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"title": "Amy Klobuchar Climate Profile: Using Presidency to Restore Clean Energy Policies",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The people are on our side when it comes to climate change. Why? Because like you and I, they believe in science.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Amy Klobuchar, \u003ca href=\"https://www.twincities.com/2019/02/10/amy-klobuchars-big-speech-today-heres-a-sneak-peak/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks of Fran, a woman she met in Pacific Junction, Iowa, along the Nebraska border during recent flooding. “Hanging there on her neck was this pair of binoculars. She had me look through them and she says, ‘This is my house, I bought it with my husband, our 4-year-old twins, we were going to retire in this house, and now it’s halfway underwater.'” It’s a personal connection, but is it enough to elevate the Minnesota senator above the other candidates?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months into her first Senate term in 2007, Klobuchar introduced \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/senate-bill/1387?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22klobuchar%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a bill\u003c/a> to start a carbon-tracking program as a step toward a cap-and-trade system to address climate change. Another bill of hers called for an expansion of renewable energy tax credits, provisions of which later became law as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Klobuchar’s “\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@AmyforAmerica/senator-klobuchars-plan-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-b1133845d2bb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Plan to Tackle the Climate Crisis\u003c/a>,” released in September, stands out for its emphasis on using presidential powers to quickly restore climate and clean energy policies that the Trump administration has rolled back. She promises within her first 100 days to restore the Clean Power Plan to reduce power plant emissions; revive fuel economy standards for vehicles; strengthen enforcement of the Clean Air Act; and recommit the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her climate plan sets a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, along the lines of what \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07102018/ipcc-climate-change-science-report-data-carbon-emissions-heat-waves-extreme-weather-oil-gas-agriculture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">science says\u003c/a> is needed to meet the Paris goals, though she provides fewer details than other candidates on how to get there. She proposes a $1 trillion energy infrastructure package and talks about using grants, tax credits and model building codes to encourage investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. She also mentions streamlining the permitting process for renewable energy production on federal land and investing in electric vehicle infrastructure, public transit and revitalizing rail transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• While Klobuchar co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution in Congress, she hasn’t embraced it in her climate plan. She has called it aspirational rather than prescriptive, \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/429719-klobuchar-on-green-new-deal-i-see-it-as-aspirational\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">telling CNN\u003c/a> that it doesn’t make sense to “get rid of all these industries or do this in a few years,” while it does make sense to “start doing concrete things, and put some aspirations out there on climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• To help pay for energy infrastructure investments, Klobuchar says she would work with Congress to put a price on carbon pollution. Her plan doesn’t say what form that would take beyond stressing that it would not be regressive. She also proposes clean energy bonds to raise money and ending federal fossil fuel subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• She answered a Washington Post \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/climate-change/?utm_term=.609e4a1a6612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">questionnaire\u003c/a> on fracking by saying she doesn’t want to ban the method of extracting oil and gas, but would like to regulate it better. Her climate plan does, however, propose banning new fossil fuel permitting on federal land. She has said that “safe nuclear power” along with “cleaner coal technologies” should continue to be developed as part of a comprehensive energy strategy, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/homegrown-energy-environment-natural-resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an issue brief\u003c/a> on her Senate website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• She supports research into carbon capture and storage technology and co-sponsored a \u003ca href=\"https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-introduces-bipartisan-legislation-promoting-carbon-capture-technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2017 bill\u003c/a> to expand a tax credit to help carbon capture research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In her climate plan, Klobuchar also talks about the importance of bringing science back into decision-making in Washington. She says she wants to “hold the fossil fuel industry accountable” for climate change and mentions working to get a constitutional amendment “to get dark money out of our politics.” She signed the \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/444593-klobuchar-becomes-13th-democratic-candidate-to-pledge-not-to-accept\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Fossil Fuel Funding\u003c/a> pledge in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klobuchar \u003ca href=\"http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2019-02-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">describes herself\u003c/a> as a progressive who can still win moderate voters in swing states such as Iowa and Wisconsin. On climate issues, however, her tone and some of her positions mean that much of the Democratic field is to her left. She is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution but says it shouldn’t be taken literally, and she shies away from stances that could be branded as extreme, such as banning fracking. But she can argue that her actions on climate and the environment are progressive, as shown by her 96 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and her early support for a cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Amy Klobuchar’s \u003ca href=\"https://amyklobuchar.com/combating-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Klobuchar’s proposed first 100 days: restore the Clean Power Plan, revive fuel economy standards for vehicles, strengthen enforcement of the Clean Air Act and rejoin the Paris climate agreement.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>‘The people are on our side when it comes to climate change. Why? Because like you and I, they believe in science.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Amy Klobuchar, \u003ca href=\"https://www.twincities.com/2019/02/10/amy-klobuchars-big-speech-today-heres-a-sneak-peak/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">February 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Sen. Amy Klobuchar speaks of Fran, a woman she met in Pacific Junction, Iowa, along the Nebraska border during recent flooding. “Hanging there on her neck was this pair of binoculars. She had me look through them and she says, ‘This is my house, I bought it with my husband, our 4-year-old twins, we were going to retire in this house, and now it’s halfway underwater.'” It’s a personal connection, but is it enough to elevate the Minnesota senator above the other candidates?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Months into her first Senate term in 2007, Klobuchar introduced \u003ca href=\"https://www.congress.gov/bill/110th-congress/senate-bill/1387?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%5B%22klobuchar%22%5D%7D&s=1&r=4\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a bill\u003c/a> to start a carbon-tracking program as a step toward a cap-and-trade system to address climate change. Another bill of hers called for an expansion of renewable energy tax credits, provisions of which later became law as part of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Klobuchar’s “\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@AmyforAmerica/senator-klobuchars-plan-to-tackle-the-climate-crisis-b1133845d2bb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Plan to Tackle the Climate Crisis\u003c/a>,” released in September, stands out for its emphasis on using presidential powers to quickly restore climate and clean energy policies that the Trump administration has rolled back. She promises within her first 100 days to restore the Clean Power Plan to reduce power plant emissions; revive fuel economy standards for vehicles; strengthen enforcement of the Clean Air Act; and recommit the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her climate plan sets a goal of net zero emissions by 2050, along the lines of what \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07102018/ipcc-climate-change-science-report-data-carbon-emissions-heat-waves-extreme-weather-oil-gas-agriculture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">science says\u003c/a> is needed to meet the Paris goals, though she provides fewer details than other candidates on how to get there. She proposes a $1 trillion energy infrastructure package and talks about using grants, tax credits and model building codes to encourage investment in clean energy and energy efficiency. She also mentions streamlining the permitting process for renewable energy production on federal land and investing in electric vehicle infrastructure, public transit and revitalizing rail transportation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• While Klobuchar co-sponsored the Green New Deal resolution in Congress, she hasn’t embraced it in her climate plan. She has called it aspirational rather than prescriptive, \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/429719-klobuchar-on-green-new-deal-i-see-it-as-aspirational\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">telling CNN\u003c/a> that it doesn’t make sense to “get rid of all these industries or do this in a few years,” while it does make sense to “start doing concrete things, and put some aspirations out there on climate change.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• To help pay for energy infrastructure investments, Klobuchar says she would work with Congress to put a price on carbon pollution. Her plan doesn’t say what form that would take beyond stressing that it would not be regressive. She also proposes clean energy bonds to raise money and ending federal fossil fuel subsidies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• She answered a Washington Post \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/climate-change/?utm_term=.609e4a1a6612\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">questionnaire\u003c/a> on fracking by saying she doesn’t want to ban the method of extracting oil and gas, but would like to regulate it better. Her climate plan does, however, propose banning new fossil fuel permitting on federal land. She has said that “safe nuclear power” along with “cleaner coal technologies” should continue to be developed as part of a comprehensive energy strategy, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.klobuchar.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/homegrown-energy-environment-natural-resources\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">an issue brief\u003c/a> on her Senate website.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• She supports research into carbon capture and storage technology and co-sponsored a \u003ca href=\"https://www.brown.senate.gov/newsroom/press/release/brown-introduces-bipartisan-legislation-promoting-carbon-capture-technology\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">2017 bill\u003c/a> to expand a tax credit to help carbon capture research.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In her climate plan, Klobuchar also talks about the importance of bringing science back into decision-making in Washington. She says she wants to “hold the fossil fuel industry accountable” for climate change and mentions working to get a constitutional amendment “to get dark money out of our politics.” She signed the \u003ca href=\"https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/444593-klobuchar-becomes-13th-democratic-candidate-to-pledge-not-to-accept\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Fossil Fuel Funding\u003c/a> pledge in May.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Klobuchar \u003ca href=\"http://www.msnbc.com/transcripts/rachel-maddow-show/2019-02-11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">describes herself\u003c/a> as a progressive who can still win moderate voters in swing states such as Iowa and Wisconsin. On climate issues, however, her tone and some of her positions mean that much of the Democratic field is to her left. She is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution but says it shouldn’t be taken literally, and she shies away from stances that could be branded as extreme, such as banning fracking. But she can argue that her actions on climate and the environment are progressive, as shown by her 96 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and her early support for a cap-and-trade program.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Amy Klobuchar’s \u003ca href=\"https://amyklobuchar.com/combating-climate-change/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>\u003c/em>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Pete Buttigieg Climate Profile: Making U.S. the World's Clean Tech Leader",
"headTitle": "Pete Buttigieg Climate Profile: Making U.S. the World’s Clean Tech Leader | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>‘If this generation doesn’t step up, we’re in trouble. This is, after all, the generation that’s gonna be on the business end of climate change for as long as we live.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Pete Buttigieg, \u003ca href=\"https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=19-P13-00015&segmentID=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, often talks about the surprising catastrophic flooding that hit his city twice in two years after he took office. A 1,000-year flood occurred in 2016. Then, in early 2018, a 500-year flood hit, costing millions and damaging thousands of homes. “For as long as we’re alive, and the younger you are the more you have on the line, you know our adult lives are going to be dominated by the increased severity and frequency of weather and even crazy chain reactions that happen,” Buttigieg wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]Indiana is \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=IN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">heavily coal reliant\u003c/a>, its state leadership across the board is Republican, and it has passed so-called \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/publius/article/47/3/403/3852645\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pre-emption laws \u003c/a>that curtail local initiatives to address climate change and fossil fuel use. Yet, Buttigieg set up an Office of Sustainability for South Bend. In the aftermath of the U.S. exit from the Paris climate accord, the city has jumped aboard campaigns by mayors to meet the treaty’s goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve continued to demonstrate our climate values by building LEED-certified fire stations, introducing free electric vehicle charging stations, empowering national service members to improve energy efficiency in low-income neighborhoods, and mentoring other Indiana cities seeking to lead on climate issues,” Buttigieg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration is also working to repair remaining damage from recent flooding and to ensure that vulnerable South Bend neighborhoods don’t get battered again. The city \u003ca href=\"https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/a-year-after-historic-south-bend-area-floods-damage-remains/article_38db74dd-b1df-5062-ad7b-6acb91694ef7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">approved a contract to install gates \u003c/a>on stormwater pipes that drain into the river, for the next time it reaches flood stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg released a \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Climate-Plan-White-Paper.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate plan\u003c/a> in September in which he vowed to implement “a bold and achievable Green New Deal” and laid out an ambitious pathway to net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 that focuses on expanding clean energy jobs and making the United States the world’s clean tech leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• By 2035, he envisions a zero-emissions electricity system and all new passenger vehicles being zero emissions, with help from electric vehicle tax credits of up to $10,000 per vehicle. By 2040, he sees requiring net zero emissions for all new heavy-duty vehicles, buses, trains, ships and aircraft, and having “a thriving carbon removal industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• His plan to create 3 million new jobs includes a 10-year, $200 billion commitment to retrain workers displaced in the transition away from fossil fuels. He also has a plan to create a \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/national-service-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Corps service program\u003c/a> focused on helping communities build resilience and sustainability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg calls for “quadrupling federal research and development funding” for renewable energy and energy storage, investing $200 billion over 10 years, and spending $550 billion on deploying clean energy technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He also envisions a bigger U.S. international leadership role on both climate change and the global clean energy transition, in part by developing a $250 billion “Global Investment Initiative” that would boost projects in developing countries that use U.S. technology. Buttigieg says he would recommit the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement and revitalize U.S. climate leadership in the Arctic Council “so we can reduce emissions and oppose drilling in that region.” A former U.S. Naval Reserve officer, Buttigieg wants to increase the military’s climate planning and create a senior climate security position in the Defense Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• To nudge industries and consumers toward low-emissions choices, Buttigieg proposes an economy-wide carbon price with a dividend that would be sent to households to help offset higher costs. He also proposes a \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16072018/trade-war-trump-tariffs-border-tax-carbon-footprint-fossil-fuels-climate-change-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">border adjustment tax\u003c/a> on any imports not already subject to a carbon price in their home country. He wants to launch a $250 billion national green bank to funnel financing for clean energy projects into disadvantaged communities “where private capital is reluctant to go,” particularly in middle America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He also spells out the climate roles American farmers could play. “There are some estimates that through better soil management, soil could capture a level of carbon equivalent to the entire global transportation industry,” Buttigieg told a young questioner at an MSNBC town hall in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg has said he would ban all new fossil fuel development on federal lands. He wrote: “I favor a ban on new fracking and a rapid end to existing fracking so that we can build a 100 percent clean energy society as soon as possible.” He signed the \u003ca href=\"http://nofossilfuelmoney.org/presidential-signers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge\u003c/a> in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buttigieg, at age 37, is the youngest candidate in the Democratic primary. So, when the inevitable first question comes asking if he’s too young to run for president, Buttigieg points to climate change as a big reason for his candidacy. He explains that around midcentury, when he’s President Donald Trump’s current age, his generation will be suffering some of the worst effects of climate change if nothing is done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buttigieg’s climate plan is generally more restrained on spending than those of other candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but it also includes some different ideas, particularly around America’s international role and climate planning and preparedness in the military. In a tacit nod to the links between his military record and his recognition of the climate crisis, his website lists climate change under the rubric of security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Pete Buttigieg’s \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/issues/#ClimateChange\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Buttiegeg’s proposals include a carbon tax, renewable portfolio standard and investing billions in new cleantech R&D. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>‘If this generation doesn’t step up, we’re in trouble. This is, after all, the generation that’s gonna be on the business end of climate change for as long as we live.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Pete Buttigieg, \u003ca href=\"https://www.loe.org/shows/segments.html?programID=19-P13-00015&segmentID=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pete Buttigieg, the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, often talks about the surprising catastrophic flooding that hit his city twice in two years after he took office. A 1,000-year flood occurred in 2016. Then, in early 2018, a 500-year flood hit, costing millions and damaging thousands of homes. “For as long as we’re alive, and the younger you are the more you have on the line, you know our adult lives are going to be dominated by the increased severity and frequency of weather and even crazy chain reactions that happen,” Buttigieg wrote in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Indiana is \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=IN\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">heavily coal reliant\u003c/a>, its state leadership across the board is Republican, and it has passed so-called \u003ca href=\"https://academic.oup.com/publius/article/47/3/403/3852645\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pre-emption laws \u003c/a>that curtail local initiatives to address climate change and fossil fuel use. Yet, Buttigieg set up an Office of Sustainability for South Bend. In the aftermath of the U.S. exit from the Paris climate accord, the city has jumped aboard campaigns by mayors to meet the treaty’s goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’ve continued to demonstrate our climate values by building LEED-certified fire stations, introducing free electric vehicle charging stations, empowering national service members to improve energy efficiency in low-income neighborhoods, and mentoring other Indiana cities seeking to lead on climate issues,” Buttigieg said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration is also working to repair remaining damage from recent flooding and to ensure that vulnerable South Bend neighborhoods don’t get battered again. The city \u003ca href=\"https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/local/a-year-after-historic-south-bend-area-floods-damage-remains/article_38db74dd-b1df-5062-ad7b-6acb91694ef7.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">approved a contract to install gates \u003c/a>on stormwater pipes that drain into the river, for the next time it reaches flood stage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg released a \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Climate-Plan-White-Paper.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate plan\u003c/a> in September in which he vowed to implement “a bold and achievable Green New Deal” and laid out an ambitious pathway to net zero emissions economy-wide by 2050 that focuses on expanding clean energy jobs and making the United States the world’s clean tech leader.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• By 2035, he envisions a zero-emissions electricity system and all new passenger vehicles being zero emissions, with help from electric vehicle tax credits of up to $10,000 per vehicle. By 2040, he sees requiring net zero emissions for all new heavy-duty vehicles, buses, trains, ships and aircraft, and having “a thriving carbon removal industry.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• His plan to create 3 million new jobs includes a 10-year, $200 billion commitment to retrain workers displaced in the transition away from fossil fuels. He also has a plan to create a \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/national-service-plan/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Corps service program\u003c/a> focused on helping communities build resilience and sustainability.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg calls for “quadrupling federal research and development funding” for renewable energy and energy storage, investing $200 billion over 10 years, and spending $550 billion on deploying clean energy technologies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He also envisions a bigger U.S. international leadership role on both climate change and the global clean energy transition, in part by developing a $250 billion “Global Investment Initiative” that would boost projects in developing countries that use U.S. technology. Buttigieg says he would recommit the U.S. to the Paris climate agreement and revitalize U.S. climate leadership in the Arctic Council “so we can reduce emissions and oppose drilling in that region.” A former U.S. Naval Reserve officer, Buttigieg wants to increase the military’s climate planning and create a senior climate security position in the Defense Department.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• To nudge industries and consumers toward low-emissions choices, Buttigieg proposes an economy-wide carbon price with a dividend that would be sent to households to help offset higher costs. He also proposes a \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16072018/trade-war-trump-tariffs-border-tax-carbon-footprint-fossil-fuels-climate-change-analysis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">border adjustment tax\u003c/a> on any imports not already subject to a carbon price in their home country. He wants to launch a $250 billion national green bank to funnel financing for clean energy projects into disadvantaged communities “where private capital is reluctant to go,” particularly in middle America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He also spells out the climate roles American farmers could play. “There are some estimates that through better soil management, soil could capture a level of carbon equivalent to the entire global transportation industry,” Buttigieg told a young questioner at an MSNBC town hall in June.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Buttigieg has said he would ban all new fossil fuel development on federal lands. He wrote: “I favor a ban on new fracking and a rapid end to existing fracking so that we can build a 100 percent clean energy society as soon as possible.” He signed the \u003ca href=\"http://nofossilfuelmoney.org/presidential-signers/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge\u003c/a> in March.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buttigieg, at age 37, is the youngest candidate in the Democratic primary. So, when the inevitable first question comes asking if he’s too young to run for president, Buttigieg points to climate change as a big reason for his candidacy. He explains that around midcentury, when he’s President Donald Trump’s current age, his generation will be suffering some of the worst effects of climate change if nothing is done now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Buttigieg’s climate plan is generally more restrained on spending than those of other candidates, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, but it also includes some different ideas, particularly around America’s international role and climate planning and preparedness in the military. In a tacit nod to the links between his military record and his recognition of the climate crisis, his website lists climate change under the rubric of security.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Pete Buttigieg’s \u003ca href=\"https://peteforamerica.com/issues/#ClimateChange\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Joe Biden Climate Profile: Surprising Embrace of Green New Deal",
