Weekly Briefing: Snow, ice & cold temps underscore the importance of energy permitting reform

Jan. 28, 2026

Source: CNN Weather

Millions of Americans braced for extreme weather this past week, buying out grocery stores and stocking up on emergency preparedness supplies. Chances are, you experienced (or are actively experiencing) at least one of these in the last five days: 

• Ice and snow storms: More than 19 states saw over a foot of snow. Even states that have typically mild or warmer climates were impacted. The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport saw 0.5 inches of snow, breaking a record previously set in 1949. Southern states were also impacted by ice storms with accumulations in unexpected cities like Corpus Christi, TX, Myrtle Beach, SC, and Rayville, LA.
• Extreme cold: A surge of Arctic air has deposited frigid temperatures across much of the U.S. States from Texas to Maine are under extreme cold watches. More than half of Americans continue to face unusually cold and potentially dangerous temperatures.
• Power outages: Every time an extreme weather event hits, America’s aging power grid faces yet another test. Hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses lost power over the weekend. On Monday, 800,000 people still did not have power, despite the freezing cold temperatures.

Per the New York Times, “Weather and climate are not the same thing, but they are related. In a broad sense, climate change encourages extreme weather events by altering the background conditions in the atmosphere.” A warming atmosphere can hold more moisture, for example, leading to intense precipitation.

As climate change advances, extreme weather is a growing threat to America’s infrastructure, health, and safety.  But comprehensive permitting reform — which CCL is working hard to make happen in Congress — can help in a few ways. 

First, expanding transmission allows us to connect geographically diverse regions. If one region is hit by a storm that knocks out some power generation, but a region outside the area impacted by the storm can share some of their extra power, it can reduce power outages. 

Second, permitting reform will help us build more available power generation, making us more resilient against outages. Batteries in particular are helpful because they can store energy in anticipation of potential outages from a storm. One study found that areas with more renewable energy already integrated into their power grid experienced fewer blackouts. 

Research from Potential Energy Coalition shows that “extreme weather events are pivotal moments for education and building support” around climate change. Share CCL’s social media posts to help your network connect the dots between the impacts of this winter storm and the policy action that can help.

Then, reach out to your representative and senators. The longer we delay permitting reform, the longer clean energy stays off the grid and the more vulnerable Americans become to extreme weather and blackouts. Ask Congress to enact bipartisan permitting reform legislation now.

Call Congress in Support of Permitting Reform ⚡

In other news

• Offshore wind projects resume: Late last year, the Trump administration announced it would pause five offshore wind leases for at least 90 days, effectively halting construction. As of Friday, three of the five projects have been restarted thanks to industry lawsuits. The final two are currently making their way through federal courts. We’re looking forward to seeing more renewable, affordable energy make its way to the East Coast via these critical infrastructure projects.

Take action this week

If you have a little time: Contact your Senator in support of FOFA. In 2025, the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA) passed the House and the Senate Agriculture Committee with strong bipartisan votes. Next, it will be up for consideration by the full Senate. So far, we’ve sent 3,577 messages to Congress asking them to support the bill. Help us reach our goal of 5,000! Send your Senator a message to let them know about the bill’s progress and voice your support.

If you have more time: Attend CCL’s Liaison Training tomorrow. Interested in deepening your climate advocacy in 2026 by working more closely with your Members of Congress and their staff? Tomorrow, Jan. 29, at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT, attend CCL’s “Becoming a CCL Liaison” training. This event will provide an overview of the Congressional Liaisons Program, what the responsibilities are for the role, how to get involved if you are interested, and how to find out if there is a liaison need in your Congressional district. If you can’t attend in person, this event will be recorded and posted on CCL Community.

Featured chapter: CCL Las Vegas

 As we've seen time and time again, CCL chapter members are experts in building community and fostering connection. The Las Vegas chapter proved this with a fabulous celebration to wrap up 2025 and look ahead to 2026.

Members from the Las Vegas chapter met to watch CCL's National Monthly Meeting in December. After the call, they shared homemade snacks and discussed plans for the new year.

Chapter members also hand wrote notes that were hung on a mini holiday tree. Las Vegas Group Leader Joanne Leovy shared some of the gratitudes and hopes for 2026 written and hung on the branches:

• "I am grateful for the power of personal action and focused persistence. I dream of a return to focus on climate action from our government."
• "I hope to spend time volunteering and making a difference with CCL in 2026!"
• "Continued effort and persistence in 2026!"
• "Hope — people begin to realize that green energy is good for the economy."
• "I hope we can make more community connections."
• "Grateful to be part of a lobby meeting."
• "I am thankful that I have a place and community where I can actually do something about climate."
• "Gratitude for the fantastic beauty of our planet. Goals — continued climate advocacy."

What a wonderful way to celebrate the end of the year, build community, and look ahead to 2026. Great work, CCL Las Vegas!

CCL has over 350 chapters across the country. Find your local chapter today and get plugged in. 

CCL Trainings

2/5: The Challenge of Energy Affordability and Security - Electrification is a key climate solution in the transition to clean energy sources. But electricity rates are rising fast and face surging demand from artificial intelligence data centers. Expensive electricity and an insufficient power supply could endanger electrification efforts. Fortunately, in an age of high costs of living, policymakers are very interested in finding solutions. Join CCL's Research Manager Dana Nuccitelli, supported by CCL's Electrification Action Team to learn what's behind rising electricity rates and energy insecurity, and how we can solve these problems. Join us!

WATCH: From Intuition to Insight: Understanding How We All Make Meaning - This training, which took place Jan. 22, explores the first unit in CCL's BRIDGE Advocacy Program. Take a deeper look at how all of us arrive at decisions and form beliefs, using insights from behavioral science. Then, explore why intuition and emotion usually come first, and how reasoning often follows to justify those initial reactions, and why this matters for our climate advocacy. Watch Recording.

To see other events and CCL trainings, visit the Training Topics page of CCL Community.