Costa Samaras
@costasamaras.com
46K followers 2.2K following 12K posts
Climate, energy, emerging tech, resilience, & policy professor. Carnegie Mellon Univ. Institute for Energy Innovation Director. Former Biden-Harris White House OSTP Chief Advisor for the Clean Energy Transition. Personal account. He/Him. costasamaras.com
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costasamaras.com
If you’re new to Bluesky, welcome. A starter pack is an easy way to find folks to follow. Want to know what all these new energy regulations mean for your wallet, your lungs, and the climate? Here are my computer friends who work on climate: go.bsky.app/Aa1sErQ
Reposted by Costa Samaras
yonahfreemark.com
HUD’s ability to enforce fair housing laws was further gutted by the administration’s actions yesterday.

This is on top of the agency’s firing of 70% of its fair housing attorneys since January.

This will allow discrimination by race, sex, and disabilities to become more common—and go unpunished.
costasamaras.com
I remember when the covid vaccine first came out. For immunocomprised folks in my family and for my parents, it felt like a miracle. In terms of federal science & R&D, it really was. Now RFK is tearing it all down because of the brain worm that lives rent-free in his head. People will get sick.
costasamaras.com
Got these things at CVS before RFK JR makes them illegal

- covid vaccine booster
- flu vaccine
- cool ranch doritos
Reposted by Costa Samaras
costasamaras.com
Futureposting:

WASHINGTON, D.C. With 1 million new federal workers onboarded and existing workers supported and empowered to get things done, Americans are the happiest about the direction of the country than they’ve been in decades.
busbyj2.bsky.social
Such a terrific and awful cluster. DOGE will cost the United States hundreds of billions more when whatever emergency at home or abroad tests the United States and we will have gutted our government capacity to do anything. We are profoundly screwed for the next crisis across a range of areas.
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
NYT: One estimate finds that DOGE’s “firings, re-hirings, lost productivity and paid leave of thousands of workers” will actually COST taxpayers “upward of $135 billion this fiscal year.”

@nytimes.com 🤡
www.nytimes.com/2025/04/24/u...
Reposted by Costa Samaras
walkerbragman.bsky.social
This is why Democrats need to keep the shutdown going indefinitely.

The administration is acting lawlessly. There’s no check from Congress and no effort to find a middle ground.

Refusal to cooperate is the only response.
Reposted by Costa Samaras
publichealthguy1.bsky.social
RFK Jr. continues to consolidate power and assimilate the CDC under his personal control with these targeted illegal firings
melodyschreiber.com
The entire Washington staff and MMWR editors
sherylnyt.bsky.social
BREAKING: Friday night massacre underway at CDC. Doznes of "disease detectives," high-level scientists, entire Washington staff and editors of the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) have all been RIFed and received the following notice:
costasamaras.com
has the livestock emissions tax reduced emissions?
Reposted by Costa Samaras
bbkogan.bsky.social
Three key points:
1) The admin has been planning mass firings to begin in October since February
2) The work necessary to carry out mass firings is illegal during a shutdown, violating the Antideficiency Act, which carries a criminal penalty
3) This harms America, ridding us of talent and expertise
Russ Vought v @russvought
The RIFs have begun.
12:27 PM • 10/10/25 • 15K Views
Reposted by Costa Samaras
donmoyn.bsky.social
Re-upping this piece on news that Vought is firing federal employees:
*Vought lying that shutdowns compel layoffs, never have before.
*Layoffs are a choice, the shutdown is an excuse.
*Comes on top of existing RIFs, will make restoring govt services harder post-shutdown.
substack.com/home/post/p-...
Shutdown hostage taking
Russ Vought's threatens more mass firings; SCOTUS blesses his de facto impoundment
substack.com
costasamaras.com
sounds crimey
moreperfectunion.bsky.social
BREAKING: Trump’s budget chief Russ Vought says that “reduction in force,” or mass firings of federal workers, have begun — a move that is likely illegal.
Reposted by Costa Samaras
resnikoff.bsky.social
UPDATE: Newsom has signed SB 79 into law!!

This is a great day for anyone who cares about ending California's housing and homelessness crisis, getting the state to net zero emissions, and recovering American democracy.
resnikoff.bsky.social
If you live in California, please call @gavinnewsom.bsky.social at (916) 445-2841 and urge him to sign SB 79. Here's my post about why the bill is so important: publiccomment.blog/p/newsom-s-f...
Newsom's Fateful Choice
Why the governor needs to sign SB 79
publiccomment.blog
costasamaras.com
you get my aesthetic
Reposted by Costa Samaras
samebenergy.bsky.social
Loser stuff
costasamaras.com
Picture how big the Hoover Dam is. An absolute unit. The Hoover Dam has a power capacity of 2 gigawatts (GW).

The solar farm that the Admin just cancelled could have produces 6.2 GW of power. That's more than 3 Hoover Dams.
jael.bsky.social
SCOOP: The Bureau of Land Management says the largest solar project in Nevada — the Esmeralda 7 mega-farm — has been canceled

The news was quietly dropped via a sudden website update with no public word from any of the companies involved or a statement from the agency

@heatmap.news
costasamaras.com
Good on MIT, showing excellent leadership. But I bought a refundable plane ticket to speak at this MIT event next month in case they change their mind and sign before then. I don't have time for any university that signs the Compact. event.technologyreview.com/emtech-mit-2...
bakerdphd.bsky.social
Here's a snippet from the MIT president's letter to ED
Screenshot from link that reads: The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.

In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
Reposted by Costa Samaras
bakerdphd.bsky.social
Here's a snippet from the MIT president's letter to ED
Screenshot from link that reads: The document also includes principles with which we disagree, including those that would restrict freedom of expression and our independence as an institution. And fundamentally, the premise of the document is inconsistent with our core belief that scientific funding should be based on scientific merit alone.

In our view, America’s leadership in science and innovation depends on independent thinking and open competition for excellence. In that free marketplace of ideas, the people of MIT gladly compete with the very best, without preferences. Therefore, with respect, we cannot support the proposed approach to addressing the issues facing higher education.
costasamaras.com
We need a Compaq that gives us a 100 free hours of dial up internet, that's for sure
costasamaras.com
We don't need a Compact from the Administration we need a Compact from Tower Records
costasamaras.com
When clean energy supply goes down because of the Administration's policies and electricity demand goes up because of AI, it's an electricity crisis in the making. Listen to Chris and I talk about it: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
The Electricity Crisis with Costa Samaras
Podcast Episode · Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast · 09/23/2025 · 56m
podcasts.apple.com