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 the release of the 2025 National Environmental Scorecard, the Trump administration’s latest attacks on climate and public lands, and affordable energy wins.
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“Burgum, Wright, and Zeldin are cutting short thousands of people’s lives a year, making our children sicker, driving up costs, worsening extreme weather disasters, and polluting our air, water, and land.”
— Matthew Davis, LCV Vice President of Federal Policy, on Trump’s praise of his energy team who have all worked to further fossil fuel industry interests.
“Is the president working to make life more affordable for you and your family? We all know the answer is no.”
— Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, in the Democratic response to Trump’s State of the Union speech.
“The Great Lakes will become dirtier and air in the Midwest will become more toxic. Permits won’t be written, cleanups will halt and cases against polluters will vanish.”
— Nicole Cantello, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, on the mass departure of EPA staff who opted into Trump’s “deferred resignation program.”
LCV RELEASES 2025 NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL SCORECARD: This week, LCV released its 2025 National Environmental Scorecard, an annual report that scores members of Congress based on how often they vote in favor of the environment and democracy. The Scorecard aims to keep members of Congress accountable to their constituents by clearly showing where they stand on critical legislation affecting climate action and the integrity of our democratic institutions.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Sara Chieffo said, “We’ve never seen a Congressional majority so willfully abandon its responsibilities to protect their own constituents and the Constitution and instead relentlessly attack the health and safety of our communities, our environment, and our right to a free and fair democracy. Those members of Congress who voted for the Big Ugly Bill killed clean energy incentives at a time when energy demand is at all time highs and energy prices are rising higher than ever. It’s no surprise that while this Congress has been doing the bidding of President Trump and Big Polluters, utility costs rose 13% nationwide last year. We commend the members of Congress who forced votes to protect U.S.-made clean energy, our treasured public lands, critical federal agency funding, and our rights — pushing back on extreme Republican efforts to make it harder for people to vote and hand even more power to Trump.”
INDIANA GOVERNOR SIGNS ELECTRICITY COST RELIEF BILL INTO LAW: Indiana Governor Mike Braun signed House Bill 1002 into law, marking a major step in energy utility affordability and regulation reform in the state. The new law requires energy suppliers to offer bill assistance programs to low-income ratepayers, and prohibits service shut-offs to those customers during extreme heat. It also reforms utility regulation to put a limit on how often utility companies can file rate increases and set enforceable utility performance standards based on reliability and affordability.
ICV TAKE: Indiana Conservation Voters Government Affairs Director Delaney Barber Kwon said, “Indiana Conservation Voters thanks Representative Shonkwiler, the General Assembly and Gov. Braun for taking a meaningful step toward protecting vulnerable Hoosiers from soaring utility costs. By codifying summer shutoff protections and mandating low-income assistance programs, House Bill 1002 provides an important safety net. Those parts of this bill will provide quicker relief to low-income ratepayers. Other components will need to be fully implemented to determine how they will affect rates and how affordability and resiliency will be weighted. Today, we celebrate progress while recognizing that making energy affordable for all Hoosiers is work that’s far from finished. While HB 1002 tackles some symptoms of our energy crisis, there is much more we can and should do to address the root causes—including the need for energy efficiency standards, energy permitting reform and a transition to lower-cost, renewable resources. This victory lays a strong foundation for a more equitable and sustainable energy future for every Indiana ratepayer.”
OFFSHORE WIND PROJECT TO BEGIN PRODUCING ELECTRICITY: Following the Trump administration’s failed attempt to suspend the project, Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind (CVOW) is on track to start producing electricity before the end of March. Once completed, CVOW is expected to generate enough electricity to power 660,000 homes, making it the largest offshore wind project in the country. CVOW will deliver clean, affordable energy to the nation’s largest capacity electricity grid, PJM, which stretches across 13 states.
NV ENERGY TO REFUND CUSTOMERS $63 MILLION AFTER OVERCHARGING SCANDAL: Nevada’s largest utility company, NV Energy, will refund more than $63 million to over 42,000 residents after overcharging them since 2002. State regulators approved the settlement after an investigation last year discovered that multi-family homes were mistakenly classified as single-family residences, resulting in customers wrongfully being charged higher electricity rates. The Nevada legislature passed legislation with near unanimous support ordering NV Energy to fully refund all affected customers.
