Energy-efficiency programs are absolutely not the problem

This is foolish, ridiculous, and politically playing into the Trumpers’ hands.

A handful of Democratic-led states are targeting energy-efficiency programs in an attempt to provide relief on soaring utility bills.

It’s surprising, given the broad support energy-efficiency programs have among Democrats — and the fact that these incentives produce energy savings that benefit both the climate and all consumers. The short-term savings may be tempting, advocates say, but chasing them is misguided.

“The subject of affordability is a serious one across many states across the country. People are hurting, and energy costs are too high,” said Forest Bradley-Wright, state and utility director for the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. ​“Energy efficiency did not cause the energy affordability crisis, and the problem can’t be solved by cutting energy efficiency.” - Canary Media

The Trump administration is set to royally mess up fighting wildfires

Ignoring science, again. That is, people with egos easily ten times the size of their intellects rejecting what they don’t understand and therefore fear.

As the U.S. wildfire season approaches, experts warn it could be one of the worst in recent memory. This will also be the first season managed by the Trump administration’s U.S. Wildland Fire Service, and the agency is pursuing a risky fire management strategy…

“We will enter this season with the presumption of a full suppression strategy applied to every wildfire under DOI management,” (Interior Secretary Doug) Burgum reportedly wrote in the April 8 memorandum, emphasizing a responsibility to protect communities, landscapes, habitat, and critical infrastructure…

The scientific consensus on full suppression fire management is that it is unsustainable and counterproductive in fire-adapted regions like the American West, the Great Plains, and the Southeast. Research has shown that immediately extinguishing smaller fires that don’t threaten life or property—rather than letting them burn under careful management—sets the stage for more severe, hazardous fires to ignite in that area. - Gizmodo

Just one way that Trump screws farmers

Hopefully at least some in the farm economy will take reality checks like this to heart.

Many farmers work on the thinnest margins, fighting to stay profitable. Some, looking to cut costs on electricity, turn to the federal government for a little extra cash to help them install solar panels on top of barns, grain elevators, or offices. Others turn to commercial renewable energy leases as both an alternative income stream and a way to put fallow land to work.

Within the first year of President Trump’s second term, two federal programs critical to the growth of solar energy production — REAP and the clean energy tax credit — have been rolled back. To document how those policy changes are affecting farmers, The Associated Press and Grist analyzed data on both commercial-scale solar projects and small-scale rural energy development across the country. They found that, so far this fiscal year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture hasn’t awarded a dollar in rural energy grants or loan guarantees. Reporters contacted roughly a quarter of the nearly 300 developers that have proposed projects on agricultural land in the last two years, and found that they are either preparing their businesses to do future projects without federal support, or have already lost millions in investment because of the administration’s new tax credit policies. - Grist

There should be massive taxes on corporate war profiteering

I wouldn’t be opposed to a 100% windfall profits tax, myself.

Trump’s invasion of one of the world’s most oil-rich regions jolted energy markets, sending gas prices soaring to the highest level in either of his terms. In 2024 he campaigned on cutting them in half. Instead, Americans are now on track to pay roughly $720 more for gasoline this year.

The full cost to working families will be much steeper as high gas prices drive up prices on consumer goods across the board. We’re already seeing that ripple effect take hold, as the U.S. Postal Service has proposed a temporary 8 percent fuel surcharge on package deliveries to offset rising transportation costs tied directly to the war-driven spike in oil prices.

At the same time, the oil and gas companies that invested at least $75 million in Trump’s reelection are cashing in on this instability. A recent Financial Times analysis estimates that U.S. oil companies could collect an additional $63 billion in revenue this year if crude prices remain at these wartime levels. In March alone, the industry is expected to generate $5 billion in extra cash flow. - In These Times

Big Oil’s deep injection wells are a pending large-scale disaster

Government agencies have long been complicit.

A cache of government documents dating back nearly a century casts serious doubt on the safety of the oil and gas industry’s most common method for disposing of its annual trillion gallons of toxic wastewater: injecting it deep underground.

Despite knowing by the early 1970s that injection wells were at best a makeshift solution, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) never followed its own determination that they should be “a temporary means of disposal,” used only until “a more environmentally acceptable means of disposal [becomes] available.”

…The documents show there may be little scientific merit to industry and government claims that injection wells are a safe means of disposal — putting drinking water and other mineral resources in communities across the country at risk of contamination, and jeopardizing local economies and public health.

The U.S. oil and gas industry produces 25.9 billion barrels of wastewater each year (or 1.0878 trillion gallons), according to the most recent data available, a 2022 report from Groundwater Protection Council that relies on 2021 data. That’s enough to form a line of waste barrels to the moon and back 28 times. - DeSmog

Crypto was the biggest fraud enabler in 2025

Entirely unsurprising, especially given the kind of people who pimp crypto.

Americans lost $7.2 billion to crypto investment scams in 2025, according to a new report from the FBI, making it the top source of financial losses from fraud reported to the agency last year. Many people don’t call the FBI after getting scammed, which means the real total is likely far larger.

The news comes from the FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) annual report, released (April 6), which tracks not just crypto investment fraud, but online scams targeting the elderly, and ransomware attacks, among others. The agency received 1,008,597 total complaints in 2025, up from 859,532 complaints in 2024. The total amount lost was over $20 billion last year. - Gizmodo

Millions are losing SNAP benefits

But who cares if poor people, and their kids, go hungry, right? We’re exulting in the glories of Trump’s America!

Millions of low-income Americans have already lost access to federal food assistance following enactment of the Republican budget law signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, 2025, according to new analysis examining changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Data published by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows SNAP participation fell by 6 percent between July 2025 and December 2025, representing 2.5 million fewer people receiving benefits nationwide. The decline occurred shortly after Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, also identified as H.R. 1, into law.

Researchers say participation may continue to fall as states modify eligibility procedures and administrative policies in response to the law’s funding changes and program requirements. According to CBPP, “we estimate that 4 million people in a typical month will lose out” on SNAP benefits once the law’s provisions are fully implemented. - Nation of Change