Worst Climate Stories of the Week—Trump’s Inauguration and a Foot of Snow in Florida. Coincidence?

The adults are back in charge, America once again has a hopeful future, and the earth has begun healing.

Man, what a whirlwind. Donald Trump finally had his inauguration as the 47th president of the United States, and boy did he hit the ground running. This week has really been something, hasn’t it? On top of the flurry of actions he’s taken in his first 120 hours back in office, we had our own Russian invasion as a Siberian air mass migrated over the North Pole and came as far south as the panhandle of Florida. Pensacola Beach and Tallahassee got ten inches of snow, obliterating Florida’s previous record of 4”. As of Tuesday, Florida officially had more snowfall this year than Anchorage (but it’s still early). All of that the week of Trump’s inauguration. Probably a coincidence, but you couldn’t beat the timing as he signed all those executive orders reversing years of destructive Biden green energy and global boiling policies.

The news came fast and furious this week. As fast as President Trump could sign the EOs, the institutional left and the swamp creatures in the bureaucracy announced Resistance 2.0, with lawsuits to stop his orders, proclamations that they would not enforce his orders to the bureaucracies, and blue state governors setting up task forces to insulate themselves from Trumpism. A wild week kicked off the most consequential presidential administration in decades.

We got a lot to cover.

This week, President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, and more EOs that ended Biden-era green energy boondoggles; the weekly look at the implosion of electric vehicles (EVs) has a giant battery plant fire in California and Honda and Nissan considering a merger; power prices in Norway spike due to their green energy policies; a weird story out of Oregon (what else is new) about arsonists who claim to be environmental educators setting some of the LA fires; conservation groups in Oregon (again) suing to unblock the killing of owls; a look at the left’s next big climate lawfare strategy; and Antonio Guterres displaying his mental illness again.

In our Good News segment this week, we have an energy sector that’s about to take off. We have a story on the safe disposal of nuclear waste that could key a resurgence in nuclear power, and the world set another record in 2024 for coal use, providing cheap, reliable power to millions living in poverty.

Let’s get to it.

(Don't miss last week's column: The Trump Effect Now Means Cutting CARBs)

Trumps Beautiful, Amazing Executive Orders. Everyone Says They’re Terrific.

Donald Trump spent the time between Election Day and Inauguration Day in extreme production mode. He announced his nominees very early, and he assembled a team ready to get to work on Day 1. That work included a whopping 200 executive orders—80 of them signed during the inaugural festivities on Monday. For perspective, he signed a total of 220 executive orders in his first term, total. He obviously came in to his second term much more prepared to take decisive action.

The new orders he signed regarding energy and the environment laid down a clear marker that he will no longer mess around with the climate zealots. On the first day, Trump signed:

  • Withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement
  • Declaring a National Emergency over energy to expedite increased production
  • A reversal of the Biden administration ban on offshore drilling signed after Election Day
  • Repealing vehicle tailpipe regulations and EV mandates
  • Once again allowing Americans to buy the dishwashers, shower heads, and gas stoves they want
  • Opening Alaska back up for oil and gas exploration
  • Restarting liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports
  • Halting new leases for offshore wind
  • Ordering all federal agencies to remove their “environmental justice” programs
  • Ordering a review of all federal regulations on energy production

Not bad for Day 1.

(Read more: Experts Agree: Trump Should Permanently Defeat the Paris Climate Treaty. Here's How.)

This Week in Exploding EVs and Imploding EV Markets

California has seen more than its share of out-of-control wildfires the past few weeks, but one escaped the notice of many as we watched the devastation unfold in the Los Angeles area. One of the largest battery storage plants in the world, located in Moss Landing in Northern California, caught fire last week. It burned for days, causing an evacuation of around 1,500 residents. The Monterey County Board of Supervisors unanimously issued an emergency proclamation, asking the owners of the plant to keep it offline while authorities conduct the fire investigation. This marks the third time this plant has caught fire.

Meanwhile, the EV market has contracted quite a bit, as we documented throughout 2024. China has emerged as the dominant force in that market, putting more pressure on non-Chinese manufacturers to keep up. The dwindling government subsidies and mandates have removed the artificial market advantages enjoyed by EV manufacturers at the beginning of the Biden-Harris administration. All of that pressure has caused some previously unthinkable ideas, like a merger between Honda and Nissan. Cheap Chinese vehicles, both electric and gas-powered, have flooded the international market, causing China to surpass Japan as the world’s largest auto exporter.

Norway’s Green Energy Policies Backfire

Electricity prices in Norway shot up by 2000% in December. The reasons are a bit complicated, because they involve green energy. Norway has super cheap power because that nation produces about 90 percent of it from hydroelectric dams. According to the Institute for Energy Research (IER), “this sharp rise in prices is largely due to a shortfall in wind energy from Germany and the North Sea. In response, Norway’s government covers 90% of the additional costs above a certain threshold, in line with agreements made with neighboring European nations.” When the wind doesn’t blow, Norway exports its power production to other countries, and domestic prices spike—an arrangement Norway now wants to exit, for obvious reasons.

