The Week That Was: 2026-02-14 (February 14, 2026)
Brought to You by SEPP (www.SEPP.org)
The Science and Environmental Policy Project
Quote of the Week: “Why one hundred? If I were wrong, one would have been enough.” — Albert Einstein (1931) Retort to the book “A Hundred Authors Against Einstein.”
Number of the Week: US $50 billion; World $140 billion
THIS WEEK:
By Ken Haapala, President, Science and Environmental Policy Project (SEPP)
Scope: This TWTW begins with Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) as discussed in Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years by Singer and Avery plus additional evidence that D-O events are global. TWTW presents important sections of the EPA press release that the so-called endangerment finding is beyond the regulatory authority of the EPA, and that the application of the finding to automobiles is insignificant. TWTW concludes that there are highly questionable assertions in the latest US Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence.
*********************
Natural Climate Cycles: The late S. Fred Singer and the late Dennis T. Avery authored a book published in 2007 on natural warming and cooling of Earth titled Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years. The cycles are not precisely observed, and the 1500 years is approximate, but the variation is less than 10% through at least 20 events covering tens of thousands of years. Singer and Avery state this variation suggests an external cause such as solar energy reaching Earth. The second edition was published in 2008. The description on Amazon.com states:
“Singer and Avery present — in popular language supported by in-depth scientific evidence — the compelling concept that global temperatures have been rising mostly or entirely because of a natural cycle. Using historic data from two millennia of recorded history combined with the natural physical records found in ice cores, seabed sediment, cave stalagmites, and tree rings, Unstoppable Global Warming argues that the 1,500-year solar-driven cycle that has always controlled the earth’s climate remains the driving force in the current warming trend.
Trillions of dollars spent on reducing fossil fuel use would have no effect on today’s rising temperatures. The public policy key, Singer and Avery propose, is adaptation, not fruitless attempts at prevention. Further, they offer convincing evidence that civilization’s most successful eras have coincided with the cycle’s warmest peaks. With the added benefit of modern technology, humanity can not only survive global climate change, but thrive.”
The cyclical nature of this warming and cooling was discovered by Willi Dansgaard of Denmark, Hans Oeschger of Switzerland, and Claude Lorius of France. They were jointly awarded the Tyler Prize (the “environmental Nobel”) in 1996. According to the book:
“However, their award citations say nary a word about the climate cycle they discovered, nor anything about its predictive power to forecast moderate climate changes. The public has remained virtually unaware that the 1,500-year cycle offers the only explanation for the modern warming that is supported by physical evidence.” [Boldface added]
The warming and cooling cycles are called Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events and NOAA lumps them with Heinrich events which are massive, periodic discharges of icebergs from the Laurentide Ice Sheet into the North Atlantic Ocean during the last glacial period (roughly 60,000 to 16,800 years ago). According to the NOAA website on Heinrich and Dansgaard–Oeschger Events:
“Climate during the last glacial period was far from stable. Heinrich and Dansgaard-Oeschger events occurred repeatedly throughout most of this time.
Scientists Willi Dansgaard and Hans Oeschger first reported the Dansgaard-Oeschger (D-O) events in Greenland ice cores. Each of the 25 observed D-O events consisted of an abrupt warming to near interglacial conditions that occurred in a matter of decades and was followed by a gradual cooling.
Related to some of the coldest intervals between D-O events were six distinctive events, named after paleoclimatologist Hartmut Heinrich, which are recorded in North Atlantic marine sediments as layers with a large amount of coarse-grained sediments derived from land. These layers, which are continuous across large areas of the North Atlantic, are evidence for both an increase in icebergs discharged from the Laurentide ice sheet in North America and a southward extension of cold, polar waters (Bond et al. 1992). Icebergs carry sand-sized grains eroded by ice sheets.
When icebergs encounter warmer ocean water, they melt and drop their sediment load onto the seafloor. A southward extension of cold, polar waters allowed icebergs to travel farther before melting. Heinrich events occurred less frequently than D-O events. D-O events repeated every several thousand years on average, while ~10,000 years elapsed between Heinrich events. Neither of the two types of events is strictly periodic, however.”
Since the cause is not known, there is no logical reason to assume that the cause stopped with end of the last Ice Age. Indeed, the GISP2 ice cores of the Greenland ice sheet show moderate fluctuations continuing. The NOAA website recognizes that D-O Events are global, not local or regional. Now Kenneth Richard of No Tricks Zone discusses a new paper on D-O events: “A global analysis of pollen-based reconstructions of land climate changes during Dansgaard–Oeschger events.” The abstract states:
“Dansgaard–Oeschger (D–O) warming events are comparable in magnitude and rate to the anticipated 21st century warming. As such, they provide a good target for evaluation of the ability of state-of-the-art climate models to simulate rapid climate changes. Despite the wealth of qualitative information about climate changes during the D–O events, there has been no attempt to date to make quantitative reconstructions globally. Here we use … [special statistics] …to reconstruct mean temperature of the coldest month, mean temperature of the warmest month, and a plant-available moisture index across multiple D–O events between 50 and 30,000 years ago based on available pollen records across the globe. The reconstruction of plant-available moisture is corrected for the impact of changing atmospheric CO2 concentrations on plant water use efficiency. These reconstructions show that the largest warming occurred in northern extratropics, especially Eurasia, while western North America and the southern extratropics were characterized by cooling. The change in winter temperature was significantly larger than the change in summer temperature in the northern extratropics and the tropics, indicating that the D–O warming events were characterized by reduced seasonality, but there was no significant difference between the summer and winter temperature changes in the southern extratropics. The antiphasing between northern and southern extratropical changes, and the west-east pattern of cooling and warming in North America were generally consistent across the eight D–O events examined, although coherency is greatest during the strongest events. There was no globally consistent pattern between changes in moisture and changes in temperature. These reconstructions can be used to evaluate the spatial patterns of changes in temperature and moisture in the transient simulations of the D–O events planned as part of the Paleoclimate Modelling Intercomparison Project.”
All this prompts the question: Is 20th century warming in part or all due to a D-O event? If so, then attempting to control carbon dioxide emissions is a fruitless exercise. See links under Challenging the Orthodoxy.
