Politics and views in the United States.

Voting rights fluctuated this year amid demands from President Trump. The future of clean energy looks uncertain as federal funding cuts take hold and student loan borrowers prepare for wage garnishment.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

I think the most important thing is just to trust their checks and balances in place everywhere to both sort of ensure voter registration rolls are clean, that the results are accurate.

Chris Diaz with the Voting Rights Lab says next year we'll likely see continued pressure on states to make it harder to register to vote.

Early in his second term, President Donald Trump signed an executive order demanding states require proof of citizenship to register.

No state fully enacted his program, though 20 states moved to make voting more restrictive.

The U.S. Postal Service has finalized a rule on postmarks, which could make mail-in ballots, especially in rural areas, arrive late, and the Supreme Court will hear a case on whether mail-in votes must be received by election day to count.

While the ruling is months away, Ohio has already moved to scrap its mail-in ballot grace period.

Many states enter the new year unsure what lies ahead for the transition to clean energy, with the administration cutting support for Biden-era efforts.

Rika Rothenstein with Reimagine Appalachia says their research shows that puts close to 70 percent of the thousands of projected clean power jobs in Appalachia at risk.

One revoked $129 million grant from the Department of Energy would have gone to build utility scale solar farms on two former West Virginia surface mines.

Those solar farms would produce 250 megawatts of electric power and that's enough to service around 39,000 homes.

The EPA is delaying stricter wastewater treatment standards for coal-fired power plants, which it estimates would have cut water pollution by more than 600 million pounds per year.

In nearly every part of the country, it's now actually cheaper to put in new utility scale solar than keep the old operations running.

Tom Smarr with Earthjustice says the delay is expressly intended to keep old coal-fired power plants like the J.H.

Campbell facility in Western Michigan operating well past what the owners say is its usable life.

They recognize this is a dirty old plant that is obsolete and that there are better ways for them to be spending their money than prolonging the life of an expensive dirty plant like this.

But the administration's ordering them to continue operating.

Faced with possible EPA delays to regulations on forever chemicals in drinking water, some states are choosing to be proactive.

New York State's Drinking Water Quality Council failed to codify current federal PFAS limits into state law, but lawmakers in Albany say they'll take up a bill in the new year to do just that.

Rob Hayes, with Environmental Advocates of New York, says other states have already done that.

The state of Maine enacted legislation this summer to codify the current federal PFAS limits in their state law.

So New Yorkers deserve the same protections that Mainers now have.

The new year also means more than 40 million Americans student loan default could face stricter enforcement.

The Department of Education says it will start garnishing the wages and government payments of anyone who hasn't made a payment for 270 days.

Jack Wallace is with private loan company YRefi.

He says borrowers should be proactive.

We need to not put our head in the sand and pretend like this is gonna go away.

So if you're getting an email from your servicer, which you should be, or getting an envelope by the U.S. Post Office from your servicer, you need to open it up and find out what's going on.

I'm Edwin J. Viera for Pacifica Network news service.

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