Climate Hawks

<strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">this is a node, see also tag</font></strong></p><p><strong><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NEGLECTED?</font></strong>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> =</font></p><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><div class="profile-main-content the-content" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 60px;"><h2 id="sheldon-whitehouse-enemies-list" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 40px; margin-bottom: 24px; padding-bottom: 7.5px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(202, 202, 202);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sheldon Whitehouse Enemies List</font></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During July 2016, Heritage was one of 32 free-market policy organizations that were denounced on the floor of the U.S. Senate by 19 Democratic senators.</span> Led by Sen. <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/person/sheldon-whitehouse/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;">Sheldon Whitehouse</a> (D-RI), <b>the campaign was aimed at passage of a Congressional resolution that would have called on the non-profit groups to cooperate with “active or future investigations” of their climate-policy positions that might be launched against them by federal or state law enforcement officials</b>. Whitehouse accused Heritage and the other organizations of work that was creating a “filthy thing in our democracy.” <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-192" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-192" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[192]</a></span> <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-193" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-193" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[193]</a></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Whitehouse’s proposed resolution was adding onto the work he had begun in a May 2015 opinion piece in the <em style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington Post</em>, wherein he advocated for a federal lawsuit against the energy industry using the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Ac</span>t. Originally designed for and used in criminal cases to prosecute the mafia, RICO has a civil-lawsuit component that has since been applied to corporate targets such as cigarette manufacturers. Whitehouse admitted in the opinion piece that he did not “have enough information” to know whether “racketeering activity” had occurred with the energy industry but speculated the civil discovery in a RICO lawsuit might uncover the evidence he was seeking. In March 2016, then-U.S. Attorney General <a href="https://ballotpedia.org/Loretta_Lynch" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; background-color: transparent; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;">Loretta Lynch</a> announced she had referred Whitehouse’s RICO concern to the FBI. <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-194" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-194" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[194]</a></span> <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-195" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-195" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[195]</a></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">During the early summer of<b> 2016, the Attorney General of the U.S. Virgin Islands sent a subpoena to the libertarian think tank <a href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/competitive-enterprise-institute/" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s;">Competitive Enterprise Institute</a> (CEI), </b>demanding private internal research records, communications, and donor information. Two weeks later, Whitehouse and the 18 Democratic senators launched their program demanding that Heritage and other free-market organizations fully cooperate with investigations of this type</span>. <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-196" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-196" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[196]</a></span></font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 24px; box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The CEI president responded, saying <b>Whitehouse had become the “new Sen. Joe McCarthy</b>,” and that it “is unhealthy for democracy and abusive when members of Congress create an enemies list based on policy positions.” <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-197" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-197" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[197]</a></span> And a joint letter sent to all of the Democratic Senators from Heritage and 22 free-market think tanks stated: “Your threat is clear: There is a heavy and inconvenient cost to disagreeing with you. Calls for debate will be met with political retribution. That’s called tyranny. And, we reject it.” <span class="profile-referencesup" id="ref-198" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 0; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; top: -0.5em;"><a class="profile-referencelink" href="https://www.influencewatch.org/non-profit/heritage-foundation/#note-198" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: 700; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.15s ease 0s; margin-left: 2px; display: inline-block; opacity: 0.7;">[198]</a></span></font></p></div><div class="profile-section" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 60px;"><h4 class="content-box-subheading" id="references" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 12px; margin-bottom: 30px; border-top: 4px solid rgb(221, 221, 221); padding-top: 10px; display: flex;"><div class="content-box-subheading__text" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 1;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">References [long]</font></div></h4></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">SELECTED</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Richardson, Valerie. “Democrats’ campaign against climate change skeptics compared to McCarthyism.” Washington Times. July 12, 2016. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/web-of-denial-turns-senate-floor-into-democrats-pu/ ^</font></font></font></font></div><div>“SENATORS CALL OUT WEB OF DENIAL BLOCKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE.” Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. U.S. Senate. July 15, 2016. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-call-out-web-of-denial-blocking-action-on-climate-change ^</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-call-out-web-of-denial-blocking-action-on-climate-change" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none;">https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-call-out-web-of-denial-blocking-action-on-climate-change</a></div><div>
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</div><div><span class="date black" style="box-sizing: border-box;">7.15.16</span><h1 class="main_page_title" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 20px 0px; line-height: 1.1; text-transform: uppercase;"><font size="4">SENATORS CALL OUT WEB OF DENIAL BLOCKING ACTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE</font></h1><h2 class="subtitle" style="font-weight: 500; font-size: medium; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.1; margin-top: -10px; margin-bottom: 20px;"><font size="4">Nineteen Senators expose fossil fuel-funded groups involved in a campaign to deny climate facts and stymie climate legislation</font></h2><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">Washington, D.C.</span> – Throughout the week on the Senate floor, Senate Democrats called out various trade associations, foundations, and organizations for perpetrating a sprawling web of misdirection and disinformation to block action on climate change.  The Senators’ remarks detailed the concerted campaign waged by the Koch brothers, major fossil fuel companies, identity-scrubbing groups like Donors Trust and Donors Capital, and their allies to manipulate the public’s perception of the climate crisis and curtail legislative action to address it.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Participating senators </b>included Harry Reid (D-NV), Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Jack Reed (D-RI), Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Tom Udall (D-NM), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Al Franken (D-MN), Chris Coons (D-DE), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Edward Markey (D-MA), and Gary Peters (D-MI).</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Despite polling that shows over 80 percent of Americans favor action to reduce carbon pollution, Congress has failed to pass comprehensive climate legislation.  The 19 Senators delivered over five and half hours of remarks describing the activities, backers, and affiliates of<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b> 32 denier groups</b>.  Each Senator called out one or more organizations, including the Advancement of Sound Science Center; the Acton Institute; Americans for Prosperity; American Legislative Exchange Council; the American Petroleum Institute; the Annapolis Center for Science-Based Public Policy; the Cato Institute; the Center for Study of Carbon Dioxide and Global Change; the U.S. Chamber of Commerce; the Competitive Enterprise Institute; the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation; the Franklin Center for Government and Public Integrity; the George C. Marshall Institute; the Global Climate Coalition; the Heartland Institute; the Heritage Foundation; the Hoover Institution; the Hudson Institute; the James Madison Institute; the John Locke Foundation; the Lexington Institute; the Locke Institute; the Manhattan Institute; the Mercatus Center; the Nevada Policy Research Institute; the Pacific Research Institute; the Reason Foundation; the Science and Public Policy Institute; the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy; the Virginia Institute for Public Policy; and the Western Fuels Association.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Whitehouse</span>, who organized the <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">web of denial </span>floor speeches, said during his remarks that he and his colleagues sought to “shine a little light on the web of climate denial and spotlight the bad actors in the web, who are polluting our American discourse with phony climate denial.  This web of denial, formed over decades, has been built and provisioned by the deep-pocketed Koch brothers, by ExxonMobil, by Peabody coal, and by other fossil fuel interests.  It is a grim shadow over our democracy in that it includes an electioneering effort that spends hundreds of millions of dollars in a single election cycle and threatens any Republican who steps up to address the global threat of climate change. . . .  [I]t is long past time we shed some light on the perpetrators of this web of denial and expose their filthy grip on our political process.  It is a disgrace, and our grandchildren will look back at this as a dirty time in America’s political history because of their work.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">“It is clear that no country can avoid the impacts of climate change, and no country can meet this challenge alone,” said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Reid</span>.  “As a nation that has contributed more than a quarter of all global carbon pollution, it is our responsibility to lead, not to deny.  As a nation already feeling the effects and costs of climate change, it is also in our national interest to do so.  As we have seen time and again, other countries would join us if America leads the way – not by denial, but by dedication to pragmatic solutions that can be achieved.