As President Trump and the Republican-led Congress aim to shrink the federal government and renew major tax cuts, hundreds of billions of dollars in clean energy tax credits could be on the chopping board. Twenty-one House Republicans whose districts are benefiting from the tax credits are petitioning GOP leadership to keep them intact. Inside Climate News Reporter Dylan Baddour joins Host Paloma Beltran to discuss.

President Trump’s EPA is halting funding for EJ programs and shuttering its Office of Environmental Justice. David Cash led EPA Region 1 covering New England during the Biden administration and joins Host Jenni Doering to describe how EJ initiatives were starting to help overburdened communities clean up their air, replace lead pipes and enjoy better health as a result.

Under President Biden the Department of Justice and EPA sued petrochemical manufacturer Denka, alleging that its Reserve, Louisiana plant posed unacceptable cancer risks. But the Trump administration abruptly dropped the case just weeks before the scheduled start of a trial. Living on Earth Producer Andrew Skerritt visited Reserve to speak to community activists who are being impacted by this decision, and he shares their testimony with Host Paloma Beltran.

The expansion of fracking or hydraulic fracturing for natural gas is generating large amounts of waste contaminated with heavy metals and radiation. Some of it gets sent to landfills like one in the small town of Yukon, Pennsylvania. Kiley Bense of Inside Climate News explains to Host Jenni Doering how EPA has documented unacceptable levels of pollution draining from the landfill into a local creek.

The Biden Administration EPA recently awarded $20 billion to organizations who will turn around and offer low-interest loans to help communities participate in the clean energy transition. EPA Administrator of New England David Cash and Host Steve Curwood cover how the program is catalyzing far more private capital and will help fund projects like insulating homes and replacing gas heating and cooking with heat pumps and induction stoves.