*********************
Endangerment Finding: In a public announcement president Trump and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated that the administration will be dropping the scientifically flawed assertion that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. The major greenhouse gas, water vapor, was ignored in the original finding and subsequent regulations but it is a key part of global climate modeling because water vapor is the major “positive feedback” and is used to justify other positive feedbacks. Yet, the modelers have failed to produce physical evidence supporting these positive feedbacks. Key parts of the press release are [legal decisions in italics are underlined here]:
“Alongside President Trump in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history. In this final rule, EPA is saving American taxpayers over $1.3 trillion, eliminating both the Obama-era 2009 Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Endangerment Finding and all subsequent federal GHG emission standards for all vehicles and engines of model years 2012 to 2027 and beyond. The action also eliminates all off-cycle credits, including for the almost universally hated start-stop feature. EPA’s historic move restores consumer choice, makes more affordable vehicles available for American families, and decreases the cost of living on all products by lowering the cost of trucks. This major deregulatory process included substantial public input and robust analysis of the law following the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and West Virginia v. EPA.
‘The Endangerment Finding has been the source of 16 years of consumer choice restrictions and trillions of dollars in hidden costs for Americans,’ said Administrator Zeldin. ‘Referred to by some as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the ‘climate change religion,’ the Endangerment Finding is now eliminated. The Trump EPA is strictly following the letter of the law, returning commonsense to policy, delivering consumer choice to Americans and advancing the American Dream. As EPA Administrator, I am proud to deliver the single largest deregulatory action in U.S. history on behalf of American taxpayers and consumers. As an added bonus, the off-cycle credit for the almost universally despised start-stop feature on vehicles has been removed.
The 2009 Endangerment Finding was used to justify trillions of dollars in regulations, including the Obama and Biden Administrations’ illegal push towards Electric Vehicle (EV) mandates and compliance requirements, while simultaneously driving up the cost of vehicles for American families and small businesses— limiting economic mobility and the American Dream. The final rule will save Americans over $1.3 trillion by removing the regulatory requirements to measure, report, certify, and comply with federal GHG emission standards for motor vehicles, and repeals associated compliance programs, credit provisions, and reporting obligations that exist solely to support the vehicle GHG regulatory regime. Americans will have certainty, flexibility and regulatory relief, allowing companies to plan appropriately, and empowering American families.
Returning the Rule of Law to EPA Regulations
In finalizing this rule, EPA carefully considered and reevaluated the legal foundation of the 2009 Endangerment Finding and the text of the Clean Air Act (CAA) in light of subsequent legal developments and court decisions. The agency concludes that Section 202(a) of the CAA does not provide statutory authority for EPA to prescribe motor vehicle and engine emission standards in the manner previously utilized, including for the purpose of addressing global climate change, and therefore has no legal basis for the Endangerment Finding and resulting regulations. EPA firmly believes the 2009 Endangerment Finding made by the Obama Administration exceeded the agency’s authority to combat “air pollution” that harms public health and welfare, and that a policy decision of this magnitude, which carries sweeping economic and policy consequences, lies solely with Congress. Unlike our predecessors, the Trump EPA is committed to following the law exactly as it is written and as Congress intended—not as others might wish it to be.
Creating Policy Rooted in Reality
The Endangerment Finding was a legal prerequisite used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to regulate GHG emissions. In the 16 years since the Endangerment Finding, many of the predictions and assumptions used to justify the rule did not materialize. Using the same types of models utilized by the previous administrations and climate change zealots, EPA now finds that even if the U.S. were to eliminate all GHG emissions from all vehicles, there would be no material impact on global climate indicators through 2100. Therefore, maintaining GHG emission standards is not necessary for EPA to fulfill its core mission of protecting human health and the environment; but regardless, is not within the authority Congress entrusted to EPA. Today’s action is only related to GHG emissions and does not affect regulations that combat criteria pollutants and air toxins. The Trump EPA’s final rule dismantles the tactics and legal fictions used by the Obama and Biden Administrations to backdoor their ideological agendas on the American people.”
After other statements, some background information was given [Boldface added]:
Background
“Congress tasked EPA under Section 202(a)(1) of the CAA with prescribing emission standards for new motor vehicles and engines when the Administrator determines that emissions from a class or classes of new motor vehicles and engines cause or contribute to air pollution that may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. In an unprecedented move, the Obama EPA found that carbon dioxide emissions emitted from automobiles – in combination with five other gases, some of which vehicles don’t even emit – contribute an unknown amount to greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere that, in turn, play a role through varied causal chains that may endanger human health and welfare. These mental leaps were admittedly novel, as EPA had for decades understood that the ‘air pollution’ targeted by the statute means pollution that harms health or the environment through local and regional exposure. However, this creative interpretation of the law was the only way the Obama-Biden Administration determined they could potentially access EPA’s authority to regulate under Section 202(a)(1). This flawed legal theory took the agency outside the scope of its statutory authority in multiple respects.
Additionally, major Supreme Court decisions in the intervening years, including Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, West Virginia v. EPA, Michigan v. EPA, and Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA, have significantly clarified the scope of EPA’s authority under the CAA and made clear that the interpretive moves the Endangerment Finding used to launch an unprecedented course of regulation were unlawful. The decisions emphasized that statutes have a single, best meaning fixed at the time of enactment; that major policy determinations must be made by Congress, not by administrative agencies, and that agencies cannot bury their heads in the sand as to the consequences of their actions when considering regulations that impose immense costs.”
The West Virginia v. EPA (2022) decision is particularly important because that is when the Supreme Court held that a principle of administrative law called the Major Questions Doctrine is that federal agencies cannot resolve matters of “vast economic and political significance” without clear, explicit authorization from Congress. This is a major constraint on executive power including Federal agencies. For the press releases and commentary see links under Science, Policy, and Evidence, Seeking a Common Ground, and Article # 1.
