Hse Climate Sol Caucus

=we might nned a generic node for these periodic PR stillborns?NB two diff orgs

==

NB applied tag but apostate node pending 7/172x dirty doz lcvTenney was a member of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_Solutions_Caucus" title="Climate Solutions Caucus" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Climate Solutions Caucus</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Tenney#cite_note-63" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[63]</a> In 2016, she <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_change_denial" title="Climate change denial" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">cast doubt</a> on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change" title="Scientific consensus on climate change" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">scientific consensus on climate change</a>, saying, "The science is not determined. It’s not certain."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Tenney#cite_note-64" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[64]</a> In 2017, she supported Trump's decision to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement" title="United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">abandon the Paris Climate Accor</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_withdrawal_from_the_Paris_Agreement" title="United States withdrawal from the Paris Agreement" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: large; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">d</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Tenney#cite_note-65" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">[65]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claudia_Tenney#cite_note-66" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background: none;">[66]</a>1119 dereg nat
With voter worries about Trump environmental rollbacks on the rise (“<a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVUU1PxCAQ_TXLjabQ7rYcOBh1D5p4MXptKMx2iRQaGGz672W7HjThK29m3jzeaIUwhbjJJSQkOUEcrJG8O9VC1MTI1rD-2BObhksEmJV1EmMGsuTRWa3QBr8X1KwnVzkK0V5Op67pLvrYi7oVPW-OQo0t15dmFOTWZVDZWPAaZPBu23mJk1fEJR2ahwM_l7WuaxUhI8RU6TAXREW02kF55UTBf9sY_Awe6RKcoxF-BflUMlKOE1Dr6Rayn_4G6RpitGCoGkNGilf4x1UKv2Gj1ny8vz6-sc8X1n0Se_udYDXveMM6zitWsVNXP_fHMy_7_Nw8Hdp6nniV8phQ6a-bZBLlonDWX6wp0enm3A4XKUO55-wtbgN4NTowd0_xPoTdI9wWkB7W5ACLC3ewGM24YLwjpZMJhdNLAxGm7PZJ-P38AYvAoe8" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJxVUU1PxCAQ_TXLjabQ7rYcOBh1D5p4MXptKMx2iRQaGGz672W7HjThK29m3jzeaIUwhbjJJSQkOUEcrJG8O9VC1MTI1rD-2BObhksEmJV1EmMGsuTRWa3QBr8X1KwnVzkK0V5Op67pLvrYi7oVPW-OQo0t15dmFOTWZVDZWPAaZPBu23mJk1fEJR2ahwM_l7WuaxUhI8RU6TAXREW02kF55UTBf9sY_Awe6RKcoxF-BflUMlKOE1Dr6Rayn_4G6RpitGCoGkNGilf4x1UKv2Gj1ny8vz6-sc8X1n0Se_udYDXveMM6zitWsVNXP_fHMy_7_Nw8Hdp6nniV8phQ6a-bZBLlonDWX6wp0enm3A4XKUO55-wtbgN4NTowd0_xPoTdI9wWkB7W5ACLC3ewGM24YLwjpZMJhdNLAxGm7PZJ-P38AYvAoe8&source=gmail&ust=1573158682869000&usg=AFQjCNFMWgd2C2wKfJdMAnxVsdOebfaInQ" style="">Surge in young Republicans worried about the environment</a>,” Reuters, Aug. 29, 2019), GOP lawmakers are looking for ways to boost their green credentials.First, in July, came the joint House-Senate “Republican Roosevelt Conservation Caucus.” This is a purely Republican effort to tout non-regulatory solutions to pollution, conservation, energy, and climate problems.Now comes the “Climate Solutions Caucus,” a bipartisan Senate effort. Sen. Mike Braun, an Indiana Republican, and Sen. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOgyAQ_ZrypuHSKj7w0GTb3zA4zCopguGyxr9ftAkwk0NmzgV0xjnEQ20hZVISxtEaxfuODgMlRt0Nkw9JbBp_I-KqrVM5FiRbmZwFnW3w1wBlkixKUibEMHUwSQHYSyYeYBAoUm66Owhysoy6GIseUAXvjmsvcWrJeUs38bzxdz37vrd-Ao97aiGsFdmCs9lCqi0EP0dMZ5vQ6xxiapwuHpZmspuO2SbtG3B2reYaWLSfsbG-jle9f9h4RnvKZUfsqXtglPdcsJ7zlrWs6-lLPt683vdL_NzudJ15m8qUsobPKYZEtem8woeJ-jufmVxwjWSsdS2V6RirsMmh-aaVv_Fe7vOxoTqNOcwZ4xesETI-MN6TymRC3emVwYhzcVfG_nr_AV_VkzA" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUNuOgyAQ_ZrypuHSKj7w0GTb3zA4zCopguGyxr9ftAkwk0NmzgV0xjnEQ20hZVISxtEaxfuODgMlRt0Nkw9JbBp_I-KqrVM5FiRbmZwFnW3w1wBlkixKUibEMHUwSQHYSyYeYBAoUm66Owhysoy6GIseUAXvjmsvcWrJeUs38bzxdz37vrd-Ao97aiGsFdmCs9lCqi0EP0dMZ5vQ6xxiapwuHpZmspuO2SbtG3B2reYaWLSfsbG-jle9f9h4RnvKZUfsqXtglPdcsJ7zlrWs6-lLPt683vdL_NzudJ15m8qUsobPKYZEtem8woeJ-jufmVxwjWSsdS2V6RirsMmh-aaVv_Fe7vOxoTqNOcwZ4xesETI-MN6TymRC3emVwYhzcVfG_nr_AV_VkzA&source=gmail&ust=1573158682869000&usg=AFQjCNG71NNaEyFy_8hjGlM3hEAiEMqJEA" style="">told NBC News</a> that they got the idea for the caucus “after meeting with constituents in town halls across both of their very different states…[T]he group will first meet with scientists, policy experts and business leaders to try to find common ground and move forward from there.”Skepticism seems warranted. <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuwyAQ_JpwswX4QXzgUKnJb1gYNg4qBguWVv77rh0JZmHQ7gxjDcKa8qH3VJDVAnn2Tks18mnizOneiftwZ77MrwywGR805gpsr0vw1qBP8Wrg4s7eWvRqABDdwqdlsLxfjBrH3nGhlOC9sexUmU11HqIFnWI4rrks6DfiXm7d100-aWUwroTqVmht2ogggYmK4Od5ILDBb-S9sabaWppXqtFBbnxpDF1K8aF5VSAwvyl7BGph_vQ5CS6V7ISSshWtGBV_3IenpP18dN-3nm-rbEtdChr7c6qzrHeDm_0RHb2uZwYXTRHMVLcaPR4zRLMEcJ908BPn9Vs8dtAR_koARMgfkiITchJSMVJyiWZGTfZhreHKNF74DwQrilg" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUMtuwyAQ_JpwswX4QXzgUKnJb1gYNg4qBguWVv77rh0JZmHQ7gxjDcKa8qH3VJDVAnn2Tks18mnizOneiftwZ77MrwywGR805gpsr0vw1qBP8Wrg4s7eWvRqABDdwqdlsLxfjBrH3nGhlOC9sexUmU11HqIFnWI4rrks6DfiXm7d100-aWUwroTqVmht2ogggYmK4Od5ILDBb-S9sabaWppXqtFBbnxpDF1K8aF5VSAwvyl7BGph_vQ5CS6V7ISSshWtGBV_3IenpP18dN-3nm-rbEtdChr7c6qzrHeDm_0RHb2uZwYXTRHMVLcaPR4zRLMEcJ908BPn9Vs8dtAR_koARMgfkiITchJSMVJyiWZGTfZhreHKNF74DwQrilg&source=gmail&ust=1573158682869000&usg=AFQjCNHpJBNvDqyGaArRELUCk9QHPL8PbQ" style="">As my friends at Sludge report</a>, both senators have received campaign donations from the fossil fuel sector and related industries:<ul style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">Braun has taken in nearly $120,000 since 2017.