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">“It’s getting harder and harder to stop these outside groups from spreading their smear campaigns.  These groups have an interest in making sure Congress never gets anything done to prevent climate change.  And they are using our broken campaign finance system as a tool to keep it that way,” <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Udall</span> said in his remarks. “We need to fix the system.  Poll after poll shows that our constituents – across the political spectrum – want reforms, tackling climate change, eliminating dark money from our politics, and standing up to groups that distort public perceptions.  It’s time we listened.  Our democracy and our environment are at stake.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">During his remarks, <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Markey</span> said, “Even as the science of climate change has become almost incontrovertible, climate policies have gotten trapped in a web of denial. Exxon, the Koch brothers, Peabody coal and their fossil fuel cronies whose profits might suffer under rules to reduce carbon pollution have had a vested interest in stopping climate action and have engaged in a decades-long campaign of deceit. But no matter what lies and misinformation the climate deniers try to peddle, the facts, the moral authority and the economic opportunities are with us. We can and will create a clean energy revolution that increases jobs as it cuts pollution.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">“We can and must pass legislative solutions to address global climate change,” said <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Peters</span>. “Transitioning away from fossil fuels and investing in renewable energy will create sustainable, good-paying jobs here in the United States. Taking bold action on climate change will strengthen our public health, our economy, and our national security. We must wake up and realize that those attempting to mislead and confuse must not be successful.”</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Whitehouse</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE?t=12m29s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41BXw-8Ei5I" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>, and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO1-0raKmiA&feature=youtu.be&t=38m29s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Reid</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYPobj7l9qM" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Boxer</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I59DpiJzWPw" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Durbin</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZB7n-yNXEck" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Reed</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/7KAwk4pUk28?t=27m21s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Schumer</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM6lnqYyquQ" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Cardin</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Udall</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE?t=25m15s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator</span> <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Shaheen</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/7KAwk4pUk28?t=13m39s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Merkley</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aDwJ-i1ITU" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Franken</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIwbBZ34vtQ" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Coons</span>’s<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"> </span>remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE?t=14m47s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">.</span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Blumenthal</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/7KAwk4pUk28?t=54m25s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Schatz</span>’s remarks <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJ6SnNsNX-g" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Heinrich</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/7KAwk4pUk28" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Kaine</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE?t=56m39s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Warren</span>’s remarks <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;"><a href="https://youtu.be/21uzaMpCHGE?t=45m28s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;">HERE</a>.</span> </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Markey</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/NO1-0raKmiA" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">Watch <span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: 700;">Senator Peters</span>’s remarks <a href="https://youtu.be/7KAwk4pUk28?t=36m21s" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">HERE</span></a>.</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 15px; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 35px;">As part of their effort to draw attention to the web of denial, Senators Whitehouse, Markey, Schatz, Boxer, Merkley, Warren, Franken, and Bernard Sanders (I-VT) also introduced a <a href="http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/download/web-of-denial-resolution" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; cursor: pointer;">resolution</a> describing and condemning the efforts of corporations and groups to mislead the public about the harmful effects of tobacco, lead, and climate change.  The resolution urges fossil fuel corporations and their allies to cooperate with investigations into their climate-related activities.  Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) introduced the resolution in the House, which is cosponsored by Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) and 13 colleagues.