*********************
Legal Fight: It is doubtful that many US organizations which have heavily committed to the false claims the carbon dioxide is causing dangerous global warming will give up without a bitter fight. Such organizations include the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) under the current leadership. NASEM, together with the Federal Judicial Center, wrote the new US Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence. Even though the Chapter on Climate Change has been thankfully dropped, the Manual contains assertions that are highly questionable in the fields of physical science. Such assertions include sections in the chapter “How Science Works.” Such assertions include:
“Science Is Carried Out by a Community that Holds Members to Norms
Communities engaged in scientific endeavors generally adhere to a set of practical behavioral standards, known as norms, which can change over time. There is no one group tasked with ensuring adherence to scientific norms, but because they are recognized as important by a wide variety of scientific institutions, scientists who are found to violate them knowingly are likely to be impeded from publishing, receiving grants, and advancing their career (see section titled ‘Misconduct’ below for more on this). The following list summarizes some important, current scientific norms:” (Page 65)
Physical science is not subordinate to “community norms.” We have seen many able scientists subject to censorship and personal attacks because they insisted on physical evidence that contradicted the “community norm:” In physical sciences the norm does not change – physical evidence is the ultimate and final judge. Yet, the above statement follows a section titled “Science Investigates the Natural World and Natural Explanations.”
Under the same chapter there is a section titled “Science as a Human and Community Endeavor” which emphasizes “Peer Review.” However, in many once distinguished journals peer review has turned into censorship to assure that the “norm” is upheld. This includes the journal “Science” when the current head of the National Academy of Sciences was editor-in-chief.
We are witnessing similar censorship in the European Union with the “Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change.” See the Quote of the Week and Links under Censorship, Defending the Orthodoxy and Seeking a Common Ground.
*********************
Additions and Corrections: Several readers pointed out that the following statement is not quite correct.
“Now, what happens to the temperature up there in the atmosphere if the surface temperature rises by 1ºC? The lapse rate—the decrease in temperature with altitude—varies with the amount of water vapor. With dry air, the lapse rate is 9.8ºC/km. When the air is saturated with water vapor (about to rain), the lapse rate is 5ºC/km. For the most part, the lapse rate is about 6.5ºC/km. But wherever you are on Earth, the lapse rate is essentially constant. What that means is that if the surface temperature rises by 1ºC, the temperature one kilometer up also rises by 1ºC, and so forth, right on up to the tropopause.”
Dry air does not exist on Earth except in laboratories. TWTW failed to add this statement following the paragraph:
“[The above statement is generally true and refers to the lapse rate. But thermal inversions occur, further the lapse rate changes with humidity (water vapor).]”
TWTW appreciates corrections from its readers.
*********************
Number of the Week: US $50 billion; World $140 billion. An article in the Wall Street Journal reports that Detroit’s big three automakers, GM, Ford, and Stellantis have written off $50 billion in losses in their venture into electric vehicles. Jo Nova reports that Robert Bryce estimates that to total loss worldwide has been $140 billion. Contrary to the view of the previous Secretary of Energy, it appears that the transition from internal combustion engines to EVs will not be as easy as the transition from horses to automobiles. See link under Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles and Article #2.
NEWS YOU CAN USE:
Censorship
Facts Flee as the EU Prepares to Clamp Down on Climate Dissent
The bloc is now in a state of open war with free debate
By Ben Pile, The Climate Skeptic, Feb 7, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to Press Release: EU endorses landmark Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change
The European Union has endorsed the Declaration on Information Integrity on Climate Change, following Council approval on 20 January.
By Directorate-General for Climate Action, Jan 27, 2026
Challenging the Orthodoxy — NIPCC
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Physical Science
Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2013
Summary: https://www.heartland.org/_template-assets/documents/CCR/CCR-II/Summary-for-Policymakers.pdf
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Biological Impacts
Idso, Idso, Carter, and Singer, Lead Authors/Editors, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), 2014
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
Climate Change Reconsidered II: Fossil Fuels
By Multiple Authors, Bezdek, Idso, Legates, and Singer eds., Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, April 2019
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-fossil-fuels/
Why Scientists Disagree About Global Warming
The NIPCC Report on the Scientific Consensus
By Craig D. Idso, Robert M. Carter, and S. Fred Singer, Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC), Nov 23, 2015
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/why-scientists-disagree-about-global-warming/
Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate
S. Fred Singer, Editor, NIPCC, 2008
http://www.sepp.org/publications/nipcc_final.pdf
Challenging the Orthodoxy – Radiation Transfer
The Role of Greenhouse Gases in Energy Transfer in the Earth’s Atmosphere
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, Mar 3, 2023
Dependence of Earth’s Thermal Radiation on Five Most Abundant Greenhouse Gases
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Preprint, December 22, 2020
Net Zero Averted Temperature Increase
By Richard Lindzen, William Happer, and William A. van Wijngaarden, CO2 Coalition, June 2024
Radiation Transport in Clouds
By W.A. van Wijngaarden and W. Happer, Klimarealistene, Science of Climate Change, January 2025
Challenging the Orthodoxy
Pollen Reconstructions Show The Last Glacial’s Warming Events Were Global, 10x Greater Than Modern
By Kenneth Richard, No Tricks Zone, Feb 11, 2026
Link to paper: A global analysis of pollen-based reconstructions of land climate changes during Dansgaard–Oeschger events
By Mengmeng Liu, Iain Colin Prentice, and Sandy P. Harrison, Climate of the Past, Feb 2, 2026
Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years
By Fred Singer and Dennis Avery, Amazon.com, Oct 22, 2007
“Rebuttal to Nikolov on global temperature”
“Is the Global Mean Surface Temperature (GMST) Physically Meaningful?”
Tom Nelson Podcast, with Jonathan Cohler and Willie Soon, Feb 4, 2026
#DoEDeepDive: Ch. 6 on extreme weather
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
Negligible future Greenhouse warming from: CO2 – CH4 – N2O
By Ed Hoskins, His Blog, Accessed Feb 10, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Don’t Forget To RSVP To The February 19 “Net Zero And Freedom” Event
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Feb 10, 2026
Defending the Orthodoxy
Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence
Committee on Science for Judges— Development of the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, Fourth Edition, Federal Judicial Center and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Defending the Orthodoxy – Bandwagon Science
Brazil Opens Committee to Combat Climate Racism
Editorial, Lantina Republic, Feb 11, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
The committee also integrates the Circle of Peoples, created by the COP30 presidency to guarantee representation of traditional communities, Indigenous peoples, Afro-descendant populations, and family farmers in international climate discussions. Through dialogue, coordination, and education, the initiative aims to deepen understanding of environmental racism and advance concrete actions to confront it—ensuring that those most affected by climate change help shape the solutions.
