In 2025, bipartisan policies had offered US states practical ways to accelerate clean energy deployment, modernize the grid, and ease pressure on rising energy costs. At the core of these state efforts were goals to reduce emissions, in keeping with projections out to 2030 and even 2050. It’s been clear for a while that the growing market for renewable technologies makes energy consumption more efficient and creates energy independence. Yet US President Donald J. Trump has done his best to stymie as many domestic renewable energy projects as possible. He’s putting pressure on energy companies to rethink the clean energy policies they embraced during former President Joe Biden’s tenure. Many US state governments, tied to pledges to move to net zero economies, now find themselves in a bind to achieve their emissions goals. Environmental Degradation, Trump Style Joe Biden had set the US on a more robust climate course than any other US president. “The argument at the time was that these targets were achievable with the right mix of technological progress and federal support,” Noah Kaufman, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy describes. “But a lot has happened between then and now.” Trump 2.0 climate science denial has been far-reaching. Under his watch, a Climate Working Group, comprised of researchers who reject the consensus view of global warming, argued that climate change impacts are less severe and costly than commonly thought. After it sparked wide criticism from other scientists who said it misrepresented their findings, the US Energy Department disbanded the Group. Even so, the White House fiscal 2027 budget request continues a pattern of blocking renewable energy and climate action in favor of fossil fuels. If Trump gets his way, the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement would see cuts and reorganization. Biden administration energy and climate mitigation orders will continue to be erased, including any remaining glimpses of EV charging help to the states. The Endangered Species Act? Laughable, according to the MAGA crowd. This weekend former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich mused about the state of US government climate policy. “How have we come so perilously close to climate catastrophe, with spring temperatures in the Western United States already shattering records — and yet governments are spending over a trillion dollars a year subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and banks have channeled over $3 trillion to fossil fuel companies since the Paris Agreement, while there are almost no funds to protect living ecosystems?” Nonetheless, Roger Pielke, Jr. of the conservative American Enterprise Institute insists that “so-called renewables” are not remotely renewable. To be sure, he allows, solar and wind technologies, coupled with storage, can contribute to the decarbonization of electricity. However, “they are each built on a deep foundation of fossil fuels.” Manufacturing of renewables, he continues, requires a sustained output of a global heavy industrial base dependent on fossil fuels, “with no commercial zero-carbon alternatives widely deployed in its most energy-intensive processes.” The mindset of a dark world appeals to populist thinking. Pielke, Jr. offers a convenient interpretation that fails to recognize the existential crisis that we face from burning fossil fuels. What happened to the American Dream in which the US could do anything if we only tried? In contrast, Robert F. Kennedy stated during the 1968 presidential campaign, “There are those who look at things the way they are, and ask why… I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” Northeastern States Struggle to Meet Climate Goals Trump climate policies have been devastating for US consumers even as renewable energy is still expanding faster than fossil fuels around the world. The transactional president has made it a personal vendetta to block offshore wind, for example. The United States has 203 offshore wind farm projects, of which three are currently operating, three where construction has progressed enough to connect the turbines and generate electricity, two are in the build phase, and six are either consented or have applied for consent. It is unclear if more can be built. Yet prevailing sentiment continues to support offshore wind. A congressionally mandated report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released in March 2026 laid out strategies for the US Coast Guard and other federal agencies to follow when planning offshore renewable energy projects. Offshore renewable energy development is an emerging component of a clean energy portfolio, the report concludes. The report outlines key benefits of offshore wind development, including clean energy, job creation, local economic gains, and expanded scientific research and ecosystem monitoring. Its conclusions are also prudent, outlining potential drawbacks such as restricted fishing access, port disruption, maritime safety concerns, and marine ecosystem impacts. Confronting “the Trump administration’s hostility to renewable energy” has put enormous burdens on northeastern US states, writes Brad Plumer in the New York Times. At one point clean energy state supporters had argued that large upfront investments in clean energy would pay off as their regions weaned off fossil fuels. Today that argument holds less sway with constituents as electricity, home heating, and vehicle gas prices soar. Various states had aimed to reduce emissions roughly in half by 2030 and nearly zero them out by midcentury. Many governors, though, haven’t given up hope. Instead, they’re taking new approaches to decarbonization. In a region with some of the highest electrical rates in the country, affordability is the key issue on voters’ minds. The US gas system is increasingly expensive, aging, and inefficient—and, over the last decade, gas utility spending has shifted from business-as-usual investment to an era of accelerated capital expansion. Clean energy innovations requires new mindsets. Governor Maura Healey of Massachusetts has moved to streamline permitting for solar projects, reduce electricity rates for heat pump owners, and make the grid more flexible to reduce the need to build additional power plants. “We can bring more energy in to lower people’s bills and bring more clean energy in to reduce emissions all at the same time,” Healey explains. A Massachusetts bill would also require utilities to develop VPPs. Vermont’s roads, bridges, downtowns, and farms have endured more than $1 billion in damage from several years of flooding after intense storms, and the state ranks high among all others with federal disaster declarations caused by extreme weather. Passed in May 2024, the Vermont Climate Superfund Act allows the state to recover financial damages from the impacts of climate change to Vermont caused by the fossil fuel industry. These funds are targeted for climate adaption projects. This alternative is consistent with a national poll released by the Make Polluters Pay campaign which shows overwhelming bipartisan support for requiring oil and gas companies to pay their fair share of climate damage costs. Poll results show that 77% of likely voters backing climate Superfund legislation. Clean Energy Hope from Far Corners of the Country In the category of Good News, there’s a group of candidates dubbed the “Clean Energy Team” who won control of the board of Arizona’s largest public utility this week. Members of the power district board aligned with the Clean Energy Team will now hold an eight-to-six majority, reports Reis Thebault of the New York Times, “meaning proponents of renewable power will control the utility’s policymaking for the first time.” The clean energy candidates ran on a platform in which renewable must be brought into the Arizona grid more quickly. They support consumer incentives for rooftop solar panels and higher rates for data center developments. “We’ll fight for you and your family, not polluters or AI data centers” was one of their campaign slogans, as was “The Valley of the Sun should be the solar capital of the world.” Salt River Project utility provides power and water to the metropolitan Phoenix area. The new board members will be instrumental in figuring how much households will pay as the region continues to experience extreme heat and drought. “Starting when we’re sworn in, SRP will be the largest utility in the country with a majority vote of clean energy supporters,” said Ken Clark, who is one of the team’s newly elected candidates and will represent an area of north-central Phoenix. “There has been a pent-up demand, especially in Arizona, for people to have their energy freedom, to have solar panels, batteries, and more energy-efficient measures.” Resources “Clean energy slate wins control of Arizona’s biggest utility.” Reis Thebault. New York Times. April 9, 2026. “Priorities for sustainable and responsible development of offshore renewable energy on the west coast outlined in new report.” Solomon Self. National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. March 17, 2026 “Northeast states set big climate goals. Now those plans are in trouble.” Brad Plumer. New York Times. April 11, 2026. “Offshore wind farms in the United States.” TGS Intelligence. “’Renewables’ are not renewable.” Roger Pielke, Jr. American Enterprise Institute. March 25, 2026. “Sunday thought: How the hell did we get to this point? And how do we change course?” Robert Reich. Substack. April 12, 2026. “The climate question that economists cannot answer.” Noah Kaufman. The Atlantic. January 14, 2026. “To meet rising energy demands, states should continue to be clean energy leaders.” Bill Frist. Forbes. March 10, 2026.