</p></div><div>=</div><div>Whitehouse, Sheldon. “The fossil-fuel industry’s campaign to mislead the American people.” The Washington Post. May 29, 2015. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fossil-fuel-industrys-campaign-to-mislead-the-american-people/2015/05/29/04a2c448-0574-11e5-8bda-c7b4e9a8f7ac_story.html?utm_term=.b8180d2844f2 ^</div><div>Arter, Melanie. “AG Lynch: DOJ Has Discussed Whether to Pursue Civil Action Against Climate Change Deniers.” CNS News. March 9, 2016. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/melanie-hunter/ag-lynch-doj-has-discussed-whether-pursue-legal-action-against-climate ^</div><div>Richardson, Valerie. “Democrats’ campaign against climate change skeptics compared to McCarthyism.” Washington Times. July 12, 2016. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/web-of-denial-turns-senate-floor-into-democrats-pu/ ^</div><div>Richardson, Valerie. “Democrats’ campaign against climate change skeptics compared to McCarthyism.” Washington Times. July 12, 2016. Accessed February 25, 2021. https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/jul/12/web-of-denial-turns-senate-floor-into-democrats-pu/ ^</div><div>Letter: Americans for Tax Reform, et al., to U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, et al. July 12, 2016. Accessed January 25, 2019. https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/2016-07-12-Coalition-Letter-Senate-Web-of-Denial-Resolution.pdf ^</div></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">3/19</font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/what-climate-leadership-looks-democrats-bill-would-stop-trump-ditching-paris-accord">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/03/27/what-climate-leadership-looks-democrats-bill-would-stop-trump-ditching-paris-accord</a></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">House Democrats Wednesday introduced legislation to bar President Donald Trump from ditching the Paris climate accord and force the White House to submit a plan to slash carbon emissions, drawing praise from environmental groups.</font></div><p class="pullquote" style="font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; box-sizing: border-box; float: right; font-weight: 700; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 20px 20px; text-align: right; width: 263.344px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Donald Trump's attempt to withdraw the United States from this landmark agreement is one of his most egregious steps to weaken our country's international standing." <br style="box-sizing: border-box;" />—Michael Brune, Sierra Club</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"The Climate Action Now Act sends a powerful message to the rest of the world that when it comes to climate change and the Paris agreement, President Trump is out of step with the strong majority of Americans who want the U.S. to be a global leader, not a rogue nation," Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said in a <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2019/03/27/house-leaders-introduce-legislation-requiring-us-remain-paris-climate-agreement" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">statement</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The <a href="https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/www.sierraclub.org/files/blog/CASTOR_010_xml.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">bill</a> (pdf), also known as H.R. 9, comes nearly two years after Trump sparked global outrage by <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/06/01/destructive-fossil-fuel-puppet-trump-ditches-climate-deal-fact-free-speech" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">declaring his intent to withdraw</a> from the Paris deal. Under the terms of the agreement, the earliest possible withdrawal date is <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/trump-and-the-paris-agreement-what-just-happened/536040/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">November 4, 2020</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If passed, the Democrats' legislation would block Trump from using federal funds to pull the U.S. from the Paris deal and require the president to develop a plan to meet the accord's emissions targets.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bill was unveiled at a press conference Wednesday by<b> House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.), and other House Democrats...</b></font></p><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">icn no lnx</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>5 Election Winners to Watch on Climate as Environment Crusaders Head to Congress</b></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>They’ve taken on polluters and built climate solutions. Now they’re bringing activism to Congress in one of the most diverse freshman classes in U.S. House history.</div><div>Marianne Lavelle</div><div>BY MARIANNE LAVELLE  </div><div>
</div><div>NOV 12, 2018</div><div>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for other climate supporters after defeating a long-time congressman in the Democratic primary. Dan Videtich for the Washington Post via Getty Images</div><div>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez campaigned for other climate supporters after defeating a long-time congressman in the Democratic primary. Dan Videtich for the Washington Post via Getty Images</div><div>
</div><div>Capitol Hill is about to get an injection of environmental and climate activism.</div><div>
</div><div>The freshman class of the 116th Congress—in addition to including an historic number of women and being one of the most ethnically and racially diverse—will have a striking number of members who have been environmental crusaders. With track records of taking on powerful fossil fuel interests or building clean energy businesses, many of them are talking about a "Green New Deal"—a massive federal government effort for clean energy and jobs.</div><div>
