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 state efforts to bring down energy costs, Republican attacks on people and public lands, and LCV’s latest batch of endorsements for Congress.
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“A law that delays registration, even by one day or a few hours, is more likely to deprive qualified voters access to the ballot.”
— Judge Samantha Elliott in her decision striking down a New Hampshire law requiring documentary proof-of-citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, for voter registration.
“While we pay more and more on our energy bills, monopoly utility companies, like Consumers Energy, make billions in profits. Our bills are too damn high already.”
— Alex Kellogg, energy accountability manager for the Michigan League of Conservation Voters, on the necessity of passing the Ratepayer Bill of Rights.
“Just as Alabama doubled down on racial discrimination, the Court today doubles down on chaos.”
— Justice Sonia Sotomayor in her dissent to the Supreme Court’s recent opinion greenlighting racially discriminatory redistricting in Alabama.
DUKE ENERGY CUSTOMERS PROTEST PROPOSED RATE HIKE: After Duke Energy proposed increasing their rates by around 18% in the next two years, customers packed a Durham courthouse to raise their concerns about energy affordability and accessibility. North Carolina LCV joined partners to hold a rally ahead of the hearing that featured drag performers parodying large tech corporations that are pushing the rapid buildout of energy-hungry data centers, a major cause of rising energy rates.
NCLCV TAKE: North Carolina LCV Clean Energy Campaigns Director Michelle (Meech) Carter said, “Low-income customers are incredibly vulnerable to this pending rate increase. Duke’s Customer Assistance Program, which gives low-income folks $42 per month off their bill, is scheduled to end right when these hikes hit. Seniors on fixed incomes and residents already struggling to get by will be hit with a $65 per month increase or more. I work with folks already paying 75% of their incomes to keep their lights on. Is $5 billion in profit not enough for Duke Energy?”
MICHIGAN’S “MONEY OUT OF POLITICS” BALLOT INITIATIVE RECEIVES 561K SIGNATURES: This week, Michigan LCV and partners submitted 561,468 petition signatures to the Michigan Bureau of Elections in support of a ballot initiative to ban utilities and other corporations from political spending. To get on the ballot this fall, the proposed initiative needed 356,000 valid voter signatures.
MICHIGAN’S CONSUMER ENERGY ASKS FOR $456 MILLION RATE INCREASE: Two months after the Michigan Public Service Commission approved a $276 million rate increase for Consumers Energy, the utility has applied for an additional $456 million annual rate increase that would raise costs for nearly 1.8 million electricity customers.
MILCV TAKE: Michigan LCV Energy Accountability Manager Alex Kellogg said, “Costs for everything have gone up, and the never-ending rate hikes from monopoly utility companies are putting the squeeze on Michigan families.”
ILLINOIS GOVERNOR PAUSES DATA CENTER TAX INCENTIVES: Governor Pritzker instructed the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to pause processing agreements for the state’s Data Center Investment Program. Pritzker also outlined a new framework to address the impact of data centers on energy affordability and reliability, clean energy, water resources, clean air protections, transparency, and local communities. The governor’s announcement came after Illinois Environmental Council and partner organizations held a rally that turned out over 600 people to the state capitol calling for guardrails to protect communities from the impacts of data centers.
CONSERVATION COLORADO HOSTS REBEL WITH A CAUSE 2026: Conservation Colorado welcomed community members and partners to its annual Rebel with a Cause 2026 celebration, recognizing the advocates and climate champions driving progress on conservation and environmental issues across Colorado. The event served as an opportunity to reflect on recent wins and strengthen support for ongoing efforts to protect the state’s air, land, water, and communities.
HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE APPROVES FY27 INTERIOR, ENVIRONMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT: The House Appropriations Committee voted 35-27 along party lines to advance the Fiscal Year 2027 Interior, Environment and Related Agencies bill. The bill slashes funding for the EPA by 20%, and includes funding cuts for the National Park Service, the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, and Fish and Wildlife Service. These cuts will cause lasting harm to our environment and the health of our communities.
OUR TAKE: Ahead of the vote, LCV Legislative Director David Shadburn said, “House Republicans will stop at nothing to raise our energy bills and gut clean energy. As hardworking families struggle to keep up with skyrocketing costs, House Republicans are using the funding bill meant to protect the environment to target offshore wind projects that help keep costs low, while continuing to enable taxpayer giveaways to Big Oil amid record breaking profits. This latest attack also cuts crucial funding for clean air and water protections at the Environmental Protection Agency, guts protections for the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, and limits the ability to protect public lands from being sold-off and from new mining and oil and gas development. Congress needs to go back to the drawing board and introduce a bill that will actually protect our environment and help hardworking families lower costs.”
