Politics
Abolishing ICE has Environmental Connections
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Does your heart hurt from watching agents of the U.S. government execute a law-abiding citizen in the street while he is helping others try to stay safe during an authoritarian takeover of an American city? If you work on environmental and climate issues, you probably have felt this rage over what’s happening but also thought …
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CONTINUE READINGOne Year of Energy Emergencies
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
This past Tuesday — on the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump taking office and immediately declaring a national energy emergency — the new governor of New Jersey took office and immediately declared a state energy emergency. But these two approaches to executive action on energy couldn’t be more different and the results will help define …
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CONTINUE READINGOne Big Energy Idea for the Next Governor
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
If the candidates running to be California’s next governor want a prepackaged idea for how to reduce pollution while making energy more affordable in 2026, here’s one that has been hiding in plain sight. Make a modernization plan to direct money for electrification that is currently being diverted unnecessarily into aging gas infrastructure. But don’t …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump is Trying to Make Us Pay More for Gas
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
At a White House photo op last week, surrounded by rich auto executives and congressional Republicans, Trump delivered his latest blow to Americans’ pocketbooks by announcing a policy change that could cost us consumers up to $185 billion when filling up our tanks at the pump. If you’re scratching your head trying to recall this …
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CONTINUE READINGAbundance politics and climate politics
Recent issue polling shows the similar challenges facing both climate and abundance politics
This week a study of the popularity of a wide range of issues among the American public came out – and created quite a stir. Most of the attention focused on the unpopularity of various Democratic positions on race and gender identity issues. But here I want to highlight the results in two areas I’ve …
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CONTINUE READINGThe 2026 Election: Through a Glass, Darkly
Here’s what things look like now, but a lot could change.
We’re now one year from Election Day. Because of polarization, environmental policy is closely tied to political party. With that in mind, I’ve been providing election information for about the past ten years. I don’t claim any expertise. My predictions are based on two well-established political websites, Cook and Sabato. Given all that’s happening, the situation will surely shift in the next year, but here’s what things look like right now. Obviously, it’s early days. The Democrats will need to get some luster back on their brand and see some tarnishing of Trump’s if they’re to prevail.
CONTINUE READINGThese SoCal Clean Air Rules are Being Smeared
Legitimate affordability concerns are being weaponized by the gas lobby and its supporters ahead of an important SCAQMD vote to encourage cleaner appliances.
After years of rule development, Southern California air quality regulators are set to vote tomorrow on a pair of proposals that would reduce harmful pollution from gas furnaces and water heaters. A coordinated campaign by opponents including SoCalGas is painting these relatively moderate rules as a “ban” on gas appliances and an attack on middle-class …
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CONTINUE READINGModel Uncertainty in Politics and Climate Policy
The polls could be systematically off, not just due to random error. That’s a worry with climate models as well.
Yes, your favored candidate could sweep the swing states, and yes, climate change could be more moderate than we now expect. But that shouldn’t give you much comfort on either issue, since the errors could equally be in the opposite directions.
Obviously, we’d like to improve our models, but that’s not always easy. In the meantime, the smart thing is to plan on the basis of the best models we have but avoid overconfidence about our predictions.
CONTINUE READINGRanking the Candidates’ Focus on Energy & Climate
Some campaign websites mention these issues only in passing. Others went into more detail.
I thought it would be helpful to provide some kind of objective measure of how much various candidates focus on energy and climate. I based this on how extensively they discuss these issues on their websites. By this ranking, Biden came in first — surprisingly, ahead of progressives Jill Stein and Cornel West. Also surprisingly, …
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CONTINUE READINGRFK Jr. and Climate Change Conspiracy Theories
Voters who care about the climate should know the longtime environmental lawyer turned long-shot presidential candidate has turned away from environmentalism.
When an old acquaintance of mine recently shared a series of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. videos on Instagram, I couldn’t resist asking him what was appealing about the long-shot presidential candidate. He said that RFK Jr. would end corporate influence, including when it comes to industries that pollute the environment. RFK, he said, has done …
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