Region: National
Election 2020: The Montana Governor’s Race
The two candidates are neck-in-neck. But their environmental views aren’t close.
Last week, I posted about the Montana Senate race. Montana also has a tight race for governor. The candidates are the current Democratic Lieutenant Governor Mike Coney and House Republican Greg Gianforte. Coney is a long-time figure in state politics. Gianforte founded a “customer relationship software company.” He got national attention in 2017 when he …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat They Said About Climate Last Night
It was late in the debate and hard to follow. But the exchange about climate change was important.
There was actually a substantive discussion of climate change at the debate last night. Many people had literally tuned out by then. Others were too distracted by Trump’s interruptions. Here are the key things that were actually said, culled from a transcript of the debate. Wallace: . . . Mr. President, you said, I don’t …
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CONTINUE READINGDouble Trouble in Georgia
Both Senate seats are on the ballot in November, with big environmental stakes.
Georgia has two Senate contests due to a fluke of timing — one a regular election, the other a special election. The regular election pits David Perdue (R) against Jonathan Ossoff (D). The special election pits Kelley Loeffler (R) against an open field, where her principal Democratic opponent is probably Rev. Raphael Warnock, the African-American …
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CONTINUE READINGBig Environmental Stakes in the Big Sky State
Their records put the two Senate candidates far apart on environmental issues.
The current Supreme Court vacancy is a reminder of just how crucial the Senate is. If there were two more Democratic Senators there today, Trump would not be able to fill Ginsburg’s seat before the election. Of course, the Senate matters for other reasons, too. An example of the importance of the Senate in policy …
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CONTINUE READINGShould a New Congress Use a Deeply Flawed Law to Cancel Trump’s Regulations?
The Congressional Review Act was Newt Gingrich’s brainchild. It should be repealed.
The Congressional Review Act (CRA), part of Newt Gingrich’s “Contract With America”, slumbered for many years in obscurity. Then, in 2017, Congress dusted it off and used it to kill fifteen Obama administration regulations. I’m not the first to ask whether there should be payback if the White House and Senate change hands. There are …
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CONTINUE READINGFighting Global Warming in a Chilly Judicial Climate
A 6-3 conservative court is bad news for climate action. Here’s a threat assessment.
With Romney’s announcement this morning that he would support consideration of a nominee before the election, it now seems virtually certain that Trump will be able to appoint a sixth conservative Justice. How will that affect future climate policy? Here is a preliminary threat assessment. The answer varies, depending on what policies we’re talking about. …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Kavanaugh Court and the Environment
A new appointment would make Justice Kavanaugh the swing voter. Here’s what that would mean for environmental law.
A new appointment by Trump would shift the Supreme Court well to the right, making Brett Kavanaugh the swing voter in many cases. Kavanaugh has clear views about the powers of agencies like EPA. With him as the swing voter, the main strategy used by Obama to make environmental progress would be off limits for …
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CONTINUE READINGBattle for the Senate: Alabama
Losing this seat would make it much harder to build a pro-environmental majority.
By all accounts, Doug Jones is the most endangered incumbent Democratic Senators. He won in something of a fluke in a special election, after reports surfaced that his opponent had stalked teenage girls. Now he faces a tough reelection battle. If he loses, it becomes that much more difficult to slip enough seats for a …
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CONTINUE READINGLarge-scale carbon removal: How do we phase out big industries?
While we’re designing policy for scaling up carbon removal, we should think about the eventual need to ramp it down.
Authored with Edward A. Parson Just a few years ago, carbon removal wasn’t seen as something that could be realistically scaled, observed Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska). “It is now becoming clear that technologies to permanently remove carbon dioxide from the air and the ocean are not only real, but they are needed and they are …
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CONTINUE READINGBattle for the Senate: Iowa
The Iowa race features two candidates with very different views about climate change.
The Senate race in Iowa pits incumbent Joni Ernst against Democrat Theresa Greenfield. Climate change is the area where the two contrast most strongly. Greenfield accepts the science and calls for action. Ernst is still in the “maybe it relates to a little bit to humans” phase of climate denial. She also says she’s “so …
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