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Environmental Politics

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Page Updated:
July 24, 2021

• • 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.



• • Trump's Enviroinmental
  Rules Rollbacks

  Total Rollbacks = 100

  July 15, 2020, from the New York Times Climate Forward -After three years in office, the Trump administration has dismantled most of the major climate and environmental policies the president promised to undo.

  Calling the rules unnecessary and burdensome to the fossil fuel industry and other businesses, his administration has weakened Obama-era limits on planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions from power plants and from cars and trucks, and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water and toxic chemicals. Several major reversals have been finalized in recent months as the country has struggled to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

  Click now for the complete list

• • 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.

• • 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.
• • 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.

• • Bi-Parisan Climate Solutions Caucus

  Republicans 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.

• • Make Your Voice Heard in Washington

  5 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.

• • The Democrat Blocking Progressive Change is Beholden to Big Oil

  Joe Manchin Owns
  Millions of Dollars in Coal Stock

  July 20, 2021 (The Guardian) -As “thousand-year” heat waves caused by the climate crisis rock the west coast and biblical floods engulf major cities, Senate Democrats are negotiating a $3.5tn budget package that could include an attempt to slow the use of fossil fuels over the next decade.

  One prominent senator is very concerned about proposals to scale back oil, gas and coal usage. He recently argued that those who want to “get rid of” fossil fuels are wrong. Eliminating fossil fuels won’t help fight global heating, he claimed, against all evidence. “If anything, it would be worse.”

• • Dems Propose a Border Tax Based on Countries’ Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  Senators Introduced a Plan to Tax
  Iron, Steel and Other Imports From
  Countries Without Ambitious Climate Laws

  July 19, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -Democratic lawmakers on Monday proposed to raise as much as $16 billion annually by imposing a tax on imports from China and other countries that are not significantly reducing the planet-warming pollution that they produce.

  The tax would be levied regardless of whether Congress passed new laws to reduce emissions created by the United States. It would be designed to be approximately equivalent to the costs faced by American companies under state and federal environmental regulations.

• • Joe Biden’s Monumental Environmental Gambit

  A Cry for Survival

  July 17, 2021 (NY Times) - It is hard to overstate the joy of the environmental community when Joe Biden ascended to the White House. In place of a man who called climate change a hoax, it got someone who saw global warming for the grave threat it is, and who spoke, at his inaugural, of the world’s duty to respond to “a cry for survival” that “comes from the planet itself.”

  It got someone who saw government regulations not as “job killers” but as appropriate levers to achieve cleaner air and water. It got someone who viewed the public lands not as a resource to be exploited by commercial interests but as nature’s gift to future generations. A worthy custodian, in short, to the environmental ethic of Teddy Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. And someone who would spend trillions to make it all happen.

• • Exxon Lobbyist Claims Company Has 11 Senators In Its Pocket

  Lobbyists: Careful What You Say on Tape

  July 5, 2021 (CleanTechnica) -It comes as no surprise that oil companies hire lobbyists to promote their interests in the halls of Congress. Every company hires lobbyists these days, particularly since John Roberts and his gang of rightwing thugs ruled in Citizens United that corporations are people and have every right to use their enormous financial power to influence elections and the government just like every other citizen.

  America was founded on the principal that its citizens hold the sovereign power of the nation. That quaint idea has now been tossed into the dumpster as corporations assert their newfound power.

  Those Senators on the take consist of 5 Republicans and 6 Democrats

• • Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal Omits Big Climate Measures

  Democrats Hope to Include Climate
  and Clean Energy in a Second Bill

  June 26, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -A deal reached Thursday between President Biden and a bipartisan group of senators for $579 billion in new spending to repair the nation’s roads, rails and bridges does relatively little to fight climate change, an issue that the president has called an “existential threat.”

  The deal does provide funding for public transit, passenger and freight rail, electric buses and charging stations for electric vehicles, all designed to try to reduce pollution from passenger vehicles and trucks. And it includes $47 billion to help communities become more resilient to disasters and severe weather caused by a warming planet.

• • Some Republicans Find Failure to Grapple
  With Climate Change a ‘Political Liability’

  Emerging on Captitol Hill:
  The Conservative Climate Caucus

  June 23, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -When Representative John Curtis quietly approached fellow Republicans to invite them to discuss climate change at a clandestine meeting in his home state of Utah, he hoped a half dozen members might attend.

