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Environmental Politics

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Page Updated:
Dec. 4, 2023

• • House Select Committee
  on the Climate Crisis

  Climate Change: The Science
  is In -We Know the Cause

  The U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis is charged with delivering ambitious climate policy recommendations to Congress, in order to achieve substantial and permanent reductions in pollution and other activities that contribute to the climate crisis.

  The select committee was authorized by House Resolution 6 on January 9, 2019, and will publish a set of public policy recommendations for congressional climate action by March 31, 2020.

  Its members include experts in environmental justice, coastal flooding, clean energy development and other issues that are vital for addressing the climate crisis.

  Click now for their website.

• • Memorable Presidential
  Environmental Quotes

  Six Memorable Presidential
  Environmental Quotes

  Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan, Richard Nixon, Lyndon Johnson and Barack Obama had something to say

  Some didn't always follow up on those quotes.

  Click now to read the article
  From the Earth Matters News.
• • Political Scorecard

  How Did Congress Do in 2022

  Mar. 6, 2023, (League pf Conservation Voters) -The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) provides maps showing how both the Senate and House voted on environmental issues (LCV)

  It's not quite time to celebrate.

• • Gov. Whitmer Signs Climate Change Legislation

  Setting 100% Clean Energy Standard for Michigan by 2040
  
  

  Nov. 29, 2023, [Michigan Advance] -Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a slate of bills Tuesday that take her proposals from the MI Healthy Climate Plan and make them into state law.

  Held at Detroit’s Eastern Market, the ceremony followed House passage earlier this month of a half-a-dozen pieces of climate change legislation from Democrats that address, among other issues, clean energy standards, energy waste and affordability, and providing state regulators authority over permitting clean energy projects.

• • Biden Will Miss Global Climate Summit Opening

  Young Voters Question His
  Progress On Climate Change
  
  

  Nov. 27, 2023 - President Biden is not expected to attend the opening of the global climate summit in Dubai this week, according to a White House schedule of the president’s events.

  Instead, top US officials, including special envoy John Kerry and White House National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi, will go to the gathering, which will be attended by nearly 200 countries.

• • In 2024, Republican EV attacks May Fall Short

  Swing States
  are Reaping Investments
  
  

  Nov. 27, 2023 -Electric vehicles are a "hoax," they do not work, and they are strengthening China's economy at the expense of American jobs.

  Those are among the criticisms that contenders for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have leveled on the campaign trail in recent weeks.

• • Michigan on a Fast Track to Renewable Energy

  A Package of Bold Laws
  Have Just Been Passed
  
  

  Nov. 9, 2023 -The Michigan Senate gave final approval on Wednesday to a bundle of clean energy bills, transforming a state at the center of industrial America into a leader in the fight against climate change.

  The legislation, which passed both chambers of the Statehouse with narrow Democratic majorities, represents a turnaround for a state that had long blocked policies to curb pollution from the factories that have underpinned its economy for generations.

• • Russia's Lavrov Assails West Over Switch to Green Energy

  This Should Come
  as No Surprise
  
  

  Nov. 8, 2023 -Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the West on Wednesday of provoking crises on the global oil and gas market by rushing to switch to green energy and imposing pressure on other countries to do the same.

  "In fact, the reasons for the negative phenomena in the energy sector were the irresponsible actions of the collective West, when it decided to force ... the green transition for itself and impose the same green transition on other countries that were simply not economically ready for it," Lavrov said in televised comments.

• • Texas Board of Ed. Urged
  to Reject Climate-Accurate Textbooks

  Climate Experts Urge Biden
  to Block Gas Export Hub
  
  
  

  Nov. 14, 2023 -Just a week after Texas voters approved billions of dollars to build new gas-fired power plants, the state’s education board will decide if it wants schools using science textbooks that acknowledge that burning fossil fuels warms the planet.

  The Texas Board of Education could vote as early as Tuesday on whether it will recommend school districts to use a batch of new science textbooks, which include accurate descriptions of the causes and effects of climate change.

  Don't get your hopes up.

• • Louisiana’s New Governor Is a Major Fossil Fuel Booster

  As the World Seeks to Curb Emissions, Republican Jeff Landry Has Taken the Opposite Route.
  
  

  Nov. 9, 2023 -Climate change looms larger in Louisiana than it does almost anywhere else in the United States. The state is facing down monster hurricanes as well as sea-level rise, and it still relies on a fossil fuel industry that pollutes the state’s air and erodes its wetlands.

  Click now for this dissapointing story.

