EPA Seeks to Wipe Out Climate Rules With One Shot

Current conditions: Djibouti, eastern Ethiopia, and southern Eritrea are roasting in higher-than-average triple-digit temperatures • Argentina’s brutal cold snap is back after a brief pause, threatening gas infrastructure and freezing crops • Millions of Americans are facing a new round of heat waves from the upper Midwest down to the Gulf.

THE TOP FIVE

1. EPA aims for a climate kill shot by targeting endangerment finding

The Environmental Protection Agency is days away from proposing a rule to rescind the endangerment finding, the 2009 decision that established the federal government’s legal right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act. That’s according to a scoop late last night in The New York Times, confirmed hours later by The Washington Post. The finding came in response to the 2007 Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA, in which the nation’s highest court ruled that the danger planet-heating emissions posed to human health made them subject to limits under the same law that restricts other forms of air pollution. The endangerment finding was previously considered so untouchable that the first Trump administration tried to work within the parameters of the rule rather than eliminate it outright.

Revoking the endangerment finding would undo all federal greenhouse gas rules on automobiles, factories, and power plants, fundamentally ending any national policy designed to curb emissions. The proposal will almost certainly face political challenges. It’s unclear how the Supreme Court — now overwhelmingly conservative compared to the bench of 18 years ago — would decide the case today. One “highly unusual” wrinkle in the story: E&E News reports that EPA has been absent from recent meetings the White House has held with industry and environmental groups on the endangerment finding, which “raises questions about who within the Trump administration is leading the effort.”

2. House goes home amid Epstein drama, pausing energy talks

House Speaker Mike Johnson closed up shop early this week, sending Congress’ lower chamber home until September. In so doing, the Republican leader hoped to halt a push to investigate President Donald Trump’s connections to the disgraced financier and accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.

The move effectively pauses negotiations over energy policy, too. Both chambers of Congress are in the process of setting their budget priorities for the coming year, and President Trump has called for major cuts to programs overseeing clean energy development and deployment. Talks are also set to begin soon over the reauthorization of the Energy Act of 2020, the programs of which largely expire this year, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which is scheduled to expire next year. The House going into recess early will shift attention to the Senate, where eyes will be on Republican moderates such as Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, both of whom defended clean energy programs in negotiations over the One Big Beautiful Bill.

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3. GM’s EV sales double as Tesla prepares to unveil its earnings

Even before Trump took office, the U.S. electric vehicle revolution appeared to be stalling. Now the elimination of the main tax credit to encourage EV sales threatens to zap any remaining momentum. So far at least, that hasn’t halted GM’s EV sales. In its latest quarterly earnings announced Tuesday, the Detroit auto giant reported its EV sales had doubled over the previous three months, thanks in part to the launch of the battery-powered version of the Chevrolet Equinox, an SUV with a starting price of $35,000. GM now claims 16% of the American EV market, placing the company second behind Tesla, which reports its earnings today.

With earnings season is upon us, and dramatic shifts in federal policy and geopolitics promising some notable results, I went through all the companies reporting financial results to Wall Street this week and rounded up the big ones:

On Wednesday:

• Electric automaker Tesla
• Utility giant NextEra
• Electrical equipment maker GE Vernova
• Offshore wind and oil developer Equinor

On Thursday:

• French energy giant TotalEnergies
• Texas utility giant Centerpoint Energy
• Fracking company Liberty Energy (where Energy Secretary Chris Wright formerly served as CEO)

On Friday:

• Italian oil giant Eni

4. Tariffs alone could tank solar by 9% in the U.S. over the next decade

The consultancy McKinsey is out with a new report on the effect of varying degrees of tariffs on the energy transition. The results are mixed. The good news: Solar capacity could more than double in the U.S. and the European Union by 2035 under any tariff scenario. The bad news: Strict tariffs could mean 9% less solar installed in the U.S. by 2035, and 7% less in the European Union.

In reality, the outcomes could be even worse. The report did not take into account how Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill pared down tax credits, or how the Trump administration may further limit access to federal incentives through the president’s executive order directing the Internal Revenue Service to restrict eligibility for wind and solar projects.

5. Meta orders a giant new solar farm in Texas for its data centers

The Trump administration’s attacks on solar power aren’t changing the favorable economics for photovoltaics just yet. Facebook-owner Meta just inked a deal with energy developer Enbridge to build a 600-megawatt solar farm in Texas to power its data centers. Construction is already underway on the nearly $1 billion facility near San Antonio.

THE KICKER

A fire in Oregon. FireSat

A new satellite project resulting from a collaboration between Google, the satellite company Muon Space, and the nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance can detect wildfires as small as 5 meters squared in size, giving firefighters a new tool to identify and potentially contain blazes before they erupt into conflagrations. The companies released the first images from the project this morning.

A fire in Ontario, Canada. FireSat