Current conditions: It’s 111 degrees Fahrenheit in Rio de Janeiro today, the highest recorded temperature in the Brazilian city since 2014 • India’s national winter games have been postponed due to a lack of snow • At least 13 people have died across the Ohio Valley due to severe flooding triggered by a winter storm over the weekend. Another band of bad weather is on the way.
THE TOP FIVE
1. Trump establishes National Energy Dominance Council
We’ll start today with a little summary of news from Washington that you might have missed going into the long weekend:
President Trump on Friday signed an executive order setting up an energy council tasked with advising him on ways to “achieve energy dominance.” Dubbed the National Energy Dominance Council, the group is helmed by Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and will prioritize fossil fuels, though the executive order also mentions biofuels, geothermal, and hydro. No mention of solar or wind. As E&E Newsnoted, “the U.S. is currently producing more oil and natural gas than any country in history. Much of that is exported.”
Meanwhile, nearly 400 “probationary” EPA employees were fired on Friday, about 2,700 people from the Interior Department have opted to accept the administration’s offer of resigning with full pay through September, and somewhere between 1,200 and 2000 workers from the Department of Energy were also cut. There were firings at the Department of Agriculture, said to number in the thousands. Earlier in the week, 3,400 employees from the U.S. Forest Service were also given their marching orders.
2. Energy Secretary Chris Wright calls net-zero goals ‘sinister’
Energy Secretary Chris Wright slammed national net-zero goals yesterday in comments made via video at a London conference. “Net Zero 2050 is a sinister goal,” Wright said. “It's a terrible goal. The aggressive pursuit of it – and you're sitting in a country that has aggressively pursued this goal – has not delivered any benefits, but it's delivered tremendous costs.” He went on to say his job within the Trump administration was to “get out of the way” of fossil fuel production, and claimed that the world does not “have replacements” for hydrocarbons. This is false, and there are many examples of clean energy sources crowding out their dirtier predecessors. To wit: Already 78 economies across the globe have displaced fossil fuel-power with clean energy, and many did so while energy consumption rose. On a global scale, renewables are expected to surpass coal for electricity generation as soon as this year. Since 2019, wind and solar have displaced one-fifth of fossil fuel power generation in the European Union. Last month the Energy Information Administration put out a report concluding that new solar power installations would be the main driver of U.S. power generation over the next two years, and “generating capacity for most other energy sources will remain mostly unchanged in 2025 and 2026.”
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3. Anti-Musk protests break out at Tesla showrooms
A series of protests took place over the weekend at Tesla showrooms across the country, with participants railing against CEO Elon Musk and his move into U.S. politics. Musk has become part of President Trump’s inner circle, overseening the firing of thousands of federal employees as leader of the “Department of Government Efficiency,” aka DOGE. His incursion has rattled many Americans, including experts who say attempts by Musk, who is not an elected official, to gain access to sensitive government data and payment systems are unconstitutional. “Every Tesla sale that you prevent, every dollar not spent servicing a Tesla, not charging at the Supercharger, these further degrade the business,” Edward Niedermeyer, author of Ludicrous: The Unvarnished Story of Tesla Motors, told the Financial Times from a protest in Portland. “It’s not easy, it’s not guaranteed, but we do have the opportunity to wipe out a huge amount of Elon Musk’s wealth.” It is too soon to know to what extent the anti-Musk sentiment is impacting Tesla, but sales have been dropping in some key markets including California, where registrations fell by about 12% last year. “It’s clear that the perception of Tesla may now be forever damaged,” wrote Kevin Williams at InsideEVs. “Let’s hope that won’t extend to EVs as a whole.”
Anti-Elon protester in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
4. Japan’s government approves new climate plan seen as insufficient
Japan has approved a new climate plan aimed at curbing greenhouse emissions and transitioning to clean energy. It is one of only a handful of countries to finish its updated nationally determined contribution (NDC), as required under the Paris Agreement. The NDC outlines a plan to cut emissions by 60% by 2035 compared to 2013 levels, and 73% by 2040. When the plan was first pitched at the end of last year, climate experts and advocates said it wasn’t in line with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. To align with this target, the country would need to curb emissions by 66% by 2035. Japan is the world’s fifth-biggest emitter.
5. Iditarod race rerouted due to lack of snow
This year’s Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race will start in Fairbanks, Alaska, instead of the more southern village of Willow, “due to the absence of snowfall since January 31st” and no snow in the forecast. This is the fourth time the route of the famous 1,000-mile race has had to be changed because of low snow conditions. The organizers announced the news yesterday after some of the mushers expressed concerns that parts of the original route were lacking snow and too dangerous for their teams. “The decision throws a wrench into top competitors’ race strategies,” reported the Anchorage Daily News. “Drop bags full of supplies had already been packed up according to a race map that is now partially irrelevant.” Photos from snowmobile racers showed portions of the trail are just exposed grass and dirt:
Facebook/Hetteen Heritage Racing
THE KICKER
Almost a third of the suggestions outlined in Project 2025 – the Heritage Foundation’s 920-page blueprint for reshaping America – have already been implemented or are in progress.
Anti-Elon protester in Washington. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