NCL TAKE: Nevada Conservation League Executive Director Kristee Watson said, “This is the right thing to do for customers, but it should never have taken this long. It shouldn’t have taken a full regulatory investigation, and it shouldn’t have taken the passage of AB452 to require the utility to pay customers back. Customers should never have to discover billing errors themselves or fight to be made whole. It took sustained public pressure and legislative action to ensure accountability. While this settlement is a positive step forward, the harm experienced by customers over many years can’t simply be erased. Moving forward, NV Energy must do better. Transparency and putting customers first must be the standard, not the exception.”
CHISPA TAKE: Chispa Nevada Program Director Audrey Peral said, “More than 20 years after NV Energy’s overcharging first started, customers will finally get the full refunds they are owed. It’s unacceptable that it took NV Energy so long to do the right thing. If it weren’t for NV Energy customers raising the issue with PUCN staff, the public would never know about this. Unfortunately, we’re not surprised. NV Energy has a long history of harming the customers it serves, yet the PUCN continuously has allowed the company to increase its profits and raise prices, now through new demand charges. Enough is enough. We need real utility oversight and reforms to make utility bills truly affordable and transparent, and if the Commissioners are unwilling, then Governor Lombardo and legislators must step in to protect Nevada families.”
TRUMP ATTACKS ON OFFSHORE WIND COULD COST CONSUMERS MILLIONS: The Trump administration has stated its intent to appeal the courts’ decisions that have allowed five major offshore wind projects to temporarily continue construction despite Trump’s attempts to block them. If the administration were to succeed in canceling the projects, two of which are weeks from delivering power to the grid, ratepayers in 15 states would pay an estimated additional $45 million on electricity bills in the next decade. Union workers on the Revolution Wind project alone would also lose $28 million in wages, and hundreds of job opportunities would be lost for the other four projects.
SOLAR PROJECT PERMITS MAY FINALLY BE MOVING FORWARD: The Interior Department may be reviewing permitting actions for more than 20 solar energy projects stalled for over a year by hurdles put in place by the Trump administration. The projects being reviewed are commercial-scale projects that would be capable of powering millions of homes if they’re approved.
DOE APPROVES MEGA LOAN FOR GEORGIA-BASED UTILITY COMPANY: The Department of Energy has approved a $26.5 billion loan to utility company Southern Company to fund a massive, primarily dirty, energy expansion initiative. This comes after the Trump administration previously cancelled billions in DOE funding for affordable clean energy projects. The 30-year loan will go towards financing new methane gas-burning plants, nuclear upgrades, hydropower modernization, battery storage, and 1,300 miles of electricity transmission improvements in Georgia and Alabama. In addition to the associated explosion of health-harming and climate pollution, relying on more gas plants will put ratepayers on the hook for their expensive and volatile fuel costs.
HOUSE PASSES BILL TO AX DOE APPLIANCE EFFICIENCY STANDARDS THAT HAVE SAVED HOUSEHOLDS $6,000: The House passed the Republican-led “Home Appliance Protection and Affordability Act,” which would restrict the Department of Energy’s authority to set appliance efficiency standards. These standards have saved the average household $6,000 over the past decade. The legislation would block new efficiency rules and give the energy secretary broad authority to repeal or revise existing standards. The bill would increase overall consumer costs by allowing less efficient appliances that use more energy and water on the market.
EPA TO ROLLBACK TOXIC PFAS LIMITS: Trump’s EPA is proposing to partially rescind and delay federal limits on “forever chemicals” known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, in drinking water. PFAS do not degrade naturally and have been linked to a wide range of adverse health effects, including certain cancers. The EPA specifically plans to repeal limits on four PFAS and to extend the compliance deadline for removing two PFAS to 2031.
FEDERAL REGULATORS BEGIN REVIEW FOR OFFSHORE OIL LEASES: Federal regulators have launched an environmental review for potential offshore oil and gas leases off the California coast. Democratic members of Congress, along with California Governor Gavin Newsom and officials from Oregon and Washington, have strongly opposed the plan, citing the risk of environmental destruction.