</li><li style="margin: 3.75px 0px 3.75px 7.5px;">Coons has accepted around $63,000 since 2015.</li></ul>It’s not inevitable that politicians take money from this sector. “All but one of the remaining major Democratic presidential candidates have signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge,” Sludge notes, “a commitment to reject donations of over $200 from PACs, executives, and lobbyists of fossil fuel companies. Coons has not made either commitment.”On the other hand, Coons has co-sponsored (with Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.)) a carbon-pricing bill that, unlike many such proposals in the House and Senate in recent years, does not try to nullify the EPA’s Clean-Air-Act-granted authority to regulate carbon pollution, <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw9kNuOhCAMhp9muNMIjKIXXGyy42sYDh2HDIIBXOPbb3U2m9A26ekvn1EF5pgOucZcyJYhTc5KJrpmGBpi5d3Svu2Jy9MzASzKeVnSBmTdtHdGFRfDNdDQnrzkU1DKhqHthtbytuNaaM06MC3rnrpVjJwqk9qsg2BAxuCPay_x8lXKmm_868ZGfPu-18a7Ba_zTmnnXTkC7LmOacYyyg0YGoGOU3RGJR1DhY0-V3-D1f9ktSv3Awn7iDtPHWjDBONUMFbTmnaiefTtyNDGB--3ZtlZnXedC7KvGsTF5Lkqspi3pRjdT4xXGmkMGFctoAqEwSlPdgPoPIhen24HCvI83wPpUD6JJEasqJMEFSyEXcGaSHBvPkLa7j8L7cTjFg" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJw9kNuOhCAMhp9muNMIjKIXXGyy42sYDh2HDIIBXOPbb3U2m9A26ekvn1EF5pgOucZcyJYhTc5KJrpmGBpi5d3Svu2Jy9MzASzKeVnSBmTdtHdGFRfDNdDQnrzkU1DKhqHthtbytuNaaM06MC3rnrpVjJwqk9qsg2BAxuCPay_x8lXKmm_868ZGfPu-18a7Ba_zTmnnXTkC7LmOacYyyg0YGoGOU3RGJR1DhY0-V3-D1f9ktSv3Awn7iDtPHWjDBONUMFbTmnaiefTtyNDGB--3ZtlZnXedC7KvGsTF5Lkqspi3pRjdT4xXGmkMGFctoAqEwSlPdgPoPIhen24HCvI83wPpUD6JJEasqJMEFSyEXcGaSHBvPkLa7j8L7cTjFg&source=gmail&ust=1573158682869000&usg=AFQjCNHNbaJ6Z3t9_itImGCgAPq5QJbRPw" style="">as InsideClimate News reported in July</a>. The legislation also contains a provision stating that “nothing in this legislation preempts any state law or regulation.” Translation: It leaves open the door to suing Big Oil firms at the state level for climate-related damages, as some cities and counties are already trying to do.It is hard to imagine climate legislation getting a vote while Trump is president. But the fact that lawmakers are hashing out their climate policy ideas despite Trump’s policy of climate denial is worth watching. It could lead to faster action under a different White House — or if senators challenge Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s cynical legislative gridlock. (“No man has done more in recent years to undermine the functioning of U.S. government,” <a href="http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUcuOwyAM_JpyI8IkLeTAYaXd_kbEw01QeUSBKOrfL0klsC0be4ax1RXnvH3Umksle8Ft8k5x8WDjyIhTgwN5l8SX6bUhRu2DqtuOZN1N8FZXn9PVwECSRQl8MY1sYIN4CUQJduTCjOAEGmHAkRNl0rvzmCyqnMLnmkuCWmpdy63_ufFnO8dxdIcui09zzens6myOrZBXnxpmaWH01S40WptTwhBoXZBGneixZGq2_EaqI26NZHvb-Inm2HCaM5II_AVOUjDGUQAUdJRSUND3HgZzf2gmp1KbMt1SYyD-OIIjAveg-C8gw4egv3J-5O3-zrf28DizPvym5K1fZ9EiabWnWN9g19q86nfFe6qTc1H_fk62fCpE1A9xW2fjdxCVU_K6qERwlYK27fZFMb-AhckIbkcpuZlMMN5z1c60iX_QfhJp10" target="blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://email.mg2.substack.com/c/eJwlUcuOwyAM_JpyI8IkLeTAYaXd_kbEw01QeUSBKOrfL0klsC0be4ax1RXnvH3Umksle8Ft8k5x8WDjyIhTgwN5l8SX6bUhRu2DqtuOZN1N8FZXn9PVwECSRQl8MY1sYIN4CUQJduTCjOAEGmHAkRNl0rvzmCyqnMLnmkuCWmpdy63_ufFnO8dxdIcui09zzens6myOrZBXnxpmaWH01S40WptTwhBoXZBGneixZGq2_EaqI26NZHvb-Inm2HCaM5II_AVOUjDGUQAUdJRSUND3HgZzf2gmp1KbMt1SYyD-OIIjAveg-C8gw4egv3J-5O3-zrf28DizPvym5K1fZ9EiabWnWN9g19q86nfFe6qTc1H_fk62fCpE1A9xW2fjdxCVU_K6qERwlYK27fZFMb-AhckIbkcpuZlMMN5z1c60iX_QfhJp10&source=gmail&ust=1573158682869000&usg=AFQjCNEOWreQC7HAymr1Wt0wI52BFnDQ4A" style="">writes Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank. </a>“His has been the epitome of unprincipled leadership, the triumph of tactics in service of short-term power.”)In either scenario, “winning” will probably involve getting some senators who’ve taken fossil fuel money on board with the plan.=<a href="https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print">https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060122773/print</a><section class="content" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; counter-reset: list-header-num 0; max-width: none;"><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">One has a deep background in climate and coastal adaptation. One is a good friend of the Koch political network. Two come from coal country.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Republican roster for the climate change select committee reflects the party's larger variety of stances on climate change, although its most outspoken advocates for aggressive action on emissions were left off.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In short, the GOP is all over the place.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The roster of Republicans for the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, announced yesterday by Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), will be led by Rep. Garret Graves.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Louisiana lawmaker served on his state's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, where he helped craft a massive coastal restoration and levee program after Hurricane Katrina. And he was once a staff director for the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Global Climate Change and Impacts under then-Sen. David Vitter (R-La.).