Day of the Palisades, 2nd of Spring, 525 M.E.. (Castor):  I still bow to no king.

Lee Zeldin, the Republican congressman with little environmental experience but nonetheless named by Mumps to be the Administrator of the EPA, has cancelled $7 billion of climate research grants. He claimed he was driving a dagger through the heart of "climate-change religion" and ushering in "America’s Golden Age.” He further claimed the mission of the Agency was not to protect the environment but to make it more affordable for people to buy cars, heat their homes, and run businesses.

That is not correct. The mission of the Environmental Protection Agency is to protect the environment. And Lee Zeldin is not doing a very good job of it.

On Wednesday, federal Judge Tanya Chutkan, the judge who was the presiding judge over Mumps' criminal trial over the January 6 insurrection before the case was dismissed after the election, is ruling on a case over the research grant cuts brought by Climate United, which coordinates investment in clean energy projects. Chutkan told the government's lawyers they needed “some kind of evidence” of wrongdoing to back up the cuts, and asked, “Can you proffer any evidence that [the grant] was illegal, or evidence of abuse or fraud or bribery – that any of that was improperly or unlawfully done, other than the fact that Mr. Zeldin doesn’t like it?”

Marc Sacks, a government lawyer, said, “The determination is based on the information contained in the termination letter.”

Chutkan told him, “That’s pretty circular.” She also said, “I don’t have the credible evidence that’s required."

The hearing ended without a ruling or temporary restraining order, but Chutkan told both sides to make new filings by Monday evening. Climate United is to amend its lawsuit and the government is to provide information regarding any alleged wrongdoing.

By the way, speaking of climate change, there was a sandstorm during this year's Iditarod dog-sled race (a sandstorm!), and a massive storm system with multiple tornados that has already killed 17 in the South is heading toward my Atlanta home as I write this.