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 legislation to fight back against Trump’s attacks on clean energy, the joint address to Congress, and the reintroduction of the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act.
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“I’m going to insist that we stand up for our constituents, for the American people across this country and fight back so we can make sure we’re delivering for working people everywhere.”
– Representative Pramila Jayapal after walking out of President Trump’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night.
“I joined the Park Service because I really believe in the mission. I believe in preserving and protecting public lands for this generation and the next generation… and I see that currently being eroded.”
— Lydia Jones, Lead Park Ranger at Badlands National Park, who was fired as a result of cuts from the Trump administration.
“We can’t fix our forests if we don’t have anybody to fix our forests.”
— Matt Weiner, CEO of wildfire policy group Megafire Action, on the future of wildfire prevention in the wake of Trump’s firing of thousands of Forest Service employees.
ILLINOIS LAWMAKERS INTRODUCE CLEAN AND RELIABLE GRID AFFORDABILITY ACT: Illinois lawmakers introduced legislation, the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability Act (CRGA), to increase energy storage capacity, promote energy efficiency, and improve grid reliability in the state. The bill would lower energy costs and improve reliability for Illinois residents while working to address the climate crisis.
IEC TAKE: In an email to supporters, Illinois Environmental Council Energy Policy Director Samira Hanessian said, “The CRGA Act offers the commonsense solutions we need to address the unprecedented threats to ratepayers, our power grid, and our climate. Our outdated power grid is increasingly at risk from the impacts of climate change and intensifying extreme weather events. These challenges are only exacerbated by the Trump administration’s war on climate action. Here in Illinois, we’re no stranger to bold climate action, and know that clean energy resources like energy efficiency, solar, and battery storage strengthen our grid and shield ratepayers from electricity price volatility. The CRGA Act will bolster our grid with those affordable clean energy resources.”
LCV JOINS LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, PUBLIC CITIZEN, OTHERS FOR DEMOCRACY EVENT: On Tuesday, ahead of Trump’s joint address to Congress, LCV joined the League of Women Voters and other organizations to gather in front of the White House and reflect on the state of our democracy and the need to protect our fundamental rights. Similar gatherings were also hosted across the country.
OUR TAKE: LCV Democracy Program Director Justin Kwasa said, “At LCV we have a saying that you can’t have a healthy environment without a healthy democracy. What we mean by that is that none of the issues we care about can be properly addressed if our democracy doesn’t equitably represent the people that live in it. With that in mind, we understand that now is the time that we must unite to make democracy work for us. We must join together in solidarity across race, class, geography and issue area because all of our individual battles are just different sides of the same coin…Right now Trump is 16 blocks away addressing Congress in a hall of power, but we know that’s not where the power in our democracy comes from. It comes from us uniting together at events like this and spreading a positive vision of what America can mean for all of us.”
DEMOCRATS INTRODUCE LEGISLATION TO REPEAL TRUMP ENERGY EXECUTIVE ORDERS: Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Representatives Kathy Castor (D-FL) and Paul Tonko (D-NY) have introduced the “Defending American Jobs and Affordable Energy Act of 2025.” The bill would undo Trump’s Day One executive orders that are destroying clean energy production and driving up energy costs across the country.
WYDEN TAKE: Senator Ron Wyden said, “Since day-one, Trump has been laser focused on giving handouts to the oil and gas industry at the expense of American jobs. As the nation braces itself for more spin from Trump during tonight’s State of the Union, here are the facts: crippling clean energy production at home will only lead to clean energy manufacturing packing up and moving to China. Rural communities, which are the American epicenter of clean energy jobs and investments, will suffer the consequences of Trump’s ignorance. America needs a leading clean energy response to continue to be a dominant energy force against China.”
DOGE CANCELS LEASES FOR DOZENS OF ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT OFFICES: DOGE announced that it has cancelled more than 700 leases for federal government offices, including ones used by EPA scientists, National Park Service officials, energy regulators, NOAA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and more. Cancelling these leases will hinder government officials’ ability to perform their duties within our communities and perpetuate harm to critical government workers and programs our communities rely on.
