Sorry, not sorry, but the Olympics are all I’m thinking about this week, made even more special because our dear friend Price Atkinson is in Italy covering the U.S. Curling team. And this week, after the mixed doubles team played for gold (and won silver), he provided the English version of the announcing! We are so proud of Price—and of Team USA!
(Pictured below: Price at the curling rink.)
This week’s must read: Offshore wind showed up big during the East Coast’s brutal cold (Canary Media)
With all the questions about wind, both on and offshore, I thought this was an interesting article about the role offshore wind specifically played in the recent cold snap.
The TL:DR from Liz Burdock, president and CEO of Oceantic Network: “Performance data is showing in real time that offshore wind delivers reliable power when the grid needs it the most … at the scale this region and our country need.”
The EcoRight Speaks gets a dose of optimism from Nick Huey
A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away (called Mountain Time) we discovered a young man named Nick Huey, who was profiled in a Utah media outlet for his miraculous feat: convincing students the University of Utah and BYU to agree on the importance of speaking up on climate change. And this agreement between long time rivals was proof positive that we could broaded the feat to achieve widespread bipartisan support for climate solutions.
That enterprising college student is now the father of 3 with a real job but his innovation, optimism, and warmth continue to inspire us. Today, Nick makes his third appearance on the show and in this episode, he’s giving us the rundown of what environmental issues are front and center on the minds of Utahns, why their Congressional delegation is so special, and some hope for coalescing the so-called radical middle around a solution for climate change.
We still have one of Bob Eccles’ most recent books to give away. Go back and listen to his February 3, 2026 episode all the way to the end to find out what you need to do to win!
Coming up next week, a conversation on nuclear energy with Ross Matzkin-Bridger, Senior Advisor at the Nuclear Scaling Initiative (NSI).
The future of climate regulations
In 2007, working on a comprehensive climate change bill, we used the thread of the administration regulating greenhouse gases as leverage support for a climate bill from reluctant lawmakers. The threat wasn’t pressing enough to pass a bill despite the 2007 Supreme Court ruling that carbon dioxide, methane and four other greenhouse gases threaten, or rather, endanger, human health. In response to that ruling, 2009, EPA issued the endangerment finding, requiring the federal government regulate greenhouse gases.
This week the administration repealed the scientific determination that underpinned federal efforts to control climate change.
For more on the history of the how this repeal came to be, check out New York Times climate reporter Lisa Friedman on Thursday’s episode of The Daily. (You can also read about the endangerment finding in my book Glacial…)
Key quote from the episode:
“Scientists are worried. I mean, the United States is the largest historic emitter of climate change. It’s the second largest annual emitter of carbon pollution and greenhouse gases. If the US is not doing its part, a lot of countries could start to wonder why should they. And the most important is China. And that’s the big fear that a lot have relayed to me. If the United States is successful in not just failing to reduce its own emissions, but convincing other countries that they don’t need to either, scientists feel that could have a really dangerous domino effect for the planet.”
Now, some would argue that regulations get tied up in court. And they do. But the optics of the U.S. government completely ceding climate leadership is not good.
Chin up (or so I’m telling myself).
Have a great weekend.
Go, Team USA. (⛸️ In addition to the curling team, I will be heartily cheering for George Mason University student, the Quad God, Ilia Malinin, as he skates for gold shortly after this message goes out. ⛸️)