Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                     June 27, 2019                                                                Issue 12

A ha’pence for your thoughts. Vice President Pence repeatedly dodged when asked multiple times on CNN's "State of the Union" whether the human-induced crisis is a threat to the country, telling host Jake Tapper: "Well, what I will tell you is that we'll always follow the science on that in this administration." (CNN)

Not even a ha’pence. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue cited weather patterns and said "it rained yesterday, it's a nice pretty day today" when asked about the cause of the global climate crisis in an interview with CNN.

I couldn’t agree more. Axios got its hands on the internal vetting documents for Trump administration nominees. According to the notes Rick Perry, Energy Secretary, had voluminous vetting concerns: "Perry described Trumpism as a 'toxic mix of demagoguery, mean-spiritedness, and nonsense that will lead the Republican Party to perdition." (Axios)

Scott Pruitt, who ultimately lost his job as EPA administrator because of serial ethical abuses and clubbiness with lobbyists, had a section in his vetting dossier flagging "coziness with big energy companies."

Mick Mulvaney, now Trump's acting chief of staff, had a striking assortment of red flags, including his assessment that Trump "is not a very good person."

The Trump transition team was so worried about Rudy Giuliani, in line for secretary of state, that they created a separate 25-page document titled "Rudy Giuliani Business Ties Research Dossier" with copious accounting of his "foreign entanglements."

• Besides the insights the notes provide, they make it clear that a lot of the vetting was superficial—which likely accounts for why so many of the Trump nominees have left in disgrace because of continued ethics violations and conflicts of interest.

                   Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                      June 24, 2019                                                                Issue 11
 
The Republicans have left the building. Oregon Republican senators have left the Capitol and scattered in various directions outside the state to avoid being rounded up by troopers for a high-profile climate bill vote.

“Protesting cap-and-trade by walking out today represents our constituency and exactly how we should be doing our job,” Senate Republican Leader Herman Baertschiger Jr., of Grants Pass, said in a written statement Thursday morning. “We have endured threats of arrest, fines, and pulling community project funds from the governor, Senate president, and majority leader. We will not stand by and be bullied by the majority party any longer."

What’s happened to democracy? While Oregon Democrats have a rare 18 to 12 super-majority in the House and Senate, they cannot approve the bill without at least two Republicans present. After several days of heated debate between the two sides, eleven GOP members mutually agreed to boycott the vote.

“The Senate Democrats have requested the assistance of the Oregon State Police to bring back their colleagues to finish the work they committed to push forward,” Governor Kate Brown said on Thursday, adding “As the executive of the agency, I am authorizing the State Police to fulfill the Senate Democrats’ request.”

Sen. Brian Boquist (R) didn’t take too kindly to Brown’s threat – telling a reporter he was prepared for a bloody standoff if state troopers show up for him. Boquist had previously told Brown that “hell is coming to visit you personally” if she went forward with the threat.

“Send bachelors, and come heavily armed; I’m not going to be a political prisoner in the state of Oregon, it’s just that simple,”

                      Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com

                                  
Volume 1                                                               June 19, 2019                                                                      Issue 10

 
Ace or Joker?  On Wednesday the EPA released its final Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule to reduce carbon emissions from individual power plants without setting limits on the sector's emissions. The Trump administration’s replacement for the Clean Power Plan redefines the "best system of emissions reductions" for existing power plants, directing operators to slash greenhouse gases by focusing solely on improving the efficiency of their facilities.

ACE is a behind the fence rule that is likely to keep aged coal plants on-line with the addition of emission controls. The climate rule does not cap greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, leaving it up to states to pick from a menu of technologies to improve power plant efficiency at the facility level.

The agency is providing states with a list of applicable emissions control technology they can use for compliance. Under the final rule, states cannot use carbon capture and storage technology or fuel switching from coal to a less high-emitting option to comply. Emissions trading, either between facilities or within facilities themselves, will also not be allowed.

The deadlines for states to provide plans for implementing the rule have been extended. States now have three years to submit plans to the agency, and EPA has a year to review them.

EPA says the new rule will reduce carbon emissions by as much as 35 percent below 2005 levels in 2030 — similar to projections for the Clean Power Plan — but most of that would occur from market forces absent any regulation. EPA, in a fact sheet accompanying the rule, projects ACE will cut carbon emissions 11 million tons by 2030, but that’s only about a 0.84 percent reduction compared to what would occur with no regulation.