"headTitle": "Joe Biden Climate Profile: Surprising Embrace of Green New Deal | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>‘It’s almost like denying gravity now. … The willing suspension of disbelief can only be sustained for so long.’ \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n—Joe Biden on climate denial, \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/eGH_vkC2B80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2015\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the current candidates, only former Vice President Joseph Biden has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">debated a Republican opponent\u003c/a> during a past contest for the White House, when he was Barack Obama’s running mate and took on Sarah Palin in 2008. It’s a moment that might come back to haunt him, because in a brief discussion of climate change — a chance to trounce her on the question of science denial or fossil fuel favoritism — he instead \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFAKl66fhg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slipped into\u003c/a> a discussion of what he called “clean coal,” which he said he had favored for 25 years. He explained it away as a reference to exporting American energy technology. But his loose language, taken in today’s context, sounds archaic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden likes to say he was among the first to introduce a climate change bill in the Senate, and fact checkers\u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/may/08/joe-biden/was-joe-biden-climate-change-pioneer-congress-hist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> generally agree\u003c/a>. It was the Global Climate Protection Act of 1986 that was largely put into a spending bill in 1987. The Reagan administration pretty much ignored it, but the bill did \u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/html/USCODE-2011-title15-chap56.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call for\u003c/a> an EPA national policy on climate change, and annual \u003ca href=\"https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9101OZWK.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&Docs=&Query=(Protection%20Act)%20OR%20FNAME=%229101OZWK.txt%22%20AND%20FNAME=%229101OZWK.txt%22&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D:%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000030%5C9101OZWK.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1&slide#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports\u003c/a> to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden was in the Senate 36 years, and he had a lifetime environmental voting score of 83 percent from the League of Conservation Voters. In 2007, he \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2007-416-energy-legislation-fuel-efficiency-and-clean-renewable-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supported\u003c/a> higher fuel efficiency standards for motor vehicles, which passed; and in 2003, \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2003-420-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">modest caps\u003c/a> on greenhouse gas emissions, which didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But his longevity is a liability, because the longer the voting record, the more contradictions. He \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2008-145-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">missed\u003c/a> a key vote in 2008 on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which was\u003ca href=\"http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1812836,00.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> said\u003c/a> to be the strongest global warming bill to ever make it to the Senate floor. Biden also \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060118559\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opposed\u003c/a> tightening fuel efficiency standards earlier in his career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Biden-Obama administration was strong on climate change, especially in its second term, notably achieving the landmark Paris climate agreement, \u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/remarks-president-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">asserting\u003c/a> climate action and jobs go hand in hand. It pushed through auto fuel economy standards that deeply cut emissions. It also produced regulations on coal-fired power plants, though the rule was stymied by litigation and has been \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062019/trump-clean-power-plan-climate-emissions-rule-replacement-coal-decline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">replaced\u003c/a> with a weaker rule by the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often overlooked, the Obama era stimulus package of 2009 included big investments in climate-friendly research and infrastructure. But Biden is also tethered to Obama’s “\u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/05/29/new-report-all-above-energy-strategy-path-sustainable-economic-growth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all-of-the-above\u003c/a>” philosophy, which left ample room for the fracking boom that bolstered one fossil fuel, natural gas, over another, coal, and put the U.S. on track to become the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37053\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">world’s leading\u003c/a> oil producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Biden surprised some activists and pundits in June when he \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062019/joe-biden-climate-change-plan-presidential-candidates-green-new-deal-clean-energy-obama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">presented\u003c/a> his campaign’s first climate platform. It went further than many of his previous positions, and embraced the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Biden foresees $1.7 trillion in spending over the next 10 years, and $3.3 trillion in investments by the private sector and state and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He wants Congress to pass emissions limits with “an enforcement mechanism … based on the principles that polluters must bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting.” He said it would include “clear, legally binding emissions reductions,” but did not give details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In July, Biden \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072019/agriculture-climate-solution-election-2020-biden-warren-sanders-soil-carbon-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072019/agriculture-climate-solution-election-2020-biden-warren-sanders-soil-carbon-conservation&source=gmail&ust=1563633898696000&usg=AFQjCNFC7_0Yl5FQOhlCvC0F7TZdLUMfrQ\">released a policy agenda\u003c/a> that aims to boost the rural economy, in part by expanding a program that will pay farmers to use farming techniques that store carbon in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• His plan also calls for support for economically impacted communities. He was slow to agree with activists’ calls for him to swear off campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests, but did \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1144357988523659264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sign\u003c/a> the No Fossil Fuel Funding pledge on June 27.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden has signaled he will embrace central concepts of the Green New Deal — that the world needs to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and that the environment and economy are connected. He was slower to do so, and for that reason he has faced criticism from young, impatient voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That compounds the challenge of explaining Senate votes that took place a long time ago. But Biden is known for his ability to communicate with blue-collar voters who abandoned Democrats for Trump, as well as older voters who have turned out in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read \u003ca href=\"https://joebiden.com/climate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden’s climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Biden surprised some activists and pundits when his campaign's climate platform went further than many of his previous positions, embracing the Green New Deal as a 'crucial framework.' But his long voting record in the Senate could be a liability.",
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"description": "Biden surprised some activists and pundits when his campaign's climate platform went further than many of his previous positions, embracing the Green New Deal as a 'crucial framework.' But his long voting record in the Senate could be a liability.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>‘It’s almost like denying gravity now. … The willing suspension of disbelief can only be sustained for so long.’ \u003c/em>\u003cbr>\n—Joe Biden on climate denial, \u003ca href=\"https://youtu.be/eGH_vkC2B80\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2015\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Among the current candidates, only former Vice President Joseph Biden has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">debated a Republican opponent\u003c/a> during a past contest for the White House, when he was Barack Obama’s running mate and took on Sarah Palin in 2008. It’s a moment that might come back to haunt him, because in a brief discussion of climate change — a chance to trounce her on the question of science denial or fossil fuel favoritism — he instead \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9eFAKl66fhg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slipped into\u003c/a> a discussion of what he called “clean coal,” which he said he had favored for 25 years. He explained it away as a reference to exporting American energy technology. But his loose language, taken in today’s context, sounds archaic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden likes to say he was among the first to introduce a climate change bill in the Senate, and fact checkers\u003ca href=\"https://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2019/may/08/joe-biden/was-joe-biden-climate-change-pioneer-congress-hist/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> generally agree\u003c/a>. It was the Global Climate Protection Act of 1986 that was largely put into a spending bill in 1987. The Reagan administration pretty much ignored it, but the bill did \u003ca href=\"https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2011-title15/html/USCODE-2011-title15-chap56.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">call for\u003c/a> an EPA national policy on climate change, and annual \u003ca href=\"https://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/9101OZWK.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&Docs=&Query=(Protection%20Act)%20OR%20FNAME=%229101OZWK.txt%22%20AND%20FNAME=%229101OZWK.txt%22&Time=&EndTime=&SearchMethod=1&TocRestrict=n&Toc=&TocEntry=&QField=&QFieldYear=&QFieldMonth=&QFieldDay=&UseQField=&IntQFieldOp=0&ExtQFieldOp=0&XmlQuery=&File=D:%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000030%5C9101OZWK.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&SortMethod=h%7C-&MaximumDocuments=1&FuzzyDegree=0&ImageQuality=r75g8/r75g8/x150y150g16/i425&Display=hpfr&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1&slide#\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reports\u003c/a> to Congress.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden was in the Senate 36 years, and he had a lifetime environmental voting score of 83 percent from the League of Conservation Voters. In 2007, he \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2007-416-energy-legislation-fuel-efficiency-and-clean-renewable-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supported\u003c/a> higher fuel efficiency standards for motor vehicles, which passed; and in 2003, \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2003-420-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">modest caps\u003c/a> on greenhouse gas emissions, which didn’t.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But his longevity is a liability, because the longer the voting record, the more contradictions. He \u003ca href=\"https://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2008-145-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">missed\u003c/a> a key vote in 2008 on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, which was\u003ca href=\"http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1812836,00.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> said\u003c/a> to be the strongest global warming bill to ever make it to the Senate floor. Biden also \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060118559\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opposed\u003c/a> tightening fuel efficiency standards earlier in his career.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Biden-Obama administration was strong on climate change, especially in its second term, notably achieving the landmark Paris climate agreement, \u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2013/06/25/remarks-president-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">asserting\u003c/a> climate action and jobs go hand in hand. It pushed through auto fuel economy standards that deeply cut emissions. It also produced regulations on coal-fired power plants, though the rule was stymied by litigation and has been \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062019/trump-clean-power-plan-climate-emissions-rule-replacement-coal-decline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">replaced\u003c/a> with a weaker rule by the Trump administration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Often overlooked, the Obama era stimulus package of 2009 included big investments in climate-friendly research and infrastructure. But Biden is also tethered to Obama’s “\u003ca href=\"https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/05/29/new-report-all-above-energy-strategy-path-sustainable-economic-growth\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">all-of-the-above\u003c/a>” philosophy, which left ample room for the fracking boom that bolstered one fossil fuel, natural gas, over another, coal, and put the U.S. on track to become the \u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=37053\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">world’s leading\u003c/a> oil producer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Biden surprised some activists and pundits in June when he \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04062019/joe-biden-climate-change-plan-presidential-candidates-green-new-deal-clean-energy-obama\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">presented\u003c/a> his campaign’s first climate platform. It went further than many of his previous positions, and embraced the Green New Deal as a “crucial framework.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Biden foresees $1.7 trillion in spending over the next 10 years, and $3.3 trillion in investments by the private sector and state and local governments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• He wants Congress to pass emissions limits with “an enforcement mechanism … based on the principles that polluters must bear the full cost of the carbon pollution they are emitting.” He said it would include “clear, legally binding emissions reductions,” but did not give details.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In July, Biden \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072019/agriculture-climate-solution-election-2020-biden-warren-sanders-soil-carbon-conservation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072019/agriculture-climate-solution-election-2020-biden-warren-sanders-soil-carbon-conservation&source=gmail&ust=1563633898696000&usg=AFQjCNFC7_0Yl5FQOhlCvC0F7TZdLUMfrQ\">released a policy agenda\u003c/a> that aims to boost the rural economy, in part by expanding a program that will pay farmers to use farming techniques that store carbon in the soil.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• His plan also calls for support for economically impacted communities. He was slow to agree with activists’ calls for him to swear off campaign contributions from fossil fuel interests, but did \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/joebiden/status/1144357988523659264\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sign\u003c/a> the No Fossil Fuel Funding pledge on June 27.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Biden has signaled he will embrace central concepts of the Green New Deal — that the world needs to get to net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and that the environment and economy are connected. He was slower to do so, and for that reason he has faced criticism from young, impatient voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That compounds the challenge of explaining Senate votes that took place a long time ago. But Biden is known for his ability to communicate with blue-collar voters who abandoned Democrats for Trump, as well as older voters who have turned out in the past.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read \u003ca href=\"https://joebiden.com/climate/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden’s climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"headTitle": "Michael Bloomberg Climate Profile: Shutting Down Coal and Focusing on What’s Doable | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A decade ago no one would have believed that we could take on the coal industry and close half of all U.S. plants. But we have. … And now, we will take on the fossil fuel industry to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. I believe we will succeed again.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Michael Bloomberg, \u003ca href=\"http://news.mit.edu/2019/michael-bloomberg-commencement-address-0607\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Superstorm Sandy hit New York in 2012, it stirred the seas to 14 feet, rolling over the nation’s largest city with a force that flooded subway tunnels and left thousands homeless. Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued evacuation orders that were widely ignored, and then endured criticism for attempting a return to normalcy too quickly. But the comprehensive climate action plans he developed in the wake of the storm were widely seen as \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131118/bloombergs-hidden-legacy-climate-change-and-future-new-york-city-part-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the most ambitious city-level efforts \u003c/a>in the world to mitigate and adapt to global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]Bloomberg, 78, who switched parties to run for mayor as a Republican and then switched back to Democrat, has more experience in international climate diplomacy than any other Democratic candidate with the possible exception of former Vice President Joe Biden. He served as a United Nations climate envoy and as head of C40, an international organization of cities committed to climate action. He chaired the international \u003ca href=\"https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Financial Stability Board’s task force\u003c/a> that in 2017 developed voluntary guidelines for climate-related financial disclosures by businesses. With former California Gov. Jerry Brown, he launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.americaspledgeonclimate.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">America’s Pledge\u003c/a> in 2017, bringing together cities, states and businesses committed to meeting the Paris climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloomberg, the richest man in New York, has also devoted a portion of his $54 billion fortune to a drive to shut down fossil fuel plants, by bankrolling Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign and launching the new \u003ca href=\"https://www.beyondcarbon.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beyond Carbon campaign\u003c/a> devoted to halting natural gas power now, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has said he supports the climate portions of the Green New Deal, but he stresses that climate activists should focus on what’s doable. “Mother Nature does not wait on our political calendar, and neither can we,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-05/our-highest-office-my-deepest-obligation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he wrote\u003c/a> in March 2019. (At the time, he was promising not to run for president and to instead devote his efforts to a drive for clean energy.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Like the other Democratic candidates, he has embraced goals in line with the science: \u003ca href=\"https://www.mikebloomberg.com/policies/plan-for-100-percent-clean-power\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100 percent clean energy \u003c/a>by 2050, with interim goals of cutting emissions 50 percent by 2030 and ensuring 80 percent clean electricity by the end of his second term in office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg joined the race in November 2019, long after most other candidates. The first part of his climate plan focuses on cleaner electricity. He said he would work to shut down all 251 remaining U.S. coal plants, and work with community leaders and local officials to ensure that community transition plans are in place. A criticism of his Beyond Coal campaign with Sierra Club is that it didn’t pay enough attention to the impact on coal-dependent communities. Now, he says, he would “prioritize the frontline communities that have suffered most from coal pollution or have been left behind in the transition to clean energy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has also been criticized because many of the coal plants shut down in the Beyond Coal drive were converted to natural gas instead of being replaced by zero-emissions renewable energy. He now promises to curtail the drive for new natural gas plants if elected. But Greenpeace has \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">graded\u003c/a> Bloomberg’s climate platform a C+ because of his lack of a detailed plan for phasing out oil, gas and coal production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In the past, Bloomberg\u003ca href=\"https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2007/11/02/bloomberg-to-urge-carbon-tax/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> endorsed the idea of a carbon tax\u003c/a> to help spur the transition to cleaner energy. But so far, pricing carbon has not been a part of his climate plan — instead he focuses on ending subsidies for fossil fuels and putting a moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases on federal lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has promised to “embed environmental justice into how the government conducts its work.” He said the federal government should focus on rulemaking, enforcement and investments on communities disproportionately impacted by the production and use of coal and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• So far, Bloomberg has only talked about a relatively modest federal spending increase to achieve his climate goals — increasing federal research and development into clean energy to $25 billion a year, quadrupling current spending. In contrast, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/bernie-sanders-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a> is talking about a $16.3 trillion mobilization and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/joe-biden-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Biden\u003c/a>, $1.7 trillion in new federal spending over the next 10 years. Bloomberg has promised more details on the financing of his climate plan in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On climate change, Bloomberg has experience unmatched in the presidential field — in international diplomacy through the U.N. and the Financial Stability Board; in philanthropy through the Sierra Club and the state and local coalitions he helped to build; and in managing New York City through crisis and recovery. Many credit him with laying the groundwork for state approval in early 2019 of a plan to cut New York City traffic through congestion pricing — an effort that makes him the only presidential candidate with vital experience as a government executive negotiating with a recalcitrant legislature over climate issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to many ardent climate activists, the idea of backing a billionaire is out of step with the youth-led, economic-justice-focused agenda of the Green New Deal era. Bloomberg has made a nod to these voters, with his ubiquitous TV ads stressing that he’ll stand up to the coal lobby and raise taxes on the wealthy, while he clearly positions himself to capture more moderate voters. It’s not clear that his late entry into the race will give Bloomberg enough time to build the support he would need across the wide range of the Democratic coalition to win the party’s nomination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Michael Bloomberg’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.mikebloomberg.com/policies/plan-for-100-percent-clean-power\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Bloomberg has more experience in international climate diplomacy than any other candidate with the possible exception of Joe Biden. But to many activists, the idea of backing a billionaire is out of step with the economic-justice-focused agenda of the current era.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>‘A decade ago no one would have believed that we could take on the coal industry and close half of all U.S. plants. But we have. … And now, we will take on the fossil fuel industry to accelerate the transition to a clean energy economy. I believe we will succeed again.’\u003cbr>\n\u003c/em>—Michael Bloomberg, \u003ca href=\"http://news.mit.edu/2019/michael-bloomberg-commencement-address-0607\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">June 2019\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Superstorm Sandy hit New York in 2012, it stirred the seas to 14 feet, rolling over the nation’s largest city with a force that flooded subway tunnels and left thousands homeless. Then-Mayor Michael Bloomberg issued evacuation orders that were widely ignored, and then endured criticism for attempting a return to normalcy too quickly. But the comprehensive climate action plans he developed in the wake of the storm were widely seen as \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20131118/bloombergs-hidden-legacy-climate-change-and-future-new-york-city-part-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the most ambitious city-level efforts \u003c/a>in the world to mitigate and adapt to global warming.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Bloomberg, 78, who switched parties to run for mayor as a Republican and then switched back to Democrat, has more experience in international climate diplomacy than any other Democratic candidate with the possible exception of former Vice President Joe Biden. He served as a United Nations climate envoy and as head of C40, an international organization of cities committed to climate action. He chaired the international \u003ca href=\"https://www.fsb-tcfd.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Financial Stability Board’s task force\u003c/a> that in 2017 developed voluntary guidelines for climate-related financial disclosures by businesses. With former California Gov. Jerry Brown, he launched \u003ca href=\"https://www.americaspledgeonclimate.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">America’s Pledge\u003c/a> in 2017, bringing together cities, states and businesses committed to meeting the Paris climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bloomberg, the richest man in New York, has also devoted a portion of his $54 billion fortune to a drive to shut down fossil fuel plants, by bankrolling Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal campaign and launching the new \u003ca href=\"https://www.beyondcarbon.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beyond Carbon campaign\u003c/a> devoted to halting natural gas power now, too.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has said he supports the climate portions of the Green New Deal, but he stresses that climate activists should focus on what’s doable. “Mother Nature does not wait on our political calendar, and neither can we,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-03-05/our-highest-office-my-deepest-obligation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">he wrote\u003c/a> in March 2019. (At the time, he was promising not to run for president and to instead devote his efforts to a drive for clean energy.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Like the other Democratic candidates, he has embraced goals in line with the science: \u003ca href=\"https://www.mikebloomberg.com/policies/plan-for-100-percent-clean-power\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100 percent clean energy \u003c/a>by 2050, with interim goals of cutting emissions 50 percent by 2030 and ensuring 80 percent clean electricity by the end of his second term in office.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg joined the race in November 2019, long after most other candidates. The first part of his climate plan focuses on cleaner electricity. He said he would work to shut down all 251 remaining U.S. coal plants, and work with community leaders and local officials to ensure that community transition plans are in place. A criticism of his Beyond Coal campaign with Sierra Club is that it didn’t pay enough attention to the impact on coal-dependent communities. Now, he says, he would “prioritize the frontline communities that have suffered most from coal pollution or have been left behind in the transition to clean energy.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has also been criticized because many of the coal plants shut down in the Beyond Coal drive were converted to natural gas instead of being replaced by zero-emissions renewable energy. He now promises to curtail the drive for new natural gas plants if elected. But Greenpeace has \u003ca href=\"https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/climate2020/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">graded\u003c/a> Bloomberg’s climate platform a C+ because of his lack of a detailed plan for phasing out oil, gas and coal production.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• In the past, Bloomberg\u003ca href=\"https://www.carbontax.org/blog/2007/11/02/bloomberg-to-urge-carbon-tax/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> endorsed the idea of a carbon tax\u003c/a> to help spur the transition to cleaner energy. But so far, pricing carbon has not been a part of his climate plan — instead he focuses on ending subsidies for fossil fuels and putting a moratorium on all new fossil fuel leases on federal lands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Bloomberg has promised to “embed environmental justice into how the government conducts its work.” He said the federal government should focus on rulemaking, enforcement and investments on communities disproportionately impacted by the production and use of coal and gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• So far, Bloomberg has only talked about a relatively modest federal spending increase to achieve his climate goals — increasing federal research and development into clean energy to $25 billion a year, quadrupling current spending. In contrast, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/bernie-sanders-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a> is talking about a $16.3 trillion mobilization and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/joe-biden-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Biden\u003c/a>, $1.7 trillion in new federal spending over the next 10 years. Bloomberg has promised more details on the financing of his climate plan in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On climate change, Bloomberg has experience unmatched in the presidential field — in international diplomacy through the U.N. and the Financial Stability Board; in philanthropy through the Sierra Club and the state and local coalitions he helped to build; and in managing New York City through crisis and recovery. Many credit him with laying the groundwork for state approval in early 2019 of a plan to cut New York City traffic through congestion pricing — an effort that makes him the only presidential candidate with vital experience as a government executive negotiating with a recalcitrant legislature over climate issues.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But to many ardent climate activists, the idea of backing a billionaire is out of step with the youth-led, economic-justice-focused agenda of the Green New Deal era. Bloomberg has made a nod to these voters, with his ubiquitous TV ads stressing that he’ll stand up to the coal lobby and raise taxes on the wealthy, while he clearly positions himself to capture more moderate voters. It’s not clear that his late entry into the race will give Bloomberg enough time to build the support he would need across the wide range of the Democratic coalition to win the party’s nomination.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>Read Michael Bloomberg’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.mikebloomberg.com/policies/plan-for-100-percent-clean-power\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Donald Trump Climate Profile: This President Is All About Fossil Fuels",
