contrary to Trump’s desires. Every decision will undergo a political litmus test. Keep in mind that the OMB proposal notes in § 200.340 that they can terminate existing awards if they are no longer aligned with “Federal agency priorities, or that an agency otherwise determines is no longer in the Federal Government’s interest.”
• Summary of Key Changes in OMB’s Proposed Federal Financial Assistance Rule (Elizabeth Ginexi):
  1. Political Appointees Take Control of Grant Awards…This is arguably the most consequential change in the rule. Senior political appointees, rather than career scientists or program officers, would now be required to conduct a “pre-issuance review” of every discretionary grant before it is awarded. These appointees are explicitly forbidden from deferring to peer reviewers or routinely ratifying their recommendations… 2. Peer Review Is No Longer Binding…

‘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

• India prepares contingency plans due to weak monsoon season (Al Jazeera)
• Scientists alarmed after two wildfires hit Greenland within a week (Guardian)
• Shoulder season sends Texas wind, solar, and batteries to new highs in a single week (The Cool Down)
• Former NOAA employees revive climate data site shuttered by Trump Administration (gift link, NY Times)
• Australia: Free Electricity. Like, at no cost. For everyone. Now. (Bill McKibben, The Crucial Years)
• Trump Administration says Chemours to pay $450M to settle PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ cases (AP)
• No maps, no insurance: Michigan floods expose lack of information, preparation in many rural areas (AP)
• Trump ally’s win in Colombia could end landmark climate policies (Inside Climate News)
• 17 states sue to block California’s single-use plastics law (LA Times)
• MIT study finds gas cars aren’t secretly better for the planet than EVs, despite what everyone on Facebook says (Jalopnik)
• The dawn of 24/7 solar power (with battery storage (Financial Times via archive, no paywall)
• It’s the Age of Electricity and America isn’t ready (NY Times)
• Stop emissions, stop warming: A climate reality check (Dr. Andrew Dessler, Climate Brink)
• How to electrify your life when you rent (The Verge)
• 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)