[SEPP Comment: When the next glaciation comes, will it cause climate racism against northern Europeans and Canadians?]
Sea levels are rising across the world. But in Greenland, scientists say they’re about to fall
By Liam Gilliver, Euro News, Jan 28, 2026 [[H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to paper: Projections of 21st-century sea-level fall along coastal Greenland
By Lauren Lewright, et al., Nature Communications, Jan 20, 2026
From the abstract: The Greenland Ice Sheet will significantly contribute to global mean sea-level rise this century. However, glacial isostatic adjustment is expected to cause regional sea-level fall around Greenland as the land rebounds and the gravitational pull of the shrinking ice sheet decreases. A fall in local sea level has implications for Greenlandic communities whose economy, near-shore infrastructure, and food security are vulnerable to coastal changes, and for the dynamics of marine-terminating glaciers.
Questioning the Orthodoxy
The Evidence is in: Endangerment Finding was Pre-cooked
Editorial, Government Accountability & Oversight, Feb 9, 2026
EPA Endangerment Finding Was Pre-Cooked
By Matthew Wielicki, Via Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 10, 2026
The conclusion has remained consistent: the evidence never supported a finding of endangerment.
What has changed is not the data. What has changed is the legal and political tolerance for pretending otherwise.
Climate Alarm On The Run
I & I Editorial Board, Feb 11, 2026
We need trustworthy scientists. We don’t, and never did, need global warming activists in lab coats. The fact that the latter overtook the former is an outrage that required a course correction we hope we are watching in real time.
The Last Fool Standing
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 13, 2026
Matt Ridley in the Telegraph:
America’s Irreversible Goodbye to Climate Governance
By Dr. Samuele Furfari, CO2 Coalition, Feb 9, 2026
By targeting the Framework Convention itself, Trump deprives future presidents of convenient diplomatic back‑and‑forth. Politically, the message is clear: Washington increasingly views climate diplomacy as an instrument of external constraint, beneficial to America’s strategic competitors, a burden on U.S. industrial competitiveness and costly.
Net Zero Fails Science, Math and People
By Ron Barmby, Via Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 10, 2026
Video with Text plus illustrations
When It Comes to Climate and Energy, Let’s Retire the Politics of Fear
By Gary Abernathy, WUWT, Feb 11, 2026
In addition to everything else, there is real damage caused by manipulating science in a way that puts climate over people. It puts people in danger and keeps them in poverty – and ultimately only a privileged few will benefit.
We Told You So: EPA Was Wrong About CO2 From the Start
By Wayne Christian, Real Clear Energy, Feb 11, 2026
The EPA’s repeal of the endangerment finding is a step back toward honesty. It acknowledges that CO2 is not the villain it was made out to be.
Now policymakers need the courage to finish the job. That means ending the fear-based carbon narrative, stopping taxpayer handouts to politically favored corporations, and refusing to create new environmental and health risks in the name of virtue signaling.
When “science” means “left-wing politics”
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
To assert that the Trump administration wants diseases, rather than arguing that it holds a mistaken view of what makes for health, is precisely the kind of nasty ad hominem question-begging belligerence that has brought “science” into disrepute. (And furnishes a classic illustration of Thomas Sowell’s thesis in A Conflict of Visions about the tendency of the left to emphasize motives over methods and in consequence turn ugly fast.)
Why Climate Science Is Not Settled
By Vijay Jayaraj, CO2 Coalition, Feb 9, 2026
Tidbits
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
When trying to evaluate the likelihood that the Canadian government will succeed in making a policy work, as opposed to succeed in making it sound good, not everyone is a sucker. For instance, Electricity Canada, which represents the relevant utilities, has just warned Canada’s senate that green electricity regulations are a nightmare.
Hope spins eternal
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
So should we expect a mea culpa from those who’ve been pushing alternative energy that costs more and doesn’t work? Perish the thought.
Fakegate Remembered: The Shame of Peter Gleick
By Robert Bradley Jr, Master Resource, Feb 10, 2026
Climate Doomism Under Predicted?
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Feb 11, 2026
Mark Trexler, “Pushing Climate Boulders Uphill Since the 1980s,” posted on social media:
Our biggest climate risk failure hasn’t been inadequate technology or funding. It’s been our reliance for 40 years on predictable models in a chaotic climate system!
Welcome to Deep Ecology, the belief that Nature is optimal and fragile and any human perturbation is bad, even catastrophic. Trexler then lists his examples:
Problems in the Orthodoxy
Climate Change and Energy: World Leaders in Turmoil
By Steve Goreham, Master Resource, Feb 9, 2026
After Paris!
Dept of Climate Change gives $1.6m in trips to Brazil as reward for prophets, activists, sycophants
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 10, 2026
From the Australian:
Australia spends $1.6m sending 75 officials to Brazil for UN climate summit.
Social Benefits of Carbon Dioxide
The effect of CO2 on California Goldfields
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
From the CO2Science archive.
Seeking a Common Ground
Federal Reference Manual On Scientific Evidence, Climate Science Chapter — Withdrawn!
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Feb 8, 2026
Process Wins One: Federal Judicial Center Deletes Climate Chapter from Judicial Manual
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Feb 7, 2026
This does not mean the issue is settled. The incentives that produced the chapter remain. Climate litigation remains attractive precisely because it bypasses legislatures and voters. Efforts to “educate” judges toward preferred narratives will continue, likely in subtler forms. Chapters can be rewritten. Language can be softened. Pressure can be reapplied.
The International Energy Agency’s Reluctant Return to Energy Realism
By Tilak Doshi, The Daily Sceptic, Feb 9, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to report: The Return of Realism in Global Oil Forecasts: A Critique of the International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2025
By Neil Atkinson & Adam Sieminski, National Center for Energy Analytics, Jan 27, 2026
Energy realism has returned to the IEA not because the facts have changed, but because power has.
