Solar power faces new uncertainty
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. From Palm Springs, California, I'm Janet Wilson.
Skeletal staffing. Americans kicking off summer at national parks and forest service trailheads this Memorial Day weekend should find clean restrooms, well-staffed visitor centers and tidy trails. But through the summer into fire season, public lands advocates say the strain of huge recent cuts will likely mean less pumped out toilets, no drinking water and far fewer firefighters, reports Paste BN's Trevor Hughes.
"They may be trying to put on the facade that everything is going swimmingly, but it's really not," said Josh Hicks of The Wilderness Society.
When Trump took office, park service staffing was already 20% lower than in 2010, even though 2024 was the busiest year in the parks' history, with 332 million visitors. Since then, his administration has fired thousands of park and forest service employees, implemented a hiring freeze and delayed hiring seasonal workers to staff visitor centers, maintain trails and clean toilets. Yet Interior Secretary Doug Burgum has ordered park managers to keep campgrounds, visitor centers and bathrooms open.
In Alaska, which is home to 60% of all land under park service control, a new analysis shows a third of National Park Service employees have departed under the Trump administration - in a state that is home to 54 million acres of park service land.
At Yellowstone National Park, guide service owner and former park ranger Cara McGary said toilets remain clean and well-stocked - so far. "We have a legacy of people in the federal government giving more than 100%. They are already a rubber band that's pretty stretched thin. And we're about to push them further."
Solar power uncertainty. Shares of U.S. solar companies tanked on Thursday, May 22, reports Reuters, after the House of Representatives not only approved President Trump's sweeping tax and spending bill, which aims to end green-energy subsidies, but also proposed speeding up the elimination of industrial and household renewables credits, posing a significant challenge to the industry.
Some experts say unless the Senate makes changes, the House budget bill that narrowly passed will effectively put the brakes on a clean energy production boom in the United States spurred by subsidies enacted in 2022.
The bill would end Biden-era tax credits for clean energy projects and 30% residential solar credits years sooner than planned. A $7,500 tax credit for EV's would also go away. It also toughens restrictions on tax credits for projects backed by Chinese companies or using materials produced in China, which dominates all aspects of the clean energy supply chain. Project developers and market analysts said the rollback would shutter factories, kill jobs and increase electricity costs for U.S. households.
"If Congress does not change course, this legislation will upend an economic boom in this country ... primarily to states that voted for President Trump," Abigail Ross Hopper, president of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a statement.
Solar, wind and battery storage are expected to account for 93% of new U.S. electric capacity this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But next year could be very different. Energy analysts at the Rhodium Group said their preliminary review found the changes could raise household energy costs by 7%.
Meanwhile, the American Petroleum Institute praised the bill, including the halting of a methane fee on oil and gas producers, accelerated permitting and increases in oil and gas leasing.
California versus Congress. The U.S. Senate on Thursday, May 23 voted to block California’s landmark mandate phasing out gas-powered cars, dealing a substantial blow to the state’s aggressive transition to electric vehicles. Republicans opted to skirt long-established filibuster rules and their own parliamentarian to pass the measure.
The decision to revoke a waiver that the Biden administration granted to California could upend the state’s decades-long authority to clean up its air pollution — traditionally the worst in the nation — and reduce greenhouse gases that cause climate change. The move by the Senate — following a vote in the House last month — sets the stage for a high-stakes legal and political battle. "Make America smoggy again," quipped Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Everyone knows it's windy. Trump administration officials have lifted a stop-work order on a major offshore wind project for New York about 20 miles off the coast of New Jersey, per the Asbury Park Press. Construction has resumed on Empire Offshore Wind, a project between Norway-based Equinor Renewables America and oil and gas giant BP, following the announcement, Equinor officials announced.
The project is expected to supply enough energy eventually to power a half-million homes.
Not ready for Prime time. Amazon shareholders on Wednesday, May 21 voted down all climate and AI energy proposals at the behemoth company's annual meeting. Among the eight proposals this year were one that would have required more reporting on Amazon's carbon emissions, another targeting the climate impact of data centers and one calling for further disclosure about packaging materials, particularly plastic. Amazon said its existing disclosures are sufficient and that it is working towards reducing its environmental impacts.
Stormy weather ahead. The Atlantic Ocean is primed to start spewing an above average number of hurricanes, per a new NOAA forecast, thanks to a confluence of several major influences, including warmer than average ocean temperatures, weak wind shear, and the potential for higher activity from the West African Monsoon, a primary starting point for Atlantic hurricanes.
What's in a name? Is your name on this year's list to possibly be used for a hurricane?
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