SENATE REPUBLICANS BLOCK MERCURY POLLUTION PROTECTIONS: Senate Republicans blocked a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution attempting to restore mercury and air toxics standards for coal- and oil-fired power plants that were repealed by the Trump administration. With this vote, Senate Republicans deepened their complicity with the Trump administration’s scheme to roll back limits on dangerous emissions from power plants, resulting in worsening air quality for communities across the country.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of Federal Policy and former EPA scientist Matthew Davis said, “Senate Republicans are doing all they can to advance Trump’s reckless, costly, and harmful energy policies, and their latest rejection of critical safeguards against dirty power plant pollution endangers communities and the developing brains of children. Solutions exist and are already being used to reduce toxic mercury and air pollution from power plants that worsens the climate crisis and harms our health. Instead of advancing these clean solutions that save families money and heartache, MAGA Republicans are helping Trump give even more handouts to Big Polluters and billionaire donors. We appreciate the leadership of Senator Whitehouse and Senate Democrats to stand up for the health of families and the environment. The Trump administration must stop their reckless rollbacks of critical standards that protect our communities and our future generations.”
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR HOLDS OIL AND GAS LEASE SALE IN ALASKA’S COASTAL PLAIN: Today, the Bureau of Land Management held an oil and gas lease sale on 700,000 acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s Coastal Plain. The lease sale, mandated under Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill, drew just two bidders.
OUR TAKE: Ahead of the sale, LCV Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick said, “The diverse and sacred landscape of the Arctic Refuge is unlike any other and should never be sacrificed for oil and gas drilling. Not only would it devastate the wildlife that sustains the Gwich’in and forever alter this last wild place, past failed lease sales demonstrate that it is not economical, and more drilling would do nothing to lower energy costs caused by Trump’s reckless and unpopular energy policies. Any companies considering drilling in the Arctic Refuge would be doing so against the majority of people who support protecting this critical landscape.
“Instead of investing in clean energy solutions that are more affordable and faster to deploy, the Trump administration is cancelling clean energy projects and putting our public lands up for sale to push his ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda and give more handouts to his Big Polluter friends. LCV stands with the Gwich’in and urges companies to listen to the public and oppose drilling in the Arctic Refuge.”
TRUMP ANNOUNCES $700 MILLION HANDOUT FOR COAL: Trump is set to use wartime authority under the Defense Prevention Act to spend $700 million in taxpayer funds to bolster the failing coal industry. That number includes $425 million for 13 existing coal plants, $75 million for a coal export terminal in California, and $185 million in grant funding to build new coal plants in Alaska and West Virginia and restart a plant in Maryland. This is the latest in a slew of handouts from the Trump administration that will lock the country in for decades of continued reliance on dirty, expensive fossil fuels.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of Federal Policy and former EPA scientist Matthew Davis said, “There’s nothing beautiful or great about wasting hundreds of millions more of taxpayer dollars on dirty, dangerous coal. Coal has been on the way out for years because of its high cost to our health and the economy, while cheaper, cleaner options are available and being deployed. Coal also hurts the workers, communities, and families who are already paying the high costs of Trump’s reckless energy, labor, and environmental policies the most. While Trump continues to raise costs for families and give handouts to his Big Polluter CEO and billionaire friends, he wants taxpayers to pay the price with their health and their wallets.”
TRUMP ADMIN IS DISMANTLING THE OCEAN OBSERVATORIES INITIATIVE: The National Science Foundation has announced that it will dismantle the Ocean Observatories Initiative, a major network of ocean monitors that has helped identify the effects of climate change for the last decade. Hundreds of underwater instruments along the coasts of Washington, Oregon, New England, and North Carolina will be removed, as well as instruments in the Gulf of Alaska and Irminger Sea.
OUR TAKE: LCV said, “Just days away from #WorldOceanDay, the Trump administration is dismantling more than 900 deep-sea instruments that provide real-time data on ocean warming, coastal flooding, fishery health, and more. This administration is committed to finding new and destructive ways to make all of us worse off.”
FEDERAL COURT STRIKES DOWN NEW HAMPSHIRE’S NEW VOTER SUPPRESSION LAW: A federal judge struck down a new law in New Hampshire that required hard-copy proof of citizenship, such as a passport or birth certificate, for voter registration on the grounds that it is unconstitutional. The law was a state-level equivalent of congressional Republicans’ SAVE Act, and could have disenfranchised thousands of eligible voters in New Hampshire.