  Soon the guest list blew past expectations as lawmakers heard about the gathering and asked to be included. For two days in February, 24 Republicans gathered in a ballroom of the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City where they brainstormed ways to get their party to engage on a planetary problem it has ignored for decades.

• • What if American Democracy Fails the Climate Crisis?

  Environmental Thinkers Discuss the
  Limits of Politics in Facing
  Down the Threat to the Planet

  June 25, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -What if political systems, in the United States and internationally, fail to curb climate change?

  It can seem an impolite question, even as it’s the path we’re on. President Biden’s climate agenda is both ambitious and, on its own, insufficient. Its political prospects are mixed at best. The international picture is little better. Only a few countries are on track to meet the goals laid out in the Paris agreement, and none of the major emitters are among them.

• • Biden Administration Backs Oil Sands Pipeline Project

  The Administration Urged a Court
  to Throw Out a Challenge Brought By
  Tribal and Environmental Groups

  June 24, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -The Biden administration has defended a contentious pipeline project that would carry hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil through Minnesota’s delicate watersheds, urging in a court brief that a challenge brought by local tribes and environmental groups be thrown out.

  The closely watched filing in federal court was the latest in a series of actions taken by the administration to back Trump-era approvals of oil and gas infrastructure, despite President Biden’s pledge to aggressively cut emissions from fossil fuels, a major driver of climate change. The pipeline, which is known as Line 3 and is being built by Canadian pipeline company Enbridge Energy, has been the focus of mass protests in recent weeks.

• • Senate Bill to Charge Big Polluters

  Redirecting Trillions to
  U.S. Families and
  Communities Harmed By Pollution

  June 16, 2021 (whitehouse.senate.gov) -As Congress deliberates a once-in-a-generation investment in infrastructure and green energy, Senators Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Brian Schatz (D-HI) are introducing legislation to drastically drive down the harmful emissions causing climate change and putting Americans’ health and the global economy at risk.

  By assessing fees on large corporations responsible for greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, the Save Our Future Act would cut emissions by roughly 50% after ten years, which is in line with scientific targets.

  It would also improve air quality, particularly in front line communities, create new economic opportunities in fossil fuel communities and environmental justice communities, provide low- and middle-income households with biannual checks, and assist states and tribes in defraying the costs of climate change.

• • An Oil Drilling Defeat For Biden

  Federal Judge Says Biden
  Cannot Pause New Leases for
  Drilling on Public Lands

  June 15, 2021 (NY Times Climate Forward) -A federal judge in Louisiana has blocked the Biden administration’s suspension of new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, in the first major legal roadblock for President Biden’s quest to cut fossil fuel pollution and conserve public lands.

  Judge Terry A. Doughty of the United States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted a preliminary injunction Tuesday against the administration, saying that the power to pause offshore oil and gas leases “lies solely with Congress” because it was the legislative branch that originally made federal lands and waters available for leasing.

• • Republicans Need to Engage in Climate Politics

  Nearly 2,000 Marched to
  the Governor’s Mansion During
  the Utah People’s Climate
  March in Salt Lake City

  June 4, 2021 (deseret.com)-Climate politics need Republican engagement. Conservation and stewardship of the natural environment are core Republican values, but for too long we have left these topics to others. We all care about clean air and clean water.

  We all care about leaving the earth better than we found it. But most of the suggestions we hear from Washington are about spending, regulation, top-down mandates and increases of government power. These are not the best ways to reduce emissions or to safeguard our environment.

• • Could A Biden/Republican Alliance Save the Everglades?

  GOP Gov, Earmarking $3.4b
  to Restore Freshwater Preserve
  Will Need Biden's Help

  June 3 , 2021 (The Guardian) -For years environmental groups warned the Florida Everglades, a vast 1.5m-acre (607,000-hectare) subtropical preserve, may be doomed to extinction. Agricultural pollution, saltwater intrusion and rampant real estate development had turned the waterways toxic and the state’s environmental landmark was left to slowly choke to death. Perhaps until now.

  A sweeping Everglades restoration effort decades in the making is finally seeing renewed optimism thanks to a cast of unlikely champions: Florida state Republicans.

• • Biden Suspends Drilling Leases in Arctic National Wildlife Refuge

  Oil and Gas Drilling Blocked
  in One of the Largest Tracts
  of Undeveloped Wilderness in the U.S.

