Hundreds of Mayors Call Out Scott Pruitt's Attack on Clean Energy

On Tuesday, February 20th, 236 mayors sent a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt warning him to stop attacking the nation's clean energy. Scott Pruitt is well known for his acts to destroy environmental and human health protections, in direct violation of his mandate as head of the EPA. The mayors responded vehemently.

Collectively, we represent over 51 million residents, in 47 states & territories across the country. We strongly oppose the proposed repeal of the Clean Power Plan, which would put our citizens at risk and harm our efforts to address the urgent threat of climate change.

The Clean Power Plan is simply a collection of EPA rules that address long-standing needs related to climate and clean energy. The rules were proposed by EPA during the Obama administration. Scott Pruitt is trying to roll back or void these rules to benefit the fossil fuel industry for whom he has been a front man for many years.

The overall goal of the Clean Power Plan is to reduce the amount of carbon pollution emitted into the atmosphere. Carbon pollution is the major cause of global warming, and action to reduce carbon in the oceans and air is absolutely necessary. And it's necessary now. The Clean Power Plan seeks to reduce carbon pollution by 30% by the year 2030, with substantial reductions occurring by 2020. It was

Rather than simply dictate how this will be done, the Clean Power Plan allows each state to determine how best to achieve the goals, and the specific goals are different depending on the circumstances of each state. The rules will lead to a reduction in reliance on carbon-dirty energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas (especially the former) and an increase in more sustainable renewable energy resources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric.  How this happens is up to each state. They may:

• make improvements in efficiently directly at the power plants
• increase energy from renewable sources
• generate more clean energy
• expand programs promoting energy efficiency and conservation

Mayors across the country provided input into the development of the Plan and strongly indicated that cities and states needed help from the federal government to address these national and global issues. In their letter they reminded Scott Pruitt that:

No one is insulated from the impacts of climate change – people in cities of all sizes, along with suburban and rural communities are all at risk. Residents of our communities have experienced harmful impacts of climate change such as dirtier air, increased heat-related illnesses and deaths, damaged and disappearing coastlines, longer droughts and other strains on water quantity and quality, and increasingly frequent and severe storms and wildfires.

These mayors took this extraordinary step to keep Pruitt and Trump from destroying all human health and environmental protections. Doing so would endanger all Americans, immediately and through our children's and grandchildren's lifetimes.

The full mayors letter can be read here. More in The Hill and Inside Climate News.

January is Hot, And the Supreme Court Just Got Interesting

January 2016 set the record for being the hottest January recorded. It follows on the heals of the hottest year ever recorded (2015), which itself blew away the previous record holder set just one year before in 2014. See a trend, anyone? With the climate clearly heating up, so too is the Supreme Court battle over President Obama's attempt to deal with climate change heating up.

The January heat wasn't just hot, it was a bigger hot than any previous hot. At 1.13 degrees C above the norm it exceeds the previous record increase set a month before. This sets the stage for 2016 to possibly set yet another record, the third year in a row to break the previous record. Worse yet, the biggest increase in heat is in the Arctic, where it's so hot that the annual maximum sea ice extent is trending the lowest it has ever been. Bottom line = the rate of warming is higher than it has been in a decade, which will speed up the impacts we are already noticing and move closer impacts we hoped wouldn't be seen until the end of the century.

Which makes the sudden passing of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia so important. Last week I reported on what the February 9th stay on implementation of the President's Clean Power Plan meant for climate. In the blink of an eye the entire calculus changes. The Constitution requires President Obama to nominate a successor to fill Justice Scalia's now vacant position on the bench. That same Constitution requires the Senate to review and vote on the nominee. Despite Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's bloviating about not even considering a nominee, the Constitution requires them to act. With nearly a year left in President Obama's term, there is plenty of time for all to conform to their Constitutional responsibilities.

Given the far right "conservative" leanings of Justice Scalia, it's likely that any Obama nominee will be more judicially, well, judicial rather than overtly political. That obviously puts the Republican majority Senate in a position they would prefer not to be in - hence the bloviating - but they have an obligation to move forward. Assuming some Obama-appointed justice is confirmed, that justice is likely to have a different view on the Clean Power Plan than did Scalia. The same is true for several other pending and possible future issues before the Court.

So what happens next? As Obama decides who he will nominate, the Court is essentially (or at least presumably) deadlocked on key cases; those cases are remanded to the appeal court decisions, which in general favors Obama's positions. For the Clean Power Plan it likely means it will be allowed to move forward. That isn't a given, but the probabilities increase for it to happen.

As a reminder, the Clean Power Plan is simply a set of EPA rules that would help reduce carbon emissions from power plants. It is by no means the "answer" to climate change, merely the first small step within the limitations of Executive Branch authority while we all wait for Congress to take more substantive action. Given the Republican-led Congress's denial of the science, it seems likely that Congress won't take any action until Democrats can retake the majority. That's possible in the Senate this year (though by no means a given), but won't happen in the House until gerrymandering reform makes House seats honestly competitive (something that won't happen at least until after the 2020 elections).

Which is why the Clean Power Plan is so important. It's a small step, but it's a step in the right direction.

Supreme Court Temporarily Stays Clean Power Plan - What it Means

President Obama and the EPA released the Clean Power Plan in August 2015. On February 9, 2016 the Supreme Court issued a stay on implementation of the plan. Not surprisingly, the usual five conservative judges outvoted the other four. So what does this stay mean?

As a reminder, the Clean Power Plan is a set of EPA rules designed to curtail coal-based power plant emissions in an effort to combat man-made climate change. You can read more about the Plan here.

The stay isn't any kind of decision about the veracity of the Plan; it simply puts on hold implementation of the Plan until an appeals court rules on challenges to the regulations. Again not surprisingly, those challenges are being led largely by Republican states acting on the behest of the fossil fuel industry. Their main argument is that the EPA doesn't have the authority to regulate carbon emissions in power plants, this despite the fact that the EPA mandate clearly does give that authority and past Supreme Court decisions have ordered EPA to follow through on that authority.


The impact of this particular stay is mostly on timing, but that timing could be critical to successfully meeting our commitments to reduce carbon emissions to combat climate change. Given how long court cases take, including appeals back up to the Supreme Court, this could delay implementation for many months or even years. That's bad for the climate, and bad for the economy.

This is how lobbyists work - delay, delay, delay. The fact that they know they are wrong is irrelevant; their goal is to delay action as long as possible. Not coincidentally, delays mean continuation of massive fossil fuel profits just as decades of delaying tactics by tobacco companies allowed them to reap billions in ongoing profits while killing millions of people via smoking-induced cancers.

Beyond the delayed implementation, the bigger issue is that the Clean Power Plan in itself is woefully insufficient to meet our commitments anyway. It's one step, and one step only. It was an effort by the Obama administration to do what could be done to deal with climate change within the limits of the Executive branch of government. More substantive effort requires Congressional action.

And therein lies the rub. Republicans in Congress have made it clear they will deny reality and deny science and be blatantly dishonest in doing so in service to both their fossil fuel benefactors and their stated goal of denying any success to the President. Republicans have made it clear that they are more than willing to sacrifice the economy, health, environment, national security, and climate of the American people solely to maintain the profits of corporations. Ironically, Republicans are severely damaging future profits of those corporations - and all Americans - by holding back American innovation and handing development of future technology over to the Chinese and others.

In the long run, action to stem climate change will happen, if for no other reason that people who have moved out of places like Florida and the eastern coast of the US because of rising sea levels will force action. But why wait until after that happens to act? Why wait until the tub overflows and fills the bathroom before simply pulling out the plug or turning off the tap?

To not act now is irresponsible and counter to all things American.

What President Obama's Clean Power Act Does for Climate Change May Surprise You

On Monday, August 3, 2015, President Barack Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency released final rules designed to curtail coal-based power plant emissions. Called the Clean Power Plan, the goal is to reduced carbon emissions contributing to man-made climate change. The impact of this plan will surprise a lot of Americans.

The following video is only a little over 2 minutes and worth watching:

Reaction has been about what you might expect. The Republican candidates for president and their Republican colleagues in the House and Senate have falsely attacked the plan for the usual false reasons. The Democratic candidates and in Congress largely agree that the steps proposed are necessary to deal with the unequivocal science demonstrating humans are warming the climate system.

Media reporting of the Clean Power Act shows its critical importance. Time magazine says that the President is taking the lead on this "superwicked problem."  CNN says the President "unveils major climate change proposal." To the New York Times this is a "crucial step on climate change." Other media outlets also note the unprecedented action by the White House and EPA.

Of course, there are also the denial lobbyists saturating the blogosphere with anti-Clean Power Act rhetoric. All provide opinions based on a single negative "report" produced by, you guessed it, one of the denial lobbyist organizations in their network. That's a common tactic of lobbyists - create a biased report and then get all your friends to cite your biased report as "unbiased."

Meanwhile, the response from the scientific community has generally been positive, as might be expected given that nearly every climate scientist agrees that 100+ years of published science unequivocally demonstrates a need to address man's contribution to climate change. There are some, like outspoken climate scientist James Hansen, who feel the Plan is merely a drop in the bucket and won't in itself create significant progress in dealing with our changing climate.

Hansen is probably right.

So let's assume that the Clean Power Plan is insufficient to deal with climate change. In fact, we don't need to assume it because it's fairly self-evident. More action is necessary, both in the United States and globally. So is the Plan a waste of time?

On the contrary, the Plan is both much needed and highly effective in what President Obama is trying to accomplish. By talking about man-made climate change. By taking action on man-made climate change. By making it clear that while some elected officials are taking serious the long-term ramifications of man-made climate (while just as clearly other officials - and presidential candidates - are not taking it seriously), President Obama has gotten the public more involved in the discussion.

And public engagement in the discussion is critical.

It is the public that will pressure their elected officials to address man-made climate change. The science is clear - we humans are warming the climate. The impacts of that warming are significant, they are already happening, and they will keep getting worse without action. It's up to the public to make sure their representatives openly and honestly debate policy options to deal with the unequivocal fact that we're warming the climate. Denial of the science is not honest debate, it's a dishonest violation of the public trust. If the public is uninformed about an issue, than it is the obligation of their elected representatives to help the public become informed. To not do is to sacrifice your constituents.

So while the Clean Power Plan does take significant steps to reduce carbon emissions (which, in itself, is a much needed step in the right direction), the actual Power of the Plan is the public engagement on the issue. Because of it the public will spend more time "debating" climate change, becoming informed on climate change, and demanding action on climate change. The Plan also positions the United States as a leader in the global discussions of policy to deal with the science. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have already made inroads with agreements with China, India, and others, while also leading Europe and other countries at the table for what everyone hopes will be a significant global agreement at the December climate meetings in Paris.

The Clean Power Plan is one piece of a very large puzzle. The President has been actively working to move this process forward along multiple avenues. While the Plan itself will have some effect, it's larger effect is on making it okay to take responsibility for man-made climate change, and to do something about it.

EPA and Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan is a Good First Step, But Only a First Step

This week the Obama administration, via the US EPA, released its long-awaited climate rules under the name "Clean Power Plan." The rules are mandated by Congress and the authority confirmed by the US Supreme Court. In short, EPA is required to take action by law.

As with all major rules issued by EPA, the Clean Power Plan is a proposed rule and will be open for public comment for some time. All comments received will be assessed and addressed by EPA prior to issuance of a final rule. Given the substantial impacts on our climate system and the already aggressive attacks on the rule by partisans and lobbyists, it will be a long time before this rule is made final.

The EPA has done a rather good job of communicating the science. We know that they spent many years talking with states, community leaders, businesses, and other stakeholders garnering information on needs, options, and concerns. In the weeks prior to the release of the proposed rule, the administration helped get the word out about what the rules were, and were not. That helped the public understand better when the rules, and the inevitable misrepresentations of the rules by lobbyists, were finally released. EPA even put out a short video to put the rules in context:



The overall goal of the Clean Power Plan is to reduce the amount of carbon pollution emitted into the atmosphere. Carbon pollution is the major cause of global warming, and action to reduce carbon in the oceans and air is absolutely necessary. And it's necessary now. The Clean Power Plan seeks to reduce carbon pollution by 30% by the year 2030, with substantial reductions occurring by 2020.

Rather than simply dictate how this will be done, the Clean Power Plan allows each state to determine how best to achieve the goals, and the specific goals are different depending on the circumstances of each state. The rules will lead to a reduction in reliance on carbon-dirty energy resources like coal, oil and natural gas (especially the former) and an increase in more sustainable renewable energy resources like solar, wind, and hydroelectric.  How this happens is up to each state. They may:

• make improvements in efficiently directly at the power plants
• increase energy from renewable sources
• generate more clean energy
• expand programs promoting energy efficiency and conservation 

None of this will make coal go away, nor will we suddenly clean up the atmosphere and stop global warming. But it's a good start. By 2030 our reliance on fossil fuels will have lessened, though we should still expect about a third of our electric power to still come from coal at that time, with another third from natural gas. Renewable sources of energy should gain market share to reach approximately the same 30+% by 2030. Unless we can do better, which we most likely will do.

As a proposed rule, all of this will no doubt be sharply debated for months to come. It's critical that debate be based in fact, something the lobbyists and partisans have already shown an unwillingness to do. Still, the fact that man's activities are warming our planet, and the resulting impact on the quality of our lives, is absolutely certain, means we have to start taking action now. The EPA and Obama administration, under authority given to them by the laws passed by Congress and upheld by the Supreme Court, have taken the first step. It's up to the rest of us to continue taking additional steps forward.

More information on the proposed rule and the Clean Power Plan can be found on the EPA website.

For those interested in the legalese, the full 645-page rule can be downloaded as a PDF here.