What we achieved together in 2025 from EARTHJUSTICE 22DEZ25

 

EARTHJUSTICE, BECAUSE THE EARTH NEEDS A GOOD LAWYER Nearly one year ago, the Trump administration launched an unprecedented assault on our bedrock environmental laws. Our attorneys stepped up to meet the moment, and so did you, Craig. You have taken 105 actions with Earthjustice which helped us achieve important wins for the environment. Let's look at what you, as an Earthjustice advocate, have helped us achieve. In 2025, 352,083 of you sent 2,919,815 messages to legislators and agency officials and logged 9,368 phone calls to Congressional and state officials. Your actions had an impact. You fought — and won — in states and territories across the nation alongside Earthjustice's 229 attorneys and our teams of policy experts, scientists, and analysts. In California, Earthjustice advocates helped pass two key laws: one to lower energy bills and protect consumers from utility misbehavior, and another law that puts us on the path for industrial decarbonization. In Maryland, you helped pass critical clean energy bills during Trumps' "energy emergency," showing what public advocacy can achieve at a local level, especially during this anti-environment administration. Your comments and letters also led the rejection of an initial proposal on a Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling project. Thanks to you, it’s been sent back to the drawing board. Public comments matter, no matter who is in power. If the Trump administration finalizes harmful projects and rules, your comments become part of the official record. This provides Earthjustice with a basis for bringing them to court. When the administration announced it wants to make climate denialism the official policy, over half a million comments were submitted – over 90,000 from Earthjustice alone – speaking out against it. “I live on the coast in South Texas. We get hurricanes, which are getting stronger by climate change. We are going through a water crisis because each drought has been getting worse, partly due to climate change. And we are dealing with sea level rise. Something that dramatically alters where we can live safely, not to mention impacts on wildlife and recreation. Plus it’s getting hot out, really hot. And it keeps getting hotter. This is an all-hands-on-deck moment. We need everyone to work together on addressing the climate crisis. Please uphold climate protections.” You spoke up when the United States Forest Service proposed to rollback one of the most popular land conservation policies in the country. “Many of the finest moments of my life have occurred in the designated roadless areas of our shared National Forests in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. If we sacrifice these wild areas for private profit, we will deprive future generations of Americans the moments and memories I benefitted from in these lands.” The year ahead won't be an easy fight, but your voices made a difference. These victories happened because of Earthjustice's legal expertise, and the work of advocates like you. Take some time to see what we accomplished together in 2025 LEARN MORE   . Sincerely, The Team at Earthjustice

Thank you for your support of Earthjustice Earthjustice, 180 Steuart St #194330, San Francisco, CA 94105 About Us   Delivered to you by Earthjustice. Your support makes the difference. Photo Credits: Environmental advocates deliver written public comments to the Environmental Protection Agency on Trump’s proposal to repeal the endangerment finding and make climate denialism the official policy. (Alyssa Schukar for Earthjustice)   © 2025

Rand Paul Mocks Drowning Polar Bears, Rising Sea Levels And White House 'Extremists' 10NOV11

sen rand paul R KY is an idiot, here's more proof from HuffPost....

WASHINGTON -- Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul mocked concerns about global warming, rising sea levels and endangered polar bears Thursday, accusing the White House of being run by "extremists" and "hysterics" who don't care about jobs.
Paul, who was arguing for a resolution that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from enforcing court-ordered clean air rules, argued EPA was going too far in protecting health.
[UPDATE: 1:00 p.m.: The Senate voted down the resolution, 41 to 56, with six Republicans joining Democrats, and two Democrats, Nebraska's Ben Nelson and West Virginia's Joe Manchin, joining the minority.]
"To have clean air and jobs, we must have balance," Paul argued, contending that the EPA is wrong when it says 34,000 people will die prematurely every year if the cross-state air pollution rule does not go into effect, and that statistics show the air has already gotten much cleaner over the years.
And he slammed environmental advocates for ignoring such improvements.
"If you listen to the hysterics, you would think otherwise," Paul said. "You would think that the Statue of Liberty will shortly be under water and the polar bears are all drowning, and that we're dying from pollution. It's absolutely and utterly untrue."
"All of the statistics from the government -- and these are statistics from the EPA -- all of the statistics from the EPA show declining pollution," he said.

But most people don't know that, he asserted, because they've been deliberately misled.
"All of our schoolchildren have been brainwashed by these environmental hysterics who say, 'Oh, it's a lot worse now,' " he said, mentioning reporter John Stossel in an apparent reference to the highly criticized 2001 documentary "Tampering With Nature." "It's actually much better now."
And Paul contended that the country has come to this sad state because clean air advocates have taken over the top levels of government.
"I'm afraid what's happened is we've opened up the White House and this administration to environmental extremists -- the kind of people who say, 'Well, the polar bears are drowning,' " Paul said, contending that the bear fears are based only on one photo of a few bears on an ice flow.
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), who heads the Senate's environment committee, was so offended by Paul's remarks she criticized him directly in her own Senate floor remarks.
"Sen. Paul insulted the people of America," Boxer said, citing a poll that found 67 percent of the nation favor the rules limiting pollution from out-of-state coal-burning power plants.
"Are they extremists? No. They are mainstream," Boxer said. She also took issue with Paul for impugning the EPA's statistics, which he said were suspect because the agency paid the American Lung Association $5 million to do the scientific studies on air pollution.
"I think the senator owes an apology to the American Lung Association for making it sound like they're for air pollution rules because they are getting a payoff. It is an outrage, a complete outrage," she said, adding that the rules Paul wants to block stem from the Clean Air Act signed by President Richard Nixon.
"Does he think Richard Nixon was an extremist?" Boxer asked.
The issue is not completely partisan. A number of Republican senators from downwind states also oppose the Paul measure.
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) noted that the cross-state pollution rule comes from the Bush administration and that power plant operators have had six years to prepare. He said the Tennessee Valley Authority was fully prepared and expected the costs to be minimal.
He also pointed out that soot pollution was getting worse in Kentucky -- and potentially drifting to Tennessee, where he said folks don't want it not because they are extremists, but because the pollution kills people and jobs.
"We haven't elected a Democrat to Congress since Abraham Lincoln was president, but we like to breathe clean air. Tourists do as well," Alexander said.
He suggested that the resolution was being pushed primarily to pander to anti-government sentiments on the right.
"The only reason for it is as a political message," Alexander said. "What kind of message is it? It's that we favor dirty air."
The measure requires only a 51 vote majority to pass, but with Republicans defecting, it appeared likely to fail. A final vote was expected to be delayed until next week.