"headTitle": "Donald Trump Climate Profile: This President Is All About Fossil Fuels | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>‘This is the start of a new era in American energy production and job creation. We will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic freedom and allow workers and companies to play on a level playing field for the first time in a long time, a long time. We’re going to have clean coal, really clean coal.’\u003cbr>\n—\u003c/em>Donald Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032017/trump-executive-order-climate-change-paris-climate-agreement-clean-power-plan-pruitt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2017\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]When U.S. government scientists released their latest volume of the \u003ca href=\"https://science2017.globalchange.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Climate Assessment\u003c/a>, it revealed much about the robust, sobering scientific consensus on climate change. It also revealed the striking disconnect between President Donald Trump and essentially every authoritative institution on the threat of global warming. The president rejected the assessment’s central findings — based on thousands of climate studies and involving 13 federal agencies — that emissions of carbon dioxide are caused by human activities, are already causing lasting economic damage, and have to be brought rapidly to zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I don’t believe it. No, no, I don’t believe it,” Trump said. Immediately, his cabinet members \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30112018/fact-check-trump-climate-science-denial-national-assessment-sanders-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launched attacks on the report\u003c/a>, portraying it as “alarmist” and clinging to Trump’s agenda of fossil fuel energy expansion that the science says is at the root of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Trump delivered his \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27052016/donald-trump-republican-party-election-fossil-fuels-coal-oil-gas-fracking-climate-change-paris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first major energy speech in the fracking fields of North Dakota\u003c/a> as a candidate in May 2016, he called for American domination of global energy supplies. To make that happen, he wanted an end to all of President Barack Obama’s executive actions involving greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are going to turn everything around,” Trump declared. “And quickly, very quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As president, he has rolled back regulations on energy suppliers at a rapid clip slowed only at times\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082019/methane-regulation-oil-gas-storage-pipelines-epa-rollback-trump-wheeler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> by the courts,\u003c/a> while auctioning off millions of acres of new drilling leases on public land. Last year, domestic oil production hit a record high. The result of this, among other things, was the \u003ca href=\"https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-estimates-for-2018/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reversal of three consecutive years of declining U.S. carbon emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump began the process of \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04112019/trump-pull-out-paris-climate-agreement-timing-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">withdrawing the U.S.\u003c/a> from the Paris climate treaty, the agreement signed by nearly all nations to reduce fossil fuel emissions. He \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062019/trump-clean-power-plan-climate-emissions-rule-replacement-coal-decline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">replaced Obama’s Clean Power Plan\u003c/a>, intended to sharply reduce emissions from U.S. power plants. He took the first step to weaken \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082018/trump-fuel-efficiency-standards-rollback-climate-change-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fuel economy standards for cars\u003c/a>, the single most important effort for reining in the largest driver of U.S. emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration has undone or delayed — or tried to — most regulatory and executive actions related to climate change, while proposing new ones to accelerate fossil fuel development. Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law counts \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/climate-deregulation-tracker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">131 actions\u003c/a> toward federal climate deregulation since Trump took office. In the absence of any comprehensive national climate law, those moves have led to an erosion of the federal government’s main regulatory levers for cutting global warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several of those actions, including rollbacks of significant rules on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/court-hands-trump-defeat-in-bid-to-block-methane-emissions-rule.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">methane\u003c/a>\u003cu>,\u003c/u> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02102019/cross-border-smog-ruling-coal-power-trump-obama-clean-air-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cross-state air pollution\u003c/a> regulations and \u003ca href=\"https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy efficiency\u003c/a>, have been blocked or delayed by judges who have questioned the administration’s broad view of its legal authority. Some of those setbacks may be temporary, though, and the courts have yet to rule on the most consequential deregulatory actions. According to the administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agenda for 2020\u003c/a>, the president will try to fast-track as many more as possible before the end of his first term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Promoting unfettered oil, natural gas and coal development \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRight out of the gate, Trump greased the wheels for fossil fuel development. He \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032017/trump-executive-order-climate-change-paris-climate-agreement-clean-power-plan-pruitt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issued a sweeping executive order\u003c/a> directing all departments to target for elimination\u003ci>\u003cem> any \u003c/em>\u003c/i>rules that restrict U.S. production of energy. He set guidance to make it more difficult to put future regulations on fossil fuel industries, and he moved to discard the use of a rigorous “social cost of carbon,” a regulatory measurement that puts a price on the future damage society will pay for every ton of carbon dioxide emitted. He swiftly signed memorandums to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012017/keystone-xl-dakota-pipeline-donald-trump-executive-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines\u003c/a>, projects blocked by Obama. And later, with the Keystone XL still stalled, he issued executive orders aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11042019/trump-pipeline-executive-order-environmental-review-keystone-xl-clean-water-act-states-rights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">speeding approval and construction of fossil fuel projects\u003c/a> by limiting state environmental reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fossil fuel infrastructure adds to greenhouse gas emissions, in part by leaking methane into the atmosphere. Trump’s administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032017/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency-methane-greenhouse-gas-climate-change\">stop gathering data from oil and gas companies\u003c/a> needed to rein in leaks of this potent short-lived climate pollutant. It later \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11092018/methane-flaring-rules-oil-gas-industry-climate-change-obama-trump-epa-rollback\">loosened methane regulations\u003c/a> for projects on public and private land, despite the support for them among the industry’s biggest companies. It sought drilling in pristine areas where oil companies have long sought to drill. The administration \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28042017/doanld-trump-arctic-offshore-drilling-ban-obama-executive-order\">moved to lift Obama’s offshore Arctic drilling ban\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13072017/arctic-offshore-drilling-trump-approved-eni-boem-alaska\">approved \u003c/a>a plan to drill wells there. It pushed to drill in the previously off-limits \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032018/arctic-offshore-drilling-oil-lease-sale-beaufort-sea-alaska-trump-boem-2019\">Beaufort Sea\u003c/a>, in 1.6 million acres of the pristine \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12092019/congress-arctic-wildlife-refuge-oil-gas-drilling-offshore-trump-lease-sale-anwr\">Arctic National Wildlife Refuge\u003c/a>, and in nearly all of the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10012018/trump-offshore-oil-drilling-leases-florida-legal-questions-zinke-california-new-york-oregon\">Outer Continental Shelf\u003c/a>. It proposed to \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/usfs-proposes-regulations-streamline-oil-and-gas-permitting-national-forests-0\">expedite oil and gas permits on national forest lands\u003c/a>, and it has limited how climate change can be used in \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13082019/climate-change-endangered-species-act-arctic-trump-changes-polar-bears-wildlife\">determining endangered status for species\u003c/a>, further opening doors to drilling in sensitive areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Trying to restore King Coal to its throne \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMany of Trump’s regulations have been tailored to favor the coal industry, often at the expense of cheaper, cleaner energy. \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11102017/climate-denial-coal-industry-global-warming-robert-murray-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Murray\u003c/a>, founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjQsc3r95nmAhUOTt8KHRUBDY8QFjABegQIBxAG&url=https%3A%2F%2Finsideclimatenews.org%2Fnews%2F29102019%2Fcoal-bankruptcy-bob-murray-energy-chapter-11-trump-regulations-rollback&usg=AOvVaw3hV8KEcoTw-zXHhcV1dbAu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">now-bankrupt coal company Murray Energy\u003c/a> and one of Trump’s closest industry allies, gave the president a “wish list” early on that has become of virtual template for the administration’s rollback of regulations. The administration swiftly lifted an Obama moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands. It \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022017/coal-mining-environment-stream-rule-donald-trump-mussels-species\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rolled back a stream protection rule\u003c/a> designed to reduce the environmental and climate impact of mountaintop removal coal mining, and it has proposed allowing coal plants to emit much more CO2 by \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/epa-proposes-less-stringent-emission-standards-new-coal-plants-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weakening New Source Review\u003c/a>, which requires big emitters to modernize pollution controls when they make major modifications to their facilities. It pushed a coal bailout rule that would have rewarded electric companies for keeping big stockpiles of fuel on hand. (\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08012018/ferc-regulators-reject-paying-coal-power-plants-nuclear-extra-trump-administration-perry-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. regulators rejected it\u003c/a>.) It also\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04112019/coal-ash-rules-rollback-trump-obama-water-pollution-power-plant-ponds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> further relaxed coal ash rules\u003c/a>, allowing coal utilities to keep unlined coal ash ponds open for years, making it less expensive to burn coal to produce electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Suppressing climate and related science\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn almost every agency overseeing energy, the environment and health, Trump selected top officials who dispute the mainstream consensus on the urgency of climate action. People with little scientific background, or strong ties to industries they would be regulating, were appointed to scientific leadership positions. One of the administration’s first actions was to order scientists and other employees at EPA and other agencies to halt public communications. Several federal scientists working on climate change have said they were silenced, sidelined or demoted. At least three—a senior employee at the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Interior\u003c/a>, one at the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16082019/cdc-scientist-whistleblower-complaint-climate-health-research-trump-usda-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a> and another at the National Park Service—invoked whistleblower protections. Independent science advisors, such as members of the EPA’s \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08052017/epa-science-advisory-board-dismissed-scott-pruitt-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Board of Scientific Counselors\u003c/a>, have also been sidelined. Scientific content on government websites has been altered and the public’s access to data reduced. Climate data from the government’s open portal website was removed. So was the EPA’s climate change website. The words “climate change” have been purged from government reports, and other reports have been buried\u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413\">,\u003c/a> including by \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">officials at the Department of Agriculture.\u003c/a> The administration even edited a major \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/10/pentagon-revised-obama-era-report-to-remove-risks-from-climate-change/?utm_term=.1174b4bd9f55\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Defense Department report\u003c/a> to downplay its climate findings. Through speeches and tweets, the president has repeatedly spread misinformation to the public through his climate denial and denigration of renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA, meanwhile, is working to finalize its proposal to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suppress the types of scientific evidence\u003c/a> the agency can use in writing its rules. This includes prohibiting the use of well-established, long-term scientific studies underpinning the nation’s air pollution rules, a change the fossil fuel industry had sought for years. Known as the “secret science” rule, it has been \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/11/25/science.aba3197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lambasted by scientists and health experts worldwide\u003c/a>. Related, the White House \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25042019/trump-omb-secret-science-policy-memo-pollution-health-studies-heritage-foundation-vought\">issued a memo\u003c/a> offering new ways for fossil fuel and other industries to challenge science-based policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Undermining clean energy development and energy efficiency\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn its \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12032019/trump-budget-cuts-renewable-energy-efficiency-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-deficit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">budget proposals\u003c/a>, the Trump administration has made clear its resolve to retreat from a federal role in advancing a clean energy economy and maintaining global leadership in the technology. It has proposed repeatedly to radically \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02042019/trump-budget-cuts-national-labs-clean-energy-leadership-solar-wind-electric-vehicles-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slash funding\u003c/a> for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), a move that would cripple support for novel and promising technologies for advanced wind turbines, high-tech materials, energy-efficient buildings and more. He has tried to eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles and made several attempts to eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, an incubator for cutting-edge energy research and development. Congress has largely rebuffed this scale of funding cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration issued in 2019 its final rule to dramatically weaken energy-efficient light bulb standards that Congress voted to phase in a decade ago. The standards would have eliminated inefficient light bulbs nationwide, saving some 1.5 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2030 and hundreds of millions tons of CO2. And it delayed for three years standards to substantially cut the energy that household and commercial appliances consume, moving to enact them only after \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/18-15380/18-15380-2019-10-10.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a federal appeals court ruled \u003c/a>the hold was illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Trying to undercut California’s world-leading climate progress\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAfter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082018/trump-fuel-efficiency-standards-rollback-climate-change-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">freezing Obama’s national fuel-economy improvements\u003c/a>, the administration stripped California of its legal authority to enact the nation’s toughest fuel-efficiency standards, a move that could squelch the nascent U.S. market for zero-emission vehicles at a critical time. It sued the state over its cap-and-trade agreement with Quebec to lower fossil fuel emissions, arguing that California exceeded its authority when it launched. It has threatened action against California on air and water pollution. Those moves run counter to the administration’s hands-off approach and deregulatory agenda. Because of that—and because California has among the best compliance records in the nation on water pollution and has invested billions to improve air quality—former federal officials have said the efforts reek of political score-settling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn the Trump administration’s early days, climate policy optimists gamely sifted through the president’s statements, his administration’s actions, and other nations’ reactions for grains of hope. Perhaps Trump would be persuaded to maintain the United States’ seat at the table in international climate negotiations. Perhaps the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epas-pruitt-praised-for-effectiveness-hits-bumps-in-his-rollback-campaign/2018/05/20/c6ca13d8-53b3-11e8-abd8-265bd07a9859_story.html?noredirect=on\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">efforts\u003c/a> of his early, scandal-plagued cabinet members to erase climate regulation would fail. Or perhaps \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/4800747/china-climate-change-paris-agreement-trump/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">other nations would step up\u003c/a> to fill the climate leadership void created by Trump, and the world would forge ahead with the action needed to address the climate crisis, leaving the United States behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All such hopes have been in vain. Although Trump occasionally feigns concern about climate—”\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/03/its-possible-that-trump-doesnt-actually-know-what-climate-change-is/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I think about it all the time,\u003c/a>” he once said—his policy has been an unmitigated and relentless drive toward fossil energy development. The missteps of his former EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, and others in the first round of appointees, have been erased by seasoned Washington bureaucrats and lobbyists who now are at the helm of the environmental agencies. And instead of racing to grasp the leadership baton dropped by Trump, China, the European Union and other large carbon polluters are \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/climate/cop25-un-climate-talks-madrid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">falling behind both in their own ambition and in support\u003c/a> for the nations most vulnerable to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump’s intentions, and his administration’s deleterious impact on global climate progress, will be evident to voters in 2020 in a way that many failed to grasp four years earlier. The only question is whether those who care about the planet’s future can unite as a political force in a way that eluded them in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Trump's first term has been a relentless drive for unfettered fossil fuel energy development. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>‘This is the start of a new era in American energy production and job creation. We will eliminate federal overreach, restore economic freedom and allow workers and companies to play on a level playing field for the first time in a long time, a long time. We’re going to have clean coal, really clean coal.’\u003cbr>\n—\u003c/em>Donald Trump, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032017/trump-executive-order-climate-change-paris-climate-agreement-clean-power-plan-pruitt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">March 2017\u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956437/elizabeth-warren-climate-profile-taking-up-mantle-of-former-climate-candidate-inslee\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Elizabeth Warren\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When U.S. government scientists released their latest volume of the \u003ca href=\"https://science2017.globalchange.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Climate Assessment\u003c/a>, it revealed much about the robust, sobering scientific consensus on climate change. It also revealed the striking disconnect between President Donald Trump and essentially every authoritative institution on the threat of global warming. The president rejected the assessment’s central findings — based on thousands of climate studies and involving 13 federal agencies — that emissions of carbon dioxide are caused by human activities, are already causing lasting economic damage, and have to be brought rapidly to zero.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I don’t believe it. No, no, I don’t believe it,” Trump said. Immediately, his cabinet members \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/30112018/fact-check-trump-climate-science-denial-national-assessment-sanders-global-warming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">launched attacks on the report\u003c/a>, portraying it as “alarmist” and clinging to Trump’s agenda of fossil fuel energy expansion that the science says is at the root of the problem.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When Trump delivered his \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27052016/donald-trump-republican-party-election-fossil-fuels-coal-oil-gas-fracking-climate-change-paris\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">first major energy speech in the fracking fields of North Dakota\u003c/a> as a candidate in May 2016, he called for American domination of global energy supplies. To make that happen, he wanted an end to all of President Barack Obama’s executive actions involving greenhouse gas emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“We are going to turn everything around,” Trump declared. “And quickly, very quickly.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As president, he has rolled back regulations on energy suppliers at a rapid clip slowed only at times\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082019/methane-regulation-oil-gas-storage-pipelines-epa-rollback-trump-wheeler\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> by the courts,\u003c/a> while auctioning off millions of acres of new drilling leases on public land. Last year, domestic oil production hit a record high. The result of this, among other things, was the \u003ca href=\"https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-estimates-for-2018/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reversal of three consecutive years of declining U.S. carbon emissions\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Trump began the process of \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04112019/trump-pull-out-paris-climate-agreement-timing-rules\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">withdrawing the U.S.\u003c/a> from the Paris climate treaty, the agreement signed by nearly all nations to reduce fossil fuel emissions. He \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19062019/trump-clean-power-plan-climate-emissions-rule-replacement-coal-decline\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">replaced Obama’s Clean Power Plan\u003c/a>, intended to sharply reduce emissions from U.S. power plants. He took the first step to weaken \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082018/trump-fuel-efficiency-standards-rollback-climate-change-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">fuel economy standards for cars\u003c/a>, the single most important effort for reining in the largest driver of U.S. emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>His administration has undone or delayed — or tried to — most regulatory and executive actions related to climate change, while proposing new ones to accelerate fossil fuel development. Columbia University’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law counts \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/climate-deregulation-tracker\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">131 actions\u003c/a> toward federal climate deregulation since Trump took office. In the absence of any comprehensive national climate law, those moves have led to an erosion of the federal government’s main regulatory levers for cutting global warming emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Several of those actions, including rollbacks of significant rules on \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/23/court-hands-trump-defeat-in-bid-to-block-methane-emissions-rule.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">methane\u003c/a>\u003cu>,\u003c/u> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02102019/cross-border-smog-ruling-coal-power-trump-obama-clean-air-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">cross-state air pollution\u003c/a> regulations and \u003ca href=\"https://policyintegrity.org/trump-court-roundup\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">energy efficiency\u003c/a>, have been blocked or delayed by judges who have questioned the administration’s broad view of its legal authority. Some of those setbacks may be temporary, though, and the courts have yet to rule on the most consequential deregulatory actions. According to the administration’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/eAgendaMain\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agenda for 2020\u003c/a>, the president will try to fast-track as many more as possible before the end of his first term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Promoting unfettered oil, natural gas and coal development \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nRight out of the gate, Trump greased the wheels for fossil fuel development. He \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28032017/trump-executive-order-climate-change-paris-climate-agreement-clean-power-plan-pruitt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">issued a sweeping executive order\u003c/a> directing all departments to target for elimination\u003ci>\u003cem> any \u003c/em>\u003c/i>rules that restrict U.S. production of energy. He set guidance to make it more difficult to put future regulations on fossil fuel industries, and he moved to discard the use of a rigorous “social cost of carbon,” a regulatory measurement that puts a price on the future damage society will pay for every ton of carbon dioxide emitted. He swiftly signed memorandums to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24012017/keystone-xl-dakota-pipeline-donald-trump-executive-order\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">revive the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines\u003c/a>, projects blocked by Obama. And later, with the Keystone XL still stalled, he issued executive orders aimed at \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11042019/trump-pipeline-executive-order-environmental-review-keystone-xl-clean-water-act-states-rights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">speeding approval and construction of fossil fuel projects\u003c/a> by limiting state environmental reviews.