Science, Policy, and Evidence
Trump Reverses Obama’s CO2 Endangerment Finding
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 13, 2026
Link to Press Release: President Trump and Administrator Zeldin Deliver Single Largest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History
Additional information and supporting analyses: Final Rule: Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding and Motor Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards Under the Clean Air Act
By Staff, EPA, Feb 13, 2026
Trump to wipe out “Endangerment Finding” and pardon CO2 in largest act of deregulation in US history
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 11, 2026
A Reply to Trump is Wrong to Abolish the Endangerment Finding
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 12, 2026
Historians are going to look back on the climate crisis and wonder how we ever believed that today’s mild warming was any kind of threat to our civilization. Our descendants will think of such warnings the same way we think of the scientists who promoted The Great Horse Manure Crisis of 1894, the prediction that by 1944 the streets of the City of London would be buried under 9ft of horse manure.
Dear President Trump, Take Their Oil
By Daniel Turner, Real Clear Energy, Feb 10, 2026
President Trump has coupled his foreign policy to his energy policy with a firm belief that if the U.S. controls the world’s oil markets it can set the stage for world peace.
Models v. Observations
Detection, attribution, and modeling of climate change: Key open issues
By Nicola Scafetta, Gondwana Research, April 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
This paper discusses a number of key open issues in climate science.
• It argues that global climate models still fail on natural variability at all scales.
• Global climate models also likely exaggerate ECS and downplay solar influences.
• Empirical alternatives project moderate warming, challenging Net-Zero policies.
• New models that better reflect natural climate drivers and variations are needed.
Model Issues
Our Best Climate Models Are Never Finished
By Chuck Dinerstein, MD, ACSH, Feb 9, 2026
Link to paper: Projecting nitrous oxide over the 21st century, uncertainty related to stratospheric loss
By Michael J. Prather and Calum P. Wilson PNAS, Feb 2, 2026
“Stratospheric chemistry and dynamics present uncertainties in projecting N2O that are as large as uncertainties across different emissions scenarios. We need to incorporate these effects into the models used for international climate assessments.” – Michael Prather, Ph.D., UC Irvine professor of Earth system science
[SEPP Comment: Prather does not realize that water vapor negates the temperature effects of N2O in the Troposphere. In the Stratosphere, the effect of N2O on Earth’s temperatures is miniscule.]
Measurement Issues — Surface
Another Temperature Bias: The Shrinking Stevenson Screen = Warming
By Anthony Watts, WUWT, Feb 8, 2026
Changing Weather
Right, New York Times, Scientists Do Disagree on The Polar Vortex
By Linnea Lunken, Climate Realism, Feb 10, 2026
Lake Erie is Nearly 100% Ice-Covered After Great Lakes Region Slammed by Cold Stretch
The Midwest is so cold that even the “Global Warming” jokes froze over.
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Feb 10, 2026
Cold, Wet, and Snowy Period Ahead
By Cliff Mass, Weather Blog, Feb 13, 2026
Cold and wet means snow…and lots of it…for the entire West Coast. Here are the totals through February 25th. Let’s say that skiers will have big smiles on their faces. So will those concerned about snowpack.
[SEPP Comment: See link immediately below.]
Was January’s Low Snowfall the Result of Global Warming? The Facts are Clear
By Cliff Mass Weather Blog, Feb 11, 2026
As you can tell from my previous blog posts, I am really concerned about deliberately deceptive media stories and false information being distributed by certain groups.
Well, tall tale distributors have been working overtime recently, suggesting that the poor January snowpack over the Northwest is mainly the result of human-caused global warming.
These claims are demonstrably false. [Boldface in original]
How Did Last Month’s Rainfall Compare With 1929?
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb10, 2026
Changing Cryosphere – Land / Sea Ice
Holocene Glacier Records
By Andy May, WUWT, Feb 13, 2026
Lowering Standards
Met Office’s N Ireland Rainfall Dataset Is Worthless
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 13, 2026
BBC’s Fake Record Rainfall Claims
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2026
When the BBC makes claims about record rainfall, I suggest you check your wallet!
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Yellow (Green) Journalism?
The New York Times Thinks That American Taxpayers Are Obligated To Solve The Personal Problems Of Everyone In The World
By Francis Menton, Manhattan Contrarian, Feb 11, 2026
Did you know that after the disastrous 2021 withdrawal the Biden administration went right ahead and continued to throw a billion a year of American taxpayer money at these people [the Taliban] who hate us? And then the bad, bad Trump people imposed the “brutal” cuts.
And the gold medal in hype goes to…
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
False, New York Times, Climate Change Doesn’t Cause Both Extreme Heat and Extreme Cold
By Anthony Watts, Climate Realism, Feb 6, 2026
Guardian Claims We’re Still Only Approaching the Climate Point of No Return
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 12, 2026
Climate Slump: Bezos boots global warming coverage! Wash Post Fires 14 of 19 ‘Climate’ reporters – Paper had ‘climate solutions’ reporters touting ‘human hair’ clothing to save the earth
By Marc Morano, Climate Depot, Feb 6, 2026
Communicating Better to the Public – Exaggerate, or be Vague?
Aerosols: The Heads I Win, Tails You Lose of Climate Science
By Charles Rotter, WUWT, Feb 11, 2026
Link to paper: Reduction of Global Sulfate Aerosol Concentration and Corresponding Radiative Effects From Recent Chinese Emission Reduction
By Warren P. Smith, Geophysical Research Letters, Feb 4, 2026
Communicating Better to the Public – Use Propaganda on Children
The Way Up | A Net Zero Watch Short Film
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb11, 2026
This should be mandatory viewing in our schools:
[SEPP Comment: To counter the prevailing propaganda.]
Questioning European Green
Ed Miliband’s Net Zero drive will trigger financial crash, former chief scientific adviser warns
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 13, 2026
Litigation Issues
Why Rescinding the Endangerment Finding May Survive Lawfare
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 12, 2026
“Capping carbon dioxide emissions at a level that will force a nationwide transition away from the use of coal to generate electricity may be a sensible ‘solution to the crisis of the day,’” Roberts wrote. But only Congress, or an agency with express authority from Congress, can adopt a “decision of such magnitude and consequence.”
Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance Presses for Answers
By Staff, Government Accountability & Oversight, Feb 12, 2026
“It is deeply troubling that state agencies could not comply with their own climate mandates, yet taxpayers may now be footing the bill for outside lawyers to defend and manage that failure. If residents and small businesses are expected to follow costly regulations, the government must hold itself to the same standard,” said Paul Diego Craney, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Fiscal Alliance.
EPA and other Regulators on the March
Waste of the Day: EPA Missed Obvious Payment Inaccuracies
By Jeremy Portnoy, WUWT, Feb 9, 2026
Topline: The Environmental Protection Agency “did not follow standard operating procedures” for reviewing its spending and underestimated its improper payments in 2022 and 2023, according to Jan. 29 audit from the EPA inspector general.
Summary: If the government cannot ensure it is spending its money properly, the least it can do is accurately report its mistakes
Energy Issues – General
The east isn’t green
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
For all the idiocies in this prescription, which advocates more debt, more central planning, and more tariffs and subsidies, as if Britain hadn’t been on the long slow road to impoverished irrelevance because of precisely that approach since 1945, he never mentions, and possibly has never noticed, that China has been building power plants, especially coal plants, at a breakneck pace for decades while Britain has been shutting them down and patting itself on the back.
Energy Issues – Europe
Why Electrification Won’t Work–Kathryn Porter
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 12, 2026
Video with text
The Stern review 20 years later
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
On which point we have to remind readers that climate alarmists have a nasty habit of accusing climate skeptics of being in it for gain. But it’s people like Stern who actually benefited, financially and socially, from the positions they took.
Stern himself became a fixture in the global policy elite and went on to impose his mangled analysis on the UK. Now, 20 years later, it is probably too much to hope that the global policy elite will disown him and his flawed report. But at least those countries that have learned they need to disown the global policy elite stand a chance of retaining their prosperity.
[SEPP Comment: The misleading report of the UK treasury official helped pass the Climate Change Act of 2008, which is destroying UK industry and prosperity today.]
Miliband must publish his secret China energy deal
By Maurice Cousins, Net Zero Watch, Feb 13, 2026
Sacré bleu! Macron blames renewables for Spain’s blackouts, France drops renewables targets, expands nuclear.
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 13, 2026
Net Zero is a Downer, Choose the Way Up
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 11, 2026
Britain’s national story really is a story all about energy. Abundance built our freedom. Scarcity may well yet destroy it. We now face a choice. Energy prosperity the way up, or energy poverty the way down. Which future will we choose?
Video with Text and illustrations/
British Gas boss: Electricity will cost more in 2030 than during Russia crisis
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 11, 2026
It has everything to do with Net Zero, Mr O’Shea, from building hundreds of miles of new pylons and cables to connect to remote wind farms, to increasing grid capacity to handle Net Zero mandated electrification.
Ahead of Elections!
By P Gosselin, No Tricks Zone, Feb 11, 2026
It’s not even mid-February, and Germany’s gas storage buffer is already down to 25.5% full and faces rationing.
Energy Issues — US
New York Climate Act Issues
By Roger Caiazza, WUWT, Feb 13, 2026
Unfortunately, to be resolved all these Climate Act issues require political accountability. The Climate Act has always been about political pandering to specific constituencies under the guise of saving the planet. Therefore, I expect that all the inconvenient issues described will be ignored until after the election in hopes that the electorate will not catch on that the reliability of the state’s energy system is at risk and the energy system cost crisis will be aggravated by the Climate Act for political gain.
When the Weather Turns, Permitting Failure Gets Expensive
By Toby Z. Rice, Real Clear Energy, Feb 12, 2026
During the storm, natural gas prices at Station 165 – located in Pittsylvania County, Virginia, where the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) interconnects and Appalachian gas flows toward the Southeast – spiked to roughly $150 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), nearly fifty times the national average price last year.
This was the result of scarcity pricing. In plain terms, the market was signaling that there was not enough infrastructure to move available gas supply where it was urgently needed.
Datacenters and Electricity Costs By the Numbers
By Paul Steidler, Real Clear Energy, Feb 12, 2026
Since electricity was first invented and was initially available only to the wealthy, its costs have trended lower. Despite significant price increases since 2021, according to the Federal Reserve, average residential electricity prices fell by 14.6% from 1978 to 2026 when measured in real dollars, that is, adjusted for inflation.
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Solar and Wind
Google Signs Data Center Solar Energy Deal With This Unexpected Partner
By Kit Norton, Investors.com, Feb 9, 2026
TotalEnergies has a gross capacity portfolio of 10 gigawatts of onshore solar, wind and battery storage assets in the U.S.
The Issue With Solar Isn’t That It’s Green. It’s That It’s Chinese.
By Chris Johnson, Real Clear Energy, Feb 10, 2026
Solar will be part of our energy mix whether we prepare or surrender the field to China. By countering China’s unfair practices and allowing demand for solar to flourish naturally, American industry can once again compete on a level playing field and bring to market the high-quality, domestic energy our nation needs.
[SEPP Comment: A diversion from the critical problem – reliability. Solar fails every night.
Solar photovoltaics degrading faster than expected — 8% may only last 11 years
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 7, 2026
New York Times Gives Wind Turbines a Free Pass to Slaughter Birds
By Vijay Jayaraj, WUWT, Feb 13, 2026
Link to paper: A global assessment of the risks to biodiversity and Indigenous people’s lands from solar and wind farms
By Yuqing Wang, et al., Geography and Sustainability, December 2025
Wind and Solar Ruin Grid Transformers
By Ron Clutz, His Blog, Feb 9, 2026
From: US transformers are ageing. Renewable energy could make things worse, China study finds
Team in China finds that high renewable energy integration could make power transformers age nearly a quarter faster.
By Victoria Bela, South China Morning News, Feb 9, 2026
[SEPP Comment: No link to underlying study.]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Energy — Other
Hydropower explained
Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC)
By Staff, US EIA, Sep 18, 2023 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: In previous attempts at OTEC, a major problem was that growing algae clogged the pipes and turbines. This system may keep the turbines clean, what about the pipes?]