• • Texans Vote in Favor of Billions for Fossil Fuels

  Renewables Are Not an Option
  
  

  Nov. 8, 2023 -The votes are in, and Texans overwhelmingly voted “yes” for Proposition 7, which will funnel billions of dollars to fund fossil fuel power plants instead of turning to renewables to back up the state’s fragile electrical grid. The proposition will allow the creation of a $10 billion energy fund, none of which can go to wind, solar, or battery storage.

  Click now for more of this sad story.

• • Can New Gas Power Plants Fix a Fragile Texas Grid?

  It's On the Ballot!
  
  

  Nov. 7, 2023 -Texas voters will decide today whether to allocate billions of taxpayer dollars to build new gas-fired power plants. The referendum, which is likely to pass, is reigniting a debate over the role of clean energy in Texas and its passage will most certainly result in additional greenhouse gas emissions.

  Supporters of the measure—known as Proposition 7—say it’s needed to reinforce the state’s power grid against extreme weather events, such as the devastating winter storm of 2021 that resulted in nearly 250 deaths and caused millions of Texans to lose power for up to three days.

  But at what cost to the environment?

• • King Charles III Delivers Speech at Odds With His Beliefs

  Known For His Climate Stance,
  His Speech Seemed Odd
  
  

  Nov. 7, 2023 -King Charles III opened a session of Parliament on Tuesday for the first time as monarch, outlining the British government’s legislative priorities as part of a tradition-steeped ceremony that tested his skill at displaying the political neutrality for which his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, was famous.

  Drafted by the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, but delivered by King Charles, the centerpiece speech is a constitutional oddity — and one with a particular twist this year, as the new sovereign read out a list of government bills that included some policies likely to be sharply at variance with his personal views.

• • Michigan House Passes Climate Change Reform

  Mandating Clean Energy by 2040
  
  

  Nov. 3, 2023, [BridgeMICHIGAN] - The Michigan House early Friday morning approved a suite of reforms to address climate change that would fundamentally change how the state gets its energy and require utilities to draw all their power from clean sources by 2040.

  Working late into the night, the measures were approved along party lines, with pleas from Democrats that changes are long overdue and opposition from Republicans who argue the timeline will hurt reliability and increase rates.

• • Projected IRA Benefits Include
  400,000 Jobs, $156B to US GDP

  The Inflation Reduction Act: More of a Blessing than Thought
  
  

  Nov. 1, 2023 -An analysis of new jobs, wages, tax revenue, and billions in economic activity to be generated by major clean energy and electric vehicle projects announced one year after the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was signed into law has been released.

  Clean Economy Works: An Economic Impact Analysis of Major Clean Energy Projects Announced In Year One of the Inflation Reduction Act, from the national nonpartisan business group E2, arrives amid what the group calls increasing efforts by detractors to hamstring the implementation of the 2022 law, rapid growth in the electric vehicle and battery market, and ever-rising economic costs related to climate change and extreme weather.

• •The Water Rules Poland Springs Didn't Like

  The Brand’s Little-Known
  Parent Company Set Out
  to Rewrite the Rules
  
  
  

  Oct. 24, 2023 - When Maine lawmakers tried to rein in large-scale access to the state’s freshwater this year, the effort initially gained momentum. The state had just emerged from drought, and many Mainers were sympathetic to protecting their snow-fed lakes and streams.

  Then a Wall Street-backed giant called BlueTriton stepped in.

  BlueTriton isn’t a household name, but its products are. Americans today buy more bottled water than any other packaged drink, and BlueTriton owns many of the nation’s biggest brands, including Poland Spring, which is named after a natural spring in Maine that is no longer commercially viable.

• • ‘Carbon Mega Bomb’

  Climate Experts Urge Biden
  to Block Gas Export Hub
  
  
  

  Oct. 23, 2023 -Joe Biden’s administration is under mounting pressure to block construction of what would be one of the world’s largest gas export hubs, and which would be perched near the rapidly eroding Louisiana shoreline, due to concerns over its impact on the climate and communities living amid an unprecedented expansion of new gas infrastructure along the Gulf of Mexico.

  Click now for the whole story.

• •Exporting California’s Climate Laws to the World

  Part of Gov. Newsom's 2028 Presidential Bid
  
  
  

  Oct. 23, 2023 - Gavin Newsom, the California governor, packed his bags and his ambition Monday and flew to Chinese provinces on a weeklong mission to negotiate climate agreements.

  Last month, he was the only American invited to address the UN about climate change, where he excoriated the fossil fuel industry for what he called its decades of “deceit and denial.”

• • Rubio Takes Aim Biden’s Energy Efficiency Move

  Could Campaign Contributions
  Be the Driver?
  