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fossil fuel infrastructure adds to greenhouse gas emissions, in part by leaking methane into the atmosphere. Trump’s administration ordered the Environmental Protection Agency to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032017/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency-methane-greenhouse-gas-climate-change\">stop gathering data from oil and gas companies\u003c/a> needed to rein in leaks of this potent short-lived climate pollutant. It later \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11092018/methane-flaring-rules-oil-gas-industry-climate-change-obama-trump-epa-rollback\">loosened methane regulations\u003c/a> for projects on public and private land, despite the support for them among the industry’s biggest companies. It sought drilling in pristine areas where oil companies have long sought to drill. The administration \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28042017/doanld-trump-arctic-offshore-drilling-ban-obama-executive-order\">moved to lift Obama’s offshore Arctic drilling ban\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13072017/arctic-offshore-drilling-trump-approved-eni-boem-alaska\">approved \u003c/a>a plan to drill wells there. It pushed to drill in the previously off-limits \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29032018/arctic-offshore-drilling-oil-lease-sale-beaufort-sea-alaska-trump-boem-2019\">Beaufort Sea\u003c/a>, in 1.6 million acres of the pristine \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12092019/congress-arctic-wildlife-refuge-oil-gas-drilling-offshore-trump-lease-sale-anwr\">Arctic National Wildlife Refuge\u003c/a>, and in nearly all of the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/10012018/trump-offshore-oil-drilling-leases-florida-legal-questions-zinke-california-new-york-oregon\">Outer Continental Shelf\u003c/a>. It proposed to \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/usfs-proposes-regulations-streamline-oil-and-gas-permitting-national-forests-0\">expedite oil and gas permits on national forest lands\u003c/a>, and it has limited how climate change can be used in \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/13082019/climate-change-endangered-species-act-arctic-trump-changes-polar-bears-wildlife\">determining endangered status for species\u003c/a>, further opening doors to drilling in sensitive areas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Trying to restore King Coal to its throne \u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nMany of Trump’s regulations have been tailored to favor the coal industry, often at the expense of cheaper, cleaner energy. \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/11102017/climate-denial-coal-industry-global-warming-robert-murray-energy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Robert Murray\u003c/a>, founder of the \u003ca href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjQsc3r95nmAhUOTt8KHRUBDY8QFjABegQIBxAG&url=https%3A%2F%2Finsideclimatenews.org%2Fnews%2F29102019%2Fcoal-bankruptcy-bob-murray-energy-chapter-11-trump-regulations-rollback&usg=AOvVaw3hV8KEcoTw-zXHhcV1dbAu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">now-bankrupt coal company Murray Energy\u003c/a> and one of Trump’s closest industry allies, gave the president a “wish list” early on that has become of virtual template for the administration’s rollback of regulations. The administration swiftly lifted an Obama moratorium on new coal leases on federal lands. It \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16022017/coal-mining-environment-stream-rule-donald-trump-mussels-species\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">rolled back a stream protection rule\u003c/a> designed to reduce the environmental and climate impact of mountaintop removal coal mining, and it has proposed allowing coal plants to emit much more CO2 by \u003ca href=\"https://climate.law.columbia.edu/content/epa-proposes-less-stringent-emission-standards-new-coal-plants-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">weakening New Source Review\u003c/a>, which requires big emitters to modernize pollution controls when they make major modifications to their facilities. It pushed a coal bailout rule that would have rewarded electric companies for keeping big stockpiles of fuel on hand. (\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08012018/ferc-regulators-reject-paying-coal-power-plants-nuclear-extra-trump-administration-perry-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. regulators rejected it\u003c/a>.) It also\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04112019/coal-ash-rules-rollback-trump-obama-water-pollution-power-plant-ponds\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> further relaxed coal ash rules\u003c/a>, allowing coal utilities to keep unlined coal ash ponds open for years, making it less expensive to burn coal to produce electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Suppressing climate and related science\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn almost every agency overseeing energy, the environment and health, Trump selected top officials who dispute the mainstream consensus on the urgency of climate action. People with little scientific background, or strong ties to industries they would be regulating, were appointed to scientific leadership positions. One of the administration’s first actions was to order scientists and other employees at EPA and other agencies to halt public communications. Several federal scientists working on climate change have said they were silenced, sidelined or demoted. At least three—a senior employee at the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/20072017/whistleblower-trump-intimidation-abuse-power-climate-scientists-joel-clement-zinke\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Department of Interior\u003c/a>, one at the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16082019/cdc-scientist-whistleblower-complaint-climate-health-research-trump-usda-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u003c/a> and another at the National Park Service—invoked whistleblower protections. Independent science advisors, such as members of the EPA’s \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/08052017/epa-science-advisory-board-dismissed-scott-pruitt-donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Board of Scientific Counselors\u003c/a>, have also been sidelined. Scientific content on government websites has been altered and the public’s access to data reduced. Climate data from the government’s open portal website was removed. So was the EPA’s climate change website. The words “climate change” have been purged from government reports, and other reports have been buried\u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413\">,\u003c/a> including by \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/23/agriculture-department-climate-change-1376413\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">officials at the Department of Agriculture.\u003c/a> The administration even edited a major \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/05/10/pentagon-revised-obama-era-report-to-remove-risks-from-climate-change/?utm_term=.1174b4bd9f55\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Defense Department report\u003c/a> to downplay its climate findings. Through speeches and tweets, the president has repeatedly spread misinformation to the public through his climate denial and denigration of renewable energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>EPA, meanwhile, is working to finalize its proposal to \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/22032018/epa-air-pollution-soot-rules-scott-pruitt-secret-science-policy-health-regulations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suppress the types of scientific evidence\u003c/a> the agency can use in writing its rules. This includes prohibiting the use of well-established, long-term scientific studies underpinning the nation’s air pollution rules, a change the fossil fuel industry had sought for years. Known as the “secret science” rule, it has been \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2019/11/25/science.aba3197\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lambasted by scientists and health experts worldwide\u003c/a>. Related, the White House \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25042019/trump-omb-secret-science-policy-memo-pollution-health-studies-heritage-foundation-vought\">issued a memo\u003c/a> offering new ways for fossil fuel and other industries to challenge science-based policies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Undermining clean energy development and energy efficiency\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn its \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/12032019/trump-budget-cuts-renewable-energy-efficiency-electric-vehicle-tax-credit-deficit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">budget proposals\u003c/a>, the Trump administration has made clear its resolve to retreat from a federal role in advancing a clean energy economy and maintaining global leadership in the technology. It has proposed repeatedly to radically \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02042019/trump-budget-cuts-national-labs-clean-energy-leadership-solar-wind-electric-vehicles-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slash funding\u003c/a> for the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), a move that would cripple support for novel and promising technologies for advanced wind turbines, high-tech materials, energy-efficient buildings and more. He has tried to eliminate tax credits for electric vehicles and made several attempts to eliminate the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) program, an incubator for cutting-edge energy research and development. Congress has largely rebuffed this scale of funding cut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The administration issued in 2019 its final rule to dramatically weaken energy-efficient light bulb standards that Congress voted to phase in a decade ago. The standards would have eliminated inefficient light bulbs nationwide, saving some 1.5 trillion kilowatt-hours by 2030 and hundreds of millions tons of CO2. And it delayed for three years standards to substantially cut the energy that household and commercial appliances consume, moving to enact them only after \u003ca href=\"https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/ca9/18-15380/18-15380-2019-10-10.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a federal appeals court ruled \u003c/a>the hold was illegal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• \u003cstrong>Trying to undercut California’s world-leading climate progress\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nAfter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/02082018/trump-fuel-efficiency-standards-rollback-climate-change-epa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">freezing Obama’s national fuel-economy improvements\u003c/a>, the administration stripped California of its legal authority to enact the nation’s toughest fuel-efficiency standards, a move that could squelch the nascent U.S. market for zero-emission vehicles at a critical time. It sued the state over its cap-and-trade agreement with Quebec to lower fossil fuel emissions, arguing that California exceeded its authority when it launched. It has threatened action against California on air and water pollution. Those moves run counter to the administration’s hands-off approach and deregulatory agenda. Because of that—and because California has among the best compliance records in the nation on water pollution and has invested billions to improve air quality—former federal officials have said the efforts reek of political score-settling.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nIn the Trump administration’s early days, climate policy optimists gamely sifted through the president’s statements, his administration’s actions, and other nations’ reactions for grains of hope. Perhaps Trump would be persuaded to maintain the United States’ seat at the table in international climate negotiations. Perhaps the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epas-pruitt-praised-for-effectiveness-hits-bumps-in-his-rollback-campaign/2018/05/20/c6ca13d8-53b3-11e8-abd8-265bd07a9859_story.html?noredirect=on\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">efforts\u003c/a> of his early, scandal-plagued cabinet members to erase climate regulation would fail. Or perhaps \u003ca href=\"https://time.com/4800747/china-climate-change-paris-agreement-trump/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">other nations would step up\u003c/a> to fill the climate leadership void created by Trump, and the world would forge ahead with the action needed to address the climate crisis, leaving the United States behind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All such hopes have been in vain. Although Trump occasionally feigns concern about climate—”\u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/03/its-possible-that-trump-doesnt-actually-know-what-climate-change-is/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I think about it all the time,\u003c/a>” he once said—his policy has been an unmitigated and relentless drive toward fossil energy development. The missteps of his former EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, and others in the first round of appointees, have been erased by seasoned Washington bureaucrats and lobbyists who now are at the helm of the environmental agencies. And instead of racing to grasp the leadership baton dropped by Trump, China, the European Union and other large carbon polluters are \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/15/climate/cop25-un-climate-talks-madrid.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">falling behind both in their own ambition and in support\u003c/a> for the nations most vulnerable to climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Trump’s intentions, and his administration’s deleterious impact on global climate progress, will be evident to voters in 2020 in a way that many failed to grasp four years earlier. The only question is whether those who care about the planet’s future can unite as a political force in a way that eluded them in 2016.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\n\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "Elizabeth Warren Climate Profile: Taking Up Mantle of 'Climate Candidate' Inslee",
"headTitle": "Elizabeth Warren Climate Profile: Taking Up Mantle of ‘Climate Candidate’ Inslee | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cem style=\"font-weight: 400;\">‘Before the 2008 crash, investors and the government failed to address growing risks in our financial system. We’re making the same mistake with climate change today — we know it’s coming, but we’re not doing enough to stop it.’\u003cbr>\n—\u003c/em>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elizabeth Warren, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1041756395140464641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 2018\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n[pullquote align=\"right\" size=\"medium\"]Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>[/pullquote]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who represents Massachusetts, a state with strong ties to Puerto Rico, paid attention to Hurricane Maria when it spread death and lasting destruction across Puerto Rico in 2017. Warren was already fighting for debt relief for the territory before the storm. Maria brought the island’s plight into a climate focus. “There are people who have no food, there are people who have no water, there are people who have no medicine, there are people who need our help,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1040268624542543873\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">she said\u003c/a>. “This is the responsibility of our government, the government that is supposed to work for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warren came to political prominence in her detailed response to the financial crisis of 2008, and that has carried over into her increasingly developed position on climate change. Look at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-colleagues-unveil-bill-to-require-every-public-company-to-disclose-climate-related-risks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Risk Disclosure Act\u003c/a> that she introduced in September that would require companies to disclose the risk climate change poses to their financial assets. The bill would require companies to release information on their greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel holdings and how they would be impacted by both climate policies and the effects of climate change. The bill languished, but the issue has been\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31052017/exxon-shareholder-climate-change-disclosure-resolution-approved\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gaining traction\u003c/a> among fossil fuel company shareholders in recent years and appears to also be \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/17/democrats-energy-industry-climate-risk-1483586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gaining traction\u003c/a> among other candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• If Warren’s campaign had a single slogan, it would be “\u003ca href=\"https://time.com/longform/elizabeth-warren-2020/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I have a plan for that.\u003c/a>” While she entered the race with a reputation based on issues other than climate change — some environmentalists \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060108745/print\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dismissed her leadership\u003c/a> in this realm — she has made up for it with a series of expansive and fairly detailed prescriptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren sought to pick up the baton of climate leadership from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after he ended his climate-focused run for president. She met privately with him and then adopted his aggressive \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/jay-inslee-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multipart action proposal\u003c/a>. She has challenged all of the presidential candidates to make the same commitment to \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/100-clean-energy-for-america-de75ee39887d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100 percent clean energy, buildings and transportation\u003c/a>. Warren’s plan calls for all new buildings to be zero-emissions by 2028, all electricity to be carbon-neutral by 2030, and all new passenger cars, trucks and buses to be zero emissions by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren struck early with a pledge in April to prohibit all new fossil fuel leases on \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-plan-for-public-lands-e4be1d88a01c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public lands\u003c/a>. She had co-sponsored legislation on the same theme, but it never moved in the Republican Senate. Some, but not all, of the other candidates quickly echoed the promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren’s opening climate gambit was a $2 trillion \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-green-manufacturing-plan-for-america-fc0ad53ab614\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">package\u003c/a> of investment in green research, manufacturing and exporting, all to help “achieve the ambitious targets of the Green New Deal” over the next 10 years. She then raised that to $3 trillion, matching Inslee’s commitment, and explained exactly where the funds would come from: reversing the Trump tax cuts of 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her plan would include $1.5 trillion for American-made clean energy products, $400 billion in funding for green research and development and $100 billion in foreign assistance to purchase emissions-free American energy technology. In her \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-for-justice-as-we-combat-the-climate-crisis-597727c296bb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-for-justice-as-we-combat-the-climate-crisis-597727c296bb&source=gmail&ust=1570820447120000&usg=AFQjCNEL3dx-InEKdhjtQJajIsep-MI-_A\">plan for environmental justice\u003c/a>, Warren said she would direct one-third of her proposed climate investments or “at least $1 trillion” to vulnerable communities most impacted by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren’s \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/a-new-farm-economy-8db50fac0551\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agriculture plan\u003c/a> aims to incentivize farmers to invest in sustainable farming practices that reduce carbon emissions. It calls for expanding the voluntary Conservation Stewardship Program, which compensates farmers for implementing more sustainable practices, from $1 billion to $15 billion annually. Her \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/leveling-the-playing-field-for-americas-family-farmers-823d1994f067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">platform\u003c/a> also takes aim at breaking up the megamergers of agricultural corporations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her “\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/we-need-a-blue-new-deal-for-our-oceans-4efd971e0992\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue New Deal\u003c/a>” plan for the oceans would fast-track permitting for offshore wind energy while phasing out offshore drilling for oil and gas. Warren’s plan calls for electrification of ports to reduce local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. It also includes a “blue carbon” program that would support natural, ocean-based carbon sequestration projects including those involving coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warren built her career in the Senate railing against Wall Street and championing consumer protection and economic equality. But her priorities are evolving as environmental and economic impacts of climate change increasingly merge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the campaign trail, Warren is increasingly taking a leadership role on climate issues — as when she became one of the first presidential candidates to sign the No Fossil Fuel pledge. When she released a detailed policy proposal in April to ban new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, other candidates quickly followed suit. And when Joe Biden put out a big climate pledge, Warren was able to quickly trump him with an even bigger commitment of her own. By aligning herself with Inslee’s climate ideas, Warren clearly is making a bid for climate voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003ci>\u003cem>Read Elizabeth Warren’s \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/100-clean-energy-for-america-de75ee39887d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "After the single-issue climate change-candidate Washington Gov. Jay Inslee dropped out of the race, Warren adopted his aggressive, multipart climate action plan.\r\n",
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"description": "After the single-issue climate change-candidate Washington Gov. Jay Inslee dropped out of the race, Warren adopted his aggressive, multipart climate action plan.\r\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003ci>\u003cem style=\"font-weight: 400;\">‘Before the 2008 crash, investors and the government failed to address growing risks in our financial system. We’re making the same mistake with climate change today — we know it’s coming, but we’re not doing enough to stop it.’\u003cbr>\n—\u003c/em>\u003c/i>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Elizabeth Warren, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1041756395140464641\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">September 2018\u003c/a>\u003c/span>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "Analysis: The Candidates on Climate Change\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956430/joe-biden-climate-profile-surprising-embrace-of-green-new-deal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joe Biden\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956501/michael-bloomberg-climate-profile-shutting-down-coal-modest-federal-spending%22\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Bloomberg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956514/pete-buttigieg-climate-profile-making-u-s-the-worlds-clean-tech-leader\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Pete Buttigieg\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956525/amy-klobuchar-climate-profile-using-presidency-to-restore-clean-energy-policies\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Amy Klobuchar\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956421/bernie-sanders-climate-profile-16-trillion-in-spending-for-most-ambitious-plan-yet\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bernie Sanders\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957439/tom-steyer-climate-profile-a-justice-centered-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1957088/donald-trump-climate-profile-this-president-is-all-about-fossil-fuels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Donald Trump\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cstrong>Been There\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who represents Massachusetts, a state with strong ties to Puerto Rico, paid attention to Hurricane Maria when it spread death and lasting destruction across Puerto Rico in 2017. Warren was already fighting for debt relief for the territory before the storm. Maria brought the island’s plight into a climate focus. “There are people who have no food, there are people who have no water, there are people who have no medicine, there are people who need our help,” \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/SenWarren/status/1040268624542543873\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">she said\u003c/a>. “This is the responsibility of our government, the government that is supposed to work for us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Done That\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Warren came to political prominence in her detailed response to the financial crisis of 2008, and that has carried over into her increasingly developed position on climate change. Look at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-colleagues-unveil-bill-to-require-every-public-company-to-disclose-climate-related-risks\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Climate Risk Disclosure Act\u003c/a> that she introduced in September that would require companies to disclose the risk climate change poses to their financial assets. The bill would require companies to release information on their greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel holdings and how they would be impacted by both climate policies and the effects of climate change. The bill languished, but the issue has been\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/31052017/exxon-shareholder-climate-change-disclosure-resolution-approved\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> gaining traction\u003c/a> among fossil fuel company shareholders in recent years and appears to also be \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/17/democrats-energy-industry-climate-risk-1483586\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">gaining traction\u003c/a> among other candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Getting Specific\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• If Warren’s campaign had a single slogan, it would be “\u003ca href=\"https://time.com/longform/elizabeth-warren-2020/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">I have a plan for that.\u003c/a>” While she entered the race with a reputation based on issues other than climate change — some environmentalists \u003ca href=\"https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060108745/print\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">dismissed her leadership\u003c/a> in this realm — she has made up for it with a series of expansive and fairly detailed prescriptions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren sought to pick up the baton of climate leadership from Washington Gov. Jay Inslee after he ended his climate-focused run for president. She met privately with him and then adopted his aggressive \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/24062019/jay-inslee-climate-change-global-warming-election-2020-candidate-profile\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">multipart action proposal\u003c/a>. She has challenged all of the presidential candidates to make the same commitment to \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/100-clean-energy-for-america-de75ee39887d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">100 percent clean energy, buildings and transportation\u003c/a>. Warren’s plan calls for all new buildings to be zero-emissions by 2028, all electricity to be carbon-neutral by 2030, and all new passenger cars, trucks and buses to be zero emissions by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren struck early with a pledge in April to prohibit all new fossil fuel leases on \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-plan-for-public-lands-e4be1d88a01c\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">public lands\u003c/a>. She had co-sponsored legislation on the same theme, but it never moved in the Republican Senate. Some, but not all, of the other candidates quickly echoed the promise.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren’s opening climate gambit was a $2 trillion \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/my-green-manufacturing-plan-for-america-fc0ad53ab614\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">package\u003c/a> of investment in green research, manufacturing and exporting, all to help “achieve the ambitious targets of the Green New Deal” over the next 10 years. She then raised that to $3 trillion, matching Inslee’s commitment, and explained exactly where the funds would come from: reversing the Trump tax cuts of 2017.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her plan would include $1.5 trillion for American-made clean energy products, $400 billion in funding for green research and development and $100 billion in foreign assistance to purchase emissions-free American energy technology. In her \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-for-justice-as-we-combat-the-climate-crisis-597727c296bb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https://www.google.com/url?q=https://medium.com/@teamwarren/fighting-for-justice-as-we-combat-the-climate-crisis-597727c296bb&source=gmail&ust=1570820447120000&usg=AFQjCNEL3dx-InEKdhjtQJajIsep-MI-_A\">plan for environmental justice\u003c/a>, Warren said she would direct one-third of her proposed climate investments or “at least $1 trillion” to vulnerable communities most impacted by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Warren’s \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/a-new-farm-economy-8db50fac0551\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">agriculture plan\u003c/a> aims to incentivize farmers to invest in sustainable farming practices that reduce carbon emissions. It calls for expanding the voluntary Conservation Stewardship Program, which compensates farmers for implementing more sustainable practices, from $1 billion to $15 billion annually. Her \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/leveling-the-playing-field-for-americas-family-farmers-823d1994f067\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">platform\u003c/a> also takes aim at breaking up the megamergers of agricultural corporations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>• Her “\u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/we-need-a-blue-new-deal-for-our-oceans-4efd971e0992\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Blue New Deal\u003c/a>” plan for the oceans would fast-track permitting for offshore wind energy while phasing out offshore drilling for oil and gas. Warren’s plan calls for electrification of ports to reduce local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. It also includes a “blue carbon” program that would support natural, ocean-based carbon sequestration projects including those involving coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass beds and wetlands.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cstrong>ICN’s Take\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Warren built her career in the Senate railing against Wall Street and championing consumer protection and economic equality. But her priorities are evolving as environmental and economic impacts of climate change increasingly merge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the campaign trail, Warren is increasingly taking a leadership role on climate issues — as when she became one of the first presidential candidates to sign the No Fossil Fuel pledge. When she released a detailed policy proposal in April to ban new oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters, other candidates quickly followed suit. And when Joe Biden put out a big climate pledge, Warren was able to quickly trump him with an even bigger commitment of her own. By aligning herself with Inslee’s climate ideas, Warren clearly is making a bid for climate voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003ci>\u003cem>Read Elizabeth Warren’s \u003ca href=\"https://medium.com/@teamwarren/100-clean-energy-for-america-de75ee39887d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">climate platform\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/i>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/newsletter/icn-weekly\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Reject Newsom's $1 Billion Green Loan Fund, California Legislature's Analyst Says",
