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The 112th Congress was the most
anti-environmental in history.
But You ain't seen nuthin' yet!

Politics That Prevent Sound
Environmental Policies

Memorable Presidential
Environmental Quotes

(The Leading Anti-Environmentlists)

• Some Republicans Support Carbon Fee/DividendExceeding Paris

  Contain Forewords by: Ted Halstead, George P. Schultz, Lawrence Summers, Rob Walton, Christine Todd Whitman and Janet Yellen.

  The Baker-Shultz plan would achieve approximately 32% in greenhouse gas reductions by 2025, thereby exceeding our Paris commitment by a wide margin

  The Baker-Shultz Carbon Dividends Plan is not only the most environmentally ambitious plan, but also the most politically-viable. Why? Because it addresses the legitimate concerns of all key stakeholders in the climate debate and enables each to realize an important victory.

  Click to read the PDF from the
  Climate Leadership Council.

• Wash. State to Decide on a Carbon Fee in Nov. Washington Initiative 1631, Carbon Emissions Fee Measure (2018)

  Fall, 2018 -Washington Initiative 1631, the Carbon Emissions Fee Measure is on the ballot in Washington as an Initiative to the People, a type of initiated state statute, on November 6, 2018.

  Click now to read
  more from Ballotpedia.

• Attention Humanists: You Have a Role to PlayAsk What You Can Do for Your Climate(1)

  Apr. 18, 2017 -While the federal government is becoming a follower rather than a leader on climate change, humanists can fight on the state, local, and personal levels

  IF THE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL, then climate change is personal, too. As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump campaigned against the Paris Agreement negotiated in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. With President Trump signing an executive order to roll back federal efforts to reduce global warming, humanists must do more at the state and local levels to fight climate change. If you’re up for it, there are many things you can do to help.

  Click now if you’re ready to learn more.

• We Can Take Active Role in the Climate Crisis Ask What You Can Do for Your Climate<2>

  Join a Climate Reality Chapter,and be part of a sustainable future. You’ve heard about “the future.” It’s not that far away, and your children and grandchildren will be living in it, long after you’re gone.

  Chapters give you the opportunity to draw on Climate Reality’s support and expertise, while creating and executing plans for climate action that make the most sense for your community.

  Already, Climate Reality chapters have become a vital force for progress, helping expand clean energy alternatives, tackling the legacy of fossil fuels in low-income communities, and pushing for carbon pricing policies, to name just a few of the many campaigns underway across the US.

  Click now if you’re ready to take action too.

• Dems to Fossil Fuel Contributions: No Thanks DNC Votes to Ban Fossil Fuel Company Donations

  June 12, 2018 -The move is a step toward purging oil, gas and coal industry influence on the Democratic Party’s climate policies.

  The Democratic National Committee voted over the weekend to ban donations from fossil fuel companies, HuffPost has learned.

  The resolution — proposed by Christine Pelosi, a party activist and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s daughter — bars the organization from accepting contributions from corporate political action committees tied to the oil, gas and coal industries. The executive committee voted unanimously to approve the motion.

  Click now for more from the Huffington Post.

• Clean Energy Research Not a Priority White House Seeks 72% Cut to
  Clean Energy Research,Underscoring
  Its Preference for Fossil Fuels

  Feb. 1, 2018 -The Trump administration is poised to ask Congress for deep budget cuts to the Energy Department’s renewable energy and energy efficiency programs, slashing them by 72 percent overall in fiscal 2019, according to draft budget documents obtained by The Washington Post.

  Many of the sharp cuts would probably be restored by Congress, but President Trump’s budget, due out in February, will mark a starting point for negotiations and offer a statement of intent and policy priorities.

  Click now for the story
  from the Washington Post.

• No Lessons Learned From Deepwater Horizon Trump Plan Would Open Nearly All
  the Gulf of Mexico to Oil Drilling

  Jan. 4, 2018 - The Trump administration on Thursday (Jan. 4) announced plans for the largest expansion of offshore oil and gas drilling in U.S. history, putting up for lease federal waters in the Arctic, Pacific and Atlantic oceans and millions of acres in the Gulf of Mexico, including protected areas in the eastern Gulf.

  Click now for article from azCentral.

