We found grace, humanity and friendship in the stories of disparate Americans hit by climate chaos.

© Philip Cheung for The New York Times

Trump’s EPA strips itself of regulating ability, gutting Clean Air Act in what experts say is a gift to planet polluters

On the heels of the hottest summer ever recorded in the US, the Trump administration has said it will erase any limits on emissions from coal and gas plants that are dangerously heating up our planet.

The US Environmental Protection Agency said it will strip itself of its ability to regulate greenhouse gas emissions coming from power plants under the Clean Air Act, removing a key tool to address the climate crisis.

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© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

© Photograph: Jon Cherry/Getty Images

Energy Transfer, whose CEO is a major Trump donor, named as biggest single methane producer in new rankings

Down a short gravel track in a largely nondescript corner of Louisiana sits a gas processing facility, operated by a company whose chief executive is a major donor to Donald Trump. It may be the largest emitter of methane in the US.

The Energy Transfer site, located near the city of Shreveport, is named as the biggest single “super-emitter” in new rankings of US oil and gas operations for the largest releases of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that is rapidly overheating our planet, according to a new UCLA study, which is based on satellite data.

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© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

© Photograph: Matthew Brown/AP

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The president’s push for data centers is driving a boom in gas-burning power plants. Texas is leading the way.

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The funds have been frozen since early in President Trump’s second term.

In the latest example, the Energy Department will convert a shuttered Cold War-era uranium enrichment facility into a data center campus and gas plants.

© Kenny Holston/The New York Times

In the latest example, the Energy Department will convert a shuttered Cold War-era uranium enrichment facility into a data center campus and gas plants.

The Trump administration is undoing fuel-saving efforts even as war in Iran, data centers and heat waves are pushing up gasoline and electricity costs.

© Michael Hickey/Getty Images

The Trump administration wants to roll back some Biden-era restrictions on smog-causing emissions from heavy-duty vehicles.

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The lawsuit aims to hold fossil fuel companies responsible for a heat wave in Portland five years ago. The industry says the case should be thrown out.

© Michael Hanson for The New York Times

It has stopped criminal prosecutions of people who install “defeat devices,” which make diesel trucks faster and more efficient but also dirtier.

© Acacia Johnson for The New York Times

It has stopped criminal prosecutions of people who install “defeat devices,” which make diesel trucks faster and more efficient but also dirtier.

The parasitic, flesh-eating fly has now been confirmed in cows, goats and dogs.

US president announces plans for two new coal plants, in Alaska and West Virginia, using Defense Production Act

Donald Trump is using wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he called “clean, beautiful coal”, despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels.

“Today, we’re taking historic action to bring down the price of energy and the cost of living for all Americans with the power of clean, beautiful coal,” he said at a press conference on Thursday.

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© Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

© Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

© Photograph: Adrees Latif/Reuters

New guidance from the Energy Department would prevent people from receiving rebates after making such swaps.

© Bing Guan for The New York Times

The rules were established by the Biden administration after research linked the compounds to a range of serious health problems.

© Haiyun Jiang/The New York Times

The administration is delaying a phaseout of hydrofluorocarbons, potent planet-warming chemicals used in air-conditioning and refrigeration.

© Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

The finding effectively paves the way for continued use of atrazine, a widely used herbicide that has been linked to birth defects and cancer in humans.

© Julie Ingwersen/Reuters

A new wave of start-ups are trying to harvest emissions-free energy from inside the Earth, but the industry still faces significant challenges.

© Eduardo Munoz/Reuters