"headTitle": "Reject Newsom’s $1 Billion Green Loan Fund, California Legislature’s Analyst Says | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp>The California Legislative Analyst’s Office is recommending the state legislature reject Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposal for a $1 billion green loan fund.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote citation=\"Newsom Press Secretary Vicky Waters\"]‘We disagree with the LAO’s assessment of the climate catalyst fund. California cannot wait to make major investments that deploy and scale technologies to meet our climate goals.’[/pullquote]When Newsom released his state budget proposal in January, he announced the four-year revolving loan program, meant to help grow small- and medium-sized climate-friendly businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The progam is intended to jumpstart businesses like electric vehicle charging stations, climate-friendly farming initiatives and other sustainability projects that have a hard time attracting private capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we grow, we must demand that the benefits of this growth be widely shared by workers and small businesses – not just those with access to huge amounts of capital,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1955578/california-climate-budget-to-include-1-billion-green-loan-fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> at the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> released Thursday by the LAO, a nonpartisan advisory agency for the state Legislature, analysts said the loan program would be problematic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t clear exactly what projects would be eligible and whether those projects would actually be appropriate for a loan,” said Brian Weatherford, a senior fiscal and policy analyst for the LAO, in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The LAO said investing in businesses that could potentially provide the most benefit in terms of reducing emissions can be risky because many may not end up being feasible, can’t get regulatory approval or do not have a way to repay the loan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is designed to be self-sustaining — as borrowers repay loans, the state can use the money to issue additional ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Weatherford said the administration hasn’t identified projects that could both repay the loan and not be able to attract financing from the private sector or elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysts also wrote in the report that the governor had not documented the demand for this kind of loan:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We acknowledge that appropriate projects could benefit from access to the low‑cost financing this fund would provide. However, the administration has not demonstrated the actual size of this need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, the analysts wrote, staff at the governmental entities that would authorize the loans don’t necessarily have “the deep technical knowledge or practical expertise that might be needed to accurately assess the risks of the eligible projects — especially those projects that conventional lenders, who have access to the necessary expertise, have refused to finance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there is value in helping to finance these kind of businesses, the LAO said, it would be “inappropriate” given the risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration rejected the LAO’s reasoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We disagree with the LAO’s assessment of the climate catalyst fund,” said Vicky Waters, Newsom’s press secretary, in an email. “California cannot wait to make major investments that deploy and scale technologies to meet our climate goals. We look forward to working with the Legislature on this issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report assessed all of Newsom’s major climate change proposals, including a $965 million cap-and-trade expenditure and a $4.75 billion climate bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the climate bond, analysts said the governor’s proposal is one approach to designing the bond, “but the Legislature has other options.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They recommend the state focus on its top climate priorities and consider how much to spend on immediate effects of climate change as compared to longer term impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The LAO, a nonpartisan advisory agency for the California state Legislature, said the administration hasn't identified suitable climate-friendly businesses that would meet the fund's objectives.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>When Newsom released his state budget proposal in January, he announced the four-year revolving loan program, meant to help grow small- and medium-sized climate-friendly businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The progam is intended to jumpstart businesses like electric vehicle charging stations, climate-friendly farming initiatives and other sustainability projects that have a hard time attracting private capital.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“As we grow, we must demand that the benefits of this growth be widely shared by workers and small businesses – not just those with access to huge amounts of capital,” Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1955578/california-climate-budget-to-include-1-billion-green-loan-fund\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> at the time.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/4155\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">report\u003c/a> released Thursday by the LAO, a nonpartisan advisory agency for the state Legislature, analysts said the loan program would be problematic.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It wasn’t clear exactly what projects would be eligible and whether those projects would actually be appropriate for a loan,” said Brian Weatherford, a senior fiscal and policy analyst for the LAO, in an interview.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The LAO said investing in businesses that could potentially provide the most benefit in terms of reducing emissions can be risky because many may not end up being feasible, can’t get regulatory approval or do not have a way to repay the loan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The program is designed to be self-sustaining — as borrowers repay loans, the state can use the money to issue additional ones.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But Weatherford said the administration hasn’t identified projects that could both repay the loan and not be able to attract financing from the private sector or elsewhere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The analysts also wrote in the report that the governor had not documented the demand for this kind of loan:\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>We acknowledge that appropriate projects could benefit from access to the low‑cost financing this fund would provide. However, the administration has not demonstrated the actual size of this need.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Moreover, the analysts wrote, staff at the governmental entities that would authorize the loans don’t necessarily have “the deep technical knowledge or practical expertise that might be needed to accurately assess the risks of the eligible projects — especially those projects that conventional lenders, who have access to the necessary expertise, have refused to finance.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While there is value in helping to finance these kind of businesses, the LAO said, it would be “inappropriate” given the risks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Newsom administration rejected the LAO’s reasoning.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We disagree with the LAO’s assessment of the climate catalyst fund,” said Vicky Waters, Newsom’s press secretary, in an email. “California cannot wait to make major investments that deploy and scale technologies to meet our climate goals. We look forward to working with the Legislature on this issue.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The report assessed all of Newsom’s major climate change proposals, including a $965 million cap-and-trade expenditure and a $4.75 billion climate bond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the climate bond, analysts said the governor’s proposal is one approach to designing the bond, “but the Legislature has other options.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>They recommend the state focus on its top climate priorities and consider how much to spend on immediate effects of climate change as compared to longer term impacts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"title": "After Setbacks, Calif. Governments Press Their Climate Suit Against Fossil Fuel Companies",
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"content": "\u003cp>Three federal judges heard arguments in Pasadena Wednesday about whether major oil and gas companies are financially responsible for the damages caused by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lively back-to-back hearings, the judges, from the 9th District Circuit Court, pushed with skepticism at both sides’ arguments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco, Oakland, and a coalition of about a dozen other cities and counties want to hold the fossil fuel industry responsible for the remediation costs and property damage from increasingly severe wildfires, rising sea levels and intense storms that batter coastal communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities seek damages related to climate change from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66 and major other oil and gas companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits are reaching a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956277/cities-lawsuits-seeking-damages-for-climate-change-reach-critical-juncture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">critical juncture\u003c/a>. After a string of losses in federal courts, the cities asked the federal panel Wednesday to allow them to argue their lawsuit in the California state courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the panel agrees that the cases belong in state court, it would be the state judge, applying state laws, who decides whether we can proceed with this case to protect our residents, workers, and businesses from the costs and damage these fossil fuel companies knowingly imposed on our communities,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said in a written statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fossil fuel companies are trying to move the cases into the federal courts with the aim of obtaining the ear of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“State tort law is not an appropriate vehicle—and state courts are not an appropriate forum—for regulating worldwide energy policy or punishing lawful, global commercial activity that is vital to every sector of the global economy,” lawyers for Chevron wrote in a legal brief. \u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe 9th Circuit panel heard arguments in two separate lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers representing San Francisco and Oakland are trying to revive their lawsuit in state court after William Alsup, a judge for the Federal District Court in San Francisco, tossed it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The law and precedent supporting our position is strong, and such a ruling would be consistent with orders issued by four other federal judges,” Herrera and Parker said in their statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his deliberation, Alsup asked the cities to offer him a primer in climate change science. The tutorial included a seminal 1992 \u003ca href=\"http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180323_docket-317-cv-06011_exhibit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> that detailed rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/26/climate/document-Judge-Dismisses-Climate-Suit-Against-Oil-Companies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opinion\u003c/a>, the judge wrote that the “problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal court has already remanded to state court the other case, brought by San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Marin counties, along with Richmond, Santa Cruz and other cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been two years or more since our communities first filed these cases to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate change-related damages they knowingly caused and the high costs our taxpayers are already incurring as a result,” the governments said in a written statement. “It is time for the defendants to be held accountable for their decades-long campaign of public deception about climate change and its consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alex Katz, a spokesman for the Oakland city attorney’s office, said that the city does not know when the judges will decide on the case. He suggested it could take several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Three federal judges heard arguments in Pasadena Wednesday about whether major oil and gas companies are financially responsible for the damages caused by climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In lively back-to-back hearings, the judges, from the 9th District Circuit Court, pushed with skepticism at both sides’ arguments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>San Francisco, Oakland, and a coalition of about a dozen other cities and counties want to hold the fossil fuel industry responsible for the remediation costs and property damage from increasingly severe wildfires, rising sea levels and intense storms that batter coastal communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities seek damages related to climate change from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66 and major other oil and gas companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The lawsuits are reaching a \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/science/1956277/cities-lawsuits-seeking-damages-for-climate-change-reach-critical-juncture\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">critical juncture\u003c/a>. After a string of losses in federal courts, the cities asked the federal panel Wednesday to allow them to argue their lawsuit in the California state courts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If the panel agrees that the cases belong in state court, it would be the state judge, applying state laws, who decides whether we can proceed with this case to protect our residents, workers, and businesses from the costs and damage these fossil fuel companies knowingly imposed on our communities,” San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said in a written statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The fossil fuel companies are trying to move the cases into the federal courts with the aim of obtaining the ear of the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“State tort law is not an appropriate vehicle—and state courts are not an appropriate forum—for regulating worldwide energy policy or punishing lawful, global commercial activity that is vital to every sector of the global economy,” lawyers for Chevron wrote in a legal brief. \u003cstrong>\u003cbr>\n\u003c/strong>\u003cbr>\nThe 9th Circuit panel heard arguments in two separate lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Lawyers representing San Francisco and Oakland are trying to revive their lawsuit in state court after William Alsup, a judge for the Federal District Court in San Francisco, tossed it out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The law and precedent supporting our position is strong, and such a ruling would be consistent with orders issued by four other federal judges,” Herrera and Parker said in their statement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As part of his deliberation, Alsup asked the cities to offer him a primer in climate change science. The tutorial included a seminal 1992 \u003ca href=\"http://blogs2.law.columbia.edu/climate-change-litigation/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/case-documents/2018/20180323_docket-317-cv-06011_exhibit.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">paper\u003c/a> published in the journal \u003cem>Nature\u003c/em> that detailed rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a June \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/26/climate/document-Judge-Dismisses-Climate-Suit-Against-Oil-Companies.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">opinion\u003c/a>, the judge wrote that the “problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The federal court has already remanded to state court the other case, brought by San Mateo, Santa Cruz and Marin counties, along with Richmond, Santa Cruz and other cities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It has been two years or more since our communities first filed these cases to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate change-related damages they knowingly caused and the high costs our taxpayers are already incurring as a result,” the governments said in a written statement. “It is time for the defendants to be held accountable for their decades-long campaign of public deception about climate change and its consequences.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alex Katz, a spokesman for the Oakland city attorney’s office, said that the city does not know when the judges will decide on the case. He suggested it could take several months.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp> \u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Natural Gas Climate Benefits May Be Substantially Overstated",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can natural gas be part of a climate change solution?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s what the American Petroleum Institute argues in a \u003ca href=\"https://energyforprogress.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new campaign\u003c/a> it has launched ahead of this year’s elections, pushing back against some Democratic candidates who support bans on new development of oil and gas. The campaign echoes a refrain that supporters from both political parties have pushed for years: that gas is a cleaner fuel than coal and can serve as a bridge to a low-carbon future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The industry points to data showing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions are at their \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07012020/infographic-united-states-emissions-2019-climate-change-greenhouse-gas-coal-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lowest level in decades\u003c/a>, as coal power generation has been replaced by gas, which produces about half the carbon dioxide emissions when burned, and by renewable energy sources like wind and solar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But experts agree that those official figures understate emissions of methane, the primary component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas released in leaks throughout the oil and gas development supply chain. And while there’s uncertainty about how much methane is leaking, several studies show that the benefits of the switch from coal to gas over the last decade are smaller than government data suggests, perhaps substantially smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many oil and gas companies have pledged to reduce their methane emissions. But beyond the methane leaks, emissions from new petrochemical plants and liquid natural gas export facilities in coming years, spurred by the gas boom, are set to surge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With costs of renewable energy sources like wind and solar now competitive with natural gas, many experts who have studied the industry’s emissions say that even though the switch from coal to gas has likely provided some climate benefits, marginal as they may be, it’s harder to argue that it can continue doing so in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Lyon, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, which has collaborated with the oil and gas industry in working on methane, said asking whether gas is better than coal may be the wrong question. “Compared to coal, I think there are a lot of advantages to natural gas,” he said. “But renewables have a lot more advantages.””Compared to coal, I think there are a lot of advantages to natural gas,” he said. “But renewables have a lot more advantages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jessika Trancik, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society, who recently co-authored a study about the coal-to-gas switch, said continuing to rely on natural gas will grow increasingly difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It has served as a bridge,” she said. “But we’re kind of nearing the end of the bridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Far Have Emissions Fallen?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Official EPA data says \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/us-ghg-inventory-2019-chapter-3-energy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">methane emissions from the oil and gas industry\u003c/a> were down slightly from 2005 to 2017 and were down significantly from 1990 levels. Over the same period, oil and gas production has grown substantially, and the industry points to this as a sign of its efforts to limit emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Given the seriousness and risks of climate change, natural gas and oil operators are working harder than ever to capture as much methane as possible during production and transmission,” said Reid Porter, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet while EPA hasn’t published data for the past two years, other sources suggest methane emissions may be rising. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says the industry’s venting and flaring—venting is the intentional release of methane to the atmosphere, while flaring burns the methane to emit carbon dioxide instead—\u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_a_EPG0_VGV_mmcf_a.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">jumped by about 66 percent\u003c/a> in 2018. That doesn’t include unintended leaks from equipment. An \u003ca href=\"https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis by the Rhodium Group\u003c/a> of more recent data found that the industry’s methane emissions were up last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever the official numbers say, actual emissions are almost certainly far higher. Figuring out how much methane is leaking is critical for climate accounting: while methane remains in the atmosphere for a much shorter period than carbon dioxide, it traps far more heat while it’s there. Scientists say methane is responsible for about one-quarter of the warming the world has experienced so far. And the oil and gas sector appears to be a growing source of these emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956353 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529-160x232.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6398/186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a study by scientists\u003c/a> with the Environmental Defense Fund and more than a dozen research institutions pulled together measurements taken around the country and estimated that the industry leaked about 2.3 percent of all the gas it produced in 2015. That’s about 60 percent more than EPA reported. Others have suggested the rate could more like 3 percent. Lyon, one of the study’s authors, said the scale of the leaks suggests the benefits of gas are much less than they appear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Probably the average national loss rate is low enough that there are immediate climate benefits of replacing coal with gas,” he said. “But it’s going to be close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest uncertainties comes from so-called “super-emitters”—a term that refers to uncommon events that release massive volumes of methane. Last year, Dutch scientists published research drawing on satellite data suggesting that one 2018 accident at an Ohio gas well \u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/climate/methane-leak-satellite.html\">l\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/climate/methane-leak-satellite.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eaked more methane\u003c/a> than the entire oil and gas industry of Norway does in a year. ExxonMobil, which operated the well through a subsidiary, said internal data had shown the volume of leaked gas was smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The American Petroleum Institute has also \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032017/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency-methane-greenhouse-gas-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supported\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082019/methane-regulation-oil-gas-storage-pipelines-epa-rollback-trump-wheeler\">steps\u003c/a> by the Trump administration to weaken regulations enacted by the Obama administration to improve reporting and reduce leaks. Porter said other state and federal regulations already control methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the U.S., new evidence suggests natural gas use is \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03122019/fossil-fuel-emissions-2019-natural-gas-bridge-oil-coal-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">growing so fast globally\u003c/a> that the rise in carbon dioxide emissions from gas has eclipsed the decline in emissions from coal. And that’s not even counting methane leaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Looking Ahead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if gas has provided a benefit so far, there’s growing evidence it’s becoming an increasingly bad bet for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Precisely how bad depends in part on how methane is compared with carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas. Since methane traps more heat but breaks down much more quickly, scientists use a sliding scale to convert methane emissions into “carbon dioxide equivalents.” If you compare the two gases over the course of a century, methane is roughly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If you look over a 20-year timeframe, methane is more than 80 times stronger. The EPA uses the 100-year conversion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“What that does is it greatly discounts what methane can do for the decade or three that it’s in the atmosphere,” said Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology at Cornell University, speaking about the EPA’s approach. “I and others have been arguing we should use a shorter time frame, because we’re concerned about reaching tipping points in the climate system over the next one to two to three decades, and methane can drive us over those tipping points.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December, Trancik and Magdalena Klemun, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published a study\u003c/a> about whether gas can continue to help drive down greenhouse gas emissions by replacing coal in the electricity mix, given the methane leaks from the supply chain. They found that if you focus on methane’s short-term warming impact, the industry would need to eliminate up to 90 percent of its methane emissions in order to help meet a goal of cutting total greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But methane leaks are just part of the story. While a natural gas-fired power plant emits only about half the carbon dioxide as a coal plant, that’s still far from zero. And record-high gas production has sent prices plummeting, driving a boom in industrial activity to use all that cheap gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A pair of recent studies used data from permits for planned and recently completed projects such as chemical plants and liquid natural gas export facilities to estimate what this boom in industrial development could mean for emissions. One, \u003ca href=\"https://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news/oil-and-gas-industry-expansions-could-add-as-much-greenhouse-gas-pollution-as-50-coal-plants-by-2025/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">by the Environmental Integrity Project\u003c/a>, an advocacy group, found that by 2025, the planned development could contribute a level of emissions equal to that of 50 coal plants. Another, \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5e6f/pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published this month\u003c/a> by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, projected out to 2030 but limited its scope to development in Texas and Louisiana. It found even higher figures. If every proposed project were to move forward, they determined, the industry’s expansion in the region could lead to an additional 541 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2030, equal to about 8 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And methane leaks were only a piece of that. The expansion of petrochemical plants, like those that \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16012020/plastics-marine-oceans-climate-change-oil-gas-carbon-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">produce plastics from gas\u003c/a>, account for nearly 40 percent of the additional emissions. New liquified natural gas terminals, which allow companies to export gas overseas, make up nearly 20 percent of the emissions. The study was funded by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, which was founded by a former energy executive who pioneered using hydraulic fracturing to produce gas from shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea of natural gas as a bridge fuel to a more renewable future “is a thing that is said,” said Andrew Waxman, the paper’s lead author. “My main response is that the jury is still out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Another Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You only build a bridge as long as it needs to be. And increasingly, many advocates and energy experts are saying that in the transition to low-carbon energy, we’ve already reached the other side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wind and solar power are now often cheaper than gas. The costs of large batteries are coming down rapidly, too, which could allow wind and solar power to provide a higher proportion of the grid’s electricity, even though they produce energy intermittently. Already, construction of new renewables \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/campaign-archive/clean-economy-weekly/1827189\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is outpacing gas\u003c/a> in terms of capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the aim is to get to zero net emissions by midcentury, Trancik said, “then you have to transition away from natural gas.” At this point, she said, any new natural gas power plant or pipeline, which may be expected to continue operating for decades, creates a new financial incentive to continue to use more gas, making it that much harder to phase out fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think we should be very hesitant of investing in new infrastructure with a long life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cem>An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized the Environmental Defense Fund’s relationship with the oil and gas industry. EDF collaborates with companies in working on the methane problem but does not receive money from the industry.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Methane leaks throughout the supply chain make the 'cleaner' fuel more damaging to the climate than government data suggests.",