VIRGINIA REJOINS RGGI: Governor Abigail Spanberger has signed a budget deal allowing Virginia to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which will cut carbon pollution and deliver cheaper, cleaner sources of energy to Virginians. The initiative requires power plants to buy an allowance for every ton of carbon they emit, and that revenue will be funneled back into money-saving energy efficiency programs and flood resiliency projects.
VALCV TAKE: Virginia LCV said, “When Virginia was part of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), we raised over $800 million to protect communities from flooding, lowered Virginians’ energy bills, and cut power plant pollution by more than 20% in just three years. We walked away from these real results. Now it’s time to go back to what works.”
MILLIONS IN FUNDS AVAILABLE FOR MONTANA CONSERVATION PROJECTS: Under a new law passed by the Montana Legislature, the public can now access $32 million in funds for various conservation projects, such as wildlife habitat restoration, improving trail access, conserving water, and land preservation. The funds will be made available over the next two years and community members will be allowed access to the funds instead of solely state and government agencies.
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS SUE OVER GAS PIPELINE PERMIT: Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s approval of a key permit for the 31-mile Southgate extension of the Mountain Valley methane gas pipeline. The suit claims the Virginia DEQ failed to adequately protect the state’s waterways when it granted the pipeline certification under the Clean Water Act despite past violations of state water regulations.
TEXAS APPROVES LARGEST FOSSIL FUEL PLANT IN U.S.: In a massive blow to clean energy, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality has approved a plan to build 93 natural gas turbines to support what will become the largest data center complex in the country. The sheer size of the project means it poses a massive risk to air quality, as the plant could emit as much as 24 million tons of greenhouse gases per year.
TRUMP DELIVERS DISINFORMATION AND EMPTY PROMISES IN STATE OF THE UNION: During his State of the Union address, Trump asserted a wide range of misleading and false claims, including on his administration’s handling of the affordability crisis. Since taking office, prices for everyday consumers have risen across the board, from groceries to healthcare, and especially energy. Instead of working to bring more clean, affordable energy online, Trump has consistently attacked offshore wind and solar power projects that people across the country widely view as a solution to rising energy bills. He also made a series of empty promises about requiring energy- and water-guzzling data centers to pay their fair share of electricity costs, but remains committed to powering them with fossil fuels, despite the majority of people wanting to see data centers powered by clean energy.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Sara Chieffo said, “Promises to lower energy prices for working families ring hollow from a President who promised to cut energy costs in half while instead driving them up 13% in his first year. We’ve seen Trump’s so-called deals with corporations before. He makes big claims but never holds corporations accountable and always leaves everyday people to foot the bill. The public is rightly concerned about the impact the data center boom will have on their energy and water bills, their health, and their quality of life. Data centers must be powered with clean energy and tech companies have to pay their fair share for the resources they’re using. Anything less is a giveaway to big tech and big polluters — at our expense. If President Trump were actually serious about lowering energy bills, he would stop his extreme attacks on clean energy — the fastest and most affordable new energy.”
NRDC ACTION VOTES AND LCV VICTORY FUND RAISE $11 MILLION: NRDC Action Votes and LCV Victory Fund have raised over $11 million so far in the 2026 midterm cycle through their joint political fundraising program, GiveGreen. The funds will be used to boost pro-environment candidates across congressional, state and local races. Since GiveGreen’s inception in 2010, donors have raised over $180 million and helped to elect more than 1,400 pro-environment candidates.
LCVVF TAKE: LCV Vice President, Give Green Erica Slates said, “Our supporters know the stakes for our climate and our right to free and fair elections have never been higher. Donald Trump and his allies in Congress continue to undermine the health and safety of our communities and ban clean energy which is raising costs for families — all to give even more handouts to Big Polluters. Communities across the country are seeing the impacts of Republicans’ affordability crisis through skyrocketing energy bills and funding cuts to critical energy and climate projects. The contrast between the pro-climate, pro-democracy champions we are supporting on GiveGreen and candidates who cater to Big Oil could not be more clear, and we’re all in to support the candidates who can flip Congress, key legislatures, statewide offices and more this year.”
LCV ACTION FUND ENDORSES HOUSE REPRESENTATIVES: LCV Action Fund announced six new endorsements for the House of Representatives. The endorsements include incumbents John Larson (CT-01), Ed Case (HI-01), Brad Schneider (IL-10), Alma Adams (NC-12), and Lizzie Fletcher (TX-07) in addition to candidate Sarah Trone Garriott (IA-03). LCV Action Fund works to elect leaders who will stand for a strong democracy and a clean energy future, and who will defeat anti-environment opponents.