</div><div>Although such federal legislation seems unlikely in the short term, given the Republicans' hold on the Senate and President Donald Trump's veto pen, this Congress will have members who have taken on big environmental and social justice challenges and prevailed.</div><div>
</div><div> </div><div>"We are thrilled that so many new members of the 116th Congress have been longtime leaders in accelerating our transition to clean energy and combating climate change," said Tiernen Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, which spent a record $80 million campaigning for green candidates this year. Sittenfeld said their expertise and track records in fighting powerful interests in their states are "a welcome addition to Congress at a critically important time."</div><div>
</div><div>RL Miller, founder of Climate Hawks Vote, said she is "incredibly optimistic" about the next Congress. "The incoming freshman class is shifting the Democrats to the left—if you consider 100 percent clean energy 'left,'" she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Here are just a few of this election's winners who have pledged to push back against President Donald Trump's rollbacks of environmental protection, while pushing forward a climate action agenda in the new Congress.</div><div>
</div><div>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Bronx and Queens, New York</div><div>Visiting the Dakota Access pipeline protests in 2016 "tipped the scale for me," Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a Reddit forum. Trump had not yet won the presidency, but Ocasio-Cortez's candidate, Bernie Sanders, had lost his quest for the Democratic nomination. She and other Sanders campaigners, still eager to connect with likeminded protagonists, traveled to places like Flint, Michigan, where residents were fighting for clean water, and North Dakota, where the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe was waging a struggle against a pipeline near their water supply.</div><div>
</div><div>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images</div><div>Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, an environmental justice activist, made climate action a centerpiece of her campaign. Credit: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images</div><div>
</div><div>Ocasio-Cortez, a former Bronx bartender, entered politics at the next opportunity—pulling off an upset win in the Democratic primary last spring to unseat long-serving Rep. Joe Crowley. She made climate action a centerpiece of her campaign, noting how coastal areas of her district like Throgs Neck and City Island are fighting erosion and rising sea levels. She also links environmental action with economic transformation and a mobilization toward 100 percent renewable energy nationwide by 2035.</div><div>
</div><div>"Radically addressing climate change is a potential path towards a more equitable economy with increased employment and widespread financial security for all," her platform said.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Sean Casten, suburbs of Chicago, Illinois</b></div><div>Sean Casten and his father built an energy efficiency business around what he calls "boring, unsexy" technology: They helped manufacturers cut their greenhouse gas emissions and energy bills by capturing industrial waste heat and recycling it on site to generate electricity twice as efficiently as the power grid. Casten is determined to pursue policies that treat acting on climate change as a win-win opportunity that will create new businesses and jobs—as it did in his own life.</div><div>
</div><div>Sean Casten, an engineer elected to the U.S. House from Chicago's suburbs. Credit: Casten Campaign</div><div>Sean Casten, an industrial energy efficiency engineer, says he'll pursue policies that take action on climate change and create new business opportunities and jobs. Credit: Casten campaign</div><div>
</div><div>Casten defeated Republican Rep. Peter Roskam, who had a pro-environment voting record of a mere 3 percent last year, according to the League of Conservation Voters scorecard.</div><div>
</div><div>"I believe everybody in this country deeply cares about climate change," Casten said. "If you say, 'Are you concerned with waves of refugees? Are you concerned with tropical diseases becoming subtropical? Are you concerned about all these billion-dollar insurance events? Are you concerned about energy costs?' If you frame the issues where people are, they will connect the dots."</div><div>
</div><div><b>Rashida Tlaib</b>, Detroit, Michigan</div><div>Michigan officials insisted there was no danger from the black piles on the Detroit riverfront—petroleum coke, a waste product of the billionaire Koch brothers' oil refining operations. In 2013, wind was blowing the black dust into the air, into the Detroit River, and into the homes and gardens of constituents of Rashida Tlaib, then a representative in Michigan's legislature.</div><div>
</div><div>Frustrated with the state's inaction, Tlaib (pronounced tah-LEEB) grabbed kitchen gloves and plastic baggies, and with a small team of citizens marched past the "No Trespassing" signs to collect samples. They found it contained potentially harmful vanadium and selenium, and ultimately, the piles were removed.</div><div>
</div><div>Rashida Tlaib. Credit: Tlaib Campaign</div><div>As a state representative, Rashida Tlaib helped force a cleanup on the Detroit waterfront of petroleum coke, a waste product of the billionaire Koch brothers' oil refining operations. Credit: Tlaib campaign</div><div>