Oregon Arsonists Pose as Environmentalists

A weird one here out of Oregon, involving an arsonist, the Los Angeles wildfires, and impersonating both firefighting personnel and environmental education experts:

An Oregon couple was arrested Sunday for impersonating firefighters in the area burned by the Pacific Palisades near Los Angeles, California, according to the Los Angeles Times. The Times, citing law enforcement sources, identified the couple as Dustin Nehl, 31, and Jennifer Nehl, 44.

The couple allegedly drove a full-size firetruck emblazoned with “Roaring River Fire” into the recently burned area, claiming they were volunteer firefighters.

Dustin has prior convictions for arson, serving five years in jail. Jennifer is an “educator who focuses on teaching weather and climate to incarcerated youth,” including helping her students create “weather raps.” Their trip to help in California occurred a few weeks after their infant died at only three weeks old. At the time of their arrest, they had burglary tools in their possession.

Oregon Conservationists Fight for the Right to Shoot Owls

The never-ending saga of the fight to save the Spotted Owl in the Pacific Northwest has taken another weird turn. Yeah, weird Oregon again. Barred Owls have migrated into the Spotted Owl territory, outcompeting them for habitat and resources. So the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service hatched the plan to shoot half a million Barred Owls to prevent the extinction of the Spotted Owl. Now, five conservation groups have joined the federal government to defend the plan, which drew a lawsuit from animal rights groups that wanted to stop it.

It’s hard to keep track of what makes someone an environmentalist these days.

The Left Is Gearing Up for Its Next Climate Campaign

Dave Jones, the former insurance commissioner of California has an op-ed in the New York Times this week joining the chorus of those who couldn’t wait to politicize the Southern California wildfires and blame them on climate change:

Who should pay for the costliest wildfires in American history? The disaster in Los Angeles, driven by climate change, has killed at least 27 people, destroyed more than 15,000 structures and caused up to an estimated $275 billion in damage. Insurers alone could face $30 billion in claims, increasing the likelihood that more companies will stop covering properties in California and other climate-affected states. As insurance costs soar, more homeowners may struggle to keep up with mortgage payments, risking widespread defaults.

Jones uses the recent catastrophe to encourage readers to support lawsuits against “fossil fuel” companies to pay for the damages they’ve supposedly caused—with nary a shred of evidence to back up his claim. The old logical fallacy of proof by assertion always plays a prominent role in these arguments.

This is a continuation of the attempt by the corporate media and the liberal establishment to blame “billion-dollar disasters” on “climate change,” instead of the more conventional “inflation.” Now, we need to take action by suing the offending corporations out of existence.

This Week in Nutty Antonio Guterres

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres is at it again. This is the same guy who gifted us with the exhortation, “The era of global warming has ended, and the era of global boiling has arrived.” Apparently even global boiling didn’t engender the sufficient level of panic, so he’s got a new phrase now: “Our fossil fuel addiction is a Frankenstein monster, sparing nothing and no one.”

Are you panicking yet?

Now for our Good News segment.

Safe Disposal of Nuclear Waste

A fascinating post on Substack this week explored the options for permanent storage of spent nuclear fuel and other nuclear waste deep underground. Much still needs to be decided, but the concept of deep geological repositories (DGRs) has gained popularity. These would be facilities to bury nuclear waste anywhere from 200 to 1,000 meters underground, thereby shielding it from exposure to the surface. It’s worth a read for all the details, but the important point made by the author is that serious discussions of how to deal with nuclear waste have opened up new possibilities to make progress in expanding nuclear power generation, which is a great idea that is long overdue.

Coal Keeps On Powering the World

Despite all the fear-mongering by the climate cultists, global coal production and use hit another record in 2024. Everywhere except Europe and the United States has seen an increase in coal use. It’s relatively inexpensive, it’s reliable, and it lifts poor nations out of poverty—unlike any version of green energy except for hydroelectric. Of course, it’s politically incorrect to call that green energy, so they just ignore hydro.

Is increased coal use actually good news? Certainly it comes with negative environmental effects, and the world’s three largest producers—China, India, and Indonesia—have shown little inclination to mitigate those effects. China’s coal power production alone is larger than the entire amount of power produced in the United States. Meanwhile, in 2024 the United Kingdom converted its last coal power plant to burn wood chips imported from the U.S. Reliance on coal has powered the economic development of many poor nations and allowed them to compete on a macroeconomic scale.

And it can be used to back up unreliable wind and solar energy. The U.S. is doing just fine with natural gas and other sources as we dial down our reliance on coal, but our competitors around the globe certainly see an advantage to continuing to power their economies with coal.

Jeff Reynolds is Senior Editor for Restoration News, specializing in energy and science policy, as well as dark money. Jeff is an author, editor, strategist, and public speaker. A prolific researcher and writer, he authored the book Behind the Curtain in 2019, which details the billionaires and foundations responsible for the radical left's ascension in American politics. Jeff graduated from Connecticut College with a bachelor's in Zoology. 

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