Alternative, Green (“Clean”) Vehicles
The EV experiment has become a bloodbath — $140 billion wasted — more to come
By Jo Nova, Her Blog, Feb 12, 2026
Robert Bryce estimates the known losses add up to $140 billion in the last 4 years. And that’s only the money burned by Ford, Stellantis, GM, Mercedes, Volkswagon, Rivian, and Lucid.
The Super Bowl Without EVs Tells You Everything
By Larry Behrens, Real Clear Energy, Feb 11, 2026
For the first time in years, there was no Super Bowl advertisement featuring an EV in a starring role. No celebrity endorsements, no sweeping promises about the “future of driving,” and no multimillion-dollar attempts to convince Americans that electric cars are inevitable.
Fast car to nowhere
By John Robson, Climate Discussion Nexus, Feb 11, 2026
We’re keeping an eye on the Canadian government’s ataxic effort to pivot away from its earlier disastrous woke climate policies to a shiny new set of woke climate policies. Thus, we have the latest news that “Prime Minister Carney launches new strategy to transform Canada’s auto industry”. We might object that it is not obviously within the duties of politicians, or their capacities, to “transform” key sectors of a economy based on some trendy clichés from Davos, rather than allowing the structure of production to be driven by what consumers actually want at prices they can afford, with the state limiting itself to creating and enforcing fair rules. But the really feeble part is that the new plan, while blasting platitudes out the tailpipe, amounts to stomping on the accelerator with one foot and the brake with the other, replacing a simple misguided policy (you have to buy an EV) with a complicated but equally misguided one (we’re outlawing gas-powered cars so you have to buy an EV).
[SEPP Comment: Will it be as successful as the Two Billion Trees Program?]
The auto industry’s gamble on electric cars has turned into a catastrophe
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 9, 2026
But let’s not also forget the role of the media in all of this. Where were the Telegraph journalists a few years ago, when they should have been warning about all of this. Even now, dinosaurs like AEP still live in their little dreamworld, believing that the public will flock to EVs, once they are shown the light.
Trump administration moves to restrict federal funds for EV chargers
By Rachel Frazin, The Hill, Feb 10, 2026
[SEPP Comment: The Federal government does not subsidize gasoline stations, why should it subsidize EV chargers?]
Concern over EV fire hazard risk on ferries raised with CalMac
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2026
[SEPP Comment: Caledonian MacBrayne, commonly known as CalMac, is the largest ferry operator in the UK. It operates in Scotland and the Scottish Islands.]
Britain needs ‘reality check’ over electric car targets, warns Hyundai
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2026
He hits the nail on the head when pointing out that discounting EVs to the tune of £11000 is not sustainable. Worse still, it is being funded out of profits on ICE cars, sales of which will have to be curtailed to stay within ZEV mandates.
Canada Scraps EV Mandate
By Paul Homewood, Not a Lot of People Know That, Feb 7, 2026
Carbon Schemes
Another Climate Pipe Dream: Capturing Carbon Out of Thin Air
By Jonathan Lesser, Real Clear Energy, Feb 12, 2026
Link to report: A Cost-Benefit Analysis of Using Direct Air Capture to Remove Atmospheric Carbon
By Jonathan Lesser, National Center for Energy Analytics, Feb 11, 2026
But as I explain in my new report, these technologies, and all potential DAC technologies, have an Achilles Heel: The laws of thermodynamics. Regardless of the technology employed, extracting CO2 directly from the atmosphere is inherently energy-intensive.
For example, the theoretical minimum of energy needed to meet a one billion metric ton objective would require the equivalent of 10% of all electricity generated in the U.S. in 2024. The practical energy required would be at least 30%, as no technology can be 100% efficient.
California Dreaming
The future of California’s energy infrastructure is fragile
By Ronald Stein and Catherine Reheis-Boyd, America Out Loud, Feb 9, 2026
The Perils of Petronomics in a Warring World
By Duggan Flanagin, Real Clear Energy, Feb 9, 2026
SB 237 cuts off high-value fields in Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties from new drilling and does not allow for fracking, which is required for most Kern County wells. Already, says CPI, California’s major north-south pipelines are flowing at rates near the tipping point; they cannot operate at all if the flow of oil falls below 25% of capacity.
Claim: China Should Learn from California’s Clean Energy Example
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 8, 2026
[SEPP Comment: On a typical winter night, the California ISO is importing between 4,000 to 7,000 MW of electricity for 13 to 14 hours. Where will China import its electricity from, North Korea?]
Other News that May Be of Interest
How A Scientific Myth Undergirds The Greenhouse Gas Theory
A closer look at the 19th-century experiment that underpins modern climate theory.
By James T. Moodey, Climate Change Dispatch, Feb 11, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
[SEPP Comment: The author makes a basic mistake. Tyndall did not measure temperature; he measured the absorption of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases. He found the dominant gases such as nitrogen and oxygen are transparent. Others such as water vapor and carbon dioxide are not.]
Open System Greenhouse Effect Laboratory Experiment-Original Data
By Michael Nelson, David B. Nelson, International Journal of Geosciences, September 2025
[SEPP Comment: Tyndall’s instruments measured light not temperature.]
Arkansas’ Lithium Jackpot: New Tech Turns Ancient Saltwater Into ‘White Gold’
“We estimate there is enough dissolved lithium present in that region to replace US imports of lithium and more.”
By Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection, Feb 5, 2026
BELOW THE BOTTOM LINE
Goodbye to diesel: British scientists develop an engine that runs on seawater and promises to revolutionize maritime and land transport
By Adrian Villellas, EcoNews, Feb 5, 2026 [H/t Bernie Kepshire]
Link to press release: Saltwater fuel signals shift to clean shipping
Press Release by Hayley Jarvis, Brunel University of London, Oct 12, 2025
Scientists have secured more than £1 million in funding to turn seawater into fuel to power ships, ferries and fishing boats.
Researchers at Brunel University of London and Genuine H2 will split seawater into hydrogen, store it safely on-board ships and boats and burn it to power engines emitting only steam.
The result is a new hydrogen engine system built on two clever innovations. There are electrodes that can split hydrogen straight out of seawater, cutting out the need for costly desalination. And a thinner-than-paper ‘nano film’ that locks the hydrogen away safely in an unpressurised solid form at room temperature, without freezing it at minus 250°C in heavy giant pressurized tanks.
