Your weekly resource to learn what the environmental movement is saying about the news of the day and the political fight of our generation. This week, we’re covering a Supreme Court decision that will let Big Polluters decide where to build their toxic projects, and states’ continued efforts to protect clean energy jobs and consumers.
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“Let’s be crystal clear: What the House just voted on is a full repeal of the clean energy tax investments.”
– Sara Chieffo, LCV Vice President of Government Affairs, while answering viewers’ calls on C-SPAN’s Washington Journal.
“When Mainers have good, union work, the whole economy benefits — especially our rural communities where many of these projects are being built. And that’s exactly what’s happening through clean energy projects”
— Grant Provost, VP of Maine AFL-CIO, Maine Labor Climate Council board member, and business agent for Ironworkers Local 7, in an op-ed about the negative impacts that eliminating clean energy tax credits would have on Maine’s workforce.
“If Republicans succeed in gutting these tax credits, it will mean higher monthly energy bills for families and small businesses, fewer jobs for hardworking Americans, and a dangerous step backward in innovation on energy.”
— Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer on House Republicans’ harmful reconciliation bill that now awaits Senate consideration.
U.S. CLIMATE ALLIANCE LAUNCHES CLEAN CARS COALITION: The U.S. Climate Alliance announced the launch of its Affordable Clean Cars Coalition, which includes governors from 11 states in the Alliance: Gavin Newsom (CA), Jared Polis (CO), Matt Meyer (DE), Wes Moore (MD), Maura Healey (MA), Phil Murphy (NJ), Michelle Lujan Grisham (NM), Kathy Hochul (NY), Tina Kotek (OR), Dan McKee (RI), and Bob Ferguson (WA). The coalition will support the transition to clean and affordable cars, protect autoworkers, and protect states’ rights to regulate air pollution. It will also provide resources for states to address vehicle pollution and facilitate clean car adoption.
COALITION TAKE: The Affordable Clean Cars Coalition said, “The federal government and Congress are putting polluters over people and creating needless chaos for consumers and the market, but our commitment to safeguarding Americans’ fundamental right to clean air is resolute. We will continue collaborating as states and leveraging our longstanding authority under the Clean Air Act, including through state programs that keep communities safe from pollution, create good-paying jobs, increase consumer choice, and help Americans access cleaner and more affordable cars. As we consider next steps for our clean vehicle programs, our states will engage stakeholders and industry to provide the regulatory certainty needed while redoubling our efforts to build a cleaner and healthier future.”
NEW JERSEY LCV TAKE: New Jersey LCV said, “Thank you @govmurphy.bsky.social for advancing clean cars in NJ! It’s important that our leaders push for ambitious, innovative, and equitable policies that increase access to clean transportation.”
WCA VOTES TAKE: Washington Conservation Action Votes said, “In response to the Senate’s extreme overreach blocking CA’s clean car standards, @governorferguson.bsky.social joined 10 other governors to launch the Affordable Clean Cars Coalition. WA is standing up to Big Polluters and fighting for clean air, affordable and clean cars, and a healthier climate.”
OHIO ENACTS COMPREHENSIVE ENERGY REFORM LAW: Ohio Governor Mike DeWine signed legislation to reform the energy ratemaking process, promote energy efficiency programs and electrical grid enhancing technology, and improve customer protections. Most notably, the legislation repeals coal subsidies that have cost Ohio ratepayers over half a billion dollars since being enacted in 2019 as part of the largest bribery scheme in state history. The final bill passed the Senate in a rare unanimous vote and passed the House with only two no votes.
OEC ACTION FUND TAKE: Ohio Environmental Council Action Fund Managing Director of Energy Policy Nolan Rutschilling said, “The OEC Action Fund, our members, and our partners have been fighting for years to eliminate the OVEC Coal Bailout created by the House Bill 6 corruption scandal, and to create more equitable, transparent regulation of electric utilities. Today, we earned a significant victory for clean air, utility accountability, and Ohioans concerned with rising electric bills. This is an energy policy win for everyday Ohioans, not Fortune 500 utility companies and their CEOs.
“This legislation will better allow the OEC Action Fund and our partners to continue our fight for a cleaner, more reliable, and affordable energy system, and it is the result of tireless work from Ohio’s environmental and energy justice advocates. We have much more work to do, but today, Ohio took a step towards a more equitable energy policy, and we applaud the Ohio legislature for this progress. We thank Governor DeWine for signing this bill.”
NEVADA LEGISLATORS PASS LAW REQUIRING UTILITIES TO PAY BACK OVERCHARGED CUSTOMERS: The Nevada state legislature passed a law requiring utility companies to issue full refunds for overcharges on energy bills with strong bipartisan support. This comes after the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada found that the state’s largest utility, NV Energy, had overcharged roughly 60,000 customers more than $17 million, and overcharged an additional 20,000 customers an undisclosed amount over the last seven years. The law is now headed to Governor Joe Lombardo’s desk for final approval.
