Rocky Kistner
@therockyfiles.bsky.social
1.7K followers 210 following 1.4K posts
Independent journalist, Society of Environmental Journalists board. Formerly with ABC News, PBS Frontline, Marketplace public radio, NRDC OnEarth, HuffPost contributing writer. Mizzou J School alum. TheRockyFiles.org, https://themoneytrail.substack.com/
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therockyfiles.bsky.social
Russia’s leaking shadow oil fleet now numbers 1300: “It seems shocking to me that these tankers, after having shown evidence of an oil spill and environmental damage … haven’t been detained” @POLITICOPro www.politico.eu/article/russ...
Russia’s blacklisted tankers keep dumping oil in Europe’s seas
Shadow fleet vessels sailed unimpeded in EU waters after leaving slicks near the continent.
www.politico.eu
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Bad news for federal workers and government agencies that depend on them: "Vought announced the layoffs on X, saying, "The RIFs have begun." https://
axios.com/2025/10/10/trump-officials-federal-layoffs @EmilyRPeck @josephine_walkr @axios
Trump officials say "substantial" federal worker layoffs have begun
Russell Vought announced the cuts Friday.
axios.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Killing science: “The 2026 budget would slash the National Science Foundation by 56.9 percent, the N.I.H. by 39.3 percent and NASA by 24.3 percent, including 47.3 percent of the agency’s science-research budget.” @nytimes @alanburdick messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/rend...
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Pope Leo to 1.5 billion Catholics: act on #climate. "Some have chosen to deride the increasingly evident signs of climate change, to ridicule those who speak of global warming and even to blame the poor for the very thing that affects them the most." www.ncronline.org/opinion/pope...
Pope Leo embraces Francis' concerns on global warming and the environment
Those who hoped that Pope Leo XIV would back away from Pope Francis' concerns about global warming and the environment were severely disappointed last week. Instead, Leo firmly embraced the environmen...
www.ncronline.org
therockyfiles.bsky.social
New from Money Trail: PragerU promotes a distorted view of history and partners with the Trump administration and school systems in 10 states. “Being taken as a slave is better than being killed, no?”https://themoneytrail.substack.com/p/prageru-may-soon-be-whitewashing @cmatthiessen.bsky.social
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Why the government shutdown will not last: travelers are getting pissed off!
washingtonpost.com
A week into the government shutdown — and days before a holiday weekend — travelers are feeling the pain of flight delays.

There have been more than 12,000 flights delayed at U.S. airports from Monday through Wednesday evening, according to FlightAware.
Flights are getting delayed during the shutdown. Here’s what you can do.
Travel experts warn that complications can mount as the government shutdown drags on.
www.washingtonpost.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Scientists say the climate crisis is our greatest threat. Politicians fed by disinformation snooze. Time for that to stop!
infpwriter.bsky.social
"Anti-science is humankind’s foremost threat." - Michael E. Mann & Peter Hotez

michaelmann.net/books/scienc...
michaelemann.bsky.social
“This Is the Greatest Threat to Our Human Future” | @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social and I discuss with @nextbigidea.bsky.social about our new book, #ScienceUnderSiege:

nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/gre...
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Over its lifetime, offshore wind power is cheaper than new fossil fuel plants, as new clean energy technology makes wind and solar cheaper and cheaper. Why it will be hard for the Trump administration to stop it.
fieseler.bsky.social
SCOOP: The only offshore wind farm backed by Republican lawmakers narrows in on a new, definitive state date: March 2026.

Trump promised “no new windmills” on his watch.

But, in just 6 months, America’s largest offshore wind farm will plug into the grid. 🔌

#energysky #greensky
America’s biggest offshore wind farm will be online in six months
Dominion Energy’s 2.6 GW project off Virginia’s coast is progressing fast. The utility has a new, more definitive target to plug into the grid: March 2026.
www.canarymedia.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Bottom line, renewables are cheaper than fossil fuels. The market can't stop that.

“The IEA has, consistently over the last couple of decades, way underestimated how fast renewables are growing...I don’t see any reason to believe that renewables won’t double by 2030.”
grist.org
As Trump champions fossil fuels, the world is betting on renewable energy.

Despite a U.S. retreat, solar and wind are overtaking fossil fuels globally, according to two new reports.

grist.org/internationa...

#GreenSky #Energy #Climate #Solar #Wind #Renewables
As Trump champions fossil fuels, the world is betting on renewable energy
Despite a U.S. retreat, solar and wind are overtaking fossil fuels globally, according to two reports published this week.
grist.org
therockyfiles.bsky.social
The cost of Trump's USAID budget cuts: children screaming for food. "U.S. funding cuts could result in more than 14 million deaths, including more than 4.5 million children under age 5, by 2030." @KristenGelineau @AP
apnews.com/article/myan...
Starving children screaming for food as US aid cuts unleash devastation and death across Myanmar
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has repeatedly said “no one has died" because of his government’s decision to gut its foreign aid program.
apnews.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
As the planet burns Trump's team kills clean energy boosting oil and gas: "of 37 nominees to the Department of Energy (DOE), EPA and DOI who required Senate confirmation, 25 had ties to polluting industries, including oil and gas and mining." insideclimatenews.org/news/0610202... @insideclimatenews
New Report Examines Fossil Fuel Ties of Dozens of Trump Administration Hires - Inside Climate News
Public Citizen and the Revolving Door Project found 42 former fossil fuel industry employees among nominees and appointees to agencies charged with enforcing energy and environmental policy.
insideclimatenews.org
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Dangerous liaison between anti-science propaganda and the media: the spread of dangerous #climate misinformation.
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Earth on fire: “wildfires are blazing four times more often now than they did in the 1980s because of human-caused climate change and people moving closer to wildlands” @borenbears @AP apnews.com/article/wild...
Study shows the world is far more ablaze now with damaging fires than in the 1980s
A new study shows that the world's most damaging wildfires are happening four times more often now compared to the 1980s.
apnews.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
The relentless push for ‘clean beautiful coal:’ “the moves are unlikely to change the long-term trajectory for #coal, which is being displaced by cheaper and cleaner sources of energy including natural gas, #solar and #wind power.” @dgelles messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/dynamic/rend...
therockyfiles.bsky.social
New from Money Trail. What Trump and the oil and gas industry don’t want you to know: clean energy is cheaper than fossil fuels.
“The cheapest and quickest way to get new energy online is now solar and wind, not new coal- or gas-fired power plants.”
open.substack.com/pub/themoney...
On the Money: We Can Address Affordability and the Climate Crisis at the Same Time
Renewables are now the cheapest source of electricity worldwide
open.substack.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
Trump USAID cuts hurts millions and costs taxpayers: “the shutdown of the U.S. Agency for International Development will cost taxpayers $6.4 billion over two years.”
https://
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/20/opinion/trump-usaid-cuts.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare @NickKristof
Opinion | Trump’s Most Lethal Policy
www.nytimes.com
therockyfiles.bsky.social
SEJ board elections are coming up soon. Deadline to file is this Friday. Come join the board of the world’s biggest environmental journalism org, fighting for free speech and critical environmental reporting. Join us! @sejorg www.sej.org/sej-board-el...
therockyfiles.bsky.social
New from me in Money Trail: Wind is a cash crop for red state farmers and ranchers. The Trump administration’s assault on renewable energy could undercut Republican prospects in the upcoming election. themoneytrail.substack.com/p/red-state-...
Red State Farmers Embrace Wind While Trump Tries to Kill It
The Trump administration’s attack on renewables could backfire in the next election
themoneytrail.substack.com