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You might have missed the Trump administration’s roll back of climate regulations in the flurry of executive orders and DOGE actions over the past few weeks. To get caught up, today host Douglas Haynes takes a comprehensive look at climate related actions on the federal and state levels. He’s in conversation with Marianne Lavelle of Inside Climate News and Brett Korte of Clean Wisconsin. 

The Biden administration made historic investments in a clean energy transition via the Inflation Reduction Act, but what we’re seeing now is a historic disinvestment, says Lavelle. From cuts to grants and restrictions on data and language, to cuts to staffing at the EPA, NOAA  and beyond, changes are coming from all sides under Trump 2.0. Now, Congress is even considering rescinding tax incentives for wind, solar, and ethanol energy projects. 

Korte says the Trump administration is going after individuals and industries. Not only are tax credits for electric vehicles and energy efficacy home projects on the chopping block, so are large-scale wind and solar developments. Lavelle says that 21 House Republicans have written a letter saying that they want to protect clean energy incentives, particularly ethanol and wind.  

In Wisconsin, big renewable projects are gaining ground to help the state move away from fossil fuels. Because Wisconsin doesn’t have its own oil or gas reserves, we spend $14 billion a year on electric generation. To folks who aren’t convinced of climate change, Korte says that these incentives still bring economic benefits to local municipalities and that wind and solar are the cheapest way to produce energy.

We also hear from callers with questions about WE Energies proposed methane plants and some Wisconsin contractors preemptive backing off of installing heat pumps. Lavelle and Korte also talk about how we all will be hurt if the NOAA budget is cut, how staffing at the EPA is poised to shrink to 1970 levels even though its initiatives come out of public input, and how the US Coast Guard Academy was told to remove all language referring to climate change from its training materials. 

Brett Korte is a Staff Attorney at Clean Wisconsin. His work focuses on air, climate, and energy issues impacting Wisconsin’s communities and environment.

Marianne Lavelle is the Washington, DC bureau chief for the award-winning nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization, Inside Climate News. She has covered the environment, science, law, and business in Wasington, DC for more than three decades.

Featured image of the Glacier Hills Wind Energy Center via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0).

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