May 20May 20 Author Environmentalists and local residents oppose a border wall plan that would go through Big Bend NP in Texas. The Trump regime waived environmental protections and awarded a $1.7 billion contract to build it anyway. https://www.texastribune.org/2026/05/15/texas-big-bend-border-wall-contract-awarded-billion/U.S. Customs and Border Protection awarded a $1.7 billion federal contract listed for border wall construction in the Big Bend region, fueling public confusion over the project after a previous assurance from a top agency official that no barriers would be built at the region’s national park.Opponents of wall construction in the region have seen their frustrations with the project mount as communication from the Trump administration about the project has been limited, and there have been few formal announcements about plans in the area."We obviously, at this point, don’t trust anything, but it’s like a roller coaster,” said Lico Miller, a business owner in Terlingua, a small, rural town a few miles west of Big Bend National Park."They have made it a mission to obfuscate and make this as confusing of a process as possible,” said Laiken Jordahl, National Public Lands Advocate at the Center for Biological Diversity.
May 27May 27 Author Construction crews working on Trump's border wall destroyed a large, ancient geoglyph in Arizona’s Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge. "This is an irreplaceable piece of human history that’s been permanently scarred."The Trump administration issued a series of waivers to bypass protections normally required under law.Center for Biological DiversityNew Photos, Videos Show Border Wall Construction Damage t...AJO, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity released new video footage and photographs today documenting recent damage from border wall construction to the Las Playas Intaglio, an ancient fish-sha
May 28May 28 21 hours ago, toolg said:Construction crews working on Trump's border wall destroyed a large, ancient geoglyph in Arizona’s Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge.The Trump administration issued a series of waivers to bypass protections normally required under law.Center for Biological DiversityNew Photos, Videos Show Border Wall Construction Damage t...AJO, Ariz.— The Center for Biological Diversity released new video footage and photographs today documenting recent damage from border wall construction to the Las Playas Intaglio, an ancient fish-shawhite America first!
May 29May 29 8 hours ago, toolg said:That’s a deliberately misleading community note. The reason it is cheaper than electricity from NEW gas and coal plants is because we (i) the plants require massive capital investment and (ii) environmental regulations have made building new plants, especially coal, economically impossible by design. However, electricity produced by EXISTING coal plants is still the cheapest - studies add amorphous costs for pollution to try and skew things. There’s a reason coal still produces the most electricity globally and is still growing.
May 29May 29 5 hours ago, vikas83 said:That’s a deliberately misleading community note. The reason it is cheaper than electricity from NEW gas and coal plants is because we (i) the plants require massive capital investment and (ii) environmental regulations have made building new plants, especially coal, economically impossible by design. However, electricity produced by EXISTING coal plants is still the cheapest - studies add amorphous costs for pollution to try and skew things. There’s a reason coal still produces the most electricity globally and is still growing.Not cheaper than nuclear
May 29May 29 Author 6 hours ago, vikas83 said:The reason it is cheaper than electricity from NEW gas and coal plants is because we (i) the plants require massive capital investment and (ii) environmental regulations have made building new plants, especially coal, economically impossible by design. However, electricity produced by EXISTING coal plants is still the cheapest - studies add amorphous costs for pollution to try and skew things. The cost of cleaning up environmental damage should absolutely be factored in.
May 29May 29 11 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:Not cheaper than nuclearFair enough though they are closer than people realize.
May 29May 29 2 minutes ago, vikas83 said:Fair enough though they are closer than people realize.Coal is not cheaper than solar. Not even without the ITC. Not sure where you got your info from.
May 29May 29 13 minutes ago, barho said:Coal is not cheaper than solar. Not even without the ITC. Not sure where you got your info from.Actual data when considering existing plants and the actual costs of generating electricity. I am involved in the industry.
May 30May 30 17 minutes ago, vikas83 said:Actual data when considering existing plants and the actual costs of generating electricity. I am involved in the industry.You’re wrongLCOE for utility scale solar projects have a range of $38 to $78 per MWh. Existing coal is $31 to $114 per MWh. While existing coal is competitive in some markets still more expensive compared to solar in most markets.I too am in the industry
May 30May 30 But I am in no way saying you don’t need fossi fuels. We are nowhere near that point with renewables and not sure we ever will be.
May 30May 30 15 minutes ago, barho said:You’re wrongLCOE for utility scale solar projects have a range of $38 to $78 per MWh. Existing coal is $31 to $114 per MWh. While existing coal is competitive in some markets still more expensive compared to solar in most markets.I too am in the industryCoal is more like 25-45, but markets have spiked recently due to Iran. The demand from Asia is growing rapidly.
May 30May 30 The context of the original tweet was Trump threatening to impose some sort of ban on all new plants using wind or solar. Which, of course, is stupid if the implication is that those new plants would instead have to burn coal or natural gas. Like barho said, both renewables and non-renewables have their place, and the costs of storage for renewables (except hydro) need to be factored in when applicable, like in cases when it's not for smaller scale supplemental generation needs.But setting environmental issues aside, renewables are much safer from an operational standpoint (and coal mining is also dangerous). And overall costs are trending downward for PV solar over time due to efficiency gains. A decade or two from now, the use cases for building a coal plant will be far and few between.