<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Graves is in some ways the quintessential Republican on climate. He's concerned about the effects of sea-level rise on his district, but he's not hesitant to tout the benefits of natural gas in reducing emissions or the "all of the above" energy agenda.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I've been working in this area for a while, and Louisiana's in a unique spot just because we have both sea rise facing us and we're one of the top energy producers," he told E&E News last month. "I think it's a unique perspective."<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Graves could use his spot on the panel to push climate adaptation measures for sea-level rise, which he said is "the threat that's closest to the door." He's already worked on water infrastructure issues on the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and was heavily involved in the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, a major set of disaster reforms enacted last year.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But other Republicans on the select committee have openly disputed climate science or have deeper ties to the fossil fuel industry and conservative donors who have long opposed action on climate change.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">They'll sit across from a group of Democrats, led by Chairwoman Kathy Castor of Florida, who will be tasked with driving home and publicizing the party's message on climate change (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/greenwire/stories/1060119927" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Greenwire</a>, Feb. 7).<h3 style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Low scores, big dollars</h3><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The Republican roster is primarily defined by low ratings from environmental groups and big campaign donations from the fossil fuel industry.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It also represents a mix of energy interests and could help rally around the Republican claim that natural gas and nuclear are the path forward on climate.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Reps. Morgan Griffith of Virginia, Buddy Carter of Georgia, Gary Palmer of Alabama, Carol Miller of West Virginia and Kelly Armstrong of North Dakota round out the GOP roster.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While all the GOP picks are conservative, Griffith and Palmer are members of the House Freedom Caucus, the hard-right group filled with climate deniers and deep doubts about the regulatory role of EPA.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute, a fierce EPA critic, recommended six members for the panel, but only Griffith made the cut. The Virginia lawmaker said he has not talked with the group about the opening.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">An Energy and Commerce Committee member, Griffith has often fought EPA rules that target coal, a large economic driver in his district located in the southwestern part of the state. He has sought funding for the redevelopment of abandoned mines.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"As long as we make it clear they have to follow rules and realistic science, I am fine with it," Griffith said when asked about EPA's role in regulating greenhouse gases.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Griffith does not deny climate change but has raised concerns that other countries are doing less than the U.S. to cut global emissions, a common Republican line echoed across the Energy and Commerce panel. He's an ally of the Koch political network, which helped him oust Democrat Rick Boucher, one of the lead authors of the 2009 cap-and-trade bill.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Asked about allies on the panel, Griffith said he gets "along well" with Palmer and knows Democratic Rep. Don McEachin of Virginia from their days in the state Legislature.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Since his election to Congress in 2010, Griffith has taken more than $700,000 from the fossil fuel industry and electric utilities, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 5 percent lifetime score from the League of Conservation Voters.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Palmer, who sits on the Science and Transportation and Infrastructure committees, has gone further than many Republicans in questioning not only the cause, but whether climate change is even underway. He has questioned the accuracy of global warming studies and was forced to correct himself in 2017 when he said Arctic ice sheets were expanding rather than, in fact, shrinking.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Palmer has consistently argued that Congress never gave EPA the right to regulate greenhouse gases and believes the courts are wrong in backing that right. Still, he told E&E last year it's "political nonsense" to say the GOP wants to eliminate all regulations, saying it only wants "sensible" ones.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Elected in 2014, Palmer has received $139,000 from energy and natural gas interests, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He has a 1 percent lifetime LCV score.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Carter has a similarly abysmal record in LCV's estimation, coming in with a zero percent lifetime score, but he doesn't take as hard a stance on climate science.