environmental justice
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California residents challenge methane policy they say pollutes under the guise of clean energy
Residents in California’s Central Valley are pushing back against a state-backed program that incentivizes methane digesters at industrial dairies, arguing it locks in pollution and worsens environmental health in Latino communities.
In short:
- California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) subsidizes methane digesters at large dairies, but critics say the policy encourages dairy expansion and entrenches fossil fuel infrastructure.
- Lawsuits and community advocates argue the program ignores local pollution and fails to meet environmental review standards, while benefiting corporations like Chevron and BP.
- Residents in towns like Planada, where many are undocumented Latino farmworkers, say they’re being treated as expendable in the state’s climate strategy.
Key quote:
“Many of us have witnessed this transition from an innovative regulation into a swag bag for venture capitalists, big oil, big agriculture, and big gas, increasingly coming at the expense of low- and moderate-income Californians.”
— James Duffy, former California Air Resources Board employee
Why this matters:
Methane digesters are promoted as a climate solution, but their deployment raises red flags for public health and environmental equity. These facilities concentrate pollution in rural, low-income communities already burdened by industrial agriculture. The Central Valley, a hub of dairy production, suffers from some of the worst air quality in the nation, with ammonia and nitrate pollution contaminating water and air. While digesters capture methane, they do not address emissions from cow burps or the fossil-fuel-intensive feed system. Worse, they may encourage larger herds and more waste. Critics warn the state's market-based approach favors industry profits over real emissions cuts.
Related: California's dairy farms and the controversy surrounding methane digesters
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New Mexico groups take oil pollution case to state Supreme Court
A coalition of environmental, youth, and Indigenous groups is asking the New Mexico Supreme Court to revive a lawsuit claiming the state has failed its constitutional duty to protect residents from oil and gas pollution.
In short:
- Plaintiffs argue the state has ignored Article 20, Section 21 of its constitution, which requires the protection of air, water, and natural resources, particularly amid the oil boom in the San Juan and Permian Basins.
- The New Mexico Court of Appeals dismissed the case last month, prompting plaintiffs to appeal directly to the state’s highest court, citing environmental harm and unequal protection.
- Oil and gas production in the state has grown tenfold since 2010, using billions of gallons of fresh water for fracking and contributing significantly to climate pollution.
Key quote:
“Oil and gas pollution continues to harm our communities, poison our water and air, and threaten our sacred places. The state has a constitutional obligation to control pollution and we’re calling on our highest court to uphold that duty.”
— Julia Bernal, executive director of Pueblo Action Alliance
Why this matters:
New Mexico is one of the country’s biggest oil producers, yet large parts of its fossil fuel industry remain shielded from full environmental oversight due to outdated exemptions. Fracking operations draw heavily on scarce freshwater reserves, accelerating stress in a state already battling severe drought and aridification from climate change. Airborne pollutants and toxic wastewater from fossil fuel extraction endanger frontline communities, many of them Indigenous, who face higher exposure to environmental hazards and fewer legal protections. With the state’s constitution promising clean air and water, the outcome of this case could test how far those rights extend.
Read more: New Mexico lawmakers struggle to regulate oil and gas amid federal rollbacks
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How China raced ahead on clean energy while America clung to oil
Even as the climate crisis intensifies, China and the U.S. are charting wildly different energy paths — one doubling down on clean tech, the other on fossil fuels.
In short:
- China is aggressively expanding its global dominance in clean energy by building solar, wind, battery, EV, and nuclear infrastructure at unprecedented scale — including major investments abroad.
- The Trump administration is pushing an oil-and-gas agenda at home and abroad, undoing clean energy incentives while lobbying allies to invest in U.S. fossil fuels.
- The U.S. once led in renewable tech but failed to sustain investment, allowing China to corner the market through coordinated government support and control over key materials.
Key quote:
“When the federal government of the United States decides to go out of the race, it doesn’t stop the race. Other countries keep moving.”
— Rafael Dubeux, a senior official in Brazil’s Finance Ministry
Why this matters:
America — once a solar and wind innovator — is now backpedaling. The Trump administration is tossing lifelines to oil and gas companies, lobbying countries to buy U.S. crude, and rolling back policies that helped launch renewables in the first place. The U.S. is bet on short-term profits. China is playing the long game.
Read more:
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Greenpeace faces ruin after oil giant wins lawsuit rewriting Standing Rock history
The company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) convinced a North Dakota jury to blame Greenpeace for protests led by Indigenous activists — and now the nonprofit faces a $666 million penalty.
Episode one of SLAPP’d, the latest season of the Drilled podcast, focusing on the Greenpeace/DAPL trial.
In short:
- In 2016, thousands of people gathered near the Standing Rock Reservation to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline, led by Indigenous groups defending water and land rights. One of them, Cody Hall, became a public spokesperson for the resistance but was later targeted by a lawsuit.
- Energy Transfer, the pipeline’s builder, filed a sweeping racketeering suit alleging that Greenpeace and other nonprofits masterminded a violent conspiracy to sabotage the project — despite thin evidence and years of reporting confirming Indigenous leadership.
- The private security firm TigerSwan ran intelligence operations against protestors, and possible infiltrators may have posed as Greenpeace representatives, muddying the legal waters as Energy Transfer advanced a narrative that ultimately won over a jury.
Key quote:
“Greenpeace wasn’t running anything… They were merely an organization that was there as allies.”
— Cody Hall, former Red Warrior Camp spokesperson
Why this matters:
The verdict against Greenpeace in the Energy Transfer lawsuit is a landmark moment in how corporate power rewrites protest history. If a major energy company can bankrupt a nonprofit for supporting Indigenous-led protest, it chills dissent everywhere. And it distracts from the health and environmental harms these protests were trying to stop — namely, oil infrastructure that threatens water and cultural resources.
Read more:
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Senate passes GOP budget bill, hampering US shift to clean energy
A Senate-approved Republican budget bill would gut core parts of the 2022 climate law, stalling clean energy growth and likely raising Americans’ utility bills. The bill now goes to the House for final approval.
In short:
- The Senate’s Republican budget bill removes a proposed tax on solar and wind but accelerates the expiration of tax credits for renewable energy, threatening hundreds of clean energy projects.
- While some renewable incentives for technologies like hydropower and nuclear remain, clean energy advocates warn the bill favors fossil fuels and eliminates EV tax credits and the methane fee.
- Industry groups like the American Petroleum Institute celebrated the bill as a boost to oil and gas, while Democrats say it will drive up costs and damage U.S. energy independence.
Key quote:
“If the bill becomes law, families will face higher electric bills, factories will shut down, Americans will lose their jobs, and our electric grid will grow weaker.”
— Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO, Solar Energy Industries Association
Why this matters:
The Republican-led budget bill, by fast-tracking the expiration of tax credits that have been driving wind and solar projects from coast to coast and slashing incentives for electric vehicles, effectively steps on the brakes just as the U.S. clean energy economy was beginning to hit its stride.
Read more: The real scam — rail against renewables, run away with factories
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World leaders stall as Cop30 looms and climate pledges remain unfinished
With just four months until the United Nations climate summit in Brazil, most countries have yet to submit updated emissions plans, threatening the world’s ability to stay below the 1.5C warming threshold.
In short:
- Only a small fraction of countries have submitted new national climate plans required under the Paris Agreement, raising concerns that Cop30 in Belém will lack meaningful progress.
- Global temperatures have already breached 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, and scientists warn that without rapid emissions cuts by 2030, this overshoot could become permanent.
- Political distractions — from war and trade conflicts to rising populism — along with deliberate obstruction by fossil fuel interests are slowing international cooperation.
Key quote:
“Climate is our biggest war. Climate is here for the next 100 years. We need to focus and … not allow those [other] wars to take our attention away from the bigger fight that we need to have.”
— Ana Toni, chief executive of Cop30
Why this matters:
Climate summits like Cop30 are designed to hold governments accountable, but their success depends on political will — and right now, that’s faltering. The 1.5C threshold isn’t just symbolic; passing it risks triggering irreversible changes, from melting glaciers to collapsing ecosystems. Scientists warn the world has just two years left at current emissions rates before this boundary becomes locked in. Yet most nations haven’t updated their short-term targets, and fossil fuel expansion continues, especially in countries like China and the U.S. Meanwhile, poorer nations, facing mounting climate disasters, wait for promised funds that often don’t arrive.
Learn more: Cop30 faces challenges as Trump’s climate retreat and global tensions complicate negotiations
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Vermont soccer club kicks toward a cleaner future
In Burlington, Vermont, a scrappy amateur soccer team is drawing crowds and taking climate action one game at a time.
In short:
- The Vermont Green Football Club blends sports and sustainability, offering recycled uniforms, vegan food trucks, and compost bins at every game.
- The team’s climate-first mission includes donations to environmental groups, low-carbon operations, and partnerships with brands like Ben & Jerry’s and Seventh Generation.
- Players and fans alike are embracing the team’s ethos, from biking to games to rethinking personal habits — and even free vegan ice cream.
Key quote:
“It infuses everyone’s awareness in a way that’s much more joyful, much more connected, much more community oriented. When people experience climate action and environmental focus in that way, they see that joy can be a part of the work.”
— Eli Scheer, Vermont Green fan
Why this matters:
This semi-pro team has quickly become a cult favorite not just for its play, but for its unapologetically bold mission: to use the beautiful game to champion environmental justice. As extreme weather intensifies and air quality declines, Vermont Green offers a playbook for climate action that’s local, joyful, and infectious. It shows how sports — often carbon-heavy enterprises — can flip the script and become platforms for public engagement, behavior change, and community resilience. For fans disillusioned with corporate sports greenwashing, it's climate action in cleats.
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