An EPA official acknowledged “some” coal plants will increase emissions over their lifetime if they apply efficiency improvements and operate longer, rather than retire.

Environmentalists and Democratic states plan to sue the Trump administration, arguing the rule does not meaningfully fulfill the bare-bones requirement of the Clean Air Act since it would not significantly cut carbon emissions by keeping alive coal plants with efficiency improvements that would otherwise retire. (E&E News)

                  Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                      June 17, 2019                                                                Issue 9  
 

Petards were made for this. The Democratic Party may be the loser in the candidate debates as the calls for a focused debate have only grown stronger since Perez rejected Inslee's plea for a debate dedicated to the climate crisis. Dozens of DNC members are joining the call, and a group of activists protested outside the DNC's Washington, D.C., headquarters the other day, delivering a petition with more than 200,000 signatures pressing the issue.

The party's left wing is adding the climate debate issue to its grievances. Groups like Public Citizen, Women's March Global, NextGen America, and CPD Action — an arm of the Center for Popular Democracy — have joined Inslee in fighting for the debate. So have 14 other Democratic presidential candidates — including Senators (I-VT) and Warren (D-MA) and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) — as well as several progressive House members.

Although Representative Ro Khanna (D-CA) supports Sanders for president, he said Inslee has an opportunity to take advantage of the progressive furor around the topic. He advised Inslee to take a page from Ronald Reagan, who in 1980 sponsored a Republican primary debate himself after federal officials ruled a debate sponsored by a newspaper would be an illegal campaign contribution. (E&E News)

Republicans are being poll-asked. Republicans risk losing young voters if they don't wake up to the reality that is climate change, warned pollster Frank Luntz  .

Luntz Global Partners — the firm led by the prominent GOP consultant — distributed a memo to every Republican on Capitol Hill arguing that public climate opinion has reached a "tipping point."

The report is based on the results of an online poll and focus groups Luntz Global conducted for the Climate Leadership Council. CLC is the carbon fee and dividend advocacy group funded by numerous corporate entities, including some oil companies.

The memo, which makes a case for the CLC's proposal, comes during a changing landscape for the Capitol Hill climate debate. Republicans are increasingly acknowledging climate science and voicing support for limited solutions.

"The 'political temperature' on climate change has shifted — perhaps permanently," the memo reads. "Three in four American voters want to see the government step in to limit carbon emissions — including a majority of Republicans (55 percent)." (E&E News)

• As political deals go, this is a big one. Luntz is well-respected. Whether respected by Trumplicans may be another matter. However, his findings will certainly have an impact on the thinking of establishment Republicans—especially who are up for re-election in 2020.
• Even if Republicans aren’t willing to listen, the Democrats will. Polls like this will confirm for Democrats that climate is a vulnerable spot in Republican armor.

                    Climate Politics/Capitol Light© is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                     June 12, 2019                                                                Issue 8  
 
Renewables to feel the burn. A court ruling will allow PG&E to end as much as $42 billion in existing clean energy power-purchase agreements, which could have large implications for NextEra Energy Inc., Berkshire Hathaway Inc., and other companies. It is sure to complicate further California's ability to reduce its statewide emissions. Judge Dennis Montali of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California said he disagreed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's assertion of authority over the utility's contract choices. ( The Wall Street Journal)

Rare and inaccessible. Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China have sparked worries about the 17 exotic-sounding rare earth minerals needed for high-tech products like robotics, drones and electric cars. (AP News)

Trash talk. When Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler goes to Japan this week to meet with other environment ministers, action on climate change won't be the priority. Instead, Wheeler plans to talk a lot about the tons of trash floating in the ocean he just flew over. 

Wheeler, in an interview, called the debris clogging the ocean one of the world's most pressing environmental concerns. China is the top contributor of plastic pollutants. (Washington Post)

• Wheeler may have an ulterior motive—beyond dodging the issue of climate change. The meeting is thought to give the Trump administration a new opportunity to berate China in hopes of bringing them to the tariff negotiating table—or just because the admin-istration likes trashing others with their talk.  
  

                   Climate Politics/Capitol Light© is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                      June 10, 2019                                                                Issue 7 
 
We really don’t want to talk about it. The Democratic National Committee has rejected Washington Governor Jay Inslee’s call for a primary debate strictly focused on climate change.

“This is deeply disappointing,” Inslee said. “The DNC is silencing the voices of Democratic activists, many of our progressive partner organizations, and nearly half of the Democratic presidential field, who want to debate the existential crisis of our time. Democratic voters say that climate change is their top issue; the Democratic National Committee must listen to the grassroots of the party.”
 