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I acknowledge that climate change is a problem," Carter said during his campaign last year, <a href="https://www.savannahnow.com/news/20181007/georgias-1st-congressional-district-candidates-differ-on-green-issues" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: bold;">according</a> to the <em style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Savannah Morning News. "I question sometimes how much of it is man-made but I acknowledge that we need to address it and I've always done that."<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">His district runs the span of Georgia's coast and is near Plant Vogtle, currently the nation's sole nuclear power project.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The two freshmen selected for the panel hail from rural states heavily reliant on the fossil fuel industry.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Armstrong, an attorney who worked for his family oil business and owns a few hundred wells himself in North Dakota, is the sole congressman from a state with huge gas and oil holdings in the Bakken Shale.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">He has argued against the United States going it alone on climate policy and prefers that states, not EPA, regulate the environment (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060111651" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">E&E Daily</a>, Jan. 11).<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Armstrong was elected to replace Kevin Cramer (R), who is now in the Senate, and his largest source of campaign donations was the oil and gas industries, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Miller, who won an open-seat race, is certain to tout White House policies that promote and protect domestic coal, one of West Virginia's leading exports. A bison farmer who owns a car dealership, she also has expressed doubts over federal spending on the expanding use of renewable fuels. In a year that saw a large number of women elected to Congress, Miller was the only new female GOP member.<h3 style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">'I'll take that two ways'</h3><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">While conservative and moderate climate activists praised Graves, there were also some notable omissions from the panel.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Not a single member who was on the Climate Solutions Caucus last Congress made it onto the roster, nor did Reps. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), the two most outspoken House Republicans on climate issues.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
But Rooney suggested it might be a good thing he wasn't selected if the committee ends up being a forum for partisan bickering about established science.Rooney had even asked McCarthy to be on the panel, as had Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), the former ranking member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming from 2007 to 2011.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I'll take that two ways," Rooney told reporters yesterday. "First of all, it shows that they're not where I am yet, and it makes me feel really good about being where I am."<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Still, it's "a bit puzzling" that none of the Republicans from the Solutions Caucus made it onto the panel, said Steve Valk, spokesman for Citizens' Climate Lobby.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"Graves appears to be a good pick for ranking member," Valk said in an email. "His district faces many challenges with climate change, and he's expressed the need for action."<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Alex Flint, executive director of the Alliance for Market Solutions, a conservative carbon tax group, similarly praised the selection of Graves.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"That is a clear signal that the Republican leadership is comfortable with someone who acknowledges climate change leading Republicans on this issue," Flint said in an email.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">But even Graves has just a 3 percent lifetime rating from the League of Conservation Voters and took more than $130,000 from oil and gas political action committees in the last election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.<h3 style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">'We're speaking for ourselves now'</h3><p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The mix of Republican ideologies — and the tension between deniers and nominal believers — is also evident elsewhere on Capitol Hill.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">On Wednesday, the Congressional Western Caucus gathered reporters outside the Capitol to rail against climate science and the "Green New Deal." House Natural Resources ranking member Rob Bishop (R-Utah) ate a hamburger, saying that the "Green New Deal" would ban cows, and Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) falsely suggested that carbon dioxide is not bad for the planet because plants use it for photosynthesis (<a href="https://www.eenews.net/eedaily/stories/1060122637" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; font-weight: bold;"><i style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">E&E Daily</a>, Feb. 28).<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Then, the next morning at the Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change, the Republican climate evolution some activists have been claiming to see for years was on full display.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Members including Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.) and full committee ranking member Greg Walden (R-Ore.) continued to rebut the legality of the Paris climate agreement, but they also called for bipartisan climate action that stresses "innovation," pleas that would have been stunning just a few years ago.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"We're speaking for ourselves now," as opposed to letting Democrats control the message on climate, Walden told reporters.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"There's a lot of stuff we can work together on," he added.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">What that atmosphere means for climate legislation and for debates on the select committee is still not clear, but Rooney said he's hoping to turn freshly converted Republicans into carbon tax believers.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Some Republicans might even jump on board with carbon pricing to counter the progressive "Green New Deal," which would rely heavily on government spending on infrastructure, research and development, Rooney said.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I think the 'Green New Deal' may have gotten people's attention," Rooney said. "It certainly got Walden's."<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Asked about carbon pricing yesterday as he ducked back into the House chamber, Walden didn't rule it out.<p style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 0px; margin: 1em 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">"I'm not going to get into all those discussions yet," he said.</section>=got ass handed to them, scalise, curbelo:
<a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072018/anti-carbon-tax-resolution-house-vote-climate-solutions-caucus-curbelo-scalise-koch-influence-congress" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://insideclimatenews.org/news/19072018/anti-carbon-tax-resolution-house-vote-climate-solutions-caucus-curbelo-scalise-koch-influence-congress</a><div class="content" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded" style="box-sizing: inherit;"> U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a resolution denouncing the idea of a U.S. carbon tax as detrimental to the economy, one week before a Republican-sponsored bill to create a carbon fee is set to be introduced.It was a win for a coalition of groups funded by the petrochemical billionaire Koch brothers and other wealthy, right-wing opponents of climate action. And it revealed weak resolve for bucking GOP leadership among most of the 43 Republican members of the <a href="https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Climate Solutions Caucus</a>.If the bipartisan caucus had held firm, the resolution would have been handily defeated.Instead, only six Republicans—four of them caucus members, including Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, who plans to unveil the carbon fee measure next week—joined most Democrats in opposing the resolution. Seven Democrats voted with the GOP.The 229-180 vote marked a slight erosion in the GOP wall of opposition to climate action. In 2016, an identical measure passed the House <a href="http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll295.xml" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">237-163</a>with no Republicans opposed. Such resolutions are meant to express the views of the chamber and have no real-world impact, but with a different Congress in place now, carbon tax foes wanted a new vote.  The American Energy Alliance (AEA), the Heartland Institute, and 18 other conservative advocacy groups had urged House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this month to bring the resolution to the floor.AEA president Thomas Pyle said in an interview with InsideClimate News that the impetus was not the prospect of Curbelo's bill, but an effort to put members on the record before November. The groups put it this way in their <a href="https://www.americanenergyalliance.org/2018/07/09/conservative-coalition-rallies-to-warn-of-disastrous-economic-impact-of-carbon-tax%E2%80%8B/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">letter </a>to Ryan: "As we approach the 2018 midterm election, American voters need to know whether their elected representatives support the implementation of a new tax on the energy they rely on every single day."The House's affirmation of a fossil fuel-friendly agenda comes in a week when President Donald Trump's administration did the same on multiple fronts.The Environmental Protection Agency's new administrator, former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/epa-eases-rules-on-how-coal-ash-waste-is-stored-across-the-us/2018/07/17/740e4b9a-89d3-11e8-85ae-511bc1146b0b_story.html?utm_term=.98bcae2c16cc" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">finalized a plan</a> to ease requirements for handling the toxic coal ash from power plants—rules developed by the Obama administration after costly spills in Tennessee and North Carolina. The Treasury Department announced it would <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/17/us/politics/irs-will-no-longer-force-kochs-and-other-groups-to-disclose-donors.html" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">scrap requirements</a> that certain tax-exempt nonprofits disclose their donors, helping to cloak a key avenue for campaign contributions used by the Koch brothers and other wealthy political benefactors.