  
  

  Oct. 20, 2023 - With war raging in both Israel and Ukraine, this year’s military spending bills are widely viewed as among the most important and contentious items facing Capitol Hill.

  Into the already pitched battle over the Fiscal 2024 budget, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has introduced an item designed to blow up a key item of President Biden’s climate agenda.

• • Climate Funding Bottleneck in Wisconsin

  Federal IRA Grants Could Break It
  
  

  Oct. 12, 2023 -Wisconsin has ambitious climate plans, but the Republican-controlled legislature has refused to pass funding to carry them out.

  That’s why Wisconsin city and state leaders are especially glad for a nearly $5 billion federal initiative meant to help states and municipalities advance climate action plans.

• • Biden Could Lose Young Voters Over Willow Drilling

  They Would Like Him
  to Be More Consistent
  
  

  April 17, 2023 -In the past three weeks, the Biden administration has proposed regulations to speed the transition to electric vehicles, committed $1 billion to help poor countries fight climate change and prepared what could be the first limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.

  And yet, many young voters alarmed by climate change remain angry with Mr. Biden’s decision last month to approve Willow, an $8 billion oil drilling project on pristine federal land in Alaska. As the president prepares to announce his bid for re-election, it’s not at all clear that those voters who helped him win in 2020 because of his commitment to climate action will turn out again.

• • Climate Hawks 2020 Endorsements

  What It Takes to Be Endorsed

  (CLIMATEHAWKS), -What we consider in issuing endorsements: First and foremost, a candidate’s public statements regarding climate change. Do you mention specific climate change action in your stump speech? Did you show up at a People’s Climate March? Do you have a thoughtful statement on your website? We also look at viability, although we will back longshots when we find a compelling reason to do so.

  We do not endorse mediocre Democrats, no matter how vehemently a Republican opponent may deny climate science. We only endorse when we are convinced that the candidate will commit to strong climate action in Congress.

  We like primaries. And in 2018 we won 6 out of 8 primaries in which we endorsed — a better track record than any of the larger groups whose endorsement records were compiled by FiveThirtyEight.

  Climate Hawks Vote does not accept contributions from fossil-fuel corporations, executives, or lobbyists. We are a federal Super PAC, which means that we are an independent expenditure committee and can’t endorse in state/local races. We do network with others on the lookout for climate hawks who can think globally and lead locally.

• • Conservatives and Liberals Want
  a Green Energy Future - But..

  They Want it For Different Reasons

  May 5, 2020,(The Conversation)-Political divisions are a growing fixture in the United States today, whether the topic is marriage across party lines, responding to climate change or concern about coronavirus exposure. Especially in a presidential election year, the vast divide between conservatives and liberals often feels nearly impossible to bridge.

  Our research examines what people know about the energy sources in use today in the United States, and what types of energy they would like to see the nation using in 2050. Energy connects to many important issues, including climate change, jobs and economic growth, equity and social justice, and international relations. It would be easy to assume that America’s energy future is a highly polarized topic, especially when the Trump administration is clashing with many states led by Democrats over energy policies.

  Click now to learn what the 'BUT' means.

• • Trump's Early Environmental Rollbacks

  23 Environmental Rules Rolled
  Back in Trump’s First 100 Days

  May 2, 2017 (NY Times Climate Forward) - President Trump, with help from his administration and Republicans in Congress, has reversed course on nearly two dozen environmental rules, regulations and other Obama-era policies during his first 100 days in office.

  Citing federal overreach and burdensome regulations, Mr. Trump has prioritized domestic fossil fuel interests and undone measures aimed at protecting the environment and limiting global warming.

• • The Climate President Action Plan

  10 Climate Actions
  the Next President
  Can Take Without Congress

  Dec. 23, 2019 (ClimatePresident.org)-The United States faces an indisputable climate emergency. The solution to the crisis is also inarguable: We must transform our extractive economy to a regenerative and inclusive one.

  The actions called for in this Presidential action plan can be implemented by the President acting alone without any Congressional action. These ten actions form the necessary foundation for the country's true transformation to a safer, healthier, and more equitable world for everyone.

• • Why Not a Green Marshall Plan?

  Elizabeth Warren Has
  Added a Green Marshall
  Plan to Her List of Proposals

  June 4, 2019  ( Mother Jones)- Elizabeth Warren has ascended in recent Democratic presidential polls atop a growing stack of audacious proposals to wipe out student debt, break up giant companies like Amazon and Facebook , and slap new taxes on the ultra-rich.

  Yet the senator from Massachusetts is taking a different approach to the climate crisis, weaving a patchwork that will likely amount to Warren’s answer to the Green New Deal.