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"title": "Natural Gas Climate Benefits May Be Substantially Overstated | KQED",
"description": "Methane leaks throughout the supply chain make the 'cleaner' fuel more damaging to the climate than government data suggests.",
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"headline": "Natural Gas Climate Benefits May Be Substantially Overstated",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can natural gas be part of a climate change solution?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That’s what the American Petroleum Institute argues in a \u003ca href=\"https://energyforprogress.org/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">new campaign\u003c/a> it has launched ahead of this year’s elections, pushing back against some Democratic candidates who support bans on new development of oil and gas. The campaign echoes a refrain that supporters from both political parties have pushed for years: that gas is a cleaner fuel than coal and can serve as a bridge to a low-carbon future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The industry points to data showing the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions are at their \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/07012020/infographic-united-states-emissions-2019-climate-change-greenhouse-gas-coal-transportation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">lowest level in decades\u003c/a>, as coal power generation has been replaced by gas, which produces about half the carbon dioxide emissions when burned, and by renewable energy sources like wind and solar.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But experts agree that those official figures understate emissions of methane, the primary component of natural gas and a potent greenhouse gas released in leaks throughout the oil and gas development supply chain. And while there’s uncertainty about how much methane is leaking, several studies show that the benefits of the switch from coal to gas over the last decade are smaller than government data suggests, perhaps substantially smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many oil and gas companies have pledged to reduce their methane emissions. But beyond the methane leaks, emissions from new petrochemical plants and liquid natural gas export facilities in coming years, spurred by the gas boom, are set to surge.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With costs of renewable energy sources like wind and solar now competitive with natural gas, many experts who have studied the industry’s emissions say that even though the switch from coal to gas has likely provided some climate benefits, marginal as they may be, it’s harder to argue that it can continue doing so in the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David Lyon, a scientist with the Environmental Defense Fund, which has collaborated with the oil and gas industry in working on methane, said asking whether gas is better than coal may be the wrong question. “Compared to coal, I think there are a lot of advantages to natural gas,” he said. “But renewables have a lot more advantages.””Compared to coal, I think there are a lot of advantages to natural gas,” he said. “But renewables have a lot more advantages.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jessika Trancik, an associate professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Institute for Data, Systems and Society, who recently co-authored a study about the coal-to-gas switch, said continuing to rely on natural gas will grow increasingly difficult.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“It has served as a bridge,” she said. “But we’re kind of nearing the end of the bridge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>How Far Have Emissions Fallen?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Official EPA data says \u003ca href=\"https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2019-04/documents/us-ghg-inventory-2019-chapter-3-energy.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">methane emissions from the oil and gas industry\u003c/a> were down slightly from 2005 to 2017 and were down significantly from 1990 levels. Over the same period, oil and gas production has grown substantially, and the industry points to this as a sign of its efforts to limit emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Given the seriousness and risks of climate change, natural gas and oil operators are working harder than ever to capture as much methane as possible during production and transmission,” said Reid Porter, a spokesman for the American Petroleum Institute, in an email.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Yet while EPA hasn’t published data for the past two years, other sources suggest methane emissions may be rising. The U.S. Energy Information Administration says the industry’s venting and flaring—venting is the intentional release of methane to the atmosphere, while flaring burns the methane to emit carbon dioxide instead—\u003ca href=\"https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/ng_prod_sum_a_EPG0_VGV_mmcf_a.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">jumped by about 66 percent\u003c/a> in 2018. That doesn’t include unintended leaks from equipment. An \u003ca href=\"https://rhg.com/research/preliminary-us-emissions-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">analysis by the Rhodium Group\u003c/a> of more recent data found that the industry’s methane emissions were up last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whatever the official numbers say, actual emissions are almost certainly far higher. Figuring out how much methane is leaking is critical for climate accounting: while methane remains in the atmosphere for a much shorter period than carbon dioxide, it traps far more heat while it’s there. Scientists say methane is responsible for about one-quarter of the warming the world has experienced so far. And the oil and gas sector appears to be a growing source of these emissions globally.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956353 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"766\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/gas-oil-methane-problem-529-160x232.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In 2018, \u003ca href=\"https://science.sciencemag.org/content/361/6398/186\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a study by scientists\u003c/a> with the Environmental Defense Fund and more than a dozen research institutions pulled together measurements taken around the country and estimated that the industry leaked about 2.3 percent of all the gas it produced in 2015. That’s about 60 percent more than EPA reported. Others have suggested the rate could more like 3 percent. Lyon, one of the study’s authors, said the scale of the leaks suggests the benefits of gas are much less than they appear.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“Probably the average national loss rate is low enough that there are immediate climate benefits of replacing coal with gas,” he said. “But it’s going to be close.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the biggest uncertainties comes from so-called “super-emitters”—a term that refers to uncommon events that release massive volumes of methane. Last year, Dutch scientists published research drawing on satellite data suggesting that one 2018 accident at an Ohio gas well \u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/climate/methane-leak-satellite.html\">l\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/16/climate/methane-leak-satellite.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">eaked more methane\u003c/a> than the entire oil and gas industry of Norway does in a year. ExxonMobil, which operated the well through a subsidiary, said internal data had shown the volume of leaked gas was smaller.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The American Petroleum Institute has also \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03032017/scott-pruitt-environmental-protection-agency-methane-greenhouse-gas-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">supported\u003c/a> \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/29082019/methane-regulation-oil-gas-storage-pipelines-epa-rollback-trump-wheeler\">steps\u003c/a> by the Trump administration to weaken regulations enacted by the Obama administration to improve reporting and reduce leaks. Porter said other state and federal regulations already control methane emissions.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Beyond the U.S., new evidence suggests natural gas use is \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/03122019/fossil-fuel-emissions-2019-natural-gas-bridge-oil-coal-climate-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">growing so fast globally\u003c/a> that the rise in carbon dioxide emissions from gas has eclipsed the decline in emissions from coal. And that’s not even counting methane leaks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Looking Ahead\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if gas has provided a benefit so far, there’s growing evidence it’s becoming an increasingly bad bet for the future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Precisely how bad depends in part on how methane is compared with carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas. Since methane traps more heat but breaks down much more quickly, scientists use a sliding scale to convert methane emissions into “carbon dioxide equivalents.” If you compare the two gases over the course of a century, methane is roughly 30 times more potent than carbon dioxide. If you look over a 20-year timeframe, methane is more than 80 times stronger. The EPA uses the 100-year conversion.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“What that does is it greatly discounts what methane can do for the decade or three that it’s in the atmosphere,” said Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology at Cornell University, speaking about the EPA’s approach. “I and others have been arguing we should use a shorter time frame, because we’re concerned about reaching tipping points in the climate system over the next one to two to three decades, and methane can drive us over those tipping points.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In December, Trancik and Magdalena Klemun, a postdoctoral researcher at MIT, \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2577\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published a study\u003c/a> about whether gas can continue to help drive down greenhouse gas emissions by replacing coal in the electricity mix, given the methane leaks from the supply chain. They found that if you focus on methane’s short-term warming impact, the industry would need to eliminate up to 90 percent of its methane emissions in order to help meet a goal of cutting total greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector by 32 percent below 2005 levels by 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But methane leaks are just part of the story. While a natural gas-fired power plant emits only about half the carbon dioxide as a coal plant, that’s still far from zero. And record-high gas production has sent prices plummeting, driving a boom in industrial activity to use all that cheap gas.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A pair of recent studies used data from permits for planned and recently completed projects such as chemical plants and liquid natural gas export facilities to estimate what this boom in industrial development could mean for emissions. One, \u003ca href=\"https://www.environmentalintegrity.org/news/oil-and-gas-industry-expansions-could-add-as-much-greenhouse-gas-pollution-as-50-coal-plants-by-2025/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">by the Environmental Integrity Project\u003c/a>, an advocacy group, found that by 2025, the planned development could contribute a level of emissions equal to that of 50 coal plants. Another, \u003ca href=\"https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab5e6f/pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">published this month\u003c/a> by researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, projected out to 2030 but limited its scope to development in Texas and Louisiana. It found even higher figures. If every proposed project were to move forward, they determined, the industry’s expansion in the region could lead to an additional 541 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent per year by 2030, equal to about 8 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And methane leaks were only a piece of that. The expansion of petrochemical plants, like those that \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16012020/plastics-marine-oceans-climate-change-oil-gas-carbon-emissions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">produce plastics from gas\u003c/a>, account for nearly 40 percent of the additional emissions. New liquified natural gas terminals, which allow companies to export gas overseas, make up nearly 20 percent of the emissions. The study was funded by the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, which was founded by a former energy executive who pioneered using hydraulic fracturing to produce gas from shale.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The idea of natural gas as a bridge fuel to a more renewable future “is a thing that is said,” said Andrew Waxman, the paper’s lead author. “My main response is that the jury is still out.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Another Way\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You only build a bridge as long as it needs to be. And increasingly, many advocates and energy experts are saying that in the transition to low-carbon energy, we’ve already reached the other side.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wind and solar power are now often cheaper than gas. The costs of large batteries are coming down rapidly, too, which could allow wind and solar power to provide a higher proportion of the grid’s electricity, even though they produce energy intermittently. Already, construction of new renewables \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/campaign-archive/clean-economy-weekly/1827189\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">is outpacing gas\u003c/a> in terms of capacity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If the aim is to get to zero net emissions by midcentury, Trancik said, “then you have to transition away from natural gas.” At this point, she said, any new natural gas power plant or pipeline, which may be expected to continue operating for decades, creates a new financial incentive to continue to use more gas, making it that much harder to phase out fossil fuels.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">“I think we should be very hesitant of investing in new infrastructure with a long life,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u003cem>An earlier version of this article incorrectly characterized the Environmental Defense Fund’s relationship with the oil and gas industry. EDF collaborates with companies in working on the methane problem but does not receive money from the industry.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Cities' Lawsuits Seeking Damages for Climate Change Reach Critical Juncture",
"headTitle": "Cities’ Lawsuits Seeking Damages for Climate Change Reach Critical Juncture | KQED",
"content": "\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">With a dozen state and local governments in court seeking damages related to climate change from fossil fuel companies, the U.S. Supreme Court may be the final stop for an industry seeking protection from billion dollar verdicts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">At some point, one of the lawsuits is likely to drop into the lap of the high court and its newly cemented conservative block of justices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rhode Island, Baltimore, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27062018/coastal-cities-lawsuit-fossil-fuel-oil-climate-change-sea-level-rise-damage-imperial-beach-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tiny Imperial Beach, California \u003c/a>and the other localities for the most part want the cases tried in state court and out of federal jurisdiction, arguing that climate-induced extreme weather linked to oil and gas consumption has led to billions in property damage and huge remediation costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66 and the other oil and gas giants, on the other hand, have gone to federal court over the issue of jurisdiction, arguing that the Clean Air Act and other federal laws preempt any claim under state law that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels cause climate change and related property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On both sides, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The localities and a 13th plaintiff—the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations—want to make the fossil fuel industry responsible for the cost of sea level rise, more intense wildfires, hurricanes and flooding that climate scientists attribute to a warming planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy companies want the opposite—protection from those costs in the form of court rulings that could go all the way to the Supreme Court, holding that global issues like climate change have no business being litigated in either state or federal court. If the high court concurs, it could set environmental, social, political and economic precedents for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 13 climate cases are all now pending federal appeals court rulings that address the jurisdiction question, not the substantive issues linking the fossil fuel companies to climate change. Two cases addressing the question of whether they should be heard in state or federal courts have been argued before federal appellate courts, with rulings expected before summer. Hearings have been scheduled over the next few months for most of the other cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal experts believe the first significant test in the high court could come after one of the federal appeals courts renders an opinion on the jurisdiction issue. The energy companies are counting on a high court ruling that blocks the lawsuits on jurisdictional grounds. That way, the core climate change issues raised by the municipalities will never even be considered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They will argue the cases should all be summarily thrown out,” said Pat Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at the Vermont Law School. “They’re counting on the conservative justices being willing to slam the door on climate cases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities, states, counties and fishermen’s associations that are plaintiffs in the suits are trying to build the case that fossil fuel companies knew of the dangers created by their products and failed to warn the public, thereby imposing huge costs on communities that have to deal with the impacts of sea level rise and other consequences of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This focus on the conduct of the fossil fuel producers differs from earlier climate cases in which plaintiffs focused on emissions, and blamed the utility and fossil fuel industries for producing the greenhouse gases warming the planet. The Supreme Court ruled in response to those suits that emissions were governed under the Clean Air Act, and as such, were not matters for the courts to consider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the high court has also said that there may be a basis under state common law for some of the more recent cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s over the issue of jurisdiction that the industry will wage its most fierce fight, said Katherine Trisolini, a Loyola Law School professor specializing in climate change and energy law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court is much more likely to consider this procedural question, she said, than to weigh in on matters of substance related to the claims made in the various lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The jurisdiction question is a bit more clear for review,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.lls.edu/faculty/facultylists-z/trisolinikatherine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Trisolini\u003c/a> said. “That’s where the door is most widely open for a Supreme Court review.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost as soon as the lawsuits were filed, the fossil fuel companies began the fight to have the cases heard in federal court where the companies believe—on the basis of the earlier rulings on emissions—that they have the advantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The companies are arguing that, while the local governments might have fashioned their complaints under state law, they actually involved issues best decided by a federal court, where precedent favors the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But so far, the industry’s efforts to get the climate suits out of the state courts have been largely unsuccessful, setting the stage for the federal appeals. In all but two of the 13 cases, federal district court judges have agreed that the lawsuits should be heard in state courts guided by various state laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26062018/california-cities-climate-change-lawsuits-dismissed-fossil-fuels-industry-rising-sea-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A federal judge in San Francisco has been the exception, rejecting lawsuits\u003c/a> filed by San Francisco and Oakland on the grounds that state courts were not the proper place to deal with global issues like climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,” U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup wrote in\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4559977-Case-Dismissed-6-25-2018.htmlhttps:/www.documentcloud.org/documents/4559977-Case-Dismissed-6-25-2018.htmlhttps:/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/26/climate/document-Judge-Dismisses-Climate-Suit-Against-Oil-Companies.html\"> his opinion.\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, six other California lawsuits, filed by the cities of Imperial Beach, Santa Cruz and Richmond; and the counties of San Mateo, Marin and Santa Cruz, remain in state court after \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4414439-Judge-Chhabria-Rules-IB-Case-to-Stay-in-State.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. District Court Jusge Vincent Chhabria ruled \u003c/a>that was the proper jurisdiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similarly, U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander in Maryland, ruling on Baltimore’s climate suit, wrote that the industry’s desire for federal jurisdiction was nothing more than a “hijacking” of state authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To allow the case to move forward in federal court “enhances federal judicial power at the expense of plaintiffs and state courts,” Hollander\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6567331-Baltimore-Judge-Rebuffs-Industry.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> wrote. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to explain that the public nuisance claims alleged by the city could only be decided in a state court. The city, she noted, “nowhere even alleges that the defendants violated any federal statutes or regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry didn’t like that slap down, and sent its lawyers to the Supreme Court for help, as it did after two other similarly adverse rulings. They argued before the high court that state cases should not be allowed to move forward until the federal appellate courts resolve the jurisdictional questions about where climate nuisance claims belong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6567332-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-to-SCOTUS-in-Baltimore-Case.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Industry lawyers told the high court\u003c/a>, “It’s difficult to imagine claims that more clearly implicate substantial questions of federal law and require uniform disposition than the claims at issue here.” The lawsuits,” they added, “seek to transform the nation’s energy, environmental, national security and foreign policies by punishing energy companies for lawfully supplying necessary oil and gas resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high court didn’t bite, however. It declined to take up the issue, though the refusal cannot be interpreted as a tip of the court’s hand one way or the other as to whether the justices will eventually invite an appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they do, the conservative majority on the high court may seize on the larger question of separation of powers, reasoning that the judiciary should not be part of a resolution to such momentous matters, said\u003ca href=\"https://www.vermontlaw.edu/directory/person/parenteau-pat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Parenteau\u003c/a>, of the Vermont Law School, who has consulted on several of the climate cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In taking up any review, the justices may say, “Courts simply have no business adjudicating disputes over a global problem like climate change,” he said. “The oil industry is providing a vital service to the nation and the world. There is no obvious alternative. What to do about all this is a matter for Congress and the Executive Branch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: “In other words—the industry’s playbook.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Significantly, the high court’s refusal to halt state-level proceedings, as the industry had asked, means the cases will go forward pending an appellate court ruling on the jurisdictional issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That opens the door for the localities to obtain potentially explosive material in the discovery process related to the industry’s knowledge of the links between fossil-fuel combustion and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the industry does not prevail in the pending federal appeals, the Supreme Court may be reluctant to weigh in, said Ann Carlson, an environmental law expert at UCLA School of Law, who has consulted for some of the plaintiffs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not clear these issues raised under state common law claims are the kinds of issues the Supreme Court may want to insert itself into,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/ann-carlson/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlson\u003c/a> said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high court simply may feel that it’s best left to the state courts to hash out the issues based on prevailing state laws, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court may look at this and say these claims do not raise federal, constitutional questions,” Carlson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, she said, the cases will be “long fought,” with the Supreme Court being asked to weigh in at times—and perhaps serving as the final arbiter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s a roll of the dice each time,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"excerpt": "Big oil and gas companies maneuver to steer the lawsuits into federal court, setting the stage for a possible showdown in the U.S. Supreme Court.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">With a dozen state and local governments in court seeking damages related to climate change from fossil fuel companies, the U.S. Supreme Court may be the final stop for an industry seeking protection from billion dollar verdicts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">At some point, one of the lawsuits is likely to drop into the lap of the high court and its newly cemented conservative block of justices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rhode Island, Baltimore, \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27062018/coastal-cities-lawsuit-fossil-fuel-oil-climate-change-sea-level-rise-damage-imperial-beach-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tiny Imperial Beach, California \u003c/a>and the other localities for the most part want the cases tried in state court and out of federal jurisdiction, arguing that climate-induced extreme weather linked to oil and gas consumption has led to billions in property damage and huge remediation costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">ExxonMobil, Chevron, Phillips 66 and the other oil and gas giants, on the other hand, have gone to federal court over the issue of jurisdiction, arguing that the Clean Air Act and other federal laws preempt any claim under state law that carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels cause climate change and related property damage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On both sides, the stakes couldn’t be higher. The localities and a 13th plaintiff—the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations—want to make the fossil fuel industry responsible for the cost of sea level rise, more intense wildfires, hurricanes and flooding that climate scientists attribute to a warming planet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The energy companies want the opposite—protection from those costs in the form of court rulings that could go all the way to the Supreme Court, holding that global issues like climate change have no business being litigated in either state or federal court. If the high court concurs, it could set environmental, social, political and economic precedents for generations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 13 climate cases are all now pending federal appeals court rulings that address the jurisdiction question, not the substantive issues linking the fossil fuel companies to climate change. Two cases addressing the question of whether they should be heard in state or federal courts have been argued before federal appellate courts, with rulings expected before summer. Hearings have been scheduled over the next few months for most of the other cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Legal experts believe the first significant test in the high court could come after one of the federal appeals courts renders an opinion on the jurisdiction issue. The energy companies are counting on a high court ruling that blocks the lawsuits on jurisdictional grounds. That way, the core climate change issues raised by the municipalities will never even be considered.