Articles by Staff Writer Jake Bittle
Jake Bittle is a staff writer at Grist, covering climate change, energy, and natural disasters. He is the author of The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration. He is writing a book about Kern County, California, and is currently a New America fellow.
All Articles
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![Ice accumulates on utility lines in Nashville, Tennessee, during Winter Storm Fern. The storm knocked out power to at least 300,000 people across the South.]()
![Ice accumulates on utility lines in Nashville, Tennessee, during Winter Storm Fern. The storm knocked out power to at least 300,000 people across the South.]()
The winter storm exposed the grid’s real weakness: Lots of old poles
Aging infrastructure is to blame for Winter Storm Fern’s weather outages — and for recent price spikes.
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![A wind turbine generates electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm, the first commercial wind farm in the United States.]()
![A wind turbine generates electricity at the Block Island Wind Farm, the first commercial wind farm in the United States.]()
Trump destroyed offshore wind. The Northeast can’t live without it.
To keep the lights on, states like New York and Massachusetts will need to build projects that are currently “impossible.”
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![President Trump is joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and representatives from the coal industry as he signs an executive order to boost coal power.]()
![President Trump is joined by Energy Secretary Chris Wright, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, and representatives from the coal industry as he signs an executive order to boost coal power.]()
Trump is keeping coal on life support. How long can it last?
In 2025, regulatory rollbacks and surging power demand helped buoy an industry in trouble.
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![EPA administrator Lee Zeldin stands at podium with flags behind him]()
![EPA administrator Lee Zeldin stands at podium with flags behind him]()
Trump’s EPA is taking itself out of the regulation game
The agency has long tried to curb carbon emissions and protect human health. Critics say it’s giving up on both.
