Current conditions: South Korea’s massive wildfires have doubled in size in 24 hours • Fires are also spreading in North and South Carolina, consuming nearly 18,000 acres • A year’s worth of rain could fall over the next few days along the Texas Gulf Coast.
THE TOP FIVE
1. Trump imposes 25% tariffs on imported cars
President Trump on Wednesday announced new and “permanent” 25% tariffs on imported cars and car components. Automotive parts that are compliant with the United States-Mexico-Canada trade deal will be “tariff-free,” but only until the government figures out how to apply tariffs to their non-U.S. content. The move is meant to protect and strengthen the U.S. automotive sector, but will likely make cars significantly more expensive for American consumers. Nearly half of all cars sold in the U.S. last year were imported. One analyst estimates the tariffs could hike the cost of new cars by $5,000 to $10,000.
The news sent international automaker stocks plummeting: Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Continental lost the equivalent of $4.8 billion in combined market value “as investors panicked at the prospect of more costs and complexity in an industry already struggling with a slow ramp-up of electrification and high logistics costs,” Reuters reported. The car levies are set to come into effect April 3.
2. NOAA hired an anti-wind activist as its top lawyer
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has hired a new general counsel who was, until recently, pursuing legal challenges to offshore wind farms on behalf of the fishing industry, Heatmap’s Jael Holzman has learned. NOAA’s Fisheries division, also known as the National Marine Fisheries Service, regulates species protection within U.S. waters. Activists have sought to persuade the Trump administration to review the division’s previous and future approvals for offshore wind projects that interact with endangered marine life, which would be a huge win for the “wind kills whales” movement.
Enter Anne “Annie” Hawkins, NOAA’s new general counsel, who comes to the agency after serving for years as the executive director of the Responsible Offshore Development Alliance, an organization founded in 2017 that has fought offshore wind projects on behalf of the fishing industry. Hawkins stepped down as RODA’s executive director last fall, shortly after Trump won the presidential election. RODA is involved in legal challenges against individual wind farms that received their permits under the Biden administration. The organization boasts that it was the first fishing trade association to sue against approvals for the Vineyard Wind project in 2022, and earlier this month petitioned the Supreme Court to undo federal approvals for Vineyard Wind. RODA has been in the legal fight against the Revolution Wind and South Fork wind projects since last year, according to its website.
Researchers at Brown University prominently listed RODA in a map released in 2023 detailing different key organizations in the American anti-offshore wind activist movement.
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3. Noem aiming to gut FEMA disaster relief by October
The Trump administration is reportedly strategizing ways to strip the Federal Emergency Management Agency of its ability to aid in disaster recovery by October 1. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is pushing to shrink or eliminate the agency, even as climate-fueled weather disasters intensify and hurricane season looms. “Noem and other officials are looking to rebrand FEMA by putting it directly under White House control and narrowing the agency’s responsibilities to helping survivors in the immediate aftermath of disasters,” sources told E&E News. “FEMA or its successor would give states disaster funding to address only ‘immediate needs’ and for life-saving or life-sustaining operations such as search-and-rescue missions and for providing emergency supplies such as shelter, food, and water.”
As Heatmap’s Emily Pontecorvo reported this week, the Trump administration is currently holding up more than 200 FEMA grants to states for disaster recovery, relief, and preparedness, despite a district court’s order from March 6 calling for the funds’ release.
4. The DOE reportedly wants to cut funding for hydrogen hubs
The Department of Energy is reportedly considering cutting $4 billion in funding for hydrogen hubs approved under the Biden administration. The seven hubs are scattered across the country, and each received a slice of some $7 billion in funding as part of a push to turn hydrogen into a viable alternative to fossil fuels. Four of the seven hubs are up for funding cuts, including those in the Midwest, Pacific Northwest, California, and the Mid-Atlantic. As Reuters noted, “the hubs that could have their funding cut would largely serve Democratic states, while the three hubs that would be kept are located in Republican states.”
5. Hyundai officially unveils its Georgia EV Metaplant
Hyundai pulled back the curtain on its new Metaplant in Georgia with a grand opening on Wednesday. The $7.6 billion factory produces electric and hybrid vehicles – about one per minute – and Hyundai Motor Company CEO José Muñoz announced that the plant’s capacity will be increased from 300,000 vehicles per year to 500,000 per year. Earlier this week, Hyundai announced plans to build a $5.8 billion steel plant in Louisiana, part of a larger $21 billion investment by the South Korean automaker in its U.S.-based manufacturing operations as President Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and cars take effect. The plant is already producing the Ioniq 5 SUV, one of the most popular EVs in America. Hyundai’s 2024 EV sales (when combined with those of its sister brands Kia and Genesis) made it the second-largest EV brand in the U.S., behind Tesla.
Hyundai
THE KICKER
Over the past 20 years, glacier loss from climate change has exposed more than 1,000 miles of Greenland’s coastline.
Hyundai