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">2 Views on How Climate Solutions Caucus Voted</h3>The House vote showed the flimsiness of the <a href="https://citizensclimatelobby.org/climate-solutions-caucus/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Climate Solutions Caucus</a>, the bipartisan coalition that Curbelo and others have sought to build behind the concept of a market-based solution for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.RL Miller, president of the advocacy group Climate Hawks Vote, said the caucus' credibility is in tatters after its GOP members, whom she has frequently criticized for their <a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27022018/climate-solutions-caucus-congress-gop-voting-record-arctic-drilling-lcv-scores-election-challenge" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">weak environmental voting records</a>, failed to hold off a resolution that strikes at the heart of their purported purpose."It would be a joke were the subject not so serious. The caucus has no credibility, and no ability to do anything," Miller said. "The climate is changing far more quickly than Republican attitudes. That's why we do not hold faith in bipartisan solutions."But Steve Valk, spokesman for the Citizens Climate Lobby, a grassroots advocacy group that favors a carbon tax and that helped bring together the caucus, noted the non-binding resolution has no real effect. Valk said he did not expect that its members would go out on a limb against such a measure, especially since it was sponsored by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.), the No. 3 Republican in the chamber and a potential successor to Ryan, who is retiring."Anybody who votes against this resolution—it's going to be a mark against them in the eyes of the leadership, which decides what assignments you get, whether or not you're on the committee you want, and who's chair," Valk said. "There's a lot of calculations that go into a decision like this. We're willing to look at that and say, yeah, it's not a simple choice for them."In my mind, if you can get a handful of Republicans to vote no on this, that's a victory."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">The Conversation Is Shifting: Republicans Consider Carbon Pricing</h3>Other carbon tax advocates expressed glass-half-full optimism, arguing the mere push for a vote by fossil fuel allies betrays their concern about the increasing support for the idea of putting a price on carbon to fight climate change."They feel that the momentum is shifting as the conversation commences, and they are trying to beat down any thoughtful analysis with a tribal drum that they are nervously beating louder," said former Rep. Bob Inglis, a Republican from South Carolina and founder of a conservative carbon tax advocacy group republicEn."If we were able to discuss this, we'd find that this is something that could bring conservatives and progressives together," he said.Conservative advocates for a carbon tax have been trying to make their case in Washington since the start of the Trump administration with little success. Trump's former chief economic advisor, Gary Cohn, reportedly earned the derisive nickname "<a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/carbon-tax-cohn-is-the-nickname-bannon-supporters-reportedly-have-for-key-white-house-official-2017-04-12" style="text-decoration-line: none; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Carbon Tax Cohn</a>" in the West Wing for giving a hearing to a revenue-neutral tax <a href="https://www.clcouncil.org/media/TheConservativeCaseforCarbonDividends.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">plan</a> proposed by prominent Republicans, including former Secretary of State James Baker and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.But since then, other groups have popped up. The nuclear-heavy energy company Exelon, the American Wind Energy Association and First Solar are funding a coalition called <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2018/6/22/17487488/carbon-tax-dividend-trent-lott-john-breaux" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Americans for Carbon Dividends</a>, which has hired former Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, a Mississippi Republican, to lobby on the issue. Twenty-two college Republican groups came together earlier this year to form <a href="https://www.s4cd.org/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">Students for Carbon Dividends</a>. Its founding president, Alex Posner, an American history major at Yale, says the plan they favor would address international competitiveness and jobs creation and would look nothing like the carbon tax described in the Scalise resolution. "We want to see a plan that's pro-growth and pro-environment while shrinking the size of government," he said.Pyle, of the American Energy Alliance, argues that no matter the design of a carbon tax program, consumers are worse off. "There's revenue generated, and then you haggle over how to spend it," he said. "It's no different than other taxes and fees. If you're giving back some to low-income households, it's a still a redistribution. And since poorer people pay a higher percentage of their incomes on energy, they are worse off."A series of <a href="http://energypolicy.columbia.edu/july-2018-carbon-tax-research-series?utm_source=Center+on+Global+Energy+Policy+Mailing+List&utm_campaign=18c5b8aafb-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_07_17_11_22&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_0773077aac-18c5b8aafb-62135029" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">four reports</a> released this week by Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy calls that argument into question, however, and provides ammunition for carbon tax advocates. The reports analyze various carbon tax legislation scenarios and conclude that they would increase government revenue by hundreds of billions of dollars a year and drive down U.S. emissions, far more than current policy, with minimal effects on the U.S. economy, families or businesses, or even on oil and gas production and consumption.