Matthew Daly
Matthew Daly traces how U.S. climate, environmental and energy policy is made, rolled back and fought over, focusing on federal agencies and the politics that shape their decisions. He reports on climate, environment and energy policy for the Associated Press, bringing long experience covering Congress, the White House and regional beats to stories at the intersection of regulation, industry and public impact. His coverage often links complex rulemakings to concrete consequences for emissions, businesses and household costs, making national climate and energy debates legible to a broad audience.
Federal Climate and Energy Rules
Daly regularly covers federal efforts to define and enforce climate and energy rules, with a particular focus on agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Energy Department. Recent reporting includes the EPA’s termination of grant agreements worth $20 billion from a green bank program intended to finance clean energy and climate‑friendly projects, explaining what the move means for proposed climate investments and local initiatives. He has detailed SEC plans to repeal a rule requiring some public companies to disclose greenhouse gas emissions and climate risks, highlighting arguments over statutory authority, compliance costs and the value of climate‑related information to investors.
Through coverage of Energy Department plans to spend billions to increase electricity production from the power grid, he tracks how federal spending is being directed toward energy infrastructure and grid capacity.
Regulatory Rollbacks and Legal Challenges
Daly follows how climate‑related regulations are dismantled or defended in court, emphasizing both policy substance and legal framing. His reporting on the repeal of the Obama‑era endangerment finding, the scientific determination that greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare, lays out how the EPA’s action strips away the underpinning for key climate rules governing vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.
He has covered lawsuits filed by dozens of states, cities and counties challenging that repeal, describing how subnational governments seek to preserve federal climate standards and the legal avenues they pursue. In coverage of broader efforts in a new Trump term to target climate measures, he situates specific rollbacks within a larger agenda to weaken emissions limits and slow the transition to cleaner energy.
Industry Costs, Consumer Prices and Everyday Impact
A consistent theme in Daly’s work is the connection between environmental regulation, industry costs and household expenses. In a story on loosening rules for refrigerants used in grocery store and air‑conditioning equipment, he explains how the administration frames the change as a way to lower grocery costs while reducing steep restrictions on climate‑warming hydrofluorocarbons, balancing economic arguments with the environmental implications. His coverage of SEC climate disclosure rules describes how regulators and companies weigh the costs of reporting emissions and climate risks against claimed informational benefits for shareholders.
Reporting on the termination of green bank grants similarly explores how the loss of public financing affects clean‑energy projects, local jobs and the pace of climate‑related investment.
Agency Agendas, Chemicals and Accountability
Daly also reports on the internal agendas and accountability pressures facing environmental agencies, especially around chemicals and pollution. In a piece on Kennedy allies growing frustrated with the EPA over a missing plan known as the MAHA agenda, he details repeated promises by agency leaders to produce a comprehensive framework on chemicals, pesticides and microplastics and the political fallout when that agenda fails to materialize. He has covered stories tying agency decisions to physical infrastructure and public spaces, such as fencing around the Kennedy Center, showing how regulatory and maintenance choices resonate beyond traditional environmental debates.
Across these stories, he emphasizes timelines, promised actions and gaps between public commitments and actual policies, giving readers a clear view of how environmental governance works in practice.
Background on Politics and Institutions
Before focusing primarily on climate and energy, Daly spent years covering Congress, the White House, regional assignments and state capitols, building deep familiarity with federal institutions and political actors. That background informs his current beat, where he places environmental and climate stories within broader fights over oversight, ethics, party agendas and economic policy. He writes as part of the Associated Press climate and environment team, contributing pieces that connect agency‑level decisions to national politics and long‑running debates over how the United States should regulate emissions, support clean energy and respond to climate risk.
4 more environment journalists.
Alan Halaly
Alan Halaly is a water reporter at the Las Vegas Review-Journal who treats the Colorado River as a working system, not a backdrop, making its governance, infrastructure and risks central to his beat. He covers how policy decisions and infrastructure projects shape the region’s water future, linking high-level choices on the Colorado River, dams, mining and data centers to everyday consequences under mounting heat and growth pressures. He reports deeply on new laws, lawsuits and regulatory shifts, focusing on on-the-ground impacts. His coverage spans Colorado River cuts, Hoover Dam operations, extreme weather, heat and parks, septic system rules, workplace and public health risks, lithium and gold mines, protected landscapes, data centers, AI infrastructure and public funding. Previously he reported for metropolitan dailies, digital outlets and public media, including the Miami Herald, WUFT, The Daily Beast and Miami New Times, with work recognized by Hearst, ONA and the Society of Environmental Journalists.
Alejandra Borunda
Alejandra Borunda reports on how climate change affects human health for NPR. Her work treats global warming as a direct cause of physical and mental health risks. She covers extreme heat, including undercounted deaths, lost sleep and local efforts to track heat-related fatalities. She also reports on wildfire smoke, hurricanes, disease spread such as dengue fever, trauma, stress and unequal health impacts. Her stories examine how communities protect themselves and recover, as well as practical solutions involving climate-resilient crops, agriculture and diet. Before NPR, she wrote about climate science and environmental issues for National Geographic, including glacier retreat, shade and heat inequity, and shrinking ice-fishing seasons. A former climate scientist, she combines field reporting with scientific data to connect atmospheric research to everyday risks, choices and people’s lived experiences.
Alex Lubben
Alex Lubben is an environment reporter at The Times-Picayune/The Advocate who connects climate risk to policy, industry and community change. He covers Gulf warming, flood protection, coastal restoration, wetlands litigation, industrial projects such as SpaceX’s possible expansion, invasive species and local ecosystems. His reporting tracks how law, politics and corporate decisions shape levees, drainage, marshes and long-term resilience. He also examines climate relocation, housing and labor, showing how hurricanes, floods and wildfires displace vulnerable communities and expose gaps in government systems. He works on a small environment team and brings an investigative background to document work, data analysis, legal and policy research, and field reporting. His work has appeared in VICE News, The Center for Public Integrity, The Nation, Jewish Currents and NBC News.
Alex Wigglesworth
Alex Wigglesworth reports on how climate, land use and public policy shape California communities. She covers the Inland Empire and Mojave Desert for the Los Angeles Times and is part of its environment team. Her beat includes wildfires, megadrought, extreme weather, desert development, conservation, wildlife, industrial hazards, aging infrastructure and regulatory enforcement. She has covered Western Joshua trees, desert tortoises, beaver-led restoration, toxic lead pipes, air-quality concerns after industrial fires and the effects of nuclear war on food systems. Earlier, she was a general assignment reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com. She combines breaking news with detailed reporting grounded in scientific studies, modeling and expert interviews. Her work connects fires, drought and other hazards to climate change, while examining how agencies, companies and land-use decisions affect people and ecosystems.