TRUMP DELIVERS JOINT ADDRESS TO CONGRESS: On Tuesday night, President Trump delivered the Joint Address to Congress where he made it clear that he plans to continue his power grab that benefits his billionaire and Big Oil allies and hurts our communities. Dozens of Democrats walked out of the speech, while others, such as Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Patty Murray, declined to attend altogether. Senator Elissa Slotkin delivered congressional Democrats’ response to the speech.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of Federal Policy and former EPA scientist Matthew Davis said, “Tonight President Trump demonstrated that he only plans to continue his broad overreach of power and implementation of Project 2025 that benefits his billionaire allies and Big Oil. He double-downed on his sham energy emergency and his attempts to illegally steal essential grants, halt programs, and slash workers and agencies which are unpopular and already causing harm to hardworking families across the country. These executive orders and drastic measures are not lowering costs, delivering for hardworking families or ‘getting toxins out of our environment,’ but instead increasing energy bills, causing job losses for families, making our air and water dirtier, and putting our health and safety at risk. Trump and unelected Musk’s dangerous actions are all at the expense of everyday families’ health, budgets, communities and livelihoods and must be stopped. We are all in to continue to fight back against these cruel attacks on our communities, families, resources, and environment to ensure that bedrock environmental laws, our democracy, and our communities are protected.”
SLOTKIN TAKE: Senator Elissa Slotkin, in her response to the joint address, said, “Our democracy has been the aspiration of the world. And right now, it is at risk. It’s at risk when the president decides you can pick and choose what rules you want to follow, when he ignores court orders and the Constitution itself, or when elected leaders stand by and just let it happen. But it’s also at risk when the president pits Americans against each other, when he demonizes those who are different, and tells certain people they shouldn’t be included.”
Ahead of the address, LCV released a memo outlining the harmful lies and policies we expected Trump to highlight in his speech. If you want the facts, check out the memo.
TAKE 2: LCV Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said, “Trump has made it clear through Day One actions, subsequent executive orders, his billionaire cabinet, and his outsourcing of cruel chaos and illegal firings to Elon Musk that he is going to continue to threaten our clean air and water, democracy and livelihoods for the benefit of Big Oil and other Big Polluters. Now more than ever, we need to hold them accountable, build climate resilience, and protect our democracy.”
REPRESENTATIVE SEWELL REINTRODUCES JOHN R. LEWIS VOTING RIGHTS ADVANCEMENT ACT: Representative Terri Sewell reintroduced the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act this week. The legislation, which was strategically introduced the same week as the 60th anniversary of John Lewis’s “Bloody Sunday” march across the Edmund Pettus bridge in Selma, Alabama, is a critical safeguard to protecting democracy in this country by ensuring federal protection against discriminatory voting rights laws.
OUR TAKE: LCV Democracy Program Director Justin Kwasa said, “Sixty years after Representative John Lewis was attacked on a bridge in Selma, Alabama, for demanding the right to vote, our fundamental rights, including our right to vote in free and fair elections, are under escalating attacks. As the Trump administration, extremist Republicans in Congress, and far-right Justices on the Supreme Court attempt to roll back voting rights and prioritize the interests of Big Polluters and ultra-wealthy corporate CEOs over people in this country, it is critical that we protect every voter’s freedom to vote — no matter their race, income, or zip code. We urge Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and other critical voting rights legislation, including the Freedom to Vote Act and D.C. Statehood.”
CHISPA TAKE: Chispa Senior Director Estefany Carrasco-González said, “The John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is needed now more than ever as our nation and communities face a ruthless assault on democracy, our civil rights, and our right to vote. Our democracy is stronger when all citizens can participate freely and fairly, not just a few. Instead, we have constant attempts – from voter suppression to disinformation – to justify trying over and over to take away the right to vote from eligible voters. The reintroduction of this bill is critical to protect our fundamental right to choose leaders to represent us.”
ON THE BLOG: While we may no longer have a climate champion in the White House, we are still seeing exciting work and climate wins across the country. Check out the latest round-up of good climate news from the last month!
ON OUR SOCIALS: We’re going to be so real with you: right now sucks. But who could have possibly seen things like the impact of federal layoffs in red states, lost jobs, and increasing energy prices coming?? 👀Maybe Senators Kaine and Heinrich, and like… all of the climate and democracy champions in Congress, but that’s just us.
TODAY: 60th Anniversary of “Blood Sunday” march in Selma, AL.
MARCH 8: International Women’s Day.
MARCH 14: Government funding runs out.
MARCH 17-21: Congress out on recess.
MARCH 20: First day of spring!
©2025 League of Conservation Voters