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They will argue the cases should all be summarily thrown out,” said Pat Parenteau, a professor of environmental law at the Vermont Law School. “They’re counting on the conservative justices being willing to slam the door on climate cases.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The cities, states, counties and fishermen’s associations that are plaintiffs in the suits are trying to build the case that fossil fuel companies knew of the dangers created by their products and failed to warn the public, thereby imposing huge costs on communities that have to deal with the impacts of sea level rise and other consequences of climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This focus on the conduct of the fossil fuel producers differs from earlier climate cases in which plaintiffs focused on emissions, and blamed the utility and fossil fuel industries for producing the greenhouse gases warming the planet. The Supreme Court ruled in response to those suits that emissions were governed under the Clean Air Act, and as such, were not matters for the courts to consider.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the high court has also said that there may be a basis under state common law for some of the more recent cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s over the issue of jurisdiction that the industry will wage its most fierce fight, said Katherine Trisolini, a Loyola Law School professor specializing in climate change and energy law.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Supreme Court is much more likely to consider this procedural question, she said, than to weigh in on matters of substance related to the claims made in the various lawsuits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The jurisdiction question is a bit more clear for review,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.lls.edu/faculty/facultylists-z/trisolinikatherine/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Trisolini\u003c/a> said. “That’s where the door is most widely open for a Supreme Court review.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Almost as soon as the lawsuits were filed, the fossil fuel companies began the fight to have the cases heard in federal court where the companies believe—on the basis of the earlier rulings on emissions—that they have the advantage.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The companies are arguing that, while the local governments might have fashioned their complaints under state law, they actually involved issues best decided by a federal court, where precedent favors the companies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But so far, the industry’s efforts to get the climate suits out of the state courts have been largely unsuccessful, setting the stage for the federal appeals. In all but two of the 13 cases, federal district court judges have agreed that the lawsuits should be heard in state courts guided by various state laws.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26062018/california-cities-climate-change-lawsuits-dismissed-fossil-fuels-industry-rising-sea-levels\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">A federal judge in San Francisco has been the exception, rejecting lawsuits\u003c/a> filed by San Francisco and Oakland on the grounds that state courts were not the proper place to deal with global issues like climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case,” U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup wrote in\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4559977-Case-Dismissed-6-25-2018.htmlhttps:/www.documentcloud.org/documents/4559977-Case-Dismissed-6-25-2018.htmlhttps:/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/06/26/climate/document-Judge-Dismisses-Climate-Suit-Against-Oil-Companies.html\"> his opinion.\u003c/a>\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, six other California lawsuits, filed by the cities of Imperial Beach, Santa Cruz and Richmond; and the counties of San Mateo, Marin and Santa Cruz, remain in state court after \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4414439-Judge-Chhabria-Rules-IB-Case-to-Stay-in-State.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">U.S. District Court Jusge Vincent Chhabria ruled \u003c/a>that was the proper jurisdiction.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Similarly, U.S. District Judge Ellen L. Hollander in Maryland, ruling on Baltimore’s climate suit, wrote that the industry’s desire for federal jurisdiction was nothing more than a “hijacking” of state authority.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To allow the case to move forward in federal court “enhances federal judicial power at the expense of plaintiffs and state courts,” Hollander\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6567331-Baltimore-Judge-Rebuffs-Industry.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> wrote. \u003c/a>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>She went on to explain that the public nuisance claims alleged by the city could only be decided in a state court. The city, she noted, “nowhere even alleges that the defendants violated any federal statutes or regulations.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The industry didn’t like that slap down, and sent its lawyers to the Supreme Court for help, as it did after two other similarly adverse rulings. They argued before the high court that state cases should not be allowed to move forward until the federal appellate courts resolve the jurisdictional questions about where climate nuisance claims belong.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6567332-Fossil-Fuel-Companies-to-SCOTUS-in-Baltimore-Case.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Industry lawyers told the high court\u003c/a>, “It’s difficult to imagine claims that more clearly implicate substantial questions of federal law and require uniform disposition than the claims at issue here.” The lawsuits,” they added, “seek to transform the nation’s energy, environmental, national security and foreign policies by punishing energy companies for lawfully supplying necessary oil and gas resources.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high court didn’t bite, however. It declined to take up the issue, though the refusal cannot be interpreted as a tip of the court’s hand one way or the other as to whether the justices will eventually invite an appeal.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If they do, the conservative majority on the high court may seize on the larger question of separation of powers, reasoning that the judiciary should not be part of a resolution to such momentous matters, said\u003ca href=\"https://www.vermontlaw.edu/directory/person/parenteau-pat\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Parenteau\u003c/a>, of the Vermont Law School, who has consulted on several of the climate cases.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In taking up any review, the justices may say, “Courts simply have no business adjudicating disputes over a global problem like climate change,” he said. “The oil industry is providing a vital service to the nation and the world. There is no obvious alternative. What to do about all this is a matter for Congress and the Executive Branch.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He added: “In other words—the industry’s playbook.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Significantly, the high court’s refusal to halt state-level proceedings, as the industry had asked, means the cases will go forward pending an appellate court ruling on the jurisdictional issue.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That opens the door for the localities to obtain potentially explosive material in the discovery process related to the industry’s knowledge of the links between fossil-fuel combustion and climate change.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If the industry does not prevail in the pending federal appeals, the Supreme Court may be reluctant to weigh in, said Ann Carlson, an environmental law expert at UCLA School of Law, who has consulted for some of the plaintiffs\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s not clear these issues raised under state common law claims are the kinds of issues the Supreme Court may want to insert itself into,”\u003ca href=\"https://www.ioes.ucla.edu/person/ann-carlson/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Carlson\u003c/a> said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The high court simply may feel that it’s best left to the state courts to hash out the issues based on prevailing state laws, she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The Supreme Court may look at this and say these claims do not raise federal, constitutional questions,” Carlson said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Nevertheless, she said, the cases will be “long fought,” with the Supreme Court being asked to weigh in at times—and perhaps serving as the final arbiter.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Frustrated with the sight of plastic bags and styrofoam containers piling up in its harbor, the city of Charleston, South Carolina, rang in the new year with a promise to start enforcing a ban on single-use plastic containers and utensils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s one of hundreds of similar bans that have been launched across the U.S. and \u003ca href=\"https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_19_2631\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Europe\u003c/a>, amid a growing backlash to an industry that is expanding despite increasing evidence of the harm its products can do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In just the past year, researchers have shown that tiny particles of plastic are pervasive in the environment, even high in the mountains and inside human bodies. Dead whales have washed up with dozens of pounds of plastic waste in their stomachs. And a new awareness of the role the plastics industry plays in climate change is emerging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If it’s in our marshes, it’s in our oysters, it’s in our fish and it’s in our dolphins,” said Caroline Bradner, the Land, Water & Wildlife Project Manager for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League. “And if there is plastic in them, there is plastic in us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The scientific studies and images of plastic waste have been shifting how the public sees plastics, and that has gotten the industry’s attention at the highest levels. The industry has been simultaneously fighting to prevent local plastics bans and trying to promote itself as a solution, while its production keeps growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, one giant plastics plant is under construction, and a second awaits a decision on financing in an Appalachian region that federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/12/f58/Nov%202018%20DOE%20Ethane%20Hub%20Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">have said\u003c/a> could support even more manufacturing—an effort that the Trump administration may assist with loan guarantees this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the Gulf Coast, seven large petrochemical facilities have been approved since 2015. Environmentalists are fighting them, with the latest lawsuit filed last week over the federal permits for what would be one of the world’s largest plastics plants, planned near a wetlands area along the Mississippi River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is “an incredible disconnect” between public concerns about what plastics pollution is doing to the environment and all of the industry funding and tax dollars being invested in new plastics manufacturing, said Judith Enck, a former official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who in 2019 founded the Beyond Plastics campaign, a nonpartisan initiative that seeks to end plastic pollution. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956118 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px-160x231.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Industry officials contend that they are just trying to meet consumer demand, and they say they are looking for ways to improve recycling and reduce waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We fundamentally think plastics don’t belong in the environment,” said Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry lobby group with members in the alliance. But, he added, plastics are essential. “You may be able to do without a plastic bag, but most products there really isn’t a substitute for or an ability to go without it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘A Climate Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">From scientific research papers to reports by environmental groups, 2019 delivered a relentless stream of evidence about environmental and health concerns related to plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I must say it’s been pretty uncomfortable … as we have watched images of plastic strewn over beaches and pictures of sea animals with ingested plastic,” Patty Long, the interim chief executive officer of the Plastics Industry Association, lamented at the Global Plastics Summit last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We see it over and over and over again,” she \u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072019/plastic-waste-ocean-global-summit-industry-solutions-recycling-climate-change\">told\u003c/a>\u003c/b> the industry gathering, co-hosted by the Plastics Industry Association and IHS Markit, which closely tracks the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003cli>Plastic particles were found in the stomachs of the deepest known marine animals, nearly seven miles below the surface of the sea.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The wind\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-47947235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> deposited\u003c/a> as much microplastic per square meter in a secluded area high in the Pyrenees Mountains, along the French and Spanish border, as researchers would expect in the city of Paris.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The average American now ingests more than 70,000 particles of microplastics per year, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> study\u003c/a> in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The carcass of a dead sperm whale\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/dead-pregnant-whale-plastic-italy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> washed ashore\u003c/a> in Italy with 49 pounds of plastic in its stomach; and a beached young Cuvier’s beaked whale died in the Philippines, with a necropsy\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704471596/stomach-of-dead-whale-contained-nothing-but-plastic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> revealing\u003c/a> 88 pounds of plastic including plastic bags from grocery stores.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Center for International Environmental Law also\u003ca href=\"https://www.ciel.org/reports/plastic-health-the-hidden-costs-of-a-plastic-planet-may-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> published\u003c/a> a report in May that found greenhouse gas emissions from the plastics lifecycle—from natural gas extraction to plastics production and disposal—could reach 850 million metric tons in 2019, about the same as 189 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The total is projected to rise to 1.34 billion metric tons per year by 2030, equivalent to the emissions from nearly 300 coal plants of that size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The group, working with the Environmental Integrity Project, FracTracker Alliance and others, concluded that the plastics’ and petrochemical industries’ plans could make it impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the most challenging benchmark established under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Plastics have been a climate crisis hiding in plain sight,” said Carroll Muffett, president and chief executive officer of the law center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christman, with the chemical industry lobby group, argued that the law center should have compared the carbon emissions from plastics when they are used as substitutes to materials like glass or steel. Greenhouse gas emissions are spared when cars are made lighter and more fuel-efficient with plastic parts, he said, and when plastic wrapping preserves food to avoid spoilage and disposal in methane-producing landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With all of these issues, yes, we have to avoid regrettable substitution,” Muffett responded. But the “simple argument that all the possible substitutes are going to be worse than plastics” is wrong, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plastics Could Grow 3.5 to 4 Percent Annually Through 2035\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, the public relied on recycling to justify its plastics use, but now that, too, is in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2018, China’s decided to stop accepting most plastic materials for recycling, and last May, 187 countries added plastics to an international treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste around the globe, requiring exporters to obtain government permission before shipping lower quality plastic wastes to their countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s not all that’s preventing effective recycling. The economics of recycling “are still upside down,” largely because of a glut of the fossil fuels used to make plastic, said Nina Bellucci Butler, the chief executive officer of More Recycling, a research and consulting company that works with the plastics industry on recycling,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are just awash in natural gas and oil,” she said. “The only thing we can do is make an incredible amount of plastics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The plastics industry has tried to show that it is responding to waste concerns. It \u003ca href=\"https://endplasticwaste.org/latest/the-alliance-launches-today/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced\u003c/a> a $1.5 billion Alliance to End Plastic Waste with the goal of improving plastic waste management in Asia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">But it is also moving ahead with new plastics manufacturing plants, as the oil and gas industry eyes plastics as a growing part of its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The data firm IHS Markit has forecast that plastics production will grow on average 3.5 to 4 percent per year through at least 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In western Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh, hundreds of workers \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25022019/plastics-hub-appalachian-fracking-ethane-cracker-climate-change-health-ohio-river\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are building\u003c/a> a massive Shell Polymers plant to turn ethane—a product of a decade-old natural gas fracking boom there—into the basic building blocks of plastic products. Analysts have \u003ca href=\"https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/petrochemical-cluster-a-bright-future-for-the-tristate-region.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> the region could support as many as five of these plants, which “crack” ethane molecules to make ethylene and polyethylene resin pellets. \u003ca href=\"http://pttgcbelmontcountyoh.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">One \u003c/a>has already obtained environmental permits in Belmont County, Ohio, and is awaiting a financing decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, the Trump administration could decide whether to provide $1.9 billion in loan guarantees for the development of \u003ca href=\"https://aongrc.wvu.edu/reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">underground storage\u003c/a> for ethane it\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-perry-announces-appalachian-ethane-storage-hub-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> says\u003c/a> would help establish a whole new plastics manufacturing hub in Appalachia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/organizational_sign_on_letter_opposing_dept._of_energy_backing_petro_hub-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Environmental groups\u003c/a> and some Democrats in Congress are fighting the loan guarantees, which would go to a West Virginia business, Appalachia Development Group, that has proposed developing the storage in mined salt or limestone caverns underground.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956119 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"924\" height=\"693\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px.png 924w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Near the Gulf Coast, environmentalists are also fighting new or expanding petrochemical and plastics manufacturing plants. The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_70830ffe-0a1c-11ea-b387-b768e1c2ecc8.html\"> reported\u003c/a>\u003c/b> in late November that seven large petrochemical facilities and expansions had been approved in that area since 2015, and five more were awaiting permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of them stands out for its cost and size: the $9.6 billion Formosa plastics and petrochemical complex, proposed on 2,400 acres in St. James Parish. In early January, it was granted air quality permits, and the Center for Biological Diversity is now \u003ca href=\"https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-fast-tracking-of-louisiana-plastics-project-2020-01-15/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suing\u003c/a>, arguing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to disclose environmental damage and public health risks of the plastic facility under the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012020/trump-nepa-environmental-review-changes-climate-change-infrastructure-pipelines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Environmental Policy Act\u003c/a>. More lawsuits are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Congress Eyes Competing Approaches to Plastics Regulation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the state level, lawmakers introduced at least 95 bills in 2019 related to plastic bags, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most, including those in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/nyregion/plastic-bag-ban-.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/maine-bans-single-use-plastic-grocery-bags-by-earth-day-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maine\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/06/vermont-adopts-most-comprehensive-single-use-plastics-ban/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vermont\u003c/a>, sought to ban or place a fee on plastic bags. However, some went in the opposite direction, attempting to prevent local governments from making their own decisions on how to manage plastic waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota all blocked their cities from passing local bag rules in 2019. South Carolina lawmakers have been trying to pass a similar law, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article226176810.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">promoted by lobbyists\u003c/a> for the industry. A “ban on bans” bill, \u003ca href=\"https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=394&session=123&summary=B\">S.394\u003c/a>, will pick up this month where it left off last year, and could come to a vote before the full South Carolina Senate, said Bradner, of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whether a divided Congress in a heated election year can pass meaningful legislation remains an open question. But some federal lawmakers are trying, with competing approaches focused either on government funding or manufacturer responsibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The industry backs bills like Save Our Seas 2.0 and the\u003ca href=\"https://cardenas.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/c-rdenas-bucshon-introduce-recover-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> RECOVER Act\u003c/a>, which aim to improve waste management and recycling. Neither would slow the production of plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are floating another proposal that would require plastics producers to establish a national container deposit program, collect fees on non-reusable plastic bags, increase the amount of recycled plastic used in new products and establish a moratorium on new plastics manufacturing plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The financial burden of cleaning up pollution should not be solely on the taxpayers,” Lowenthal said at a Congressional hearing last fall. “It’s imperative the the companies that manufacture and sell these products take ownership of their environmental impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>\u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/Neq_CwpkPvsGmMG7hVOy7A?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">InsideClimate News\u003c/a> is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter \u003ca href=\"https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/pD-rCxklQwf1V61yTviMEq?domain=insideclimatenews.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">here\u003c/a>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Frustrated with the sight of plastic bags and styrofoam containers piling up in its harbor, the city of Charleston, South Carolina, rang in the new year with a promise to start enforcing a ban on single-use plastic containers and utensils.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">It’s one of hundreds of similar bans that have been launched across the U.S. and \u003ca href=\"https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_19_2631\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Europe\u003c/a>, amid a growing backlash to an industry that is expanding despite increasing evidence of the harm its products can do.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In just the past year, researchers have shown that tiny particles of plastic are pervasive in the environment, even high in the mountains and inside human bodies. Dead whales have washed up with dozens of pounds of plastic waste in their stomachs. And a new awareness of the role the plastics industry plays in climate change is emerging.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“If it’s in our marshes, it’s in our oysters, it’s in our fish and it’s in our dolphins,” said Caroline Bradner, the Land, Water & Wildlife Project Manager for the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League. “And if there is plastic in them, there is plastic in us.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The scientific studies and images of plastic waste have been shifting how the public sees plastics, and that has gotten the industry’s attention at the highest levels. The industry has been simultaneously fighting to prevent local plastics bans and trying to promote itself as a solution, while its production keeps growing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, one giant plastics plant is under construction, and a second awaits a decision on financing in an Appalachian region that federal officials \u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2018/12/f58/Nov%202018%20DOE%20Ethane%20Hub%20Report.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">have said\u003c/a> could support even more manufacturing—an effort that the Trump administration may assist with loan guarantees this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">On the Gulf Coast, seven large petrochemical facilities have been approved since 2015. Environmentalists are fighting them, with the latest lawsuit filed last week over the federal permits for what would be one of the world’s largest plastics plants, planned near a wetlands area along the Mississippi River.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">There is “an incredible disconnect” between public concerns about what plastics pollution is doing to the environment and all of the industry funding and tax dollars being invested in new plastics manufacturing, said Judith Enck, a former official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency who in 2019 founded the Beyond Plastics campaign, a nonpartisan initiative that seeks to end plastic pollution. \u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956118 alignright\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"529\" height=\"764\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px.png 529w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/Plastics-Demand-Chart-529px-160x231.png 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 529px) 100vw, 529px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Industry officials contend that they are just trying to meet consumer demand, and they say they are looking for ways to improve recycling and reduce waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We fundamentally think plastics don’t belong in the environment,” said Keith Christman, managing director of plastics markets for the American Chemistry Council, a chemical industry lobby group with members in the alliance. But, he added, plastics are essential. “You may be able to do without a plastic bag, but most products there really isn’t a substitute for or an ability to go without it.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>‘A Climate Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight’\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">From scientific research papers to reports by environmental groups, 2019 delivered a relentless stream of evidence about environmental and health concerns related to plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“I must say it’s been pretty uncomfortable … as we have watched images of plastic strewn over beaches and pictures of sea animals with ingested plastic,” Patty Long, the interim chief executive officer of the Plastics Industry Association, lamented at the Global Plastics Summit last year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We see it over and over and over again,” she \u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072019/plastic-waste-ocean-global-summit-industry-solutions-recycling-climate-change\">told\u003c/a>\u003c/b> the industry gathering, co-hosted by the Plastics Industry Association and IHS Markit, which closely tracks the industry.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">For example:\u003c/p>\n\u003cul style=\"font-weight: 400\">\n\u003cli>Plastic particles were found in the stomachs of the deepest known marine animals, nearly seven miles below the surface of the sea.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The wind\u003ca href=\"https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-47947235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> deposited\u003c/a> as much microplastic per square meter in a secluded area high in the Pyrenees Mountains, along the French and Spanish border, as researchers would expect in the city of Paris.