Worst Climate Stories of the Week—Will the EPA Do Something Right for a Change?

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has a habit of sticking its nose into unwelcome places. It's become a way of life for too many Americans. So when President Trump's merry band of disruptors comes along, it can cause alarm for folks who have just sort of accepted the status quo. The EPA has become synonymous with ruining shower heads, toilets, dishwashers, gas cans, and other consumer goods in misguided attempts to mandate attention to the ecosphere. These intrusions into how we function daily create outsized levels of frustration, while producing minimal results—if any at all. Never mind its heavy-handed regulations over land use, water conservation, and 

No greater example of this exists than the automatic kill switch in newer cars. You know, that charming feature that shuts off your engine when you come to a stop sign to keep you from idling too long. A solution so annoying and inconsequential, only a federal bureaucrat could have come up with it. 

Recently, EPA Chief Lee Zeldin announced he'll change the rules and get rid of it. In response, Americans celebrated like it was V-E Day. 

Well, not exactly, but they took to social media to voice their relief, giving us a rare week when this column can lead with some good news.

We had other climate news this week, of course, that fits more in the crazytrain category. We have an actual scientific study in a peer-reviewed journal that advocates for DEI in birds; China sabotaged the renewable energy equipment it sells us; Oregon dusts off its mothballed cap and trade plan; an update on the dam removal situation in northern California and southern Oregon; and a look into bananas, frog ferries, dirigibles, and your intestines. Plus we have a bonus good news item, with Dan Rather of CBS News making a fool of himself in 1982, as New Zealand abandons its Net Zero agenda. 

Let's get to it. 

(DON'T MISS THE PREVIOUS COLUMN: Funeral for a Narrative Edition)

EPA to Reverse Hated Vehicle Stop Function

Early on a Monday morning, before 8am and while many folks on the East Coast were likely in traffic, EPA Chief Lee Zeldin posted the X post heard 'round the world. Zeldin announced that he will direct the agency to reconsider CAFÉ standards and incentives that gave birth to the nutty idea of making your car’s engine shut off in traffic. 

Read all about it here: Making Automobiles Great Again: Trump’s EPA Will Fix the Most Hated Car Rule in America

DEI Is for the Birds

Yes, a real academic article (?) in a real scientific journal (?) explores gender bias in ornithology. A blog post titled, "DEI For Birds Could Improve Avian Conservation" says the new study "finds that overlooking the lives of female birds can have severe conservation consequences."

Speaking of the imaginary intersection of gender, climate, and cults, apparently toxic masculinity drives climate change. Or something. Another academic article in a real scientific journal says a bunch of data-y sounding science words to convince men who like cars and meat to become more like single women. At least that's the conclusion reached by Thomas Shepstone on his Substack:

How radical? Consider the following excerpts (emphasis added):

Understanding the distribution of carbon footprints across population groups is crucial for designing fair and acceptable climate policies.

Using granular consumption data from France, we quantify the gender gap in carbon footprints related to food and transport and investigate its underlying drivers.

We show that women emit 26% less carbon than men in these two sectors, which together account for half of the average individual carbon footprint. Socioeconomic factors, biological differences and gender differences in distances traveled explain part of the gap, but up to 38% remains unexplained.

Red meat and car — high-emission goods often associated with male identity — account for most of the residual, highlighting the role of gender differences in preferences in shaping disparities in carbon footprints…

Although our analysis only considers food and transport, back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that the gender gap in carbon footprints would not disappear if we considered the entire consumption basket instead. Given limited evidence of a significant gender gap in housing emissions, which makes up another 23% of households’ emissions, emissions from other goods and services would need to be at least 80% lower for men to fully cancel out the gender gap in food and transport emissions.

China Caught Red-handed

Red-handed. Get it?

Anyway, the Chinese Communist Party apparently has surveillance devices embedded in every piece of green energy equipment they've sold into our electrical grid. Might they also have kill switches?

Oregon's Hot New Climate Solution: Cap and Trade

Remember cap and trade? An idea so popular, even Barack Obama couldn't get it passed through the Harry Reid senate. 

Heck, even deep, dark blue Oregon couldn't get it passed at the state level, after Senate Republicans staged multiple walkouts to deny quorum and block it.

Fast forward to 2025, and Oregon's proposed $137+ BILLION budget can't find enough money to fund critical transportation upgrades needed throughout the state. So House Democrats are once again dusting off another cap and tax scheme. At least now they're not hiding the true intentions—it's not about the climate, it's a naked revenue grab:

On May 22, the co-chairs, state Sen. Chris Gorsek (D-Gresham) and state Rep. Susan McLain (D-Hillsboro), issued a memo with their latest thinking, including a plan to “replace the current Climate Protection Program with a market-based emissions reduction program, linking to other West Coast markets and generating ongoing revenue.” 

