John Walke
@johndwalke.bsky.social
I am the Federal Clean Air Director and a senior attorney for the Natural Resources Defense Council. This is my personal account.
Charges Dropped in Reflecting Pool Case as Prosecutors Say Work Was ‘Botched’ www.nytimes.com/2026/07/31/u...
Charges Dropped Against Ex-Olympian David Hearn Accused of Damaging Reflecting Pool
A former Olympian will not face trial after federal prosecutors acknowledged that the Trump administration’s claims of vandalism were false.
nytimes.com
In the hot, hazy, smoggy summer of 1988, George H. W. Bush declared it “the year the Earth spoke back” and pledged to use the White House effect to fight the greenhouse effect. The Earth is screaming again this summer, but Donald Trump is using the White House effect to make it *worse*.
Good news! A major U.S. federal court just rejected the EPA’s attempt to roll back Biden-era limits on deadly soot pollution. This is a vital win in the midst of the Trump administration’s relentless attacks on clean air.
US court rejects EPA bid to ease regulations for coal-fired power plants
A U.S. federal appeals court on Friday rejected the Environmental Protection Agency's bid to withdraw Biden-era limits on soot pollution from coal-fired power plants and factories, in a setback for ...
reuters.com
BREAKING: In our case, blocking the slush fund, the Trump admin has refused to say under oath the fund is not moving forward, even after the court gave them a week to do this. We aren’t surprised. We already blocked this fund and will aggressively pursue the next steps in the case.
America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr. The American Medical Association has sought a working relationship with the health secretary. Members saw moral compromise. www.politico.com/news/2026/06...
America’s doctors just voted for war with RFK Jr.
The American Medical Association has sought a working relationship with the health secretary. Members saw moral compromise.
politico.com
"Flights from the 1,300 airports included in the Airport Tracker generated 1,022 billion tonnes of CO2 in 2023, which would make aviation the 5th largest emitter if it were a country." Aviation and SUVs alone would be top-ten emitters as countries. www.transportenvironment.org/articles/dub...
Dubai, London Heathrow and Los Angeles airports produce three times…
Airports in Europe account for more emissions than Latin America, the Middle East and Africa combined.
transportenvironment.org
Trump and his EPA head Lee Zeldin say the quiet part aloud, admit to war on environment.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2mo agoREPORTER: Will you guys go to the fifth game in San Antonio? ZELDIN: I don't know. We're busy with a lot of important stuff right now at EPA TRUMP: Like a war ZELDIN: I happened to be in New York
A new report from Northstar Policy Action said claimed Operation Metro Surge cost Minnesota 4,600 jobs, 3.8 million working hours and $71 million in lost wages over three months.
New report says Operation Metro Surge cost state thousands of jobs, millions in lost wages
A new report from Northstar Policy Action said claimed Operation Metro Surge cost Minnesota 4,600 jobs, 3.8 million working hours and $71 million in lost wages over three months.
kstp.com
In rural #Florida, the anti-data center movement gathers strength www.tampabay.com/news/environ... via @tampabaytimes.bsky.social
In rural Florida, the anti-data center movement gathers strength
“I’m mad as hell,” said one resident at a packed Citrus County event where locals organized against a data center proposal.
tampabay.com
No joke, it would be cheaper to pay every coal miner $5m every year to not mine coal. There are only 40,000 coal miners, while the coal industry produces >$500 billion in external costs every year, including by routinely burning coal just to burn it despite it costing more ("uneconomic dispatch").
Bloomberg News@bloomberg.com · 2mo agoPresident Donald Trump is preparing to use Cold War-era authorities to dole hundreds of millions of federal dollars to support coal-fired electricity as well as US exports of the fossil fuel
Too many state legislatures conspire with franchised auto dealers to protect an antiquated car dealerships model that Americans hate and that could not compete against direct-to-consumer-sales competitors in markets that are not rigged.
Josh Busby@busbyj2.bsky.social · 3mo agoSo if you are trying to sell a used car, Toyota in North Austin uses a chatbot named Lisa that presents itself as a real person and then will engage in a series of texts saying someone will reach out to you but then doesn’t. Makes dealing with car dealerships even less appealing.
No matter what do you think of his craziness, did you ever think you’d see any president post about a CO2 emissions scenario?
Brain drain at DOJ strains defense of Trump EPA regs. “Understanding what EPA has done over the decades, and why, can be very important in defending EPA," said a former lead environment attorney at the Justice Department. subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene... ($)
E&E News: Brain drain at DOJ strains defense of Trump EPA regs
“Understanding what EPA has done over the decades, and why, can be very important in defending EPA," said a former lead environment attorney at the Justice Department.
subscriber.politicopro.com
As Coal Rebounds, More Toxic Mercury Is in the Air www.nytimes.com/2026/05/11/c...
As Coal Rebounds, More Toxic Mercury Is in the Air
nytimes.com
Reciprocating internal combustion diesel engines are probably the dirtiest, most expensive way of generating electricity. They’re used in moments of absolute peak electricity demand and usually require special environmental waivers because they produce so much local pollution. For 1 of them.