<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">Curbelo: Resolution Presented 'a False Choice'</h3>For now, the House vote preemptively throws cold water on Curbelo's planned introduction next week of legislation that would impose an escalating tax on carbonemissions, while pausing federal regulations on climate change. Although Curbelo would not discuss details of his plan, reports said the revenue generated would be directed into infrastructure and in helping communities adapt to sea level rise and other impacts of climate change.Curbelo did not speak on the House floor during the one-hour debate allotted for the Scalise resolution. But when asked by InsideClimate News to comment, he criticized the measure in an emailed statement."The resolution presents a false choice," Curbelo said. "While I agree a carbon tax on its own would not be the best way forward and could have negative effects on the economy, there are smarter, more innovative solutions that would not only reduce carbon emissions and mitigate for the effects they have on our planet, but also grow the economy and provide opportunities for American workers and businesses at home and abroad."I look forward to engaging with my colleagues on this topic next week, and sharing my own proposal in the near future," he said.Curbelo, who represents the southern tip of Florida, one of the regions of the country most vulnerable to climate change impacts, is seen as one of the most vulnerable House Republicans. Cook Political Report and other political odds-makers call his race a <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/ratings/house-race-ratings" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">toss-up</a>.With Democrats <a href="https://www.cookpolitical.com/analysis/house/house-overview/house-ratings-changes-10-districts-move-mostly-democrats-direction" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit;">expected to gain</a> between 20 and 35 seats in November, and just 23 needed for them to retake the majority, Inglis argues that Scalise wasn't doing his own party any favors by forcing a carbon tax showdown. "Steve, what are you doing, running for minority leader?" asked Inglis. "He's putting people at risk for an idea that is clearly going to become very passé and very retro looking."<h3 style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.333;">The House Debate</h3>During the House debate on the measure, Republicans urged a stand against carbon taxes while taking pains to assert that they were not denying the science of climate change."I'm not a climate denier. I'm not a science denier. I'm a climate thinker," said Rep. Andy Barr (R-Ky.) "And real science isn't just about assessing costs only. It's about looking at benefits as well. ... Coal provides cheap, plentiful, reliable energy over the long term. We should not want the most carbon-free energy, but the best energy."Democrats used up much of their 30 minutes of time attempting to change the subject from the anti-carbon tax measure to spotlight Trump's controversial meeting this week with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), managing the resolution for the GOP, repeatedly refused.A handful of Democrats, most of them members of the Climate Solutions Caucus, offered full-throated defense of carbon taxes."For decades, economists from across the ideological spectrum have argued that a carbon price is the most efficient way to discourage the use of fossil fuels and the best way to encourage energy efficiency measures and market decisions on everything from housing to transportation," said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.). "The science continues to accumulate in prodigious amounts that the pollution is changing our Earth and the cost is staggering into the billions. Carbon pricing is the most market-oriented policy we can take to combat this."Rep. Earl Blumenauer, (D-Ore.) said the resolution "encapsulates what's wrong with the Republican management of this Congress. It is a cartoon that doesn't deal with the underlying issues," he said. "We could have a debate about real legislation that would satisfy their answers and be able to deal with what our responsibilities are to the future. ... Instead, we're dealing with empty gestures."In addition to Curbelo, Republicans voting against the resolution were Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Mia Love of Utah—all members of the Climate Solutions Caucus—and Reps. Trey Hollingsworth of Indiana and Francis Rooney of Florida. The Democrats who joined the GOP in voting for the resolution were Reps. Sanford Bishop of Georgia; Henry Cuellar and Vincente González of Texas; Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania; Stephanie Murphy of Florida; and Tom O'Halleran and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. </div></div></div></div><div class="tagged-with" style="box-sizing: inherit; text-transform: uppercase; margin-bottom: 1em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><label style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; line-height: 1.2;">PUBLISHED UNDER:</label><div class="field field-name-field-topics field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topics/regulation" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">REGULATION</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-items" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="field-item even" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; padding-right: 0.5em;"><a href="https://insideclimatenews.org/topic/climate-change" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: transparent;">CLIMATE CHANGE</a></div></div></div></div>==Founded in 2016, the Climate Solutions Caucus is a group of bipartisan members of the United States House of Representatives who work to achieve action on stopping climate change.