</div><div>Tlaib plans to take the environmental justice fight to Congress, as well as working for curbs on corporate campaign contributions. "Taking on corporate greed is an environmental concern," she told ThinkProgress. Filling the seat of retired Rep. John Conyers, Tlaib, along with Minnesota's Ilhan Omar will be the first two Muslim women in Congress.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Mike Levin, suburbs of San Diego, California</b></div><div>Mike Levin launched his campaign for Congress at a town hall last year, when he handed  "Climate Change for Beginners" to his congressman, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.). Issa, who had called climate science a "convenient lie" and attacked clean jobs programs, eventually retired rather than face reelection in a once-Republican district that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.</div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>Mike Levin, an environmental lawyer, co-founded a clean energy nonprofit and lobbied for state rules to cut greenhouse gas emissions and deploy more electric vehicles. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty Images</div><div>
</div><div>Levin has said that growing up on California's coast inspired him to become an environmental lawyer and activist. He co-founded Sustain OC, a clean energy nonprofit in Orange County and helped lobby for the state policies now in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deploy more electric vehicles. He also worked to establish renewable energy projects, like a fuel cell power plant at the University of California San Diego that is running off of the waste methane produced at the Point Loma wastewater facility.</div><div>
</div><div>"If we think about the integration of solar and wind and storage and other renewables, waste to energy, where eventually they will become 100 percent of our energy mix, it will be a massive economic opportunity," Levin told local news station KPBS. "Now what we need is a supportive federal government."</div><div>
</div><div><b>Veronica Escobar, El Paso, Texas</b></div><div>The smokestacks of the American Smelting and Refining Company, known as Asarco, loomed over El Paso's landscape and history when Veronica Escobar began her tenure as county commissioner in 2007. The shuttered site was where some of the first studies established the toll of lead pollution on children. When Asarco sought to reopen the smelter, Escobar opposed it, testifying in the state capitol and joining in protests. The opposition was successful and Asarco was eventually ordered to clean up the site.</div><div>
</div><div>Veronica Escobar. Credit: Escobar Campaign</div><div>As a county commissioner, Veronica Escobar fought polluters and helped block a utility's attempt to charge more money to customers who have rooftop solar. Credit: Escobar campaign</div><div>
</div><div>Escobar, who later became the top county executive, sought a cleaner, healthier future for the community, started a public-private ecotourism commission to promote the local outdoor recreation industry, and created a foundation to build a riverside trail across the county. She intervened to block an effort by El Paso Electric to charge more money to customers that had rooftop solar.</div><div>
</div><div>"Our planet is being destroyed in front of our very eyes, on OUR watch," Escobar said on Twitter after the Trump administration unveiled its plan to roll back President Barack Obama's signature climate initiative, the Clean Power Plan. "We have an obligation to fight to protect our environment with every fiber of our being. These midterm elections are the most important of our lifetime. For us, for our planet, for our children."</div><div>
</div><div>She is replacing Beto O'Rourke, who decided not to seek reelection last year when he began his unsuccessful run against Ted Cruz for the U.S. Senate. Escobar and Sylvia Garcia will be the first Latinas to represent Texas in Congress.</div><div>
</div><div>PUBLISHED UNDER:</div><div>POLITICS</div><div>ELECTION 2018 CLIMATE CHANGE</div></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">===</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">11/17</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-power-plan-senators-pruitt-2502303003.html"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-power-plan-senators-pruitt-2502303003.html</font></a></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><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;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Senators Accuse EPA of 'Denying Science' and 'Fabricating Math' to Justify Clean Power Plan Repeal</font></h1></div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="js-scroll-trigger" data-target="body" data-triggers="render-rebelbar" data-toggle-class="with-floating-shares" data-loaded="true" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" /></span></font><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="2502303003" data-headline="Senators Accuse EPA of 'Denying Science' and 'Fabricating Math' to Justify Clean Power Plan Repeal" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style=""><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a letter sent to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/epa" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">EPA</a>) Administrator <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/scott-pruitt" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Scott Pruitt</a> on Thursday, 19 Democratic senators demanded that the EPA boss "show your work" in his justification of repealing the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/clean-power-plan" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Clean Power Plan</a> (CPP).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This move comes after suggestions that the agency seriously underestimated the costly toll of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/climate-change/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">climate change</a>. For instance, one <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/epa-clean-power-plan-2495501894.