• Clean Energy and Electric Cars Hit By GOP Tax Overhaul Hammers
  Clean Energy and Electric Cars

  Dec. 8, 2017 - Legislators from both chambers are now hashing out their differences in the reconciliation committee in hopes of delivering a final bill to the White House before the end of the year. Clean-energy lobbyists are scrambling to push back on provisions they and others fear could stunt development or deployment of technologies needed to lower the nation’s greenhouse-gas emissions.

  Click now to read the M.I.T. Technology Review story.

• The Top Ten Toxic Threats The E.P.A.’s Top 10 Toxic
  Threats, and Industry’s Pushback

  Oct. 21, 2017 - The E.P.A.has published a list of 10 toxic threats it will evaluate first under a law passed last year intended to crack down on hazardous chemicals.

  They are among 90 chemicals identified by the agency that may harm children, damage nerve tissue, cause cancer, contaminate the environment, accumulate in the bloodstream or show up in consumer products. As the review begins, industry and other interest groups are urging the E.P.A. to limit any restrictions.

  Click for the list that should
  not be on your top ten.

• CC Advisory Committee Dropped Administration Disbands Climate
  Change Advisory Committee

  Aug 20, 2017 - The Trumpv administration of has decided to disband a federal advisory panel on climate change - in a further sign of the White House's view on environmental policy.

  The panel is part of the National Climate Assessment, a group aimed at helping officials and policy makers integrate the US Government's climate change analysis into their long-term planning.

Newsworthy

• Climate Skeptic Heads Top Science Post New USDA Research Head
  Thinks Climate Science Is 'Junk'

  July 20, 2017 - President Trump has nominated a well-known climate change doubter to the top science job at the Department of Agriculture.

  The nomination, which had been expected, was announced in a statement by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. Sam Clovis, an early campaign adviser to Trump, will serve as undersecretary for research, education and economics.

• The Great Lakes a State Problem? Trump Says 'Yes' - Congress Says 'No'

  July 14, 2017 - Together, the five lakes hold nearly one-fifth of the earth’s surface freshwater. They’re home to 3500 species of plants and animals, including 170 species of fish. Not to mention the drinking water for about 35 million people, in eight states plus Canada. They have been a major highway for transportation, trade and migration. And more than 1.5 million jobs are directly connected to the lakes.

  But the Trump administration views the health of the Great Lakes as a local issue. Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow and budget director Mick Mulvaney squared off at a budget hearing a couple months ago on the topic. You can watch the exchange here:

• Shades of White House Climate Denial 5 Shades of Climate Denial,
  All on Display in the White House

  June 9.2017 - - From ‘it’s not real’ to ‘it’s not urgent,’ take a tour through the many shades of climate change denial wielded by Donald Trump's administration.

• LCV Scorecard How Congress
  Voted on Environmental Issues

  The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) keeps track of how our elected officials are (or not) protecting us.

  Click now to catch up.

• Bi-Parisan Climate Solutions CaucusRepublicans Who
  Care About climate change:
  'They are done with the denial'

  Apr. 27, 2017 - The failure of American politics to deal with, or even coherently discuss, climate change was perhaps best illustrated when James Inhofe, a Republican from Oklahoma, took to the floor of the US Senate in February 2015 with a Ziploc bag and a mischievous grin.

• Pruitt's Climate Data Is 'WRONG'So Called EPA Chief
  Gets Climate Change Completely Wrong

  May 25, 2017- A group of prominent climate scientists have written a study explicitly refuting statements made by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt on climate data. During his Senate confirmation hearing, Pruitt claimed in a written response that satellite data shows a "leveling off" of warming over the past two decades.

  The study, published Wednesday in the journal Nature Scientific Reports, takes Pruitt's claim to task by examining three sets of satellite data since 1979, concluding that "temperature measurements do not support" Pruitt's statement.

• Temporary EPA Grant Ban LiftedThe Admin. Lifts Temporary
  Freeze on EPA Grants

  Jan. 30, 2017- The Trump administration has lifted a temporary freeze on billions of dollars of grants from the Environmental Protection Agency, saying the programs will continue as planned.