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The average American now ingests more than 70,000 particles of microplastics per year, according to a\u003ca href=\"https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acs.est.9b01517\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> study\u003c/a> in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science & Technology.\u003c/li>\n\u003cli>The carcass of a dead sperm whale\u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/04/dead-pregnant-whale-plastic-italy/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> washed ashore\u003c/a> in Italy with 49 pounds of plastic in its stomach; and a beached young Cuvier’s beaked whale died in the Philippines, with a necropsy\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2019/03/18/704471596/stomach-of-dead-whale-contained-nothing-but-plastic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> revealing\u003c/a> 88 pounds of plastic including plastic bags from grocery stores.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Center for International Environmental Law also\u003ca href=\"https://www.ciel.org/reports/plastic-health-the-hidden-costs-of-a-plastic-planet-may-2019/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> published\u003c/a> a report in May that found greenhouse gas emissions from the plastics lifecycle—from natural gas extraction to plastics production and disposal—could reach 850 million metric tons in 2019, about the same as 189 new 500-megawatt coal-fired power plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The total is projected to rise to 1.34 billion metric tons per year by 2030, equivalent to the emissions from nearly 300 coal plants of that size.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The group, working with the Environmental Integrity Project, FracTracker Alliance and others, concluded that the plastics’ and petrochemical industries’ plans could make it impossible to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, the most challenging benchmark established under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“Plastics have been a climate crisis hiding in plain sight,” said Carroll Muffett, president and chief executive officer of the law center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Christman, with the chemical industry lobby group, argued that the law center should have compared the carbon emissions from plastics when they are used as substitutes to materials like glass or steel. Greenhouse gas emissions are spared when cars are made lighter and more fuel-efficient with plastic parts, he said, and when plastic wrapping preserves food to avoid spoilage and disposal in methane-producing landfills.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“With all of these issues, yes, we have to avoid regrettable substitution,” Muffett responded. But the “simple argument that all the possible substitutes are going to be worse than plastics” is wrong, he added.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Plastics Could Grow 3.5 to 4 Percent Annually Through 2035\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">For years, the public relied on recycling to justify its plastics use, but now that, too, is in crisis.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2018, China’s decided to stop accepting most plastic materials for recycling, and last May, 187 countries added plastics to an international treaty that controls the movement of hazardous waste around the globe, requiring exporters to obtain government permission before shipping lower quality plastic wastes to their countries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">That’s not all that’s preventing effective recycling. The economics of recycling “are still upside down,” largely because of a glut of the fossil fuels used to make plastic, said Nina Bellucci Butler, the chief executive officer of More Recycling, a research and consulting company that works with the plastics industry on recycling,\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“We are just awash in natural gas and oil,” she said. “The only thing we can do is make an incredible amount of plastics.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The plastics industry has tried to show that it is responding to waste concerns. It \u003ca href=\"https://endplasticwaste.org/latest/the-alliance-launches-today/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">announced\u003c/a> a $1.5 billion Alliance to End Plastic Waste with the goal of improving plastic waste management in Asia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">But it is also moving ahead with new plastics manufacturing plants, as the oil and gas industry eyes plastics as a growing part of its future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The data firm IHS Markit has forecast that plastics production will grow on average 3.5 to 4 percent per year through at least 2035.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In western Pennsylvania outside Pittsburgh, hundreds of workers \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25022019/plastics-hub-appalachian-fracking-ethane-cracker-climate-change-health-ohio-river\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">are building\u003c/a> a massive Shell Polymers plant to turn ethane—a product of a decade-old natural gas fracking boom there—into the basic building blocks of plastic products. Analysts have \u003ca href=\"https://ihsmarkit.com/research-analysis/petrochemical-cluster-a-bright-future-for-the-tristate-region.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">said\u003c/a> the region could support as many as five of these plants, which “crack” ethane molecules to make ethylene and polyethylene resin pellets. \u003ca href=\"http://pttgcbelmontcountyoh.com/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">One \u003c/a>has already obtained environmental permits in Belmont County, Ohio, and is awaiting a financing decision.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">In 2020, the Trump administration could decide whether to provide $1.9 billion in loan guarantees for the development of \u003ca href=\"https://aongrc.wvu.edu/reports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">underground storage\u003c/a> for ethane it\u003ca href=\"https://www.energy.gov/articles/secretary-perry-announces-appalachian-ethane-storage-hub-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> says\u003c/a> would help establish a whole new plastics manufacturing hub in Appalachia.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003ca href=\"https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/sites/default/files/organizational_sign_on_letter_opposing_dept._of_energy_backing_petro_hub-2.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Environmental groups\u003c/a> and some Democrats in Congress are fighting the loan guarantees, which would go to a West Virginia business, Appalachia Development Group, that has proposed developing the storage in mined salt or limestone caverns underground.\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1956119 aligncenter\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/app/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"924\" height=\"693\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px.png 924w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-160x120.png 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-800x600.png 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2020/01/natural-gas-to-plastics-manufacturing-1058px-768x576.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 924px) 100vw, 924px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Near the Gulf Coast, environmentalists are also fighting new or expanding petrochemical and plastics manufacturing plants. The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate\u003cb>\u003ca href=\"https://www.nola.com/news/environment/article_70830ffe-0a1c-11ea-b387-b768e1c2ecc8.html\"> reported\u003c/a>\u003c/b> in late November that seven large petrochemical facilities and expansions had been approved in that area since 2015, and five more were awaiting permits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">One of them stands out for its cost and size: the $9.6 billion Formosa plastics and petrochemical complex, proposed on 2,400 acres in St. James Parish. In early January, it was granted air quality permits, and the Center for Biological Diversity is now \u003ca href=\"https://biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/lawsuit-challenges-trump-administrations-fast-tracking-of-louisiana-plastics-project-2020-01-15/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suing\u003c/a>, arguing that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers failed to disclose environmental damage and public health risks of the plastic facility under the \u003ca href=\"https://insideclimatenews.org/news/09012020/trump-nepa-environmental-review-changes-climate-change-infrastructure-pipelines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">National Environmental Policy Act\u003c/a>. More lawsuits are expected.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Congress Eyes Competing Approaches to Plastics Regulation\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">At the state level, lawmakers introduced at least 95 bills in 2019 related to plastic bags, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Most, including those in \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/28/nyregion/plastic-bag-ban-.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New York\u003c/a>, \u003ca href=\"https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/maine-bans-single-use-plastic-grocery-bags-by-earth-day-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maine\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2019/06/vermont-adopts-most-comprehensive-single-use-plastics-ban/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Vermont\u003c/a>, sought to ban or place a fee on plastic bags. However, some went in the opposite direction, attempting to prevent local governments from making their own decisions on how to manage plastic waste.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Oklahoma, Tennessee and North Dakota all blocked their cities from passing local bag rules in 2019. South Carolina lawmakers have been trying to pass a similar law, \u003ca href=\"https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article226176810.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">promoted by lobbyists\u003c/a> for the industry. A “ban on bans” bill, \u003ca href=\"https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=394&session=123&summary=B\">S.394\u003c/a>, will pick up this month where it left off last year, and could come to a vote before the full South Carolina Senate, said Bradner, of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Whether a divided Congress in a heated election year can pass meaningful legislation remains an open question. But some federal lawmakers are trying, with competing approaches focused either on government funding or manufacturer responsibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">The industry backs bills like Save Our Seas 2.0 and the\u003ca href=\"https://cardenas.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/c-rdenas-bucshon-introduce-recover-act\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> RECOVER Act\u003c/a>, which aim to improve waste management and recycling. Neither would slow the production of plastics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">Rep. Alan Lowenthal (D-Calif.) and Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) are floating another proposal that would require plastics producers to establish a national container deposit program, collect fees on non-reusable plastic bags, increase the amount of recycled plastic used in new products and establish a moratorium on new plastics manufacturing plants.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp style=\"font-weight: 400\">“The financial burden of cleaning up pollution should not be solely on the taxpayers,” Lowenthal said at a Congressional hearing last fall. “It’s imperative the the companies that manufacture and sell these products take ownership of their environmental impacts.”\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "times-up-on-groundwater-plans-one-of-the-most-important-new-california-water-laws-in-50-years-explained",
"title": "Time's Up on Groundwater Plans: One of the Most Important New California Water Laws in 50 Years Explained",
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"headTitle": "Time’s Up on Groundwater Plans: One of the Most Important New California Water Laws in 50 Years Explained | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much of California’s water supply is a hidden asset: Deep below the surface, rocks, gravel and sand store water like a sponge, in an underground zone called an aquifer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[pullquote] Managers for 21 ‘critically overdrafted’ basins have a Jan. 31 deadline to submit groundwater management plans. [/pullquote]\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In dry years, this groundwater has been tapped to save farms, keep grass green and provide drinking water to millions of Californians. But over time, people have taken more water out than nature has put back in. Estimates vary, but according to the U.S. Geological Survey, California pumped 41 trillion gallons of water fom the ground in about 100 years, through 2013. In some parts of the Central Valley, that means land has been dropping \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ca-water-ls/science/land-subsidence-san-joaquin-valley?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">around a foot a year\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The landmark \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a>, or SGMA, requires some of the state’s thirstiest areas form local “Groundwater Sustainability Agencies” and submit long-term plans by Jan. 31 for keeping aquifers healthy. Together, those plans will add up to a big reveal, as g\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">roundwater managers finally disclose how badly they believe their aquifers are overdrawn, and a collective picture emerges. It’s a major shift and arguably the most important new California water law in 50 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some key things to know about the groundwater situation in California and how the law will impact the state. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Until six years ago, California did not routinely regulate or monitor groundwater. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The California Constitution decrees that water use has to be reasonable and beneficial, but the state has placed few limits on how water can be pumped from the ground. A 1914 law empowering the state water board to manage the resource omitted groundwater. You can blame the lack of regulation partly on 18th-century Spanish colonists who brought with them the idea that a landowner is entitled to all of the water below the surface, without any obligation to share it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the beginning of the 20th century, water was still plentiful in California, and the idea of unfettered access to groundwater made sense in a state lush with wetlands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So for the last century, landowners continued to think of groundwater as pretty much a birthright. It’s become an essential component of California’s water portfolio: S\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tate officials say 30 million residents rely on groundwater for at least some portion of their drinking supply, and i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n the driest years, people keep basically sticking a straw into the earth to slake their thirst. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Water at the surface is connected to the water hidden below. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The water from California’s rivers and streams, along with rainwater, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">seeps into the ground, where it remains among the rocks, gravel and sand. Between these surface and sub-surface supplies lies the water table, which is what hydrologists call the top of the area that has been saturated underground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using too much groundwater affects not only surface water supplies but also entire ecosystems. Pumping from the earth deep enough to suck water out can lower the groundwater table and dry out surface soils. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rivers and streams feed more than 500 aquifers around California. Less than a quarter of these account for the overwhelming majority of groundwater pumping. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>In these basins, this landmark law already has begun to transform the Central Valley. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For decades, farmers fought the regulation and monitoring of groundwater tooth and nail. Now that it’s here, SGMA has already begun to change the region’s economy and landscape, as some farmers have sold or fallowed land in antipation of the coming changes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Public Policy Institute of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">predicts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that agricultural interests may have to let 750,000 acres of land go fallow, mostly in parts of the San Joaquin Valley where the most severe overpumping has occurred.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farmers may also have to cycle current crops out for those requiring less water. For example, almonds are water-intensive but have been profitable in recent years; those margins would change if water becomes much more expensive than it is now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Some local water managers have a lot of work to show by the end of the month. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are 21 “critically overdrafted” basins for which officials must submit groundwater management plans by Jan. 31. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In each area where people have habitually pumped more than has come back in, local water managers have to figure out how much they’ve taken from underground, and how water at the surface replenishes those stores. Each region has to propose ways to monitor groundwater over multiple intervals: day-to-day, short-term, seasonal, and yearslong. Basically, they’re creating monitoring systems, in some cases from scratch, to help determine whether conditions are changing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The groundwater plans are built around models for how to share water in a way that’s sustainable by 2040. Each one can be a little different, but local managers and the state have to check up on every single one and meet interim deadlines every five years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management\">Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> can accept the plans as is or ask for tweaks. DWR can also refer the plans to the state water board for intervention, meaning that local officials may have to try again if the state judges a plan unlikely to succeed. In extreme cases, the state may have to step in to settle disputes over local rights.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>This isn’t just a Valley problem.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balancing aquifers like bank accounts will cost money and effort in the Bay Area and other parts of the state. Two years from now, managers for dozens more groundwater basins with state-designated risk ratings of high or medium must submit their own plans to the State Water Resources Control Board. They include water managers in Sonoma, Napa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though these plans will take years to come into focus, plenty of political decisions remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State requirements for sustainable regional groundwater management haven’t taken away anyone’s rights; the rules have changed how localities must meet their water needs from now on. Even the plans submitted by the locally formed groundwater agencies that will meet this year’s deadline haven’t absolutely nailed down who gets to use what in the future. The coming decisions and politics about water may be tense, but the alternative is that one day, wells could run dry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act aims to keep aquifers healthy by requiring plans from newly formed local agencies. The policy represents a major shift, mandated by arguably the most important new California water law in 50 years. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Much of California’s water supply is a hidden asset: Deep below the surface, rocks, gravel and sand store water like a sponge, in an underground zone called an aquifer. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": " Managers for 21 ‘critically overdrafted’ basins have a Jan. 31 deadline to submit groundwater management plans. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In dry years, this groundwater has been tapped to save farms, keep grass green and provide drinking water to millions of Californians. But over time, people have taken more water out than nature has put back in. Estimates vary, but according to the U.S. Geological Survey, California pumped 41 trillion gallons of water fom the ground in about 100 years, through 2013. In some parts of the Central Valley, that means land has been dropping \u003ca href=\"https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ca-water-ls/science/land-subsidence-san-joaquin-valley?qt-science_center_objects=0#qt-science_center_objects\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">around a foot a year\u003c/a>. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The landmark \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Sustainable Groundwater Management Act\u003c/a>, or SGMA, requires some of the state’s thirstiest areas form local “Groundwater Sustainability Agencies” and submit long-term plans by Jan. 31 for keeping aquifers healthy. Together, those plans will add up to a big reveal, as g\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">roundwater managers finally disclose how badly they believe their aquifers are overdrawn, and a collective picture emerges. It’s a major shift and arguably the most important new California water law in 50 years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are some key things to know about the groundwater situation in California and how the law will impact the state. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Until six years ago, California did not routinely regulate or monitor groundwater. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The California Constitution decrees that water use has to be reasonable and beneficial, but the state has placed few limits on how water can be pumped from the ground. A 1914 law empowering the state water board to manage the resource omitted groundwater. You can blame the lack of regulation partly on 18th-century Spanish colonists who brought with them the idea that a landowner is entitled to all of the water below the surface, without any obligation to share it. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At the beginning of the 20th century, water was still plentiful in California, and the idea of unfettered access to groundwater made sense in a state lush with wetlands. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So for the last century, landowners continued to think of groundwater as pretty much a birthright. It’s become an essential component of California’s water portfolio: S\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tate officials say 30 million residents rely on groundwater for at least some portion of their drinking supply, and i\u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">n the driest years, people keep basically sticking a straw into the earth to slake their thirst. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cbr>\n\u003cb>Water at the surface is connected to the water hidden below. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The water from California’s rivers and streams, along with rainwater, \u003c/span>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">seeps into the ground, where it remains among the rocks, gravel and sand. Between these surface and sub-surface supplies lies the water table, which is what hydrologists call the top of the area that has been saturated underground. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using too much groundwater affects not only surface water supplies but also entire ecosystems. Pumping from the earth deep enough to suck water out can lower the groundwater table and dry out surface soils. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rivers and streams feed more than 500 aquifers around California. Less than a quarter of these account for the overwhelming majority of groundwater pumping. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>In these basins, this landmark law already has begun to transform the Central Valley. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For decades, farmers fought the regulation and monitoring of groundwater tooth and nail. Now that it’s here, SGMA has already begun to change the region’s economy and landscape, as some farmers have sold or fallowed land in antipation of the coming changes.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Public Policy Institute of California \u003ca href=\"https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-and-the-future-of-the-san-joaquin-valley/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">predicts\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that agricultural interests may have to let 750,000 acres of land go fallow, mostly in parts of the San Joaquin Valley where the most severe overpumping has occurred.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Farmers may also have to cycle current crops out for those requiring less water. For example, almonds are water-intensive but have been profitable in recent years; those margins would change if water becomes much more expensive than it is now. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>Some local water managers have a lot of work to show by the end of the month. \u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are 21 “critically overdrafted” basins for which officials must submit groundwater management plans by Jan. 31. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In each area where people have habitually pumped more than has come back in, local water managers have to figure out how much they’ve taken from underground, and how water at the surface replenishes those stores. Each region has to propose ways to monitor groundwater over multiple intervals: day-to-day, short-term, seasonal, and yearslong. Basically, they’re creating monitoring systems, in some cases from scratch, to help determine whether conditions are changing. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The groundwater plans are built around models for how to share water in a way that’s sustainable by 2040. Each one can be a little different, but local managers and the state have to check up on every single one and meet interim deadlines every five years. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u003ca href=\"https://water.ca.gov/Programs/Groundwater-Management/SGMA-Groundwater-Management\">Department of Water Resources\u003c/a> can accept the plans as is or ask for tweaks. DWR can also refer the plans to the state water board for intervention, meaning that local officials may have to try again if the state judges a plan unlikely to succeed. In extreme cases, the state may have to step in to settle disputes over local rights.\u003cbr>\n\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cb>This isn’t just a Valley problem.\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Balancing aquifers like bank accounts will cost money and effort in the Bay Area and other parts of the state. Two years from now, managers for dozens more groundwater basins with state-designated risk ratings of high or medium must submit their own plans to the State Water Resources Control Board. They include water managers in Sonoma, Napa, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even though these plans will take years to come into focus, plenty of political decisions remain.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400;\">State requirements for sustainable regional groundwater management haven’t taken away anyone’s rights; the rules have changed how localities must meet their water needs from now on. Even the plans submitted by the locally formed groundwater agencies that will meet this year’s deadline haven’t absolutely nailed down who gets to use what in the future. The coming decisions and politics about water may be tense, but the alternative is that one day, wells could run dry.\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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"perspectives": {
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"planet-money": {
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"politicalbreakdown": {
"id": "politicalbreakdown",
"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
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},
"pri-the-world": {
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"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
"airtime": "SUN 12am-1am, SAT 2pm-3pm",
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},
"reveal": {
"id": "reveal",
"title": "Reveal",
"info": "Created by The Center for Investigative Reporting and PRX, Reveal is public radios first one-hour weekly radio show and podcast dedicated to investigative reporting. Credible, fact based and without a partisan agenda, Reveal combines the power and artistry of driveway moment storytelling with data-rich reporting on critically important issues. The result is stories that inform and inspire, arming our listeners with information to right injustices, hold the powerful accountable and improve lives.Reveal is hosted by Al Letson and showcases the award-winning work of CIR and newsrooms large and small across the nation. In a radio and podcast market crowded with choices, Reveal focuses on important and often surprising stories that illuminate the world for our listeners.",
"airtime": "SAT 4pm-5pm",
"imageSrc": "https://ww2.kqed.org/radio/wp-content/uploads/sites/50/2018/04/reveal300px.png",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.revealnews.org/episodes/",
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"source": "npr"
},
"link": "/radio/program/reveal",
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"rss": "http://feeds.revealradio.org/revealpodcast"
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},
"rightnowish": {
"id": "rightnowish",
"title": "Rightnowish",
"tagline": "Art is where you find it",
"info": "Rightnowish digs into life in the Bay Area right now… ish. Journalist Pendarvis Harshaw takes us to galleries painted on the sides of liquor stores in West Oakland. We'll dance in warehouses in the Bayview, make smoothies with kids in South Berkeley, and listen to classical music in a 1984 Cutlass Supreme in Richmond. Every week, Pen talks to movers and shakers about how the Bay Area shapes what they create, and how they shape the place we call home.",
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"source": "kqed",
"order": 16
},
"link": "/podcasts/rightnowish",
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