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">analysis showed</a> that the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Trump</a> EPA put the cost of one ton of emissions of carbon dioxide between $1 and $6 in the year 2020—a dramatic decrease of the Obama administration's 2020 estimate of $45. This figure is known as the "<a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/price-on-carbon-1990955696.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">social cost of carbon</a>"—or the public cost of burning fossil fuels—which guides current energy regulations and possible future mitigation policies.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="text-align: center;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Our review of the 2017 Repeal proposal reveals significant deficiencies associated with the cost-benefit analysis used to support the 2015 Rule's repeal," the senators wrote. "At seemingly every turn, the 2017 Repeal proposal uses mathematical sleights of hand to over-state the costs of industry compliance with the 2015 Rule and under-state the benefits that will be lost if the 2017 Repeal is finalized."</font></span></p><p style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The effort was <a href="https://www.carper.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/pressreleases?ID=E419D663-12E5-4B37-B1D9-FFB8250ED058" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">led by</a> Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), top Democrat on the Environment and Public Works Committee. Other prominent signatories include Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">They continued:</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">"Denying the science and fabricating the math may satisfy the agency's paperwork requirements, but doing so will not satisfy the requirements of the law, nor will it slow the increase in frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, the inexorable rise in sea levels, or the other dire effects of global warming that our planet is already experiencing. It will also not improve our standing in the international community or bring certainty to power markets as states plan for their future energy needs."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin-left: 20px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Your rejection of the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas pollution causes global warming is well-known. Additionally, we continue to await your response to the April 7, 2017 letter requesting more details about your views related to the cause of global warming and the agency's plan to repeal and replace the 2015 Clean Power Plan Rule. Our review of the 2017 Repeal proposal only heightens our concerns."</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt announced <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/clean-power-plan-repeal-2494810040.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">earlier this month</a> that he was repealing the CPP, which cuts carbon dioxide emissions from the nation's power plants. Without the rule, the U.S. will not live up to its <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/paris-agreement" target="_blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Paris climate accord</a> pledge of a 26 to 28 percent reduction in emissions by 2025.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Pruitt says withdrawing the rule would end the war on coal.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p></div></div></div><div>
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<div><span times="times" new="new" font-size="font-size:" background-color="background-color:" style=" font-family: ;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and joined by Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Edward Markey (D-MA) </font></span></div>

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<div><span style=" background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/news/release/senators-issue-report-on-us-chamber-of-commerce-lobbying</font></span></div>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">WASHINGTON -- A group of 28 senators will take over the Senate floor on Monday evening for an all-night talk-a-thon on climate change.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The senators plan to start their climate-fest on Monday, March 10, after the last votes, and continue until around 9 a.m. on Tuesday. The senators are part of the Climate Action Task Force, which was<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/09/senate-climate-task-force_n_4570627.html" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">launched in January</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The event, said Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), is meant "to show the growing number of senators who are committed to working together to confront climate change."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The number of participating senators has grown since the event was<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/13/senate-climate-change_n_4784386.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">first announced several weeks ago</a>. Now they're up to 26 Democrats and two independents. The senators are also planning to tweet the event using the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23Up4Climate&src=tyah" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">hashtag #Up4Climate</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The following senators are participating: Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), Patty Murray, (D-Wash.), Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Barbara Boxer, (D-Calif.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Angus King (I-Maine), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.).