Why business shouldn't celebrate the gutting of the EPA
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For the past decade, I had the good fortune to be a finals judge for the Gerald Loeb Awards, the highest annual awards in the U.S. for business journalism. Many of the best examples of investigative journalism — and they improved over the years — were stories about how large industrial plants and factories skirted environmental rules to save money, creating deadly pollution nearby that often hit low-income neighborhoods.
Holding big business to account is part of the mission of business journalism, but also of certain government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency. The gutting of the EPA this week by Administrator Lee Zeldin, celebrated as the “most consequential day of de-regulation in American history,” will go down as one of the most irresponsible and harmful acts of the Trump era.
Given the opportunity to ignore expensive safeguards against pollution, many businesses will simply turn away from their activities, as the health and social ramifications might not be felt for years to come. For decades, bipartisan legislation in Congress such as the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act sought to really make America great again. Now those are wiped away as part of a petty campaign to attack electric vehicles or anything tied to Biden-era climate initiatives.
History will show that deregulating environmental rules won’t lead to a new era of profits for business, or even less expenses up front. If anything, it more clearly exposes them to costly legal proceedings down the line, if not for environmental violations than for something else. Not to mention more journalistic scrutiny.
There was no celebration on Wall Street of the rollbacks, if that’s what the administration was hoping for. Most business leaders are aghast at the chaos and uncertainty that has been caused in the past month. Even a short-term win eluded Zeldin in this dramatic act. The long-term damage will be felt, and reported on, for years to come.
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Zeus: The great climate retreat spreads to Europe
. . . . Despite pledges from European politicians to keep up the good fight on climate in the face of wrenching cutbacks in funding from the U.S., the storyline on climate has shifted to the point where investors, and now companies themselves, are retreating from initiatives to fight global warming, writes David Callaway. The bankruptcy filing this week of Swedish battery maker Northvolt, once the hottest climate startup in Europe, drove home that uncertain leadership in the global effort to reduce harmful emissions and help poor countries deal with the ravages of climate change, is keeping investors on the sidelines just like in other markets. In the absence of the U.S., a new leader is desperately needed to carry the flag.
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Breakthrough Energy cutbacks signal indefinite policy freeze
. . . . The layoffs this week at Bill Gates’ Breakthrough Energy Ventures are more than just a retooling for the Trump era. They are a signal that for the indefinite future any attempts at influencing or creating climate policy in Washington are dead.
Among the tech elite, Gates is probably more committed than anyone to a clean energy future. His venture has bankrolled countless clean energy entrepreneurial efforts, from ambitious direct air capture projects to small modular nuclear reactors. The group has been active in Europe as well, with projects in battery storage and clean hydrogen in particular.
But the group has also been a major influencer in policy in Washington, helping shape legislation such as the Inflation Reduction Act, which invested hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy projects and re-established American climate leadership back when it started in 2022.
The cutbacks are an admission by Gates that, even after personally lobbying President Donald Trump to consider clean energy as part of his energy dominance strategy, it is unlikely in this new administration that any significant climate policy will be considered.
No doubt in a future political era Gates will beef back up. Breakthrough will spend the foreseeable future focusing on the entrepreneurs and projects it knows best. But for clean energy initiatives in general, the withdrawal of support is a sad loss.
Editor’s picks: What a whaling site reveals; plus, NPS cuts loom
Watch this video: Deception Island once lured whalers and hosted military outposts, but it now attracts tourists from Antarctic cruise ships. But Canadian scientists are coming ashore for something other than historic artifacts, CBC News reports. Studying the air, water and sand, they’re looking for clues to better understand our climate’s past and future.
Big cuts may be coming to National Park Service
The National Parks Service is the target of a 30% payroll cut by the Trump administration — a move that not only affects employees but which could also undercut services during the vacation seasons. The Hill, citing an unnamed ex-employee, reports NPS managers have been asked to determine the payroll reduction. According to the report, the cuts likely would be felt in the near term with potential losses of rangers and janitors — and in the long term, with conservation projects potentially put at risk. This is the first time the 30% reduction plan for the National Park Service, which manages all national parks, most national monuments and other historic U.S. properties, has been reported, The Hill says.
Latest findings: New research, studies and projects
Toxic tire pollution threat grows
According to one estimate, 78% of ocean microplastics are synthetic tire rubber. A report from Yale Environment cites research showing tires are a significant source of air, soil, and water pollution that may affect humans as well as fish, wildlife, and other organisms. “Researchers are only beginning to uncover the toxic cocktail of chemicals, microplastics, and heavy metals hidden in car and truck tires.” Both natural and synthetic rubber break down in the environment, according to the report, but synthetic fragments last a lot longer. “We found extremely high levels of microplastics in our stormwater,” said Rebecca Sutton, an environmental scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute who studied runoff. “Our estimated annual discharge of microplastics into San Francisco Bay from stormwater was 7 trillion particles, and half of that was suspected tire particles.” And the British firm Emissions Analytics, which has spent three years studying tire emissions, found that a car’s four tires collectively emit 1 trillion ultrafine particles — of less than 100 nanometers — per kilometer driven. The report also cites research from Imperial College London showing that tire emissions from electric vehicles are 20% more than those from fossil-fuel vehicles. EVs weigh more and have greater torque, which wears out tires faster.
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Words to live by . . . .
“I am thankful that in a troubled world, no calamity can prevent the return of spring.” — Helen Keller.