Update on the Klamath Dam Situation

John Stossel put out a very informative video on the ongoing proposals to remove dams from the Snake River in Idaho and Washington, but it could easily apply to the Klamath River system as well. Oregon Catalyst had a good summary, with a link to the excellent video:

John Stossell released a video detailing the bad science behind dam removal.  This is important because Oregon and California recently were part of the largest dam removal project in United States history when they closed four dams in the region.  One of those hydro-dams demolished helped power nearly 100,000 homes in Oregon.

Here is a great quote from the video: “They raise money by scaring people.  Even when their fearmongering is totally wrong. In 1999, environmental groups took out this ad saying, “Salmon will be extinct by 2017.” And yet, 2015, 2016, 2017, populations were higher than in 1999.  Did the environmentalists apologize?   No, they repeat almost the exact same arguments today.  They just changed the dates.  We invited 10 activist groups that want to destroy the dams to come here and defend their claims about salmon going extinct.  Not one would agree.   And I guess I understand why. Because they’ve already convinced the public. “

Environmentalist Calls to Tear Down Dams Won’t Save Salmon But Will Waste Your Money

Bananas on the Brink

I graduated from Connecticut College in 1993 with a Bachelor's in Zoology. All throughout my four years on campus, I kept hearing about the imminent collapse of world banana production due to rainforest destruction and climate effects. Somehow, despite all the predictions of doom, bananas never disappeared from the grocery stores. 

I say all that to frame the current doom predictions, more than 30 years later, that are sounding the same old alarm. The warnings are truly urgent: 

In the future, bananas could become a very valuable commodity. According to a new report by Christian Aid, nearly two-thirds of the banana-growing areas in Latin America and the Caribbean could become unsuitable for cultivation by 2080 due to climate change. 

At least they've narrowed down the time frame—we only have fifty years to save the bananas!

Frog Ferries and Dirigibles

The solution to the banana dilemma is at hand, however! All we have to do is return to 19th century transportation technology. 

First, the "Frog Ferry:" [edited for brevity]

As Oregon legislators craft this year’s transportation package, there’s one project that deserves serious attention because it makes good sense. The Frog Ferry is ready to launch, and it’s a commonsense transportation alternative.

The Frog Ferry has the potential to ease congestion, drive economic activity, and connect our region more efficiently using infrastructure that already exists — our rivers.

As we reflect on how to build a more sustainable future, it’s worth asking: what if our waterways could once again become part of the solution? The Willamette River is underutilized as a transportation corridor.

By tapping into it, we’re not only addressing our traffic woes, we’re taking meaningful steps to reduce carbon emissions, shrink our environmental footprint, and promote a cleaner commute.

If that weren't primitive and clean enough for you, to quote Billy Mays, but wait! There's more!

Steve Milloy had this reaction to the Washington Post's apparently not-satirical suggestion that we replace passenger jets with blimps.

WaPo wants to bring back the Hindenburg as an alternative to jet travel to save the planet.🙄 @grok's conclusion is attached. https://t.co/qUlQGPtU5s pic.twitter.com/npZ5gDsMOz

— Steve Milloy (@JunkScience) May 15, 2025

The Climate Is Bad for Your Intestines

This is an actual piece in Time written by an actual editor at large:

If you’re like a lot of people, you’re finding it harder and harder to stomach climate change—literally. A warming world leads to all manner of health problems, including increased risk of cardiovascular disease, exacerbation of pulmonary conditions like asthma and COPD, and mental health problems including depression and anxiety. Increasingly, however, climate change is being implicated in a range of illnesses of the gut, such as diarrheal diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, intestinal infection, and more. While the mechanism behind the increase in pulmonary disease in a warmer world is more or less direct—breathing hot, dirty, sooty air isn’t good for anyone’s lungs—the gut connection is more nuanced and multifactorial, involving crop growth, contaminated water supplies, droughts, heat waves, malnutrition, and the microbiome of the soil. None of this is good for us; all of it can affect any of us. 

Better stock up on Pepto Bismol.

Now for some good news. 

Good News: This CBS News Segment Still Exists

If you are thinking about buying waterfront property in Florida, be careful.

According to this climate change special from 1982, Florida will be disappearing any day now. 😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/Wb6TiKpF8e

— illuminatibot (@iluminatibot) May 12, 2025

New Zealand Abandons Net Zero

Finally this week, New Zealand has reversed course on its Net Zero goals. This comes as Great Britain faces blackouts similar to what happened in Spain and Portugal at the end of April, and as Germany's wind turbine output cratered because the average wind speed dropped to 50-year lows. 

In that context, New Zealand has revoking its ban on oil and gas drilling:

New Zealand has abandoned its pursuit of net zero by revoking a ban on drilling for oil and gas.

The country’s government confirmed the shift in its latest budget this week, which unveiled plans to invest NZ$200m (£90m) in new offshore gas fields.

The reversal marks an end to a policy announced by Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister, in 2018. She claimed at the time that “the world has moved on from fossil fuels”.

Sensible energy policy has come back into vogue in 2025, and not a moment too soon.

(READ MORE: The Iberian Nightmare Forecasts a Future Using Only Renewable Energy)