OUR TAKE: LCV Action Fund Vice President of Political Affairs Craig Auster said, “We are all in to elect these climate champions to Congress who are relentlessly fighting to protect the health and safety of our communities, democracy, and future generations and lower costs for working families. While our climate and democratic institutions continue to undergo unprecedented attacks by the Trump administration and his far-right allies in Congress, it has never been more critical for members of Congress to stand up for our democracy, our rights, and our climate.”
STATE LEADERS STAND AGAINST BLM NOMINEE STEVE PEARCE: Conservation leaders have come together in a show of solidarity against Trump’s nominee for director of the Bureau of Land Management,Steve Pearce. Pearce has frequently voiced support for selling public lands to oil and gas companies and has voted to fast-track public land sales during his time in Congress, as well as arguing the sale of national public lands will pay down the country’s deficit. His track record is dangerous for the environment and for the preservation of our public lands.
CONSERVATION CO TAKE: Conservation Colorado Executive Director Kelly Nordini said, “Putting Steve Pearce in charge of the Bureau of Land Management poses a profound threat to our public lands. His documented history of treating our shared landscapes as assets to be liquidated is incompatible with the interests and values of Coloradans as highlighted in the recently released 2026 State of the Rockies Poll, in which the vast majority of Coloradans opposed public land sell-off. We deeply appreciate Sens. Bennet and Hickenlooper for drawing a hard line early and fighting to protect the public lands that drive Colorado’s economy and define our state.”
CVI TAKE: Conservation Voters for Idaho Executive Director Alexis Pickering said, “Public lands are what make our nation great. Idaho needs a BLM Director who wants to work with Idahoans to improve management and invest in our land, not someone who wants to sell them to the highest bidder. When Steve Pearce sells America’s public lands for private development, they are gone forever. We can’t afford a BLM Director like Steve Pearce that will squander our most precious resource; the public lands that provide revenue, habitat, public recreation, and support our Idaho way of life.”
MCVEF TAKE: Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund Executive Director Ben Super said, “Steve Pearce’s record makes him profoundly unfit to lead the Bureau of Land Management. For decades, he has worked to weaken public-land protections, promote the sale and transfer of federal lands, and advance the interests of the oil and gas industry over the interests of the American people. His environmental voting record is among the worst in Congress, and his long financial entanglements with the oil industry cast serious doubt on his ability to serve the public trust. Unsurprisingly, Montanans overwhelmingly reject this nomination. Recent polling shows that 75% of Montanans oppose Pearce’s nomination to lead the BLM — a clear signal that the public expects leadership that will defend, not dismantle, our public lands. Montanans will hold members of Montana’s congressional delegation accountable for this decision and for the impacts it has on our lands, waters, and outdoor way of life.”
NCL TAKE: Nevada Conservation League Executive Director Kristee Watson said, “Public lands are core to our identity in the West — and in Nevada, where over 80% of our lands are federally managed — this position couldn’t be more consequential. 92% of Nevadans support keeping national monument protections in place. Yet Steve Pearce spent his career pushing federal land selloffs and rolling back those very protections. How can someone who has repeatedly opposed public lands be trusted to manage them? Putting Pearce in charge puts 48 million acres of Nevada’s public lands at risk of sell-off, threatening sacred sites, and jeopardizing 75,000 outdoor recreation jobs. His nomination is another part of Trump’s effort to privatize America’s public lands. Our lands are part of our heritage and should be protected for future generations, not put up for sale.”
CVNM TAKE: Conservation Voters New Mexico Executive Director Demi Foster said, “New Mexico’s public lands feed a deep well of values and traditions, of stewardship and land ethic. Steve Pearce has a devastating record of waging war on the very things that the Bureau of Land Management is tasked, in the heart of its mission, to protect. In New Mexico, Pearce has a history of encouraging counties to overrule or ignore federal laws and activities. He was accused of encouraging Catron County officials to cut dozens of unpermitted road crossings over the San Francisco river in the Gila National Forest. He strongly opposed creation of the Organ Mountains-Desert Peaks monument in 2014, claiming that monument creation leads to economic downturn and lower quality of life for nearby communities. But a 2023 report showed the monument had generated $234 million in cumulative economic impacts for the region, something public lands advocates know is true of public lands in general. Steve Pearce is deeply out of touch with the people of New Mexico and the Western states and their fierce love of public lands.”