• • Who Are the Climate Mayors?

  We Are Climate Mayors

  Climate Mayors, founfed in 2014, is a bi-partisan, peer-to-peer network of U.S. mayors working together to demonstrate leadership on Climate Chane through meaningful actions in their communities, and to express and build political will for effective federal and global policy action.

  The Climate Mayors coalition has emerged as a key voice anddemonstration of the ongoing commitment of U.S. cities to accelerate climate progress.

• • Congress Should Be
  Supporting Clean Energy Incentives

  Tell Congress to Support
  Clean Energy Incentives

  July, 2019  (Environment Florida)) -

  By going big on renewable energy, we can stop polluting our communities and planet with dirty energy sources and make real strides in tackling the climate crisis. Tell your representatives to expand their support for clean energy incentives.

  
  Click now to sign on.
• • Jay Inslee’s Campaign Pledge: No Fossil Fuel Money

  Jay Inslee’s Pledge to
  Reject Fossil Fuel Money

  Mar. 1, 2019 (Huffington Post)) -Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee (D) signed a pledge Tuesday promising to reject donations from the fossil fuel industry ahead of a likely run for the White House that he’s vowed to uniquely center on climate change.

  In an interview with HuffPost, Inslee, 67, said he added his name to the list of more than 1,300 politicians across the United States who took the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge.

  Almost every Democratic candidate running in 2020 has signed the pledge.

  Click now to read more.

• • The Green New Deal Explained

  What Is the Green New Deal?
  A Climate Proposal, Explained

  NY Times Climate Forward, Feb. 21, 2019  - The Green New Deal is a congressional resolution that lays out a grand plan for tackling climate change.

  Introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, the proposal calls on the federal government to wean the United States from fossil fuels and curb planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions across the economy. It also aims to guarantee new high-paying jobs in clean energy industries.

  Interested? Click now for whole story.

• • Burn It or Eat It (Trump’s Choices)

  Food Vs. Fuel: What Trump's Ethanol
  Policy Means For the Food System

  Oct. 25, 2018 (Forbes) -The Environmental Protection Agency is moving forward with President Trump’s directive to lift a federal ban on high ethanol blended gas during the summer months, though not quickly enough for Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, who Reuters reports is urging the EPA to lift the ban on a much quicker timeline. Lifting the ban is a policy shift that’s being celebrated by large-scale corn growers and decried by biofuel opponents. But the policy has implications for the food system too, as many food system reformers say the last thing U.S. farmers should be growing is more corn.

  Corn is a complicated crop. It’s highly efficient, nutrient-packed and yet, on the other hand, the U.S. probably grows too much of it. Corn has earned its fair share of criticism — it’s starchy, grown industrially and ubiquitous in ultra-processed food — but this leading cereal crop has also more than earned its place as an agricultural success story.

  Click now to stay on top of the situation.

• • How the Border Wall Affect Wildlife Near the Border

  ‘This Is Not Like a Fence in a Backyard’
  — Trump’s Border Wall vs. Wildlife

  The Revelator Podcasts, Apr. 11, 2019 - As was discussed recently on the Sciencentric podcast, the wall’s true impact becomes more evident when you envision all of the things that accompany it: Roads, vehicles, lights, and acres upon acres of cleared habitat. That’s bad news for jaguars, bears, birds, bees and hundreds, if not thousands, of other species.

  Check out the video interview, where host Eric R. Olson and John Platt also discuss The Revelator, my work on “Extinction Countdown,” and what technologies might work instead of a wall.

  
  Click now to watch the interview.
• • Trump Wants to Tell the Polar Bears Where to Get Off

  Help Protect the Arctic Refuge
  Before It’s Too Late!

  NRDC -The Trump administration is closer than ever to tearing open the heart of Alaska’s pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge for dangerous oil and gas drilling — and if they succeed, it will have devastating, irreversible consequences for our waters, wildlife, climate, and the region’s Gwich’in people.

  NRDC is fighting back in and out of the courtroom in an unprecedented battle to protect the Arctic Refuge and its fragile Arctic coastline.

• • Trump is Not the 1st to Assault Env. Protection

  History of US Presidential Assaults
  on Environmental Health Protection

  Apr. 26, 2018 American Public Health Association - The Trump administration has undertaken an assault on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency critical to environmental health. This assault has precedents in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush.

  The early Reagan administration (1981–1983) launched an overt attack on the EPA, combining deregulation with budget and staff cuts, whereas the George W. Bush administration (2001–2008) adopted a subtler approach, undermining science-based policy.

