The Endangered “Endangerment Finding”

At the announcement, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said that they are “driving a dagger into the heart” of what he called the “climate change religion.” The action removes the legal basis for regulations on pollution coming from tailpipes and power plant smokestacks among others. 

The agency has already started the process to roll back those types of regulations. The Endangerment Finding was made on the basis of a huge body of scientific evidence that carbon dioxide, methane, and four other gases were dangerous to human health and welfare. The finding was made after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2007 in a case, Massachusetts v. EPA, that greenhouse gases are pollutants under the Clean Air Act, which the agency is required to regulate, if they find they are harmful to human health and well-being. After that case, the agency made the Endangerment Finding.

Now, Trump’s EPA is effectively asking the current Supreme Court to overturn that decision, and the makeup of the justices could be in the administration’s favor. Before the high court decides to review the EPA’s rescission of the finding, there will be much litigation, which could last through the Trump administration’s term. 

The EPA may choose not to litigate the science that is the basis for the finding; however, there is more justification to regulate greenhouse gases than there was in 2009, according to Politico. Instead, the government may argue that the agency does not have the authority to regulate a global problem, only local pollution. Congress, they argue, would have had to give the EPA that specific authority. Opponents of the Trump administration action will argue that the EPA has not provided sufficient scientific evidence to support rescinding the Endangerment Finding.  

The administration’s rescission of the finding is part of an effort to help the oil and gas industries along with the ailing coal industry while slowing down the move to electric vehicles and wind and solar projects. Trump is also trying to open federal lands and waters for fossil fuel development.

As the date passed, there were separate statements issued by governors from Upper Basin and Lower Basin states. Lower Basin governors from California, Nevada, and Arizona, said that management of the river must be based on shared contribution and innovation with all users stretching to conserve. They maintained that they have already offered reductions in their share, which are firm and fair. Upper Basin governors from Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, and New Mexico said that they already live within the means of the river by adapting every year based on supplies.

However, the director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Tom Buschatzke, was critical of his Upper Basin neighbors, saying in a statement that they were opposed to any offer they Lower Basin had made to compromise no matter how dire the conditions of the river may be. Representing Colorado in the process, Becky Mitchell said in a release that the Upper Basin is being asked to solve a problem they did not create with water they don’t have, adding that their approach is in line with hydrologic reality and they are ready to move forward.

If the seven states cannot agree on how to manage the river’s water, the federal Bureau of Reclamation could mandate its own proposal later this year that would probably lead to years of litigation.

In the meantime, Gene Showcroft, Utah’s representative to the negotiations said at a press conference on Friday, February 13, 2026, that the Upper Basin states are working with the bureau on a plan to release water this summer from Flaming Gorge and other reservoirs to prop up Lake Powell, the second largest reservoir in the country. That development comes as forecasters expect the small snowfall this winter will cause big problems this summer.

During a La Niña year in the U.S., when ocean waters are cooler, winter temperatures are warmer than normal in the South and cooler than normal in the North. La Niña conditions can lead to a more severe hurricane season.

A shift to warmer ocean conditions during El Niño pushes the Pacific jet stream south, leading to the northern U.S. and Canada being drier and warmer than usual. In the Southeast, conditions are wetter than usual, with the risk of increased flooding. One silver lining is that El Niño conditions can limit the number and intensity of hurricanes forming in the Atlantic due to stronger wind shear.

For this spring and summer, forecasters at NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center say there’s a 56 percent probability that we will be in neutral conditions between La Niña and El Niño—likely shifting to El Niño by autumn with the caveat that it's hard to model with certainty this far out.

So, what to expect over the next few months? Weather.com says cooler-than-average temperatures from the Northern Rockies to the Northeast and warmer than average temperatures in the Southeast and Southwest. Depending on how fast the El Niño develops as well as its strength could drive severe storms, extreme rainfall, and drought in many areas of the globe. According to climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, even a moderately strong El Niño may yield record global temperatures this year and into 2027.

[ AUDIO: warm water frog sounds ]

That’s the sound of a frog telling females that the water’s just right for mating. According to a new study by the University of California, Davis, water temperature affects the sound and quality of male frogs’ mating calls. When it’s colder in the early weeks of spring, their songs are kinda sluggish and a bit of a put-off.

[ AUDIO: cold water frog sounds ]

But as the weather warms and the croaks pick up their pace, female frogs can’t resist an energetic crooner. They know that the song indicates that the water temperature is perfect to lay eggs that will survive. 

To reach their conclusions, the researchers recorded Sierran chorus frog or Sierran treefrog (Pseudacris sierra) at two sites in Northern California and compared how their vocalizations changed as water temperatures rose. They observed that male frogs arrive earlier to ponds than the females, so they can warm up their “voices” and be ready to belt out their tunes. 

However, the team says that climate change could affect this performance as temperatures rise and seasons shift. About 41 percent of amphibian species are threatened with extinction, making them the most endangered vertebrate class. Understanding when they breed, as global warming continues, will be critical to their conservation. 

The study was published in the science journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment.