Top News

Trump Rollbacks For Fossil Fuel Industries Carry Steep Cost. According to the Associated Press, “ As the Trump administration rolls back environmental and safety rules for the energy sector, government projections show billions of dollars in savings reaped by companies will come at a steep cost: more premature deaths and illnesses from air pollution, a jump in climate-warming emissions and more severe derailments of trains carrying explosive fuels. The Associated Press analyzed 11 major rules targeted for repeal or relaxation under Trump, using the administration’s own estimates to tally how its actions would boost businesses and harm society. The AP identified up to $11.6 billion in potential future savings for companies that extract, burn and transport fossil fuels. Industry windfalls of billions of dollars more could come from a freeze in vehicle efficiency standards that will yield an estimated 79 billion-gallon (300 million-liter) increase in fuel consumption. On the opposite side of the government’s ledger, buried in thousands of pages of analyses, are the ‘social costs’ of rolling back the regulations.” [AP, 1/27/19 (+)]

UN Cautions Climate Change Could Impact National Security. According to The Hill, “The United Nations system’s chief scientist on weather and climate cautioned on Friday that climate change has ‘a multitude of security impacts’ and is becoming more widely regarded as a national security threat. Pavel Kabat, chief scientist of the World Meteorological Organization, warned this week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland that climate change is erasing gains made in the global population’s access to food, exacerbating the potential for wildfires and worsening air quality. ‘The relationship between climate-related risks and conflict is complex and often intersects with political, social, economic and demographic factors,’ Rosemary DiCarlo, U.N. under secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, said. ‘The risks associated with climate-related disasters do not represent a scenario of some distant future. They are already a reality for millions of people around the globe — and they are not going away.’” [The Hill, 1/26/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Climate Change: The More We Know, The Worse It Seems. According to CNN, “To get a full grasp of climate change, you need to take a geological perspective. Wind the clock back all the way through human history, past the Romans and through the Stone Age, to the time before modern humans evolved, and our ape ancestors roamed in Africa. Roughly three million years ago, in an epoch called the Pliocene, was the last time carbon dioxide levels were as high in the atmosphere as they are now. In other words, today’s CO2 concentrations -- at about 410 parts per million -- are higher than at any time during the existence of Homo sapiens. Sea levels were as much as 30 meters higher than now, suggesting that even today’s carbon dioxide levels will be enough to eventually (albeit over many centuries) melt so much ice from the polar regions that all major coastal cities will be drowned. But it’s the rate of change that is really off the charts, even geologically. Humans are now transferring 10 billion tonnes of carbon from the earth’s crust -- in the form of combusted coal, oil and gas -- into the atmosphere each year.” [CNN, 1/25/19 (=)]

The New Language Of Climate Change. According to Politico, “Leading climate scientists and meteorologists are banking on a new strategy for talking about climate change: Take the politics out of it. That means avoiding the phrase ‘climate change,’ so loaded with partisan connotations as it is. Stop talking about who or what is most responsible. And focus instead on what is happening and how unusual it is—and what it is costing communities. That was a main takeaway at the American Meteorological Society’s annual meeting this month, where top meteorologists and environmental scientists from around the country gathered to hear the latest research on record rainfall and drought, debate new weather prediction models and digest all manner of analysis on climatic mutations. Educating the public and policymakers about climate change at a time when elected leaders are doubling down on denying that it is happening at all or that humans are responsible for it demands a new lexicon, conference attendees told me—one that can effectively narrate the overwhelming scientific evidence but not get sucked into the controversy fueled most prominently by President Donald Trump.” [Politico, 1/27/19 (=)]

U.S. EPA Senior Official Falls Short Of Calling Climate Change A Crisis. According to Reuters, “Bill Wehrum, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)assistant administrator for air and radiation and previously a lobbyist for coal and oil industry interests, said at a public event in Washington that he supported a rollback of former President Barack Obama’s centerpiece climate change regulation. Democrats and environmental activists have criticized the Republican administration of President Donald Trump for reversing Obama-era regulations and announcing its intention to withdraw the United States from an international accord to fight global warming. ‘I’ve had a series of briefings with climate change experts to help me better understand this,’ Wehrum said. ‘Everybody is still exploring the science of climate change.’ Wehrum said reducing carbon emissions was important and that was among the many priorities of the EPA but added that he was obliged to be smart about how to dedicate resources to those priorities.” [Reuters, 1/25/19 (-)]

EPA

Shutdown Forces Agency To Halt Work On Climate Rules. According to E&E News, “EPA has halted work on two major climate rules during the partial federal government shutdown, according to a federal appeals court filing. The agency is not working on either its replacement for the Clean Power Plan or a proposed replacement for the Obama-era rule controlling methane emissions from solid waste municipal landfills. EPA in the filing stated that finalization of the rules would be delayed ‘at least until’ funding to the agency is restored. EPA had initially planned to finish the Affordable Clean Energy rule in March and the proposed changes to the landfill rule in April. Administration attorneys had sought to stay litigation on the landfill issue until April 30, when both actions would be complete. ‘Counsel informs the Court that EPA has advised counsel that as a result of the lapse in appropriations, that EPA’s work on both the Landfills Proposal and the predicate rulemaking, the ACE Rule, has ceased,’ the filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit says.” [E&E News, 1/25/19 (=)]

Longest EPA Shutdown Ends With Stopgap Funding, Environmental Fears. According to Inside EPA, “EPA is poised to reopen after lawmakers and President Donald Trump agreed to a stopgap measure funding the agency at existing levels through Feb. 15, but there is no guarantee against another shutdown once that funding expires and environmentalists warn the existing shutdown has already caused significant environmental damage. The shutdown ‘has been a disaster for federal workers and our fellow citizens since the day it began. Congress and the Trump administration should follow-up this agreement with a long-term plan to fund our government and let workers get back on the job, inspecting factories and food, cleaning up toxic pollution and managing our treasured public lands,’ said Ana Unruh Cohen, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s managing director of government affairs. EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler in a Jan. 25 phone message to agency staff said the deal will allow the agency to open the morning of Jan. 28, but urged staff to check back with updates that would presumably be added once the measure is formally signed. At press time the deal had cleared the Senate and was pending in the House.” [Inside EPA, 1/25/19 (=)]

Trump EPA Official: Addressing Climate Change 'One Of Many Priorities'. According to The Hill, “A Trump administration official said Friday that addressing climate change is a ‘priority’ for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but said it can rank behind other issues. ‘I think reducing carbon emissions is important, and it’s a priority for us. It’s one of many priorities for us,’ Bill Wehrum, the EPA’s assistant administrator for air, told The Guardian’s Emily Holden at a Society of Environmental Journalists event. Asked directly if the administration sees addressing climate change as a priority, Wehrum said, ‘You bet it’s a priority for us.’ But Wehrum also said that he and other administration officials weigh climate against other issues. ‘Part of my job as a regulator is to be as smart as I possibly can in how we allocate resources, how we set our standards and how we require society more broadly to expend resources,’ he said. Wehrum’s boss, acting EPA chief Andrew Wheeler, gained attention last week when he said at a Senate hearing that climate change is ‘a huge issue’ but not ‘the greatest crisis.’” [The Hill, 1/25/19 (-)]

EPA Back To Work. According to Bloomberg Environment, “EPA employees shouldn’t expect a lot of pageantry as they head back from their shutdown-induced furloughs today. ‘There’s really no formality, just people starting to return and coming back to work,’ Bob Perciasepe, who saw other shutdowns end while serving as the agency’s deputy administrator and acting chief during the Obama administration, told Bloomberg Environment’s Dean Scott. It’s likely some workers already have done some celebrating. One career EPA employee gathered with other federal workers Friday at Washington, D.C., tapas restaurant Jaleo to enjoy free sandwiches that owner Jose Andres offered to furloughed employees when President Trump’s televised announcement on ending the shutdown came on. ‘All the feds in the bar were glued to the TV,’ said the employee, who asked not to be identified. ‘There was definitely a palpable energy in the bar, and lots of murmuring.’ One of the biggest headaches of getting EPA running again will be having to figure out what accumulated agency bills need to be paid, Perciasepe said.” [Bloomberg, 1/28/19 (=)]

EPA’s Ex-Top Cop Joins Criticism Of Agency’s Record On Polluters. According to Bloomberg, “The former head of enforcement at the EPA during the Obama years is the latest in a growing chorus of activists and academics who say the agency’s own data shows it is easing up on penalizing polluters. The findings caught the eye of least one House Democrat as that chamber promises more oversight of the Trump administration, which is disputing Cynthia Giles’ analysis. The Environmental Protection Agency collected $72 million in civil fines during the 2018 fiscal year from companies and individuals charged with violating environmental laws, the lowest amount in at least 25 years, according to Giles’ analysis of publicly available EPA data. Giles led the EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance throughout the Obama administration and is now a fellow at Harvard Law School. Additionally, the data indicate those hit with violations paid out less than $5.6 billion to resolve their cases during the last fiscal year, the lowest number since 2003. Giles’ findings were first reported by The Washington Post.” [Bloomberg, 1/28/19 (+)]

Wheeler

Wheeler: EPA Will Re-Open Monday Morning. According to Politico, “Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler says the three-week continuing resolution expected to be signed by President Donald Trump as early as today means the agency’s 13,000 furloughed employees can report back to work on Monday morning. ‘Signature of the continuing resolution will enable EPA to open on Monday morning,’ Wheeler said in an audio message left on the agency’s shutdown hotline for employees. The message was posted following Trump’s announcement of his plan to sign the CR. ‘I look forward to getting back to accomplishing our shared mission of protecting public health and the environment with you on a daily basis,’ Wheeler added.” [Politico, 1/25/19 (=)]

White House

Democrats Blast Trump Administration For Oil And Gas Activities During Shutdown. According to the Washington Post, “In the West, President Trump’s administration is ‘working nearly unimpeded’ on oil and gas leasing. In Alaska, it has ‘barely slowed’ efforts to open Arctic wilderness to fossil fuel development. And off the nation’s coasts, it is ‘moving full speed ahead’ to craft a plan to auction off ocean drilling rights. House Democrats levied accusation after accusation against the Trump administration yesterday on Capitol Hill for seeming to give preferential treatment to the oil and gas industry during the partial government shutdown. More than a dozen Cabinet-level departments in the federal government have ceased all but the most essential activities after running out of congressionally appropriated funds late last year. They include the Interior Department, which oversees oil and gas leasing on thousands of acres of public lands.” [Washington Post, 1/28/19 (=)]

Arnold Schwarzenegger: Why Trump Is 'Wrong' On Climate Change. According to CNN, “‘The Terminator’ Arnold Schwarzenegger says US President Donald Trump is making a ‘big mistake’ on environmental policy. Making his annual pilgrimage to the famous ski races in Kitzbuhel, the Austrian muscleman, movie star and former governor of California was in the grandstand to watch the second leg of Saturday’s slalom race. Schwarzenegger, who launched the R20 climate change organization in 2011, said seven million people die every year because of global pollution, a reference to a World Health Organization report released in December. ‘It is extremely important that in order to be successful with our environmental crusade and to fight global climate change and to fight all of the pollution we have worldwide, we all have to work together,’ Schwarzenegger told Christina Macfarlane for CNN’s Alpine Edge at the Rasmushof Alm hotel in the upmarket resort. ‘And the more people we bring into the crusade the better it is. The world leaders alone have not been able to solve the problem and they won’t. ‘Whether it is the Indian movement or the women’s suffrage movement, or anti apartheid movement or the civil rights movement in America -- none of those were solved in the capitals, always by people. So people power is essential.’” [CNN, 1/26/19 (+)]

Courts and Legal

'Uncharted Territory' As Shutdown Hobbles Cases. According to E&E News, “The partial government shutdown may soon cripple federal courts, an unprecedented complication for scores of environmental lawsuits. Though the judiciary branch had enough funds to survive the first several weeks of the shutdown, it expects to go broke late next week. Courts won’t shutter, but they’ll have to trim services and staff. ‘If the courts are starting to run out of money and they have to then prioritize, then that complicates things even further,’ said Beveridge & Diamond PC attorney John Cruden, former head of the Justice Department’s environment division. ‘We’re writing on a blank slate because this hasn’t happened before, and we will all be watching as the courts decide how to administer the shutdown requirements and comply with the Antideficiency Act,’ he added, referring to the law that governs federal spending. High-stakes environmental lawsuits are left in the lurch. ‘That’s the big game changer,’ Earthjustice attorney Kim Smaczniak said. ‘If the courts are not going to be fully staffed, we’re going to have to worry about what cases are moving forward in the absence of funds.” [E&E News, 1/25/19 (=)]

National

Perennial Grains Could Be A Key Weapon Against Climate Change. But Not Quite Yet. According to the Washington Post, “As climate change climbs the chart of existential threats, soil is getting a lot of attention. Back when it supported forest or grassland, before we cleared it to grow crops, it stored an awful lot of carbon. By farming the land, we released the carbon. Now, there’s a major push to figure out how to put at least some of it back. The Land Institute, in Salina, Kan., is on it, and I visited them last fall. ‘We lost about half the carbon in the first few decades after putting crops on prairie,’ said Land Institute President Fred Iutzi, who was showing me around. ‘In some places it leveled off at about half of what was there pre-settlement, on some places it went down to about a third.’ Carbon loss dates back to the first time a farmer ever turned over virgin soil, but it’s only in the past couple of decades that momentum has built among farmers and researchers trying to reverse things. There’s a major obstacle, though: 400 million (ish) acres of annuals, crops that have to be planted anew every year. While annuals are very good at growing seeds (usually the plant part we eat), they’re not so good at locking carbon in the soil. In fact, they’re pretty bad at it.” [Washington Post, 1/25/19 (+)]

Industrial Agriculture, An Extraction Industry Like Fossil Fuels, A Growing Driver Of Climate Change. According to Inside Climate News, “On his farm in southwestern Iowa, Seth Watkins plants several different crops and raises cattle. He controls erosion and water pollution by leaving some land permanently covered in native grass. He grazes his cattle on pasture, and he sows cover crops to hold the fertile soil in place during the harsh Midwestern winters. Watkins’ farm is a patchwork of diversity—and his fields mark it as an outlier. His practices don’t sound radical, but Watkins is a bit of a renegade. He’s among a small contingent of farmers in the region who are holding out against a decades-long trend of consolidation and expansion in American agriculture. Watkins does this in part because he farms with climate change in mind. ‘I can see the impact of the changing climate,’ he said. ‘I know, in the immediate, I’ve got to manage the issue. In the long term, it means doing something to slow down the problem.’ But for several decades, ever-bigger and less-varied farms have overtaken diversified operations like his, replacing them with industrialized row crops or gigantic impoundments of cattle, hogs and chickens.” [Inside Climate News, 1/25/19 (=)]

Congress

Grijalva: Zinke Will Testify In 2019 — One Way Or Another. According to Politico, “House Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) told POLITICO he’s willing to subpoena former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to force his testimony about two controversial policy decisions made during his tenure. Grijalva said Zinke needs to shed light on his decision to downsize two national monuments — the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante monuments in Utah — and his proposal to take Florida ‘off the table’ for offshore oil drilling that he announced in a hastily arranged press conference at the Tallahassee airport with now-Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) last January. ‘He needs to be here. There’s nobody else who can answer those questions,’ Grijalva said in a Friday interview. ‘He’s the architect of both and he’s the one who can answer those questions.’ Grijalva said he hopes Zinke will come in voluntarily without the need for a subpoena, and that he would issue one after consulting with members on the Natural Resources Committee. ‘We’ll set the argument and if we need to because of non-cooperation, we’ll have it legitimately set up where a subpoena is not gratuitous — It’s real,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to just subpoena for subpoena’s sake.’” [Politico, 1/25/19 (=)]

Democrats Eye Early Deals On Modest Climate Policies Before Bigger Bills. According to Inside EPA, “House Democrats are contemplating bipartisan deals on power grid modernization, fixing pipeline leaks and energy efficiency as initial steps to address climate change, according to a top staffer on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, who adds such efforts would come before more ambitious steps to tackle the growing threat. The staffer’s remarks came during a Jan. 24 meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, where local leaders said they are crafting calls for federal officials to enact bold climate policy, including an ‘aggressive national renewable portfolio standard’ that would encourage ‘clean and renewable energy.’ The local officials are also urging Congress to revive funding for energy and environment community block grants last funded by the stimulus law during the Obama administration, to help cities to address a range of energy and environmental needs. ‘There are things we can definitely work on that can be helpful to you and to help the nation,’ said Rick Kessler, Energy & Commerce’s staff director for energy and environment, during a climate change session at the mayors’ winter meeting in Washington, D.C.” [Inside EPA, 1/25/19 (=)]

How To Make Climate And Energy Policy That Sticks. According to Axios, “Democrats who want to tackle climate change are about to face the biggest challenge with sweeping policies: they’re much more likely to pass if they get support from both sides of the political aisle. Why it matters: No matter how far-fetched it seems after the government shutdown, the fact remains that policy endures better with bipartisan support, political scientists and past precedent suggest. This is particularly relevant in trying to solve a problem as enormous as climate change and with progressive Democrats rallying around a Green New Deal that calls for massive economic transformation. Show less ‘While the theory of having some collaboration and compromise across the board is always good, it’s particularly important when the progress is measured in decades. One of the unique challenges of the energy and climate debate is that no meaningful decision gets made unless people have some confidence in at least a decade of consistent policy.’ — Jason Grumet, president, Bipartisan Policy Center Driving the news: After an absence of nearly a decade, two big climate and energy policies are emerging in the Washington debate. The Green New Deal represents the progressive flank of the Democratic Party, but it has no Republican support. The other, a carbon tax, is bipartisan and reflects controversial compromise.” [Axios, 1/28/19 (=)]

Manchin Hires Offer Clues Of His Policy Direction. According to E&E News, “West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin has added two new staffers to work on energy issues as he takes over the lead Democratic position on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The hires include Renae Black to serve as Democratic general counsel and Luke Bassett to serve as a professional staff member with energy policy responsibilities. The additions come on the heels of last week’s announcements of Manchin’s staff director, deputy staff director and press secretary. Black has worked for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, where she served over the past five years as Democratic senior counsel under former ranking member Bill Nelson (D-Fla.). Before her stint on Commerce, Black worked as counsel for Democrats on the ENR Committee under former ranking members Mary Landrieu (D-La.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.). During that time, Black said she helped manage the floor debate of the Keystone XL pipeline legislation in January of 2015, according to her LinkedIn page. She also worked as a legislative correspondent for six months in Landrieu’s personal office, according to her bio.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Lawmakers Introduce Energy, Resource Bills. According to E&E News, “Lawmakers last week introduced a flurry of energy and natural resource bills as Congress begins to move away from the shutdown crisis and into legislative work. Two proposals from Rep. Scott Tipton (R-Colo.) would amend the Mineral Leasing Act. H.R. 786would require that a portion of revenues from mineral and geothermal leases be given to states to supplement education funding. Tipton introduced similar legislation last year. H.R. 785 would require the secretary of the Interior to publish a report every four years on an ‘all-of-the-above’ federal energy production strategy. A bill by House Natural Resources Committee ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) would designate Jan. 31 as the close of hunting season for ducks, mergansers and coots. The measure to amend the Migratory Bird Treaty Act would also create special duck hunting days for youth, veterans and active military personnel, allowing states to add up to four days to the duck hunting season. H.R. 762, from Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-Pa.), would amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to provide for the dissemination of information regarding available federal programs relating to energy efficiency projects for schools, according to a description.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Bill Gates Comes To Washington — Selling The Promise Of Nuclear Energy. According to the Washington Post, “Bill Gates thinks he has a key part of the answer for combating climate change: a return to nuclear power. The Microsoft co-founder is making the rounds on Capitol Hill to persuade Congress to spend billions of dollars over the next decade for pilot projects to test new designs for nuclear power reactors. Gates, who founded TerraPower in 2006, is telling lawmakers that he personally would invest $1 billion and raise $1 billion more in private capital to go along with federal funds for a pilot of his company’s never-before-used technology, according to congressional staffers. ‘Nuclear is ideal for dealing with climate change, because it is the only carbon-free, scalable energy source that’s available 24 hours a day,’ Gates said in his year-end public letter. ‘The problems with today’s reactors, such as the risk of accidents, can be solved through innovation.’” [Washington Post, 1/27/19 (=)]

Courts and Legal

D.C. Circuit Blocks States' Bid To 'Indefinitely Delay' CWA Dam Certifications. According to Inside EPA, “A federal appeals court in a new ruling says two states violated the Clean Water Act (CWA) by delaying review of a dam decommissioning far beyond the law’s one-year deadline to ‘certify’ that a federal permit meets state requirements, a decision limiting states’ future bids to ‘indefinitely delay federal licensing proceedings’ for energy projects. The Jan. 25 ruling by a unanimous three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Hoopa Valley Tribe v. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), et al., says the CWA does not allow operators to avoid the one-year time frame by withdrawing and re-submitting their applications before the deadline arrives. The CWA ‘requires state action within a reasonable period of time, not to exceed one year. California and Oregon’s deliberate and contractual idleness defies this requirement. By shelving water quality certifications, the states usurp FERC’s control over whether and when a federal license will issue,’ reads the decision, written by Senior Judge David Sentelle for a unanimous panel that also included Judges Nina Pillard and Thomas Griffith.” [Inside EPA, 1/25/19 (=)]

Supreme Court Urged To Scrap 'Egregiously Wrong' Deference To Agencies. According to Inside EPA, “The Supreme Court is facing calls to end its long-standing precedent deferring to EPA and other agencies’ interpretations of their own rules, with a critic’s opening legal brief urging the justices to scrap the ‘egregiously wrong’ precedent because it allows regulators to change rules on a whim without notice-and-comment rulemaking. ‘This is a rare circumstance in which overruling precedent is warranted. When examined on the merits, it is clear that both Seminole Rock and Auer are egregiously wrong,’ reads the Jan. 24 opening merits brief filed by the petitioner in Kisor v. Wilkie. Both the 1997 case Auer v. Robbins and its predecessor, 1945’s Bowles v. Seminole Rock & Sand Co., stand for the doctrine that judges should defer to agencies’ ‘reasonable’ interpretations of any ambiguities in their own rules, as long as those interpretations are ‘reasonable.’ The precedents often figure into cases where EPA uses guidance to revise its reading of a long-standing rule, or seeks to enforce a broadly-written standard such as the test for Clean Water Act jurisdiction. While the Kisor case does not directly affect EPA, any ruling from the justices limiting or scrapping so-called Auer deference could significantly restrict or bar the agency’s ability to reinterpret existing regulations.” [Inside EPA, 1/25/19 (=)]

4th Circuit To Weigh Scope Of EPA's Nondiscretionary Duty Under CWA. According to Inside EPA, “A federal appeals court is poised to consider next week whether the Clean Water Act (CWA) requires EPA to approve changes to a state’s water quality standards after the agency indicates support for state efforts while the standards are being developed -- a position urged by a West Virginia wastewater utility but which a lower court rejected. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit is scheduled to hear oral argument Jan. 29 in Sanitary Board of the City of Charleston, WV (CSB) v. Andrew Wheeler, where the board is asking the court to reverse a pair of rulings from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of West Virginia that upheld EPA’s rejection of a site-specific copper standard. At the heart of the litigation is CSB’s desire for site-specific copper water quality criteria that would result in less stringent discharge limits for the municipal wastewater treatment plant. West Virginia’s water quality standards regulation allows the default copper criteria to be tailored to local water quality conditions by conducting a Water Effect Ratio (WER) study, and CSB worked with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to develop such criteria for the Kanawha River.” [Inside EPA, 1/25/19 (=)]

International Agreements and Meetings

'Feel The Fear': Climate Change Is Now The Talk Of Davos. According to CNN, “Has business finally woken up to the enormous challenges posed by climate change? This year’s World Economic Forum provides some hope. Climate was a major theme in Davos, where panel discussions on everything from global warming to ocean sustainability and biodiversity drew large crowds. Naturalist and broadcaster David Attenborough was given top billing and primatologist Jane Goodall appeared on a panel. A dinner hosted by climate and environmental groups was one of the hottest tickets of the week. The focus on climate reflects developments that have been hard to miss even for profit-obsessed CEOs. Damaging storms have in recent years resulted in major financial losses and a California utility company has been brought to its knees by billions of dollars in claims related to wildfires. Companies have also seen how easy it is for their reputations to be tarnished over environmental issues — and how easy it can be to change.” [CNN, 1/25/19 (+)]

Germany Lays Out A Path To Quit Coal By 2038. According to the New York Times, “Germany will spend tens of billions of dollars to end its use of coal power within two decades, if a plan agreed to early Saturday by representatives of the power industry, environmental movement, miners and local interest groups becomes official policy. The deal, hammered out after more than 20 hours of intense, often fractious negotiating among a 28-member commission appointed last year by Chancellor Angela Merkel, would be one of the most significant energy transformations a nation has yet attempted in the face of climate change. Thirty countries have already set out proposals to cut their carbon emissions by eliminating coal, the dirtiest and cheapest fossil fuel, including Britain, Canada and Sweden. But none of those plans are of the scale laid out in Germany, an industrial giant that currently relies on coal for almost a third of its energy needs. The commission’s plan now requires approval from the leaders of four states affected and the federal government.” [New York Times, 1/26/19 (+)]

Germany To Shutter All 84 Coal-Fired Plants To Fight Climate Change. According to The Hill, “Germany is planning to shut down all 84 of its coal-fired power plants over a 19-year span in an effort to combat climate change. A 28-member government commission announced the commitment on Saturday, with chairman Ronald Pofalla saying that it marked an ‘historic accomplishment,’ according to The Los Angeles Times. ‘It was anything but a sure thing. But we did it,’ Pofalla said at a news conference in Berlin. ‘There won’t be any more coal-burning plants in Germany by 2038.’ The Times noted that the announcement was significant considering coal plants account for 40 percent of Germany’s electricity. The plan calls for $45 billion in spending to mitigate the pain in regions where coal is widely used. The recommendations from the commission are expected to be adopted by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The move to close coal-fired power plants comes about six years after Germany announced plans to phase out all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. Twelve of the nation’s 19 nuclear plants have been shut down so far, according to The Times.” [The Hill, 1/27/19 (+)]

16-Year-Old Who Sparked Climate Change Protests Across Europe Delivers Striking Message To Global Elites. According to The Hill, “Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old girl from Sweden whose activism for climate change sparked protests demonstrations across Europe delivered a bold message to financial and political elites as they gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos earlier this week. ‘Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope. But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act,’ Thunberg said during her speech on Thursday, according to NPR News. ‘I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is,’ she continued. The teenager explained to the BBC shortly after her speech that her message ‘was that most emissions are caused by a few people, the very rich people, who are here in Davos.’ ‘These people have very much power, they could really change something, so I think they have a huge responsibility. They need to put their economic goals aside to safeguard the living conditions of humankind in the future,’ Thunberg told the news agency.” [The Hill, 1/27/19 (+)]

Teen Inspires Youth Demonstrations Across Europe, Demanding Action On Climate Change. According to NPR, “A Swedish teenager had a stark message for global elites at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. Sixteen-year-old Greta Thunberg spoke about climate change during a Thursday luncheon at the forum to an audience which included Bono, Jane Goodall and Will.i.am. ‘Adults keep saying we owe it to the young people, to give them hope,’ Thunberg said, ‘But I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. I want you to act. I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if the house is on fire, because it is.’ Thunberg later told the BBC, ‘My message was that most emissions are caused by a few people, the very rich people, who are here in Davos.’ ‘These people have very much power, they could really change something, so I think they have a huge responsibility,’ Thunberg continued, ‘They need to put their economic goals aside to safeguard the living conditions of humankind in the future.’” [NPR, 1/25/19 (+)]

A Teen Told Some Of The Most Powerful People In The World That Climate Change Is Their Fault. According to GQ, “Every year, some of the richest, most powerful, and perhaps most recklessly optimistic people in the world descend on Davos, Switzerland. They like to style themselves as benevolent change-bringers, but they’re largely the beneficiaries of the same systems and policies that are driving millions of people around the world (the U.S. included) into deeper poverty and accelerating the worst possible outcomes of climate change. Those connections rarely get highlighted at the World Economic Forum though. This year, a 16-year-old climate change activist is changing that. Video of Greta Thunberg addressing panels and audiences at Davos are quickly going viral, showing the Swedish teen telling the world’s billionaires that she believes it’s their responsibility to fight off the coming disaster that they’ve helped create.” [GQ, 1/26/19 (+)]

Heritage Foundation Wants LGBT Protections Dropped From New NAFTA. According to Politico, “A leading conservative think tank wants the Trump administration to cut protections for LGBT people from the new North American trade deal and also jettison the pact’s environmental provisions and a rule that would create a wage requirement for automobile production. The Heritage Foundation, in a draft report obtained by POLITICO, calls for removing the agreement’s protections against sex-based discrimination in the workplace and the entire environmental chapter because they ‘needlessly introduce social policy into a trade agreement.’ Both positions take aim at Canadian priorities in the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Heritage identifies a number of other shortcomings, such as the deal’s changes to requirements for steel and aluminum in automobile production, that it recommends ‘be addressed in forthcoming implementing legislation or through additional side letters between the three countries.’ This week the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative is expected to submit a list of legislative changes that must be made to bring U.S. law into compliance with the USMCA. Under terms of the fast-track law, that list is supposed to be submitted 60 days after the countries entered into the agreement, a date that falls on Tuesday.” [Politico, 1/28/19 (-)]

Nations Recognize Warming As Threat To Peace And Security. According to E&E News, “ There’s a growing global consensus that climate change is a threat to peace and security that deserves the same kind of attention afforded to terrorism and other risks. Eighty-three countries chose to participate in a daylong U.N. Security Council meeting Friday on climate change — an unusually high turnout for an open debate. The overwhelming majority spoke in favor of elevating climate change to a list of pervasive risk factors that the council considers and is briefed on whenever and wherever it engages. That’s an about-face from 2007, when the United Kingdom first used its turn in the council’s chair to highlight the role climate change could play as a multiplier for other risks. Observers say most participants then were dismissive. ‘Back then, if you talked about climate change as a security risk, you’d be laughed out of the room,’ said Oli Brown, an associate fellow with the Energy, Environment and Resources Department at Britain’s Chatham House and a former U.N. official. That seems to be changing. In just the past year, three Security Council resolutions have highlighted climate change as a factor in security crises in Africa, specifically in the Lake Chad region, the Sahel and Somalia.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Nation Sets 2038 Deadline To End Coal Use. According to E&E News, “In a pioneering move, a government-appointed panel Saturday recommended that Germany stop burning coal to generate electricity by 2038 at the latest, as part of efforts to curb climate change. The so-called Coal Commission reached agreement in the early hours of Saturday, following months of wrangling that were closely watched by other coal-dependent countries. ‘We made it,’ Ronald Pofalla, the head of the commission, told reporters in Berlin. ‘This is a historic effort.’ Germany gets more than a third of its electricity from burning coal, generating large amounts of greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. The 28-member panel, representing mining regions, utility companies, scientists and environmentalists, suggests a review in 2032 could bring forward the deadline to 2035. The plan foresees billions in federal funding to help affected regions cope with the economic impact and to shield industry and consumers from higher electricity prices. The energy transition will also need a huge overhaul and modernization of the country’s power grid, the commission’s members said.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Research and analysis

To Fix Climate Change, Fix The Obesity And Starvation Epidemics, Reports Say. According to CNN, “The world needs to come up with solutions to fight three interrelated pandemics -- obesity, starvation and climate change -- and it needs to do it fast before the planet is ‘burning,’ according to a report released Sunday in the Lancet. The Lancet Commission, a group of 43 experts from 14 countries with a broad range of expertise recruited by the journal, has tackled the topic with high-profile reports in 2011 and 2015, but ‘little progress has been made’ other than acknowledging the epidemic, the authors of the newest report argue; in fact, the problem is getting worse. Around the world, not one country has reversed its obesity epidemic, and often, powerful companies driven by profit influence policy that is ‘at odds with the public good and planetary health,’ the report says. It’s a problem that has become what the authors call a global syndemic. A syndemic is ‘a synergy of pandemics that co-occur,’ interact and share common causes. These three pandemics represent the ‘paramount challenge for humans, the environment and our planet.’” [CNN, 1/27/19 (=)]

Want To Fix Obesity And Climate Change At The Same Time? Make Big Food Companies Pay. According to Vox, “Obesity, climate change, and malnutrition are among the greatest global crises facing our world today. Wouldn’t it be great if there were solutions to tackle all three problems at once? That might sound far-fetched. But a new report, published Sunday in Lancet, implores us to think about the possibility of big, systemic fixes for these interrelated scourges. Overnutrition, undernutrition, and global warming share common causes: Powerful commercial interests that promote overconsumption, ‘policy inertia,’ and weak governance, according to the report, led by the University of Auckland in New Zealand, George Washington University in the US, and World Obesity Federation in the UK. Nowhere is that more pronounced than in the global food industry: Large food companies stuff our shelves with calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods. They market their sugary drinks and snacks to children. And they lobby politicians to obstruct policies and subsidies that’d help us eat healthier.” [Vox, 1/27/19 (=)]

Love Snow? Here's How It's Changing. According to E&E News, “President Trump mixed political sloganeering with a warning to take shelter for Northeasterners caught in a deadly winter storm that dumped 2 feet of snow in some places earlier this month. He tweeted on Jan. 20, ‘Wouldn’t be bad to have a little of that good old fashioned Global Warming right now!’ Extreme winter weather often prompts a fresh wave of public skepticism from those who doubt the existence or severity of human-caused climate change. Trump, for his part, has made many similar comments. As experts point out, short-term variations in the weather — even when they result in extreme snowfall or record-breaking cold — don’t negate the long-term trend of global warming. Decades of data unambiguously demonstrate that average temperatures all over the world are on the rise. But when it comes to winter weather, and specifically snow, teasing out the effects of climate change is a special challenge. It seems as though snow — arguably the most iconic feature of a cold climate — should be one of the most obvious indicators of global warming. But scientists are finding that it’s not that simple. For one thing, there are a variety of ways to measure snow — the amount of snow that falls from the air, its depth on the ground, the amount of total water the snowpack contains, and the total surface area it covers on the earth. That’s just a few.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Arctic Summers At Hottest Temperatures For 115,000 Years, Study Reveals. According to The Independent, “Arctic summers may be hotter now than they have been for 115,000 years, according to new research. Evidence that this century is the warmest the region has faced for millennia came from plants collected in the remote wilderness of Baffin Island. As glaciers melt in the Canadian Arctic, landscapes are emerging that have not been ice-free for more than 40,000 years. While providing worrying evidence of climate change taking place, this also allows scientists to investigate previously inaccessible areas. ‘The Arctic is currently warming two to three times faster than the rest of the globe, so naturally, glaciers and ice caps are going to react faster,’ said Simon Pendleton, a PhD student at the University of Colorado at Boulder who led the research. ‘We travel to the retreating ice margins, sample newly exposed plants preserved on these ancient landscapes and carbon date the plants to get a sense of when the ice last advanced over that location.’ The Arctic ice has effectively preserved ancient mosses and lichens for thousands of years, providing the scientists with a valuable insight into the past. They sampled around 50 plants from 30 ice caps in the region, as well as rock samples to confirm the age and history of ice coverage across the landscape.” [The Independent, 1/28/19 (=)]

Extreme Weather

Researchers Encourage Planning, Not Logging, To Reduce Blazes. According to E&E News, “President Trump could better protect the West from future catastrophic wildfires by pushing his administration to adopt better land-use planning — and not increased logging — according to an independent research group. Headwaters Economics, a Bozeman, Mont.-based independent, nonprofit research group, contends in a blog post on its website this week that logging and other ‘timber management’ can be justified in some areas, ‘but it rarely helps our communities confront looming wildfire disasters in the face of a warming climate and continued home building on fire-prone lands.’ ‘Better land use planning and improved design of our built environment is our best bet at reducing risk from wildfires,’ writes Kelly Pohl, a researcher at Headwaters who specializes in land use planning and wildfire. The blog post comes a month after Trump issued an executive order directing the Interior and Agriculture departments to collaborate on a wildfire strategy that emphasizes hazardous fuels reduction.” [E&E News, 1/25/19 (=)]

Business and Industry

Miami Beach Developer Dismisses Rising Waters As 'Paranoia'. According to E&E News, “A South Florida developer is questioning the well-established facts of climate change and is putting his money where his mouth is, investing millions to build residential projects in highly exposed Miami Beach. Brazilian billionaire Jose Isaac Peres is hosting an inaugural party Thursday for the sales center of his planned 81-unit 57 Ocean, where the penthouse will cost $31 million. He’s also seeking permission to build another condo project, a four-story development on Ocean Drive. The real estate magnate and chief executive officer of shopping-center developer Multiplan Empreendimentos Imobiliarios SA said he isn’t factoring in the financial risk of rising sea levels. Asked about the threat, he told a story about his youth in Brazil in the 1950s, when seawater sometimes encroached on buildings, suggesting ocean levels have risen and receded forever. ‘It’s funny, that’s the last concern that I have here in Miami, that global-warming issue,’ he said in an interview Wednesday. Peres, who’s making significant investments in Miami Beach for the first time in almost two decades, said climate change has never come up with the banks and insurance companies he’s dealt with in Brazil.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Opinion Pieces

Op-Ed: We Weren’t Always So Divided On Climate. According to The Hill, “Where can we forge an agenda that unites us in these polarizing times? There is growing agreement among the American public that climate change is real and that humans are likely causing it. As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events increases, the impacts are more viscerally undeniable. I think conditions are right for making great strides on climate, if we are strategic about it. While the news likes to focus on the continued divide among Democrats and Republicans as it relates to climate change — Democrats are more likely to believe in climate change, that it is human caused and are more willing to pay to address it than Republicans — I think this misses an important opportunity to find shared interests. In these polarizing times, often forgotten is that Republicans of the past had been at the forefront of championing environmental values. The EPA was created under Richard Nixon’s Republican administration. Nixon, not exactly a tree-hugging poster child, saw the value of preserving beauty and natural resources for future generations.” [The Hill, 1/27/19 (+)]

Op-Ed: Reducing Forest Fire Risks Requires Market Incentives, Free Enterprise. According to The Hill, “In a rare example of bipartisanship, last week the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives passed two Republican-sponsored bills to increase funding for fire-reduction projects in federal, state and private forests. Although there is heated disagreement over the causes of the recent increase in catastrophic wildfires — is it climate change, federal mismanagement or both? — there is clear consensus on the need to reduce fire risks now, even as we continue to debate long-term solutions. The need for short-term action is clear. Forest fires are growing larger, hotter and more frequent. In the 1980s and early 1990s, an average of 2.9 million acres burned each year in the United States. Since 2008, the average has skyrocketed to 6.6 million acres. Last year, more than 8.5 million acres burned. The human toll is the most visible impact of catastrophic wildfires. Last year’s Camp Fire in California, which took 86 lives and caused $16.5 billion in damage, remains seared in our minds. But there are other important, less-visible consequences. Fires destroy habitat for charismatic and endangered species. They degrade water quality, including drinking water sources relied on by neighboring communities, and emit tons of air pollution.” [The Hill, 1/25/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Climate Change Is Washing Away The Chesapeake’s Bay Treasures. According to the Washington Post, “Just 15 miles past Cambridge, on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, is a town so small it has already disappeared from most maps. Soon it could disappear altogether. Smithville, an African American settlement that dates to the 19th century, had 100 residents a few decades ago. Today, four remain. Its historic Gothic Revival church, New Revived United Methodist Church, stands uncomfortably close to a marsh inching ever nearer to its wooden frame. Only a cluster of wetland plants separates the marsh from Smithville’s historic cemetery next to the church, where the town’s founding fathers and mothers — Wheatley, Wilson, Cornish — have been lovingly laid to rest. Climate change has brought rising waters, drowning lands and eroding shorelines to cities and towns all over the world. New York, New Orleans and Norfolk are spending billions among them to fortify their shorelines, adding green space and parks to absorb water like sponges, changing their building codes to require higher foundations and repaving sidewalks and catchment areas with porous pavement to alleviate storm-water problems. Few doubt that these investments are worth it. These cities are cultural and economic centers: Why wouldn’t we do all we can to preserve what’s there and to strengthen their infrastructure for the future?” [Washington Post, 1/25/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Looking On The Bright Side Of Climate Change, Think Of All The Money Corporations Can Make. According to The Guardian, “You know what I love about capitalism? Its optimism. Even in the direst of circumstances, it is always able to find a silver lining. Take climate change, for example. After weird weather and ominous warnings of more to come, many of us are freaking out about an environmental apocalypse. Indeed, a new poll shows record numbers of Americans are worried about climate change and, after last year’s heatwave, concerns about the issue have soared in Britain. Now, it seems that big companies are equally worried about global warming, but they are thinking about the future with cool heads. Rather than being consumed by doom and gloom, or considering the idea that we should curb consumerism, corporations have realised climate change is an exciting business opportunity. You can see evidence of this in recent disclosures to CDP, a UK-based environmental reporting NGO that surveys companies on the ‘risks and opportunities’ they face because of changing weather patterns. The 2018 disclosures, reported by Bloomberg last week, provide a fascinating insight into how some of the world’s largest corporations are, as Bloomberg puts it in a headline, ‘Getting Ready to Monetize Climate Change’.” [The Guardian, 1/28/19 (+)]

Op-Ed: The Secret To Legislative Success For Climate Activists. According to the Washington Post, “On Nov. 13, one week after Democrats rode the blue wave to victory in the midterm elections, Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) made headlines when she joined economic and environmental activists outside the office of Minority Leader (and presumptive Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi. Demonstrators challenged Pelosi with simple signs that read ‘What is your plan?’ and ‘Green jobs for all.’ Organized by the Sunrise Movement, activists demanded that House Democrats draft a ‘Green New Deal’ offering legislative solutions to economic inequality and climate change. Ocasio-Cortez’s appearance amplified their voices and created political momentum behind the proposal. The Green New Deal that Ocasio-Cortez and a growing list of members of Congress now support is straightforward: Power the U.S. economy with 100 percent renewable energy within 12 years, establish a federal living-wage jobs program, institute universal health care, and help workers move from carbon-tied jobs to more sustainable employment. People need jobs and economic security; the world needs green infrastructure. Simple.” [Washington Post, 1/28/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: Carbon Tax: The Ultimate Free Market Solution To Climate Change. According to Forbes, “Thanks to a particularly odious little troll of a man and to a writer whose two major works the late, great Christopher Hitchens describes as ‘transcendently awful‘, the word ‘tax’ has a nearly obscene connotation. Nonetheless, it is clear to me that a carbon tax, similar to those implemented in major economies throughout the world, should be broadly implemented here in the United States – the second largest emitter of carbon dioxide in the world. Aerial view of smoke billowing from oil refinery in Los Angeles, California, USA.GETTY Unlike a lot of mush-minded Greenies, I am under no illusion that a tax on carbon emissions will discourage people from burning carbon-based fuel or will serve just retribution on wasteful capitalists. Nor do I think that the taxing authority will use the collected funds for anything other than a typically idiotic boondoggle. In fact, I do not even believe that a carbon tax will do anything to stop the near-term effects of climate change (there is plenty of heat stored in the ocean, and those chickens will take decades to come home to roost). No. My reasoning is based completely on free market considerations. Humans do one thing phenomenally well: adapt to obstacles. If there is a mountain in front of us, we’ll climb it, build a tunnel through it, construct a road around it, and throw up a scenic overlook on the side of it.” [Forbes, 1/25/19 (=)]

Op-Ed: The Way We Eat Is Killing Us – And The Planet. According to The Guardian, “The distinguished medical journal The Lancet has issued not one but two apocalyptic warnings about our food in under a month. One of its special commissions reported earlier this month that civilisation itself was at risk from the effects of the current food system on both human health and the Earth’s ecosystems. This week comes the next instalment from another special Lancet commission which finds that pandemics of obesity and malnutrition are interacting with climate change in a feedback loop and represent an existential threat to humans and the planet. The modern western diet has become a highly damaging thing that needs a complete overhaul if we are to avoid potential ecological catastrophe. It concluded that we need to halve global meat consumption, and more than double the volume of whole grains, pulses, nuts, fruit and vegetables we eat. Cue howls of indignation from big food and its cheerleaders, the libertarian right. Those nanny statists have gone nuts eating their own double dose of nuts! Cue cries of distress from champions of local, low-impact agriculture who include grass-fed animals, and their meat and manure, in their sustainable mix. These self-appointed experts don’t understand farming! Cue grim food wheels with only a quarter of a rasher of bacon or a fifth of an egg a day. Those miserabilist medics want us all to go vegan!” [The Guardian, 1/28/19 (=)]

States

Colorado

Colo. Lawmakers Set To Unveil Expansive Conservation Bill. According to E&E News, “Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse announced today they will sponsor sweeping legislation that would extend varying levels of federal protection to roughly 400,000 acres of public lands in the Centennial State. The ‘Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act’ combines three previous bills sponsored by Bennet — and a fourth draft bill the senator developed but has never formally introduced — that are designed to protect pristine landscapes, as well as preserve hiking, skiing and other recreational activities from oil and gas drilling, mining and logging. Among other things, the bill would designate about 73,000 acres of new congressionally designated wilderness areas and establish nearly 80,000 acres of new recreation and conservation management areas that preserve existing outdoor activities, according to a summary of the bill. The ‘CORE Act’ would also deem a 28,728-acre area around the Camp Hale National Historic Site as the nation’s first National Historic Landscape. Camp Hale, which is now part of the White River National Forest, was an Army mountain training site during World War II for the 10th Mountain Division and other combat units preparing for battle in the Italian Alps.” [E&E News, 1/25/19 (=)]

Colo. Bows Out Of Clean Power Plan Challenge. According to E&E News, “Colorado’s new Democratic attorney general is pulling the state out of a legal challenge to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. Phil Weiser asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Saturday to withdraw the Centennial State from the case. Under previous Attorney General Cynthia Coffman (R), Colorado joined more than two-dozen states in challenging the EPA rule, which sought to slash carbon emissions from the power sector. The litigation is now on ice as the Trump administration works on a replacement rule, but it could someday be revived. Weiser won the attorney general seat in a November upset and vowed to prioritize environmental protection and climate action. Colorado is one of four states whose top legal positions switched from red to blue in the 2018 election.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (=)]

Arizona

State Saw Fewer Wildfires, Big Drop In Acres Burned In 2018. According to E&E News, “Arizona had fewer wildfires and a dramatic reduction in the number of acres burned during 2018 compared with the previous year. The Department of Forestry and Fire Management says there were 2,000 fires on private, state, federal and tribal lands in 2018, down from 2,205 in 2017, a decrease of 9 percent. There was an even larger decrease in acres burned. The department says more than 165,000 acres burned in 2018, down roughly 60 percent from nearly 420,000 acres. The department says that lack of moisture and severe drought conditions set the stage for a very active season statewide but that steps taken by state and federal agencies helped prevent ‘a possibly disastrous season.’ Those steps included earlier implementation of fire restrictions and closures of public lands.” [E&E News, 1/25/19 (=)]

Connecticut

GOP Bill Targets 'One-Sided' Climate Curriculum In Conn. According to E&E News, “A Republican lawmaker wants to eliminate a requirement to teach students about climate change in Connecticut public schools. State Rep. John Piscopo introduced a bill Thursday stating that climate change is a ‘controversial area of information’ and should be excluded from the Next Generation Science Standards the state adopted in 2015. In an interview with E&E News, Piscopo said the science of climate change is still debatable and therefore not suitable to teach to students, despite the mainstream scientific consensus that humans are driving warming. ‘It’s a one-sided curriculum, and it’s not balanced,’ Piscopo said, adding, ‘If you’re teaching the human factor as a major source of global warming that is just indoctrination. That’s not education.’ However, he noted, teachers would still be able to teach students about climate change if they wanted.” [E&E News, 1/28/19 (-)]

Chad Ellwood

Research Associate

cellwood@cacampaign.com

202.448.2877 ext. 119