PM2.5 Kills ~9 Million People Each Year Worldwide@tkovach.bsky.social · 3mo ago"This first phase of the Monarch Compute Campus will be a 2.16-gigawatt natural gas-fired off-grid facility. It will rely on 864 reciprocating internal combustion engines and associated equipment. Another 120 engines six burning natural gas and the others using diesel fuel for other uses."
The story here is that Congress rejected Trump’s proposal to slash funding for the National Science Foundation, but Trump is gutting the agency anyway. The by-now classic Russ Vought play of treating Congress as an irrelevancy. www.insidehighered.com/news/governm...
Board Ouster Raises Further Concerns About NSF’s Future
The White House axed all members of the board overseeing the National Science Foundation Friday, leaving the agency with no board, director or deputy director. It finally provided a reason Monday afte...
insidehighered.com
This is an object lesson in responding to inflammatory questions with a precise, respectful question, then letting the original questioner flounder.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo agoBASH: You and your fellow Democrats have used some heated rhetoric against the president. Do you think twice about that when something like that happens? RASKIN: What rhetoric do you have in mind? BASH: That he's terrible for this country and so on and so forth
NRDC Launches “Microplastics Are Micromonsters” to Combat Growing Human Health Threat. New national campaign offers practical guidance to reduce everyday exposure to microplastics. www.nrdc.org/press-releas...
NRDC Launches “Microplastics Are Micromonsters” to Combat Growing Human Health Threat
New national campaign offers practical guidance to reduce everyday exposure to microplastics
nrdc.org
Thread. The Trump administration’s air-pollution-truther garbage is hostile to human life on a scale not unlike its willful destruction of USAID and its efforts to undermine vaccinations
John Walke@johndwalke.bsky.social · 4mo agoEach part of this Trump EPA statement about deadly soot pollution is a lie or reckless or both. ctmirror.org/2026/04/21/t... The harmful impacts PM2.5 & ozone emissions have on human health are among the best established realities in human health science. Trump's EPA is "still considering" them. 1/
Each part of this Trump EPA statement about deadly soot pollution is a lie or reckless or both. ctmirror.org/2026/04/21/t... The harmful impacts PM2.5 & ozone emissions have on human health are among the best established realities in human health science. Trump's EPA is "still considering" them. 1/
Trump’s EPA is rolling back limits on air pollution radically. Breathing polluted air significantly increases the risk of developing & dying from multiple cancers—including liver & breast cancer—according to a new report calling for stricter air quality standards. www.euronews.com/health/2026/...
Air pollution raises cancer risk beyond the lungs, report warns
Breathing polluted air significantly increases the risk of developing and dying from multiple cancers - including liver and breast cancer - according to a new report calling for stricter air quality standards.
euronews.com
The Trump EPA wants to deregulate these heavy polluters to let them emit unlimited amounts of hazardous air pollution under the Clean Air Act that causes cancer, brain damage, infertility & birth defects. insideclimatenews.org/news/2004202...
As a Plastic Waste Plant Violates Pollution Rules, Its Owner Makes the Case for a Second Location - Inside Climate News
Freepoint Eco-Systems seeks to become a major player in so-called “chemical recycling.” Some residents and environmental advocates are fighting back.
insideclimatenews.org
Oil companies are making windfall profits of $30 million EVERY HOUR because of the Iran war... and now the Energy Secretary's oil company reports paying NO TAXES! subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...
E&E News: Oil company founded by DOE chief Wright paid no US taxes last year
Liberty Energy made $193 million last year and received more than $10 million back in tax benefits, according to a nonprofit analysis released on Tax Day.
subscriber.politicopro.com
Silly rabids, this administration's agenda is to govern more, not less--more authoritarian, more punitive v. political enemies, more to enrich favored parties. "Trump’s regulatory streamlining has not actually translated into governing less,” the Competitive Enterprise Institute report says.
“Sold Out” is, unintentionally, an excellent description of Lee Zeldin.
John Walke@johndwalke.bsky.social · 4mo agoTrump's EPA head, Lee Zeldin, will be the keynote speaker today at the conference of an extreme right-wing climate denier group that has compared leading climate change scientists to Nazis, Osama bin Laden & the Unabomber. climateconference.heartland.org This is how far the U.S. & EPA have fallen.
Trump's EPA head, Lee Zeldin, will be the keynote speaker today at the conference of an extreme right-wing climate denier group that has compared leading climate change scientists to Nazis, Osama bin Laden & the Unabomber. climateconference.heartland.org This is how far the U.S. & EPA have fallen.
Home - 16th International Conference on Climate Change
Streaming here live on april 8 - 9 Wednesday, Apr 8 Thursday, Apr 9 Ivar Giaever Ballroom Bill Gray Room Ivar Giaever Ballroom · Plenary & Track AWednesday, April 8 Bill Gray Room · Track BWednesday, ...
climateconference.heartland.org