May 30May 30 16 hours ago, we_gotta_believe said:The context of the original tweet was Trump threatening to impose some sort of ban on all new plants using wind or solar. Which, of course, is stupid if the implication is that those new plants would instead have to burn coal or natural gas. Like barho said, both renewables and non-renewables have their place, and the costs of storage for renewables (except hydro) need to be factored in when applicable, like in cases when it's not for smaller scale supplemental generation needs.But setting environmental issues aside, renewables are much safer from an operational standpoint (and coal mining is also dangerous). And overall costs are trending downward for PV solar over time due to efficiency gains. A decade or two from now, the use cases for building a coal plant will be far and few between.Coal for electricity generation is all but dead and has been for years. Nat gas is far better and nearly as cheap now and is far more dispensable compared with coal. Gas peakers have been around for ages and can be paced just about anywhere to feed load. Data centers are planning to use them in large numbers.
May 31May 31 11 hours ago, barho said:Coal for electricity generation is all but dead and has been for years. Nat gas is far better and nearly as cheap now and is far more dispensable compared with coal. Gas peakers have been around for ages and can be paced just about anywhere to feed load. Data centers are planning to use them in large numbers.Dead for years yet still the number 1 global electricity source. And worldwide consumption rose year over year.
May 31May 31 9 hours ago, vikas83 said:Dead for years yet still the number 1 global electricity source. And worldwide consumption rose year over year.Dead in US for years. That’s a fact.
June 3Jun 3 Author The Trump administration is dismantling the Ocean Observatories Initiative, removing instruments from the ocean that monitor currents, climate, and biodiversity.https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/02/trump-administration-ocean-observatories-initiative
June 4Jun 4 Just now, toolg said:Today Trump announced a plan to subsidize new coal power plants.It’s absolutely bonkers
July 11Jul 11 Author Trump opened up habitats of endangered species for logging and mining. The administration ruled habitat destruction does not harm endangered species. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/climate/endangered-species-act-harm.htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/epa-rollback-endangered-habitats-logging-mining
Sunday at 05:41 AM5 days On 5/29/2026 at 2:03 AM, vikas83 said:That’s a deliberately misleading community note. The reason it is cheaper than electricity from NEW gas and coal plants is because we (i) the plants require massive capital investment and (ii) environmental regulations have made building new plants, especially coal, economically impossible by design. However, electricity produced by EXISTING coal plants is still the cheapest - studies add amorphous costs for pollution to try and skew things. There’s a reason coal still produces the most electricity globally and is still growing.The thing with coal, too, is that there are ways to make it more environmentally friendly. Scrubber towers remove a significant amount of pollution, and as a benefit a lot of times with scrubber towers the byproduct is gypsum, so it's economically advantageous for drywall plants to open up next to coal plants. It's not as bad as it used to be, but it does require a bit of an investment for the scrubbers, but the costs do get offset with selling the gypsum.On 5/29/2026 at 8:33 PM, we_gotta_believe said:The context of the original tweet was Trump threatening to impose some sort of ban on all new plants using wind or solar. Which, of course, is stupid if the implication is that those new plants would instead have to burn coal or natural gas. Like barho said, both renewables and non-renewables have their place, and the costs of storage for renewables (except hydro) need to be factored in when applicable, like in cases when it's not for smaller scale supplemental generation needs.But setting environmental issues aside, renewables are much safer from an operational standpoint (and coal mining is also dangerous). And overall costs are trending downward for PV solar over time due to efficiency gains. A decade or two from now, the use cases for building a coal plant will be far and few between.I remember watching a Peter Zeihan video years ago where he showcased how effective renewables were around the world. More or less the United States was in king ish territory for every single type of renewable, while Europe and Asia was ish out of luck. It reminded me of Chancellor Bismark saying that "God has a special providence for fools, drunkards, and the United States." Obviously a big problem with pollution right now is India and China, and they don't have the terrain for effective renewables like we do, and coal is abundant in those places, thus it's cheap. Makes me wonder what that's going to do to the geopolitical landscape down the road.Safety wise domestically, most everything is strip mined these days, so it's not as personally dangerous as it was. The turn the strip mining pissed off my grandfather who worked the mines as a teen. "It's not anthracite! It's bituminous!" Unfortunately the strip mines don't have any less of an environmental impact than deep shaft mining, but at least it's safer for the workers.On 5/31/2026 at 12:53 AM, vikas83 said:Dead for years yet still the number 1 global electricity source. And worldwide consumption rose year over year.See above w/r/t developing nations.For all of Nixon's faults, he was correct in his wanting us to get most of our power from nuclear power plants. As much as I hate to say it, France did it right. The amount of waste from one person over the course of a lifetimes would fit in a soda can. Unfortunately the Soviets cut every corner they could and TMI happened, so people are super paranoid about it, but realistically it was the way to go. Still is. Even with the F up at Pripyat, the other reactors still were online for quite awhile, and TMI continued to operate and is going back online for a MSFT data center.
Monday at 12:21 AM4 days On 7/11/2026 at 10:25 AM, toolg said:Trump opened up habitats of endangered species for logging and mining. The administration ruled habitat destruction does not harm endangered species.https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/climate/endangered-species-act-harm.htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/10/epa-rollback-endangered-habitats-logging-miningKnowing there will likely be a Democrat in the White House in a couple years, I question how many businesses would take the risk of investing heavily in a capital project that is likely to be considered illegal.
Tuesday at 09:21 PM3 days Author Trump signs away 3 million acres of national monument land in Utah to special interests. Deseret NewsTrump signs executive order shrinking 2 national monument...Utah Sen. Mike Lee told the Deseret News the process to shrink the monuments began over a year ago.
Wednesday at 07:36 PM2 days Author On 7/12/2026 at 8:21 PM, JohnSnowsHair said:Knowing there will likely be a Democrat in the White House in a couple years, I question how many businesses would take the risk of investing heavily in a capital project that is likely to be considered illegal.I forsee a lot of lawsuits. It's the Trump playbook: Flout the law, tie it up in litigation, profit until they stop you.
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