STEWARDSHIP UTAH TAKE: Stewardship Utah Public Lands Policy Associate Alma Baste said, “Stewardship Utah opposes the nomination of Steve Pearce as Director of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).The BLM manages nearly 23 million acres of lands in Utah for the public, representing about 42% of the state. This land includes some of our most iconic places, shapes our identity, and is central to Utah’s economy, particularly in the rural parts of our state. In his time in Congress, Steve Pearce worked to sell those same public lands he would be responsible for managing as Director of the BLM. We shouldn’t ask the fox to guard the henhouse. Utah cannot afford to have Steve Pearce at the helm of the BLM.”
REPUBLICANS IN THE HOUSE AGRICULTURE COMMITTEE PROPOSE PARTISAN FARM BILL: House Agriculture Chair Glenn Thompson has proposed a five-year farm bill that would weaken protections for public health and our natural resources and take money from conservation programs. The bill would limit states’ ability to require health warnings on pesticides, shielding pesticide manufactures from lawsuits related to their products causing adverse health conditions like cancer. It would also rollback environmental review requirements for logging in national forests, boosting the size of logging projects avoiding review to 10,000 acres, accelerating the rate of deforestation.
COALITION TAKE: In opposition of the bill, LCV and a coalition of organizations said, “As a broad coalition of anti-hunger, public health, environmental, labor, and farmer organizations representing voters and advocates in every Congressional district, we write to voice our objections to H.R. 7567, the Farm, Food, and National Security Act of 2026. This bill breaks from the longstanding bipartisan, collaborative process that has traditionally produced durable Farm Bills. At a time when farmers, workers, and families are facing rising costs and growing instability, this proposal falls woefully short. It turns its back on hungry families, erodes public health protections, overlooks the needs of workers and consumers, undermines farmers’ access to proven conservation programs, lacks the robust investments and reforms necessary to propel small family farms forward, and weakens longstanding environmental laws. The bill falls far short of what our country needs and deserves. We urge you to oppose this legislation and get back to work on a truly bipartisan Farm Bill that meets the urgency of the moment.”
SENATE BUDGET REPORT EXPOSES MAJOR SUBSIDIES FOR FOSSIL FUEL COMPANIES: A new report released by Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee Jeff Merkley (OR) exposed a dramatic increase in federal subsidies to fossil fuel companies under Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” also known as the “Big Ugly Bill.” The Big Ugly Bill provided $3.5 billion annually in new subsidies to fossil fuel companies, on top of their existing annual $31 billion in federal subsidies. It also projects household energy bills will increase by $110 a year on average by 2026, and $280 per year by 2035, as energy prices continue to rise and the Trump administration caters to the fossil fuel industry.
SUPREME COURT TO HEAR FOSSIL FUELS LAWSUIT: The Supreme Court has agreed to hear Suncor Energy v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, a high-stakes case that could determine whether plaintiffs can pursue lawsuits under state law against fossil fuel companies for contributing to the effects and harms of climate change. The case centers on claims made by Boulder, Colorado, that companies misled the public about the dangers of fossil fuels and should be required to pay for climate-related damages. The court’s decision to take up the dispute signals a potential turning point for dozens of similar state lawsuits nationwide.
ON THE BLOG: The 2025 LCV National Environmental Scorecard is live! Check out The Power Source Blog to learn about key takeaways from this year’s Scorecard and how to use it to hold your members of Congress accountable for their votes on environment and democracy.
ON OUR SOCIALS: The Olympics may have wrapped, but the scores keep on coming! LCV National Environmental Scorecard scores, that is. And we’ve got all the action and insights on our socials! Answering big questions like, “Does my member of Congress care about the environment?” and “What was the most egregious vote of 2025?”, we’ve got everything you need to stay in the know on your members’ voting records (and on the internet’s most beloved celebrity, Punch).
MARCH 2: Purim begins.
MARCH 8: Daylight Saving Time begins.
MARCH 17: St. Patrick’s Day.
MARCH 20: First day of Spring.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters