Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Commodity crops are continuing to eat up the vast, near-mythical sweep of North American grasslands, with nearly 2 million acres being plowed under every year, mostly for corn, soybeans and wheat, according to new research.

A survey, published this month by researchers at the World Wildlife Fund, analyzes for the first time the breadth of grasslands across three countries, from the Chihuahuan Desert in Mexico, across the Great Plains and other American regions, up to the Prairie Provinces of Canada. Using region-specific datasets, the researchers found a cumulative loss of about 1.8 million acres in 2023—roughly twice the size of Chicago.

Already the United States has lost roughly 70 percent of its grasslands to agriculture and development. These ongoing annual losses nibble away at the iconic landscape, which has seen fewer protections than other ecosystems, including forests. Advocacy groups say grasslands are the most imperiled ecosystems in the world.

Oil companies will “be held accountable” if they import any barrels of Russian diesel fuel under the deal that President Donald Trump struck with the Kremlin, House Judiciary ranking member Jamie Raskin said in a letter to industry heads Monday.

Raskin (D-Md.), who is expected to head the powerful Judiciary Committee if Democrats win control of the House in next week’s election, is the latest lawmaker to warn the industry against importing or processing any of the Russian fuel that is subject to U.S. sanctions. Trump has faced a wave of bipartisan criticism over his announcement earlier this month that the U.S. would buy Russian diesel in an effort to drive down fuel prices that are currently $2.70 a gallon higher than a year ago.

The federal Clean Water Act of 1972 was designed to protect the nation’s waterways from pollution, including waste discharged by concentrated animal feeding operations. But Iowa has never fully enforced the legislation even as factory farms proliferate and a decades-old water crisis deepens. 

Under the act, states are responsible for permitting concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) that discharge pollutants into waterways. These permits, issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, impose strict operating, monitoring and reporting requirements designed to prevent pollution. 

Iowa, however, has largely sidestepped that authority. The state Department of Natural Resources, which issues NPDES permits, has long embraced a more forgiving philosophy known as “coaching for compliance.” Rather than emphasizing penalties for violations, the approach prioritizes technical assistance and cooperation with regulated facilities.

Democrats hoping to regain power in Washington next year are seeking to revive a clean energy agenda rolled over by Republicans and President Donald Trump. But first they’ll need to decide whether that includes once-vaunted — but now fully politicized — electric vehicle buyer incentives.

Once a pillar of the Democratic clean energy agenda, the EV tax credits may now be a political liability. And the party is divided over whether they should revive the EV tax credits that the Trump administration has lambasted over the past few years — and that the American public has lost some of its enthusiasm for, according to polling.

Intense rainfall delayed Iowa’s harvest by nearly three weeks this year, but the combines are finally out in full force. So are top Trump administration officials.

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin and Vice President J.D. Vance have all traveled to Iowa in the last month, either in their official capacity or to campaign with GOP candidates. President Donald Trump visited Sioux City last Thursday and plans to return to Iowa before Election Day.

Though widespread frustration over affordability could fuel Democratic gains nationwide, Trump’s trade wars, the war in Iran and his support for the oil and gas industry have hit Iowa farmers particularly hard. The state is a leading producer of corn, soybeans and biofuels made from both crops.

An influential pair of strange bedfellows is joining forces in the effort to push energy permitting reform legislation over the finish line before the end of the year: the oil and clean energy industries. The two energy sectors, opposed in past fights over climate change policy and federal subsidies, have now converged on a shared goal: helping get a long-gestating permitting reform bill to President Donald Trump’s desk in the lame-duck session of Congress, despite worsening political headwinds.

The president temporarily waived clean-air rules for industrial facilities that spew cancer-causing gases. Then his appointees worked to gut the regulations altogether.

Within sight of a southeast Texas middle school stands a chemical plant that President Trump excused from new federal rules intended to curb its cancer-causing pollution.

About a 30-minute drive from Pittsburgh, a steel-making facility has spewed carcinogenic chemicals near homes for years. Mr. Trump gave it a similar waiverfrom recent clean-air rules.

And on the outskirts of Richmond, Va., the owners of an industrial warehouse emailed the Trump administration asking for their own waiver. Their wish was granted. Nine months later, the facility accidentally released a large plume of carcinogenic gas into the community.

With the November midterm elections fast approaching, President Donald Trump is throwing an array of costly and politically fraught solutions at one stubborn problem: the price of diesel.

His administration has offered billions of dollars to farmers, relaxed rules for truckers, eased sanctions on Russian fuel and pressured European allies to release emergency stocks. Yet diesel prices rose again last week, leaving Trump spending political and financial capital without delivering the relief his party wants as voters go ‌to the polls.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order this month to expand access to tax-exempt diesel as soaring prices frustrate voters ahead of midterm elections. But farmers say it is too risky to use the fuel on public roads, while some other drivers do not have access to it.

Trump has sought to lower prices and boost ‌his sagging approval ratings through a series of actions focused on fuel, including an $8 billion financial support programhe announced on Monday to offset diesel costs for farmers during the autumn harvest.

A new report from the United Nations Environment Programme suggests that limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels is no longer a realistic outcome, even under the most ambitious emissions-reduction scenarios.

The report’s lowest-warming scenario, which would require steep cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, would only limit peak global warming to 1.7 to 1.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The 2015 Paris Agreement, adopted by almost every country in the world, set a goal of keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) while pursuing efforts to limit the increase to 1.5 degrees. The United States has withdrawn from the agreement twice under President Donald Trump, most recently last year.