  An email sent late Friday from the EPA’s acting administrator, career official Catherine McCabe, informed staffers that officials had completed a review of the agency’s extensive list of grants and that all "are proceeding normally, and nothing has been delayed," including revolving grants to states and Native American tribes.

• Make Your Voice Heard in Washington5 Ways to Make Your Voice
  Heard, and 2 That
  Are Not Worth Your Time

  Jan. 30, 2017- As a new era in American politics begins, citizens across the political spectrum may find themselves engaging in some collective hand-wringing. No matter your political leanings, times are changing, and many people are clamoring to make their voices heard.

• Mr. Trump - Are You Listening? Trade Group Outlines
  Benefits of Geothermal in
  Paper for Trump Administration

  Jan. 23, 2017 - In the paper, “Geothermal is Good for America,” GEA said that there are 104 operating geothermal plants in the U.S. with a capacity of 3.7 GW, and there are more than 80 new projects in development.

  ”Geothermal delivers a triple bottom line to our energy system: It is an abundant domestic energy source, it brings economic benefits in the form of taxes and long-term, high-paying jobs, and it has one of the lowest Levelized Costs of Energy of all power sources in the United States,” the paper said.

• Sen. Inhofe and Big Oil Only a Slight Conflict?

  Senator James Inhofe is Chair of the Energy Committee. We should question how he can serve the best interests of the people he is supposed to be protecting, while his camaigns have been mostly funded by the fossil fuel industry.

  Click now to see what we mean.

Name

Affiliation

Consequences

Post

• More Goofs from the Presidential RetweetTrump’s Misleading Claims About
  California’s Fire ‘Mismanagement’

  Nov. 12, 2018-As Californians were fleeing the huge wildfires that have left both ends of the state ablaze, President Trump took to Twitter over the weekend, blaming the infernos on forest management and threatening to withhold federal payments from the state.

  His statements, which drew outrage from local leaders and firefighters, oversimplified the causes of California’s wildfires.

  Click for the whole story
  from The NY Times Climate Forward.

• How Did the ‘Climate’ Do in the Mid-Terms?Climate Change and the
  Elections: Five Takeaways

  Nov. 7, 2018 - The results of Tuesday’s elections could have a significant influence on how the United States deals with global warming in several ways.

  In the Trump era, much of the action to fight climate change has been happening at the state level. On that front, the results were mixed: Several key climate policies on the ballot, including a carbon tax in Washington State and an aggressive renewable power target in Arizona, were defeated soundly. But Democrats who favor clean energy also took control of a number of key governorships and state legislatures, opening doors for expanded action.

  Click now to read more from
  The NY Times Climate Forward.

• Wash State Voters Reject Carbon Tax Ballot MeasurePeople Will Never Vote For a
  Carbon Tax, So Let’s Stop Asking

  Nov. 7, 2018 -Late last year, Washington state Senator Reuven Carlyle predicted that his state’s voters were ready to say yes to a carbon tax. The Trump administration’s efforts to roll back environmental laws, and the mounting toll of climate change on Washington’s forests, salmon, and orcas, would finally convince them.

  Which raises an obvious question: If a solidly Democratic state, grappling with rising climate dangers and driven by anti-Trump fervor, still can’t push a carbon tax past the finish line—what are the odds any US state can, much less the country as a whole?

  Click now to read the sad
  news from M.I.T. Technology Review.

• Mid Term 2018 Voters Reject the EnvironmentBallot Measures Taking Aim at
  Climate Change Fall Short

  Nov. 6, 2018 -Efforts to nudge the nation away from burning fossil fuels and toward harnessing renewable source of energy were rejected by voters Tuesday across a swath of resource-rich states in the western United States.

  Voters in Arizona, one of the nation's most sun-soaked states, shot down a measure that would have accelerated its shift toward generating electricity from sunlight. Residents in oil- and gas-rich Colorado defeated a measure to sharply limit drilling on state-owned land.

  Click now to read more
  bad news from SF Gate.

• Florida Governor Race - One Candidate Accepts Climate ChangeFlorida Gov. Candidates Andrew Gillum and Ron DeSantis Face Off in Contentious Debate

  Oct. 21, 2018 -Ron DeSantis and Andrew Gillum delivered fiery exchanges in their first debate, showing a national audience why they are locked in a fierce, closely matched race to become Florida’s next governor. They differed not only on their strikingly opposite policy positions, but also on matters of personal integrity and character that have shaped the election.