</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong><a href="http://thinkprogress.org/green/2012/02/16/426639/climate-hawk-senators-remind-washington-of-climate-crisis/">Climate Hawk Senators Remind Washington Of Climate Crisis</a> | </strong>In an hour-long discussion, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) rebuked the Senate for ignoring the climate crisis. The “planetary crisis of global warming” is “not getting the serious debate and discussion it needs here in the Senate,” Sanders began. Watch:</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Reid joins Senators Al Franken, <a title="kerry" href="http://www.kerry.senate.gov/press/release/?id=99bb3f7a-cf20-4c1d-ae59-b9baedda1cb1" target="blank">John Kerry</a>, <a title="sanders" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/02/17/427842/senate-climate-hawks-speech-action-on-the-planetary-crisis-of-global-warming/" target="blank">Bernie Sanders</a>, and <a title="whitehouse" href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2011/10/18/347070/video-senator-whitehouses-must-watch-speech-on-climate-change-and-the-senates-failure-of-duty/" target="_blank">Sheldon Whitehouse</a>, all of whom have made excellent climate speeches on the Senate floor in the last year. However, today’s speech was done in a much more prominent public forum in front of top journalists, regulatory officials, and policymakers.</font>

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<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Climate-minded voters were pleased to see President Obama reelected on Tuesday, and to hear him call out "the destructive power of a warming planet" in his victory speech. But they also scored some notable wins in state houses and Congress this year. Here are five "climate hawks" that will take office in 2013.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>1. Jay Inslee, Washington state's new governor (<a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019640707_govrace09m.html" target="_blank">most likely</a>).</strong> Inslee, a Democrat, who has represented Washington in the House of Representatives since 1993, has long been a champion of renewable energy and sound environmental policies. In 2007 he coauthored the book <em>Apollo's Fire: Igniting America's Clean Energy Economy</em>, on that very subject. He was a member of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming (back before the Republicans nixed it) and the <a href="http://seec-israel.house.gov/press-releases?page=4">co-chair of the House Sustainable Energy & Environment Coalition</a>. He was also a <a href="http://globalwarming.markey.house.gov/mediacenter/pressreleases?id=0209">key figure</a> in shaping the climate bill that passed the House in 2009. As governor, he has pledged to <a href="http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2012/11/07/2758020/inslee-confident-his-wash-vote.html">continue that leadership</a>.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>2. Martin Heinrich, New Mexico's next senator.</strong> Democrat Heinrich defeated Republican Heather Wilson in the race to succeed retiring Senator Jeff Bingaman. Heinrich <a href="http://heinrich.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=11&parentid=2&sectiontree=&itemid=195">authored the Clean Energy Promotion Act</a>, a bill that would have expanded the number of renewable energy projects on public lands. (It didn't pass, but it was a nice idea.) Before joining Congress he was a board member of the New Mexico Wilderness Alliance and was appointed to serve as the state's <a href="http://heinrich.house.gov/biography/">Natural Resources Trustee</a>, who oversees the assessment and protection of the state's resources.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>3. Angus King, Maine's next senator.</strong> King, an independent, is drawing attention because <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/wp/2012/11/08/angus-king-still-undecided-doesnt-rule-out-joining-gop/">he won't say</a> whether he plans to caucus with the Democrats or the Republicans. But environmental groups are certain that he will be a strong voice for climate action, based on his record as governor of Maine. After leaving office, he <a href="http://www.pressherald.com/news/angus-king-defends-his-wind-career_2012-09-16.html">went into the wind energy business</a>, building a 50-megawatt wind farm in Oxford County. He won endorsements from the League of Conservation Voters and the Sierra Club.</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>4. Pete Gallego, the next congressman from Texas' 23rd District.</strong> Gallego, a Democrat, defeated Republican incumbent Quico Canseco in this <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/GOP-Rep-Canseco-not-conceding-Texas-US-House-race-4018505.php">very close</a> House race that <a href="http://www.texaswatchdog.org/2012/11/highdollar-race-for-house-district-23-congress-pete-gallego-francisco-quico-canseco/1352153510.column">featured fights</a> about Jesus and a rare, eyeless spider. An outside group sent a mailer to voters accusing Gallego of siding with "left-wing extremists" in the debate over protecting this spider's habitat from the construction of a new highway. Gallego <a href="http://www.lcv.org/media/press-releases/LCV-Action-Fund-Endorses-Pete-Gallego-for-Election-in-Texas-s-23rd-District.html">won the endorsement</a> of the League of Conservation voters based on his record of, in his own words, promoting a "robust, environmentally-friendly economy."</font>

<font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><strong>5. Carol Shea-Porter, the once-and future-congresswoman from New Hampshire's 1st District.</strong> Shea-Porter served two terms in the House but lost her seat to Republican Frank Guinta in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/frank-guinta-r-nh/gIQA2ugYKP_topic.html">tea-party surge</a> of the 2010 election. She reclaimed it on Tuesday, rallying support with a <a href="http://www.sheaporter.com/Issues/2012-08-energy-and-environment">poignant appeal for action</a> on global warming: "If Americans want to fix this climate change problem, they will first need to fix Congress in November."</font></p>

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