NEVADA LEGISLATOR EMPHASIZES SUPPORT FOR EXTREME HEAT BILL: Rep. Dina Titus (NV-01) joined a roundtable hosted by LCV affiliates Nevada Conservation League and Chispa Nevada, alongside Climate Power, where panelists discussed the changes lawmakers can make to prevent heat-related deaths, discussing cooling centers, tree canopy, worker protections, strains on the energy grid, and other topics. Titus reaffirmed her commitment to her Extreme Weather and Heat Response Modernization Act, a bill allowing FEMA to use natural disaster funding for extreme heat.
NCL TAKE: Nevada Conservation League Deputy Director Angelyn Tabalba said, “Nevadans cannot afford a federal government that walks away from the heat crisis. Southern Nevada is already living the consequences in our emergency rooms, on our job sites, and in our utility bills. We brought these voices together today because the people closest to the pain are also closest to the solutions.”
NEW JERSEY GOVERNOR POSTPONES STRICTER FLOOD REGULATIONS BY ONE YEAR: Despite pushback from local officials, business groups, and lawmakers, Governor Mikie Sherill postponed the implementation of the state’s Resilient Environments and Landscapes (REAL) rules. The rules aimed to revamp flood, coastal, wetlands, and stormwater regulations in the state to address growing risks associated with climate change, including property damage due to chronic flooding.
NEW JERSEY LCV TAKE: In March, New Jersey League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Allison McLeoad said, “When we know better, we need to do better. And these rules are meant to protect human life, health, and property. They are meant to give us certainty about how to protect ourselves for the future that we know is coming.”
LCV ACTION FUND ENDORSES 22 CANDIDATES FOR CONGRESS: LCV Action Fund announced endorsements in 22 House and Senate races for the upcoming midterm elections, including Representatives Judy Chu (D-CA-28), Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02), Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), and Dr. Kim Schrier (D-WA-08), candidate for U.S. Senate Seth Bodnar (I-MT), and candidates for U.S. House of Representatives Hilda Solis (D-CA-38), Jessica Killin (D-CO-05), Bale Dalton (D-FL-07), Dr. Jasmine Clark (D-GA-13), Melissa Bean (D-IL-08), Lindsay James (D-IA-02), Zach Dembo (D-KY-06), Denise Powell (D-NE-02), Brian Poindexter (D-OH-07), Kristina Knickerbocker (D-OH-10), Bob Brooks (D-PA-07), Ben McAdams (D-UT-01), Shannon Taylor (D-VA-01), Tom Perriello (D-VA-05), Beth Macy (D-VA-06), and Nate Powell (I-WA-05).
LCVAF TAKE: LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Sara Chieffo said, “People across the country cannot afford the rising energy costs caused by Trump and his MAGA allies in Congress. LCV Action Fund is proud to endorse these candidates who are committed to fighting for clean energy solutions and a free and fair democracy for all. It’s no coincidence that those most impacted by rising costs are the same communities harmed most by the climate crisis and extreme weather, which is why it is critical to win a pro-clean energy majority in Congress and fight back against Trump’s reckless policies and continued giveaways to his Big Polluter and billionaire donors.”
SUPREME COURT ALLOWS ALABAMA TO USE MAP FOUND TO BE INTENTIONALLY DISCRIMINATORY AGAINST BLACK VOTERS: MAGA Justices on Supreme Court issued a decision in a shadow docket ruling allowing Alabama to utilize a congressional map a previous federal court found to be intentionally discriminatory against minority voters. This follows the Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais, where it effectively demolished what was left of the Voting Rights Act, the main source of protection for minority voters against racial discrimination in voting. The Court’s three liberal justices, led by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, dissented.
SENATE ADVANCES RECONCILIATION BILL FUNDING ICE: In a 52-47 vote along party lines, Senate Republicans approved around $70 billion in funding for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) using the budget reconciliation process despite months of opposition from across the aisle. The revised version of the bill removes $1 billion in funding for the White House’s new ballroom and Trump’s $1.8 billion anti-weaponization slush fund.
ON THE BLOG: Stay tuned for exciting new content, coming soon to The Power Source Blog!
ON OUR SOCIALS: Selling off sacred public lands, disenfranchising millions of voters, and dumping millions of dollars in taxpayer money into toxic, polluting coal. Just another day at the office for Trump and his fossil fuel cronies, am I right?
JUNE 9: Primary elections in Maine, Nevada, North Dakota, and South Carolina.
JUNE 16: Primary elections in D.C. and Oklahoma.
JUNE 19: Juneteenth.
©2026 League of Conservation Voters