  Wait, there’s more…

• • Some Republicans Support Carbon Fee/Dividend

  Exceeding 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.

• • Attention Humanists: You Have a Role to Play

  Ask 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.
• • Science Under Attack:

  Sidelining Researchers and Their Work

  Dec. 28, 2019 (NY Times Climate Forward -In just three years, the Trump administration has diminished the role of science in federal policymaking while halting or disrupting research projects nationwide, marking a transformation of the federal government whose effects, experts say, could reverberate for years.

  Political appointees have shut down government studies, reduced the influence of scientists over regulatory decisions and in some cases pressured researchers not to speak publicly. The administration has particularly challenged scientific findings related to the environment and public health opposed by industries such as oil drilling and coal mining. It has also impeded research around human-caused climate change, which President Trump has dismissed despite a global scientific consensus.

• • Politicians Voting Against
  Climate Change Get More Corporate Cash

  Voters Seem to Care About Climate
  Change, But Do Big Corporations?

  Oct. 23, 2020, (Bloomberg Green)-As Americans vote in an election that will redefine national climate priorities, the biggest U.S. companies—even those with ambitious green agendas—are throwing their support behind lawmakers who routinely stall climate legislation.

  Bloomberg Green examined political donations by businesses in the S&P 100 and large U.S.-based corporate contributors to climate change identified by the Climate Action 100+, which seeks to help them lower their emissions.

• • 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.

• • 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.

• • Donald Trump: Making the Oceans Not-So-Great Again

  Donald Trump Aims to
  Weaken Ocean Protections

  Mar. 16, 2020 (CleanTechnica) -We are approaching the 10th anniversary of the British Petroleum (BP) disaster, which killed 11 men, injured 17 others, and spilled more than 130 million gallons of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The disaster polluted more than 1,300 miles of coastline, devastated marine life, and cost the Gulf Coast billions in lost revenue.

  The Trump Administration’s aggressive deregulatory agenda threatens to undo many of the safeguards for ocean and coastal ecosystems, including those that regulate the offshore oil industry. We cannot have a repeat of the BP disaster and we need common sense protections for the ocean now more than ever.

• • Strip Mining on Protected
  Tennessee Cumberland Plateau

  Trump May Approve
  Strip Mining on Tennessee’s
  Protected Cumberland Plateau

  Feb. 13, 2020 (inside climate news) -LAFOLLETTE, Tennessee—Even as the nation's demand for coal tumbles, the Trump administration is considering a permit that would allow strip mining on protected ridgelines in Tennessee's Cumberland Plateau over the objection of environmental groups and the state's Republican attorney general.

  The wild, scenic terrain is within 75,000 acres designated, at the state's behest, as unsuitable for surface coal mining in 2016 by the Obama administration's Office of Surface Mining and Reclamation, the agency responsible for regulating coal mining in the state.

• • Good Riddance to Climate Denier From NSC

  Climate Denialist to Depart
  White House National Security Council

  Sep. 11, 2019 (New York Times)- William Happer, the White House architect of a stalled plan to attack the established science of climate change, is leaving the Trump administration on Friday, according to three people familiar with his plans.

  Dr. Happer, a physicist who gained notoriety by claiming that the greenhouse gases contributing to warming the planet are beneficial to humanity, and for likening attacks on fossil fuels to “the demonization of the poor Jews under Hitler” in a 2014 interview, served on the National Security Council as President Trump’s deputy assistant for emerging technologies.

• • 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

  (M.I.T. Technology Review) 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.

• • DOW's Campaign Contributions
  Stopped the Banning of Chlorpyrifos

  How Dow Chemical Influenced
  the EPA to Ignore the
  Scientific Evidence on Chlorpyrifos

  (Union of Concerned Scientists) -On March 29, 2017, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that his agency would decline to ban chlorpyrifos, despite years of scientific study and deliberation indicating that the pesticide poses a clear risk to children, farmworkers, and users of rural drinking water.

  This was a 180-degree turn from the science-based conclusion reached just a few months before by the EPA Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, which found that chlorpyrifos has harmful effects on children’s brain development. Both EPA scientists and the American Academy of Pediatrics have urged the EPA to ban the insecticide.

  Click now to read on.

• • 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.

• • Climate Change Collapsing Australia’s Ecosystems

  Ecosystems Across Australia Are Undergo Climate Change

  The Converstion

  Research, recently published in Nature Climate Change, describes a series of sudden and catastrophic ecosystem shifts that have occurred recently across Australia.

• • 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.

• • 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.

• • Is the State of 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 (Keeping Track of Congress)

  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.