  (NY Times Climate Forward), June 1, 2021 -The Biden administration on Tuesday suspended oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, unspooling a signature achievement of the Trump presidency and delivering on a promise by President Biden to protect the fragile Alaskan tundra from fossil fuel extraction.

  The decision sets up a process that could halt drilling in one of the largest tracts of untouched wilderness in the United States, home to migrating waterfowl, caribou and polar bears. But it also lies over as much as 11 billion barrels of oil and Democrats and Republicans have fought over whether to allow drilling there for more than four decades.

• • Biden Team Condemned For Backing Trump-Era Alaska Drilling Project

  Goes Against Biden's
  Environment Savior Boasts

  (The Guardian), May 27, 2021 -Joe Biden’s administration is facing an onslaught of criticism from environmentalists after opting to defend the approval of a massive oil and gas drilling project in the frigid northern reaches of Alaska.

  In a briefing filed in federal court on Wednesday, the US Department of Justice said the Trump-era decision to allow the project in the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska’s north slope was “reasonable and consistent” with the law and should be allowed to go ahead.

• • PA Senate Dems Want More Accountability From Nat. Gas Industry

  Sentiment is Not Shared by the GOP

  (Allegheny Front), May 27, 2021 -Democratic state senators are pushing proposals meant to increase accountability in the natural gas industry. The bills come nearly a year after a statewide investigative grand jury found that state regulators failed to protect the public from the health impacts of fracking.

  One bill would increase the distance gas wells must be set back from homes from 500 to 2,500 feet; for schools and hospitals, the distance would increase to 5,000 feet.

• • Trump EPA Omitted Science During 2018 Review of Dicamba

  Assessment Was Edited
  to Exclude Evidence of Pesticide’s
  Troubling Drift Risks

  (Center for Biological Diversity), May 24, 2021 -A scathing report released today by a federal oversight agency revealed that high-ranking officials in the Trump EPA purposely excluded scientific evidence of dicamba’s drift risks before reapproving its use in 2018.

  The Office of the Inspector General found that the EPA’s Office of Pesticide Programs failed to include the required internal peer reviews of scientific documents and that “senior-level” staffers “changed” and “omitted” research-based evidence of the drift risks of the pesticide that has already damaged millions of acres of crops.

• • Biden Reappoints a Top Climate Scientist

  He Had Been Removed by Trump

  May 19, 2021(NY Times Climate Forward), -The Biden administration has reappointed the scientist responsible for the National Climate Assessment, the federal government’s premier contribution to climate knowledge, after he was removed from his post last year by President Donald J. Trump.

  The removal of the scientist, Michael Kuperberg, was part of an effort in the final months of the Trump administration to thwart the climate assessment, which compiles the work of hundreds of scientists and helps shape regulations.

• • Biden Spotlights Electric Vehicle Future

  This Was on a Visit to a Ford Plant

  May 18, 2021(POWERGRID International), - President Biden is putting the spotlight on the electric vehicle future he envisions for the United States, as a way to tackle climate change and create jobs by touring Ford’s Electric Vehicle Center, a new factory being built on the grounds of the automaker’s massive Rouge complex in Dearborn, Michigan.

  The president was visiting a day before Ford is expected to release details of an all-electric version of its F-150 pickup truck called the Lightning..

• • Biden Wants To Take On The Fossil-Fuel Industry- But..

  Dozens Of His Officials
  Are Invested In It

  May 11, 2021(Forbes), -On the campaign trail, Joe Biden tried to distance himself from oil, gas and coal companies, pledging not to accept money from fossil-fuel firms.

  Dozens of those now serving in his administration, however, were less rigid about separating themselves from energy giants. In fact, at least 74 Biden Administration officials and nominees disclosed interests in the fossil-fuel sector, according to a review of federal disclosures by Forbes and the Brown Institute for Media Innovation.

• • Pittsburgh’s Mayoral Candidates Debate City’s Environmental Challenges

  How Will the Winner
  Focus on the Environment

  Apr. 29, 2021 (Allegheny Front)-Will the City of Pittsburgh revoke its parks tax? Spend more on green infrastructure to confront flooding and climate change? And should the mayor of Pittsburgh take a stand on issues that go beyond city limits, like fracking and green energy?

  Although the mayoral debates focused mainly on issues like affordable housing and policing, the four Democratic candidates offer sharply different records and plans for the city’s environmental future. PublicSource’s Oliver Morrison asked how the candidates would address the many environmental challenges that one would face as mayor.