When President Donald Trump took office, he promised to “unleash American energy” — and quickly left no doubt that he meant fossil fuel energy in particular. In the months since, he has opened up vast stretches of public lands and U.S. oceans for drilling and reduced the royalty rates that...
Republicans are using an arcane oversight rule to permanently dismantle federal land protections
In the spring of 1996, lawmakers quietly buried a rider in a humdrum bill meant to make life easier for small businesses. That addition, the Congressional Review Act, granted Congress the power to kill new federal regulations with a simple majority vote. Thirty years later, Republican lawmakers are wielding it...
How a profit-sharing agreement could be a new model for mining on Indigenous land
In 2020, when Brian Mason began his first term as Chairman for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, gold miners came calling. Just a few years before, Integra Resources, a Canadian mining company, had acquired an abandoned gold and silver mine on the tribe’s homelands in southwestern Idaho,...
US taxpayers will pay billions in new fossil fuel subsidies thanks to the Big Beautiful Bill
The Trump administration has already added nearly $40 billion in new federal subsidies for oil, gas, and coal in 2025, a report released Tuesday finds, sending an additional $4 billion out the door each year for fossil fuels over the next decade. That new amount, created with the passage of the...
California’s first solar-covered canal is now fully online
A novel solar power project just went online in California’s Central Valley, with panels that span across canals in the vast agricultural region. The 1.6-megawatt installation, called Project Nexus, was fully completed late last month. The $20 million state-funded pilot has turned stretches of the Turlock Irrigation District’s canals into hubs of clean...
Data centers gobble Earth’s resources. What if we took them to space instead?
The companies frantically building and leasing data centers are well aware that they’re straining grids, driving emissions, and guzzling water. The electricity demand of AI data centers in particular could increase as much as 165 percent by 2030. Over half of the energy powering these sprawling facilities comes from fossil...
Ahead of COP, Africa aims to become the continent of climate solutions
After three days of talks in Addis Ababa, African leaders have agreed on Wednesday to a common climate roadmap ahead of COP30 in Brazil. Their bold vision presents Africa as a “continent of solutions” and pledges to present a unified position to developed nations at the global negotiations later this...
How do we feed billions without wrecking the planet? A Q&A about our food systems.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WBEZ, a public radio station serving the Chicago metropolitan region. When veteran journalist Michael Grunwald set out to write his third book, he was determined not to produce a “Debbie Downer.” And he hasn’t. That’s surprising considering his latest book, We’re Eating...
Scams are rampant after natural disasters. Here’s how to protect yourself.
You’ve just lived through a terrible flood, wildfire, or hurricane. Your house has suffered significant damage, and you don’t know where you’re going to live or how you’ll rebuild. Then comes the knock on the door, a call on your cell phone, or an ad on your local social media...
First came the wildfire. Then came the scams.
Three days after the Mountain Fire tore through the hillsides of Camarillo in Southern California last November, Craig Crosby was at home assessing the damage when he spotted two men canvassing the neighborhood. Crosby’s house was still standing, but the blaze had burned down the northwest corner of the structure...