Region: National
GOP Climate Denial Is Way Out of the U.S. Mainstream
The Party’s stance is out of touch with businesses, the public, scientists, and many GOP voters.
The national GOP seems to be locked into climate change denial. This stance puts the GOP leadership increasingly alone. They’re out of touch with the business community, the public, scientists, and even many of their own voters. Out of Touch with the Business Community In 2015, Shell and BP called for international cooperation to achieve the …
Continue reading “GOP Climate Denial Is Way Out of the U.S. Mainstream”
CONTINUE READINGTillerson and Perry – It’s Complicated
They’re not as bad as you might think. Relatively speaking.
The immediate environmentalist reaction to Rex Tillerson and Rick Perry — Trump’s choices to run the Departments of State and Energy — is that these are disastrous choices, like Trump’s selection of climate change denier Scott Pruitt to run EPA. That’s understandable. After all, Tillerson is the CEO of Exxon. As to Perry, the Washington Post headline says …
Continue reading “Tillerson and Perry – It’s Complicated”
CONTINUE READINGLegal Mandates to Consider the Social Cost of Climate Change
Considering climate impacts isn’t just a good idea. It’s the law.
Many people seem to think that considering climate impacts and the social cost of carbon was just a policy decision by the Obama Administration, which Trump if he doesn’t buy the reality of climate change. But it’s not that easy. But there are strong arguments that considering climate change is mandatory. First, the whole idea of considering …
Continue reading “Legal Mandates to Consider the Social Cost of Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGYes, there’s some actual good environmental news this week
Approval of regional ocean management plans, California planning for gray wolf return provide grounds for hope
It’s not exactly been the best of weeks for those of us committed to environmental protection, and it doesn’t look like the best of years coming up. But there is some good news, even in these difficult times. Two items in particular have helped lift the gloom for me this week. First, the National Ocean …
Continue reading “Yes, there’s some actual good environmental news this week”
CONTINUE READINGTrump Has Thrown Down the Gauntlet
Trump’s latest cabinet appointment confirms the pattern: he plans to govern from the far Right.
Given that Trump has shifted his positions so often, there’s always been at least a faint hope that he would rethink his vehement opposition to environmental protection. True, he had called climate change a Chinese hoax, but he later said he had an open mind about the Paris Agreement and then he had an apparently …
Continue reading “Trump Has Thrown Down the Gauntlet”
CONTINUE READINGAnd the EPA Pick Is…
Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt
According to reports this morning, the EPA pick will be Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt. We’ll hear more about him in the coming days. For me, the story that sticks out most about him is this one – revealing his history of copying and pasting letters written by fossil fuel lobbyists and sending them under …
Continue reading “And the EPA Pick Is…”
CONTINUE READINGGone, Baby, Gone: The Death of Appalachian Coal
It’s not just cheap natural gas. Even a coal industry revival wouldn’t help Appalachia.
Trump has promised to end the “war on coal” and bring the industry roaring back. The NY Times appropriately called this a “cruel promise,” because cheap natural gas has driven coal to its knees economically. That won’t change under Trump, who has promised even more fracking and gas production. But, as it turns out, even …
Continue reading “Gone, Baby, Gone: The Death of Appalachian Coal”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s internecine water war
Dianne Feinstein versus Barbara Boxer; maximizing water deliveries versus protecting the environment
If you thought California was immune to the season of political craziness, think again. California Democrats Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer were elected to the Senate together in 1992. They are usually on the same side, but not always. Water is one of the issues on which they often part company. Feinstein is a water …
Continue reading “California’s internecine water war”
CONTINUE READINGTurnabout is Fair Play
The same tools that have been used to stymie the Obama Administration can be turned against Trump.
Conservatives and industry have perfected some legal tools to block regulation by the Obama Administration. Those tools can be turned against them, by using the same tools to block anti-regulatory moves by the Trump Administration. As a professor, I don’t necessarily agree with all of them. But as a lawyer, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them …
Continue reading “Turnabout is Fair Play”
CONTINUE READINGScientific integrity in the Trump administration
We can’t tell yet what role science will play in the new administration’s policy choices, but there is reason for concern
There has understandably been a great deal of hand wringing in the environmental policy world since the US presidential election, including on this site (see, for example, Sean’s post here, Dan’s here, and Ann’s here). There are so many hands to be wrung, however, that we’re nowhere near through them all. One topic that …
Continue reading “Scientific integrity in the Trump administration”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