[1] 1Mission2Members, 115th Congress[1]3See also4ReferencesMission[edit]According to Co-Chair Curbelo's House website, the mission of the Caucus is:"to educate members on economically-viable options to reduce climate risk and to explore bipartisan policy options that address the impacts, causes, and challenges of our changing climate."[2]Members, 115th Congress[1][edit]The co-chairs have decided that membership will consist of equal representation of Republicans and Democrats.[2]
= nice map]<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/league-of-conservation-voters-scorecard-2540884519.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/league-of-conservation-voters-scorecard-2540884519.html</a><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">Republicans in Congress Flunk Environment and Public Health Report Card With Average Grade of 1%</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2540884519" data-authors="Climate Nexus" data-headline="Republicans in Congress Flunk Environment and Public Health Report Card With Average Grade of 1%" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style="">Congressional Republican lawmakers have set record lows on the 2017 League of Conservation Voters (LCV) <a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/sites/scorecard.lcv.org/files/LCV_Scorecard-2017-Full.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">scorecard</a>, released Tuesday.The <a href="https://www.lcv.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">LCV</a>, which has been scoring lawmakers' actions on environment, public health and <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate</a> issues for nearly 50 years, awarded Senate Republicans a record low average 1 percent score, with 46 Senators receiving a score of zero—meaning "they voted against the environment and public health at every opportunity" in 2017.House Republicans earned an average of five percent, with the lauded GOP ClimateSolutions Caucus earning a scant 16 percent average."There's no getting around it: at the federal level, 2017 was an unmitigated disaster for the environment and public health with President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> and his Cabinet quickly becoming the most anti-environmental administration in our nation's history," the report said.As reported by <a href="https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2018/02/congress-just-got-a-whole-lot-of-fs-on-their-environmental-report-card/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mother Jones</a>:"'We've seen the parties have gotten further and further apart,' says Tiernan Sittenfeld, LCV's senior vice president for government affairs, 'and more Democrats have recognized that good climate politics is good politics.'... The exception is Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.), who earned the highest of any Republican with 71 percent—a solid C-minus.'It's unfortunately that 71 percent is now such an outlier,' Sittenfeld notes, 'because it used to be that a number of Republicans voted pro environment.'"<a href="https://thinkprogress.org/congressional-republicans-environmental-scorecard-2017-dba844da6fb9/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ThinkProgress</a> pointed out that the administration's attacks on the environment and public health have continued incessantly in 2018:"By all accounts, the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda shows <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/second-year-plans-of-scott-pruitt-decaf8dcc19c/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">no signs</a> of slowing down in 2018. <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a> Administrator <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt</a> recently announced plans to reorganize the agency and <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/epa-eliminates-key-research-office-074f12d18393/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">shutter a program</a> that funds research into how <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/chemicals" style="text-decoration-line: none;">chemicals</a> impact human health, while Secretary of the Interior <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/ryan-zinke" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Ryan Zinke</a> <a href="https://thinkprogress.org/ryan-zinke-still-wants-to-expand-offshore-drilling-despite-near-universal-opposition-b12e65062941/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">recently reiterated</a> plans to open a historic amount of the United States' coast to <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/offshore-oil-drilling" style="text-decoration-line: none;">offshore drilling</a>."</div></div><div>=</div>=

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