  The debate underscored that the contest between Mr. DeSantis, a Republican, and Mr. Gillum, a Democrat, both of whom won their primaries as unapologetic partisans, reflects the national ideological battle being waged inside their parties — Republicans trying to align themselves with President Trump, and Democrats weighing the appeal of a more progressive message.

  Click now to read more from
  The NY Times Climate Forward.

• Another Win Trump and Another Loss For the EnvironmentSupreme Court Halts
  Landmark Climate Change Lawsuit

  Oct. 20, 2018 - President Donald Trump’s Justice Department asked the Supreme Court to stop the lawsuit in a filing on Thursday. Roberts approved the request on Friday even though the U.S. high court in a unanimous ruling in July had said that the case could proceed.

  The lawsuit uses a legal theory known as atmospheric trust litigation, which argues the government must hold certain common elements such as rivers or shorelines, and in this case, the atmosphere, for public use. By failing to protect and preserve a clean atmosphere for future generations — by promoting fossil fuels, for instance — the lawsuit argues that the government is violating its obligation to the public trust.

  Click now if you’re prepared
  to read more from Think Progress.

• The Most Important Science Policy Issue In Every StateA State-By-State Breakdown of Policies
  That Could Change Your Community

  Oct. 17, 2018 -Wildfires burning around the West. Rising seas lapping at the East. Animal feces, coal ash, and fertilizer fouling waterways from the Carolinas to the Midwest. Bridges, roads, and pipelines crumbling across the country. With the midterm elections less than a month away, communities across the United States face some of the most formidable scientific, environmental, and technological challenges in decades.

  On November 6, voters from Alaska to Florida will choose not just their next governor, state representative, or member of Congress, but to some degree how we live for decades to come. “This is the most important election of our lifetime,” says Bill Holland, State Policy Director for the League of Conservation Voters.

  Click now to see the
  breakdown from Popular Science.

• Just What Will the Environmental Destruction Agency Do Next?Trump's EPA Scraps Expert Advisory
  Committee Focused on Deadly Air Pollution.

  Oct. 12, 2018 -The Environmental Protection Agency killed a panel responsible for providing scientific expertise on particulate matter Thursday, according to an internal email the agency sent former panel members, which Earther obtained. This class of pollutants isn’t always on the public’s mind, but it should be.

  Particulate matter refers to small particles that spew out of car exhaust and industrial smokestacks. These particles can enter a person’s lungs and reach their heart, triggering a variety of diseases including cancer. Particulate matter is an especially pernicious threat to the low-income families and communities of color who live closest to pollution sources like power plants or highways

  Click to read more from
  Earther Gizmodo.

• Trump Approves Climate Report He’s Yet to ReadThe White House Approved a Climate
  Report (and What That Even Means)

  Oct. 10, 2018 -It’s been a big week for climate science. NY Times reporter Coral Davenport, who spent the past week in Korea nailing down the findings of a landmark report from the United Nations scientific panel on climate change, writes that the immediate consequences of global warming are more dire than previously thought. The report describes a strong risk of crisis as early as 2040.

  Click now to read more from
  The NY Times Climate Forward.

• Trump Forces Another Safeguard to Bite the DustTrump Is Lifting Ethanol Restrictions

  Oct. 7, 2018 -Trump is expected to announce Tuesday that he will allow higher concentrations of ethanol in gasoline during summer months, Reuters reported.

  Reuters, citing two sources familiar with planning of the announcement, reported that Trump will announce that he is lifting a federal ban before leaving for a trip to Iowa. Trump will make the announcement at 3 p.m. Tuesday and is hoping it will help Republicans in midterm elections in the farm belt, according to the news service.

  Click to read more from The Hill.

• Trump EPA: So, What’s a Little Radiation? The Administration Adds Radiation
  to Hazards it Won’t Prevent

  Oct. 3, 2018 -The EPA is pursuing rule changes that experts say would weaken the way radiation exposure is regulated, turning to scientific outliers who argue that a bit of radiation damage is actually good for you — like a little bit of sunlight.

