Federal Climate Policy
Environmental Justice and Climate Action
Are the two in conflict? What should we make of the attacks on Mary Nichols?
Mary Nichols, the frontrunner to head EPA, was knocked out of contention earlier this week. She would have been a formidable choice to implement Biden’s climate policies. For that reason, it wasn’t clear whether she would have the votes to get through the narrowly divided Senate. But she was ultimately taken down by the fierce …
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CONTINUE READINGDownstream Emissions
A new court ruling could doom the Trump Administration’s ANWR plan.
A Ninth Circuit ruling yesterday overturned approval of offshore drilling in the Arctic. The ruling may directly impact the Trump Administration’s plans for oil leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR). By requiring agencies to consider emissions when fossil fuels are ultimately burned, the Court of Appeal’s decision may also change the way that …
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CONTINUE READINGBringing Back Earmarks to Save the Climate
Climate action will require overcoming the US democracy deficit.
The U.S. has a democracy deficit. Winning national majorities isn’t enough to get majorities in Congress. This creates headwinds against climate action. In the short-run at least, legislative earmarks might be one way to overcome the problem. The House is already planning to bring back earmarks, but the the heart of the problem is the …
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CONTINUE READINGThings to be Thankful For (2020 edition)
Trump has done his best to eliminate federal protection for the environment. But there have been many positive signs.
Nearly four years into the Trump Administration, we’re now accustomed to waking up every morning to learn about a new attack on the environment. It’s also been an awful year in terms of the pandemic. But there are some things to be thankful for. Here’s how I started a similar post in 2017, nearly a …
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CONTINUE READINGBiden Can Leverage Larger Trends to Make Climate Progress
Biden can use these three strategies to make major progress on climate issues.
With the next president of the United States finally decided, we can now begin moving on to the work at hand. Joe Biden’s election creates an exciting opportunity for climate action. But there’s one clear hurdle: Unless the January runoff elections in Georgia for two Senate seats deliver surprising success to the Democrats, President-elect Biden …
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CONTINUE READING“Whole of Government” Climate Policy
We need the help of far-flung parts of the federal government to deal with climate.
President Biden will have to rely on administrative action to do much or all of the heavy lifting in climate policy. It’s clear that EPA has a central role to play in climate policy, but EPA does not stand alone. Other agencies also have important roles to play. Fortunately, the Biden transition team seems to …
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CONTINUE READINGPresident Biden & Climate Change: What’s Achievable?
Divided federal government might still allow possibility for meaningful action
With a victory in the presidential election, Joe Biden now faces a U.S. Senate that still hangs in the balance. But even with a Democratic runoff sweep in Georgia next month, it will be very divided. So what will be possible for a President Biden and his administration to achieve on climate change? Agency action, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Georgia Runoffs and the Environment
Control of the Senate is at stake. So is Joe Biden’s legislative agenda.
Georgia has two Senate contests due to a fluke of timing — one a regular election, the other a special election. Both elections have gone into runoffs. The outcomes will have major implications for the environment because control of the Senate is at stake. The regular election pits David Perdue (R) against Jonathan Ossoff (D). …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Changing Landscape of Climate Policy
Even under Trump, the U.S. was slowly lurching in the right direction. Biden needs to give the process a good strong push.
Barring a Democratic sweep in the Georgia runoffs, Biden will be facing a Republican Senate. But he also has a big advantage: The world has changed in some important ways that favor climate action. The importance of these positive changes may have been obscured by some negative developments. Since Barack Obama left office, climate change …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat Next for Climate Policy?
The election outcome is still contested. Here are three possible scenarios.
We probably won’t be sure for a while who will be our next President. The GOP will probably control the Senate but even that isn’t completely certain yet. Rather than play forecaster, I thought it would be helpful to look at how various outcomes will impact climate policy. Since we’re all suffering a lot of …
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