The Weekly Wrap: Trump Admin Sues States Going After Big Oil

Welcome back to The Weekly Wrap, our Friday roundup of stories that explain the problems oppressing people in cities and elevate the solutions that bring us closer to economic, environmental and social justice. If you enjoy this newsletter, share it with a friend or colleague and tell them to subscribe.

By the way, we extended the application deadline to join us for Next City’s annual Vanguard conference in Philadelphia. Apply by May 9!

Trump Admin Sues Four States For Going After Big Oil

The White House is suing four Democratic-led states for seeking to force the fossil fuel industry to pay for damage caused by climate change, the Associated Press reports, with the Trump administration arguing that these states’ efforts threaten domestic energy production.

On Wednesday, the Trump administration filed preemptive cases against Hawaii and Michigan to bar the states from filing their own lawsuits against oil companies. On Thursday, the federal government also sued New York and Vermont over climate superfund laws that require fossil fuel companies to pay billions into state-based funds for emissions.

London’s Low Emission Zones Are Showing Real Health Benefits

A new study from University of Bath economists shows that Greater London’s clean air policies have significantly reduced harmful pollutants, resulting in an 18.5% reduction in sick leave, 10% decrease in respiratory issues, and annual public health savings of around $50 million.

Published in the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, the study analysed more than a decade of data to measure the effects of the introduction of the Low Emission Zone in 2008 and the Ultra Low Emission Zone in 2019.

Mass Hunger as Israel’s Total Siege Hits Two Months

Israel has not allowed any food, water, fuel, medical supplies or commercial goods into Gaza since March 2, the Washington Post and Al Jazeera report. The two-month blockade has reversed any humanitarian relief progress accomplished during the short-lived ceasefire, Palestinians and relief agencies say, leaving more than 2 million Palestinians suffering from life-threatening shortages of basic essentials.

Residents eat one meal a day at most; flour, milk, eggs and meat are largely unavailable; residents are burning waste and plastic to heat canned food; the U.N. World Food Program’s stocks in Gaza have been fully depleted and its bakeries have shuttered; and the few remaining soup kitchens say they will have to close soon.

Public Transit Faces a $6 Billion Shortfall

With emergency federal funds from the height of the pandemic running out and ridership rates still below pre-pandemic levels, mass transit authorities across the country are facing a combined $6 billion deficit, a Bloomberg News analysis concludes.

Where transit services are funded by rider fares, transit agencies expect to make up that shortfall through higher fares and service cuts. Such moves can further reduce ridership and pave the way for a yearslong doom spiral: Cutting service can force even low-income riders to buy a car, meaning transit systems will lose these users for decades to come, David Zipper explains in an op-ed this week.

Not only does additional federal help look less likely than ever, experts say, Trump’s federal clawbacks could worsen the situation. New York’s M.T.A. is relying on $14 billion from the federal government, but the Trump administration has threatened to withhold transportation funds unless New York State ends its hard-fought and highly successful Manhattan congestion pricing toll. As CityLab reports, the congestion pricing program has brought in $159 million in its first three months alone.

EPA Set To Cancel Nearly 800 Environmental Justice Grants

A court filing by Environmental Protection Agency lawyers disclosed that the Trump administration is planning to terminate 781 EPA grants issued under Biden, The Washington Post reports. About half of the recipients have been notified.

Cancelled grants include all of the EPA’s environmental justice grants, meant to protect vulnerable communities from wildfire smoke, rising floodwaters, industrial air pollution and more. This is on top of a previous decision to dismantle the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights and reassign more than 450 staff.

Meanwhile, Streetsblog reports that the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has proposed rescinding $3.1 billion in funding for the Neighborhood Access and Equity Program. The federal initiative works to repair the harms done by urban highway construction and other infrastructure projects through efforts such as Philadelphia’s Chinatown Stitch and Boston’s I-90 Allston multimodal project.

MORE NEWS

Loss of FEMA program spells disaster for hundreds of communities and their projects. AP News
In Cleveland, shootings drop but kids are at higher risk. The Marshall Project & Ohio Capital Journal
How Outlier Media is helping Detroiters get millions of dollars back from Wayne County. Nieman Lab
Disability protection groups in two states pause services after missing federal funds. Mother Jones
New reforms in Washington state could increase housing production and get landlords to give non-drivers a rent break. Streetsblog USA
Columbia University protest leader Mohsen Mahdawi released from U.S. custody. Al Jazeera
Can Canada’s newly-elected Prime Minister Mark Carney deliver on his campaign promises? CBC
Some pro-Trump towns are pushing against detention centers. The Marshall Project

OPPORTUNITIES & RESOURCES

Trust for Public Land’s Common Ground research and capacity building program is accepting community engagement project proposals from municipal park agencies and nonprofits focused on parks and public spaces. Apply by May 9. (Disclosure: TPL is a Next City sponsor.)
First Nations Development Institute is accepting applications for the Native Food Sovereignty Grant. Apply by May 14.
The Tow Foundation’s Innovation Fund is open to proposals from organizations advancing youth mental health in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New York or Pennsylvania. Attend a May 7 info session and apply by May 23.
The Knight Emerging City Champions program by 8 80 Cities is accepting applications from civic innovators aged 18-35 from Akron, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina; Detroit; Macon, Georgia; Miami; Philadelphia; San Jose, California; and St. Paul, Minnesota. Apply by May 28.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Evidence for Action has a call for proposals for two types of research to advance racial and Indigenous health equity: rapid response research and new research support. Apply by May 28 and July 16, respectively. (Disclosure: RWJF currently funds Next City.)
Check out Next City’s jobs board for new opportunities.

EVENTS

May 7 at 3 p.m. Eastern: Join Next City for a discussion with Oscar Perry Abello and Andre Perry about power, race, structural inequality and community. We’ll explore histories and solutions to economic inequality in the United States.
May 8 at 1 p.m. Eastern: Join Next City for a conversation about new models for sustaining culture in cities — from cultural land trusts to guaranteed income for artists — amid rising costs and unstable arts funding.

Aysha Khan is the managing editor at Next City. Her reporting has appeared nationally in outlets including the Associated Press, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, NBC News, Vice News and Religion News Service. A graduate of Harvard Divinity School and the University of Maryland, she has been awarded fellowships with the Solutions Journalism Network, the International Center for Journalists, the GroundTruth Project, the Journalism & Women Symposium, the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education and more.

This post was originally published on Next City.