  The government’s current, decades-old guidance says that any exposure to harmful radiation is a cancer risk. And critics say the proposed change could lead to higher levels of exposure for workers at nuclear installations and oil and gas drilling sites, medical workers doing X-rays and CT scans, people living next to Superfund sites and any members of the public who one day might find themselves exposed to a radiation release.

  Click to read more from AP News.

• Is the Endangered Species Act About to Go Extinct?Why We Must Save the Endangered
  Species Act from the Trump Administration

  Sept. 20,2018 -Urged on by the oil and gas industry, the Trump administration is moving to drastically weaken the Endangered Species Act. But the act, writes a former U.S. Interior Secretary, has saved hundreds of species that might now be extinct, while allowing for well-managed development.

  Since taking office, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke has set out to eviscerate the act by restricting and manipulating scientific research, by narrowing the review process, and by hiring underlings dedicated to its destruction. And now Republicans in Congress, who realize they could lose their majorities in the November midterm elections, are threatening to join the wrecking crew with a host of destructive amendments that would further weaken the act.

  Click to read more from YaleEnvironment360.

• Trump Administration Cares Nothing About Safety RulesWashington Rolls Back Safety Rules
  Inspired by Deepwater Horizon Disaster

  Sept. 27, 2018 -The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history.

  The Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, which was established after the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and regulates offshore oil and gas drilling, has finalized a proposal for loosening the regulations as part of President Trump’s efforts to ease restrictions on fossil fuel companies and encourage domestic energy production.

  Click to read the story from
   The NY Times Climate Forward.

• Trump Administration Leaves Children’s Health Protection in the LurchE.P.A. Places the Head of
  Its Office of Children’s Health on Leave

  Sept. 26, 2017 -The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday placed the head of its Office of Children’s Health Protection on administrative leave, an unusual move that appeared to reflect an effort to minimize the role of the office.

  Dr. Ruth Etzel, a pediatrician and epidemiologist who has been a leader in children’s environmental health for 30 years, joined the E.P.A. in 2015 after having served as a senior officer for environmental health research at the World Health Organization. She was placed on administrative leave late Tuesday and asked to hand over her badge, keys and cellphone, according to an E.P.A. official familiar with the decision who was not authorized to discuss the move and who asked not to be identified.

  Click to read more from
   The NY Times Climate Forward.

• Mercury Rules? We Don’t Need No Stinking’ Mercury Rules E.P.A. Review of Mercury
  Rules Could Remake Its Methods
  for Valuing Human Life and Health

  Sept. 7, 2018 — WASHINGTON — When writing environmental rules, one of the most important calculations involves weighing the financial costs against any gains in human life and health. The formulas are complex, but the bottom line is that reducing the emphasis on health makes it tougher to justify a rule.

  Last week the Trump administration took a crucial step toward de-emphasizing the life and health benefits in this calculus when the Environmental Protection Agency said it would rethink a major regulation that restricts mercury emissions by coal-burning power plants.

  Click to read the frightening
  story from The NY Times.

• State’s Rights and Trump’s WrongsWestern States Proceed
  with Climate Legislation
  Regardless of Trump’s “ACE” Rule

  Sept. 4, 2018 — Spurred by President Trump’s announcement that the United States will abandon commitments President Obama made in the Paris Climate Agreement, western seaboard elected officials are highly motivated to act on climate change, notwithstanding the Trump Administration’s actions to replace the Clean Power Plan. California has a well-established and functioning “cap and trade” program that has survived judicial challenge and been extended through 2030. As the fifth largest economy in the world, California’s efforts are a significant driver for similar programs throughout the nation.

  Click now to read more
  from Renewable Energy World.

• Aussie PM is Following in Trump’s Footsteps Australian Prime Minister Abandons Greenhouse Gas Target

  Aug. 20, 2018 -Australia's prime minister on Monday abandoned plans to legislate to limit greenhouse gas emissions to head off a revolt by conservative lawmakers.

  Malcolm Turnbull on Monday conceded that he could not get legislation through the House of Representatives where his conservative coalition holds only a single-seat majority.

  He said although most government lawmakers supported the target of reducing Australia's greenhouse gas emissions by 26% below 2005 levels, that support was not enough.

  Click now for more
  from The Associated Press.