At least half a dozen Democratic candidates, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Michael Bennet (D-CO) and former Obama cabinet official Julián Castro, have backed the idea.

In a statement, the DNC said climate change would remain a top priority during the debates but that it hoped to ensure “vigorous discussion” on all important issues to voters like the economy, climate change, and health care. (Washington Examiner)

• It’s unclear why the DNC turned down Inslee’s request. The stated reason appears to me lame given the attention Democrats inside and outside Congress have been focusing on the climate crisis—particularly since Republicans are vulnerable on the issue.
• It’s possible that the DNC is worried that participants in such a debate would sound too socialist for the Party’s good.
• Denying Inslee’s request is one thing—but the DNC took things a step further. In his announcement of the DNC’s denial of the single-issue debate, Inslee said the organ-ization threatened not to invite him to future debates if he participated in any other climate change debate.

                       Climate Politics/Capitol Light© is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                     June 5, 2019                                                                   Issue 6 
 
It’s benighted not be knighted. Donald Trump tells Prince Charles the US has 'clean climate' and blames other countries for the environmental crisis, in a long talk with the prince. China, India, Russia, many other nations, they have not very good air, not very good water, and the sense of pollution. If you go to certain cities … you can’t even breathe, and now that air is going up…They don’t do the responsibility. (The Guardian)

Make mine a mini. This week, Joe Biden released a lengthy climate plan on his website. Though Reuters teased his policy last month as a "middle ground" approach more moderate than the Green New Deal, the proposal looks pretty aggressive and sounds almost Sanders-esque in its ambition. (The Atlantic)

He’s free to ‘steal’ my stuff.  Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden released a comprehensive proposal to combat global climate change, adding to the mix of candidates who have made rolling back dangerous emissions a central tenet of their campaigns.

However, multiple sentences in Biden's proposal appear to lift passages from letters and websites of different organizations. The copied sentences are particularly notable due to Biden's history of plagiarism, which played a major role in tanking his 1988 presidential campaign.

The potential instances of plagiarism were first flagged by Josh Nelson, the vice president of CREDO Mobile, a telecommunications company that also aims to raise money for liberal activist groups and causes. (Business Insider)

• It should be noted that there’s a warning in this and it’s not about plagiarism. The fact that some of the loudest cries are being raised by progressives plays to the idea that they are nervous about Biden’s becoming the Democratic nominee—as opposed to one of the more liberal/progressive members of the pack.

                  Climate Politics/Capitol Light© is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion.com
 
 
Volume 1                                                                    June 3, 2019                                                                   Issue 5                                        
 
Tariff tirades. The House and Senate are back from their week of district workdays. They’ve come back to a growing list of to-do’s in an atmosphere of contention within and between both parties and between Congress and the White House.

Trump’s decision to slap a monthly five-percent tariff (up to 25 percent) on all Mexican imports beginning June 10th is consolidating Democratic opposition to the president while fracturing Republican ranks.

Mexico is the US’s third largest trading partner accounting for 14.5 percent of overall trade, i.e., exports and imports. Trump’s tariffs are expected to hit the auto and agricultural industries particularly hard. The other top four US trading partners are China, Canada, and Japan. In recent weeks Trump has either placed or threatened tariffs on all of them.

Despite what the president claims, US consumers, not the nations targeted, pay the price of his tariff tirades.

Trump’s Mexico announcement caught congressional Republicans off guard and has driven a wedge within their ranks. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has become one of Trump’s most enthusiastic fan boys, applauded the move. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is noncommittal saying only the proposal "deserves serious examination."

According to Bloomberg Senate Finance Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) of Iowa, whose powerful panel holds the keys to trade, tax, health, and entitlement legislation, opposes the promised Mexico levy. Other Republicans joining Grassley in opposition to the tariff are Pat Toomey (R-PA), Martha McSally(R-AZ), John Cornyn of Texas, Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rob Portman (R-OH). Their votes will be needed to pass the USMCA—the newly negotiated treaty intended to replace NAFTA and which Trump considers essential to his legacy and re-election. The House Ways and Means Committee’s top Republican, Kevin Brady, whose state of Texas, along with other border states like Arizona will be hardest hit, has called for resolution of the Mexico “problem” before June 10th when the first tariffs will be levied. Trump has promised to raise the tariff by fiver percent each month up to a total of 25 percent unless Mexico finds a way to stop migrants from Central America coming into the US.