Together these breakthroughs promise a safe, compact, ready-to-use seaworthy fuel supply that can potentially fuel fishing fleets, coastal ferries, tug boats and other harbour service vessels.
From article: So how does this work in practice. The system uses advanced electrodes that split hydrogen directly from seawater using renewable electricity. This avoids the usual step of desalination, which is energy hungry and expensive, and sidesteps long standing corrosion and chlorine problems that have plagued earlier seawater electrolysis ideas.
[SEPP Comment: Perpetual motion ships? Splitting hydrogen from fresh water is energy hungry and expensive, splitting it from salt water after desalination uses little energy and is cheap? Does the renewable energy come from onboard wind turbines?]
Dumbing Energy Down: Interruptible Power as Social Policy
By Robert Bradley Jr., Master Resource, Feb 12, 2026
Here are some read-to-believe quotations from “scholar-activist” David Hughes, Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University:
- Zimbabwe and Puerto Rico provide models for what we might call pause-full electricity. By abiding an interlude—by shedding their load—people can preserve life near and far.
- Continuity costs too much. Climate change kills, and it kills vulnerable people first. Intermittency saves lives.
Should Guardian Authors be Paid in Hugs to Reduce Climate Damage?
By Eric Worrall, WUWT, Feb 9, 2026
ARTICLES
1. Trump’s Climate Liberation Act
Removing Obama’s ‘endangerment’ finding makes it harder to ban fossil-fuel energy.
Editorial, WSJ, Feb 12, 2026
TWTW Summary: The editorial begins with:
“The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday at long last repealed Barack Obama’s so-called endangerment finding that declared greenhouse gas emissions a threat to public health and safety. Cue the apocalyptic warnings unhinged from reality. What progressives really fear is that they won’t be able to dictate the energy supplies, cars, and appliances that Americans can buy.
Progressives recognize the importance of Thursday’s news. A New York Times headline says ‘Trump Allies Near ‘Total Victory’ in Wiping Out U.S. Climate Regulation.’ That could be true if the Administration prevails against the inevitable legal challenges.
As a refresher, in 2007 a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court ruled in Massachusetts v. EPA that greenhouse gases qualify as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. The law requires the EPA to regulate pollutants if it determines they can ‘reasonably be anticipated to endanger public health or welfare.’ Thus arose the Obama endangerment finding, which established the legal basis for the EPA to regulate CO2, which wasn’t mentioned in the Clean Air Act.
But greenhouse gases aren’t toxic and don’t affect air quality, unlike pollutants that the law expressly directs the EPA to regulate. The Obama endangerment finding claims this distinction doesn’t matter because CO2 contributes to rising temperatures, which could indirectly result in downstream harms such as more wildfires, storms, and disease.”
The editorial states that most of the “science” is debatable, then concludes with:
“The real import of the finding was to give the Obama and Biden teams legal license to mandate electric cars and force fossil-fuel power plants to shut down. Trump EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has moved to roll back the Biden regulatory overreaches. But as long as the endangerment finding is in effect, a future Democratic President could reimpose the Biden climate diktats and go even further—say, by banning petroleum-powered lawn mowers and gas space heaters or stoves.
Repealing the endangerment finding could stop this regulatory ping-pong. The climate lobby is sure to challenge the rescission, which could then tee up a case for the Supreme Court to revisit its misconceived Massachusetts. v. EPA precedent. Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented in that case, and Justice Anthony Kennedy, who supplied the fifth vote, has retired from the Court.
The Great Scalia observed in dissent that ‘regulating the buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the upper reaches of the atmosphere . . . is not akin to regulating the concentration of some substance that is polluting the air.’ As the Trump team notes, the endangerment finding also violates the Supreme Court’s major questions doctrine.
That doctrine holds that express authorization from Congress is required for economically and politically significant executive actions. A 6-3 majority invoked the doctrine in West Virginia v. EPA (2022), which struck down the Obama-era CO2 emissions limits for power plants. EPA’s arrogation of sweeping authority to regulate CO2 is without doubt a major question.
The scope of CO2 regulation is a decision for Congress. It’s richly ironic for Democrats who denounce Mr. Trump as an authoritarian to howl that he’s relinquishing power to regulate all corners of the economy under the guise of climate that the Biden and Obama administrations unilaterally claimed.”
*************
2. Detroit Automakers Take $50 Billion Hit as EV Bubble Bursts
Companies are taking big losses and making moves to reduce electric-vehicle capacity amid regulatory changes and cooling demand
By Nate Rattner, Terell Wright and Sharon Terlep, WSJ, Feb. 12, 2026
TWTW Summary: The article begins with [stock market changes are excluded here]:
“U.S. automakers have been pumping the brakes on their electric-vehicle businesses for months, and the costs are piling up.
Following years of investments into EV technology, the Detroit Big Three—General Motors GM, Ford Motor, and Jeep-maker Stellantis have announced more than $50 billion in combined write-downs.
EV sales fell more than 30% in the fourth quarter, after a $7,500 federal tax credit that had juiced U.S. sales expired in September. Demand cratered for the highest-profile EVs, from Tesla’s Cybertruck to Ford’s much hyped electric pickup. Automakers expect demand to remain muted this year.
GM, which is forging ahead with much of its EV strategy, albeit at a smaller scale, didn’t have as much to cancel and write down. The company, for instance, still aims to build big EV trucks. Ford, meanwhile, is changing course.
‘Instead of plowing billions into the future knowing these large EVs will never make money, we are pivoting,’ Ford Chief Executive Jim Farley has said. Ford now says it will make one low-cost EV pickup by 2027.
Automakers’ retreats and massive write-downs have come as Republican lawmakers abolished a lucrative federal tax credit for EVs last fall, while also doing away with federal fuel-efficiency mandates. Even with federal support, EV demand was below expectations.
Now, auto companies and battery makers are scaling back. After pouring hundreds of billions of dollars into U.S. manufacturing, they are downsizing investments, canceling projects and pivoting plants to support making more traditional gas-powered vehicles.”
*****************