NCL TAKE: Nevada Conservation League Deputy Director Christi Cabrera-Georgeson said, “This bill sends a clear message. NV Energy doesn’t get to profit from their negligence and walk away from responsibility and accountability.
“We thank Assemblymember Tracy Brown-May for her leadership in advancing this critical reform. Gov. Lombardo has the opportunity to show he’s on the side of Nevadans who deserve justice and relief, not with a monopoly utility that’s been caught red-handed taking money from people’s wallets.”
DEMOCRATS INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO PROTECT NATIONAL PARK, FOREST SERVICE EMPLOYEES: Representatives Joe Neguse (CO-02), Jared Huffman (CA-02), Sarah Elfreth (MD-03), Andrea Salinas (OR-06), and Senators Mark Kelly (AZ) and John Hickenlooper (CO) introduced two bills, the Protect Our Parks Act and the Save Our Forests Act. This legislation will help curb the fallout from the Trump administration’s dangerous policies that seek to decimate the workforce that stewards our parks and public lands.
OUR TAKE: LCV Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick said, “With mass firings of land management staff, the Trump administration has put our public lands and our ability to enjoy and benefit from them at risk. Legislation like the bills introduced today by Representatives Neguse, Huffman, Elfreth, and Salinas will serve to curb the fallout from the Trump administration’s dangerous policies that seek to decimate our parks and public lands. LCV thanks the bill sponsors for standing up for public servants who steward our parks and public lands, fight wildfire, educate the public, and share our nation’s history, and for continuing to fight back against this administration’s dangerous and indiscriminate firings.“
NEGUSE TAKE: Representative Joe Neguse said, “Coloradans are sounding the alarm: the Trump Administration’s federal funding and purging of the workforce have made our national parks and forests less safe and more prone to disaster. This is simply unacceptable. With the summer months fast approaching, we must act to reinstate terminated employees at our land management agencies to protect communities across the West.”
HUFFMAN TAKE: House Natural Resource Committee Ranking Member Jared Huffman said, “The Trump Administration’s relentless and deeply damaging attacks on our federal workforce, especially the dedicated public servants at the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service, demand accountability. From abrupt relocations to politically motivated firings, the career professionals who steward our public lands have been treated as expendable. With another wave of forced reductions reportedly imminent, Congress must act. The Protect Our Parks Act and the Save Our Forests Act will ensure these agencies are fully staffed, reinstate wrongfully terminated employees, and keep critical federal projects on track—from climate resilience and wildfire prevention to trail maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. We owe it to these workers, and to the American people who depend on them, to set this right.”
SUPREME COURT WEAKENS NEPA PROTECTIONS: In an 8-0 decision, the Supreme Court ruled on the side of Big Polluters inSeven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, CO. This ruling attempts to narrow the scope of the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) by requiring reviews for infrastructure and transportation projects to focus primarily on immediate environmental impacts that are under direct control of the agencies conducting the environmental reviews, without regard for long-term, far-reaching consequences such as climate change and environmental justice impacts.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis said, “Today, the Supreme Court ruled to silence the people and let Big Polluters decide where to build toxic projects that will harm the health of children and communities. These projects, like the unnecessary oil transport rail line and new oil wells alongside it, will devastate communities and fuel the climate crisis to put more money in the pockets of Big Polluters. Those Big Polluters have for decades dreamed of blocking federal agencies from taking a hard look at reasonably foreseeable consequences from their damaging projects, and with the Trump administration, and this decision today, their dreams are becoming real, exposing us all to this nightmare.”
ON THE BLOG: While we await the Senate’s return to this hot mess of a reconciliation bill – which they can, indeed, fix – take a look back at the month that got us here in LCV’s Top Five blog post. We’ve defended public lands and waters, won climate victories in three states, won democracy victories in three states (pop quiz: which state appears on both lists?), and endorsed a slate of 2026 candidates. And, as we wrap up this hot mess of a month, we could all use a reminder that there is still good news out there, so check out the most recent edition of Good Climate News on the blog for a little pick me up heading into the weekend.
ON OUR SOCIALS: Oh, you thought we wouldn’t hold the 31 House Republicans who benefit from or claim to support clean energy but voted against it accountable? Think again. And when you’re sufficiently angry, call your senators and tell them to oppose House Republicans’ wholesale repeal of clean energy tax credits and pollution reduction programs, then join us Wednesdays in June (6/4, 6/11, 6/18, 6/25) outside the Senate to speak out in person, and on June 14 to tell Donald Trump that in this country, we don’t do kings.
JUNE 4: Tell the Senate No Handouts to Polluters + Billionaires
JUNE 10: New Jersey Primary Election.
JUNE 11: Tell the Senate No Handouts to Polluters + Billionaires
JUNE 14: No Kings Mass Mobilization.
JUNE 15: Father’s Day.
JUNE 17: Virginia Primary Election.
JUNE 18: Tell the Senate No Handouts to Polluters + Billionaires
JUNE 19: Juneteenth.
©2025 League of Conservation Voters