Trump on Earth

Wildfires have once again spread across California...and millions of residents have been living without power for weeks. The deliberate blackouts by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company, or PG&E, are an attempt to prevent power lines from starting new fires, a real possibility in dry and windy conditions.

Hundreds of the fires that started last year in California are believed to have been sparked by equipment from power companies — including the state's deadliest fire. The Camp Fire was caused by a faulty electric transmission line. 85 people died and the town of Paradise was leveled.

Some have called for nationalizing PG&E to keep it accountable for the safety and maintenance of its equipment and the reliability of its service.

Across the country there's a patchwork of grids providing power to Americans, and *they* still mostly rely on fossil fuels to keep a steady flow of electricity. A couple of years ago, President Trump signed an executive order to speed up environmental reviews and approvals of infrastructure projects that are a high priority for the country, like making improvements to the grid.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has created policies to prop up financially struggling coal and nuclear power plants to ensure the electricity grid is resilient and reliable. But the main character in a new book by Wall Street Journal energy reporter Russell Gold looks beyond fossil fuels to power the grid. The book focuses on one man's mission to get more renewable wind energy online, and into American homes and businesses through transmission lines, and a more thoughtful connection of the nation's grids. The book is called Superpower.

President Trump says a key phone call at the center of the Ukraine scandal was Energy Secretary Rick Perry's idea. But Perry asserts that in his conversations with Trump, "not once, as God as my witness, not once was a Biden name ever mentioned."

On this episode we connect the dots between Perry and Ukraine with Jeff Brady, energy reporter for NPR. Get your whiteboards out. There are a lot of names.

Last month, the USDA quietly issued a new rule changing meat inspection standards for pork. Not only would the new rule mean slaughter houses could run their processing lines as fast as they want, it would also change who does the inspecting, giving the pork producers themselves a bigger role in the process.

We talk with Tom Philpott, food and agriculture reporter for Mother Jones magazine, about what the changes could mean for the safety of food and workers.

How do you change the minds of climate deniers and people -- say the President -- who doubt the scientific process in general? We ask a philosopher of science for some answers.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He has written books about defending science and fighting back against "alternative facts."

Now, McIntyre is out on the road talking to flat earth theorists and people who don't accept current climate science.

Last time round, climate change got a measly five minutes and 27 seconds of airtime in the debates. During this primary season, it got seven hours in one night alone. CNN's recent town hall provided each of the 10 candidates an opportunity to lay out their plan to deal with climate change. It was substantive. And it was long. On this episode we talk takeaways with Leah Stokes, a professor of environmental politics at the University of California at Santa Barbara. She read all the candidates' climate plans, watched all 7 hours, and has a lot to say about it all.

A top climate scientist resigned from the Agriculture Department this month. Lewis Ziska says the USDA buried his research. He's one in a line of researchers who've left the federal government because they claim the administration is censoring climate science.

Today, nuclear plants provide 20% of US power generation. But according to a report last year by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists, of the 99 nuclear reactors nationwide, owners have shut down six in recent years. Seven more are slated for retirement. In the age of climate change, the Union's director of energy research and analysis, Steve Clemmer, doesn't want the demise of this carbon-free power source. In this episode, we talk with him about his report, The Nuclear Dilemma.

The Trump administration has rolled back more than 80 environmental regulations but some states are fighting back. No state has been more active in the resistance against Trump's environmental deregulations than California.

Case in point: last week, news broke that four of the world's biggest automakers brokered a secret deal with the state to make more fuel-efficient cars in coming years, directly undermining the Trump administration.

On this episode we talk with Jared Blumenfeld, chief of the California EPA about how and why the state stands up to Trump.

Surrounding by several members of his cabinet, President Trump recently gave a speech at the White House touting his own environmental record. Even though he's tried to rolled back environmental regulations at a record pace, Trump painted a picture of a country where economic growth has occurred as the environment has gotten cleaner.

On this episode, we fact check the speech with Rebecca Leber of the Mother Jones.

The Trump administration recently rolled out the affordable clean energy (ACE) rule. Critics say it basically does nothing to prevent climate change at a time when global warming is turning into an existential crisis. Our guest is Jody Freeman, a professor at Harvard Law School and founder of the school's environmental and energy law program. She served in the Obama White House as counselor for energy and climate change.