U.S. Environment & Energy

Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc.
(Wikipedia) a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that set forth the legal test used when U.S. federal courts must defer to a government agency’s interpretation of a law or statute.[1] The decision articulated a doctrine known as “Chevron deference”.[2] Chevron deference consisted of a two-part test that was deferential to government agencies: first, whether Congress has spoken directly to the precise issue at question, and second, “whether the agency’s answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute”.

19 August
Competing energy and climate visions in the 2024 presidential election
Samantha Gross and Fred Dews
The Trump administration’s most significant climate impact was withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement; the Biden administration’s has been the Inflation Reduction Act.
“Energy independence” gets a lot of attention, but we should be talking about energy security, and the U.S. is a very energy secure country.
Changing the energy economy to reduce greenhouse gas emissions isn’t just about sacrifice; it creates a lot of business and economic opportunities.
(Brookings) There’s a critical debate to be had about the level of risk and opportunities posed by a changing climate and what actions should be considered to adapt and transition to a carbon neutral and resilient future. And this is not only a domestic concern here in the U.S.; the international community is watching how climate and energy issues play out in the U.S. presidential election, with both major party candidates offering different visions for climate and energy policy.
…unquestionably, the biggest move during President Biden’s term has been the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in August of 2022. This is the largest piece of climate legislation ever passed here in the United States. It’s quite a different situation than you see in Europe and some other countries. We don’t have a carbon tax or a policy that includes a lot of sticks. It’s really focused on carrots: tax subsidies and loan guarantees and the like to encourage the U.S. to move to a lower carbon economy. There’s encouragement for renewable electricity development; for electric vehicles; for greener manufacturing; for development of new, greener technology here in the United States; for reshoring critical minerals development. There’s something in there for everyone and it’s a gigantic step towards meeting our climate goals.

17 July
Why isn’t Hurricane Beryl inspiring bi-partisan action to reduce disaster risks?
Manann Donoghoe and Andre M. Perry
(Brookings) …in the southern United States, the ripple effects of a devastating natural disaster are still occurring. Houston residents, who were already impacted by Hurricane Beryl, are facing a severe heat wave amplifying the damages of the hurricane. Such compound disasters undermine basic functions of government, including the provision of safe and effective public infrastructure, and also jeopardize the foundational tenets of American democracy, such as the sanctity of property rights. So why is addressing climate change still a partisan issue?
Put simply, the U.S. lacks a sustainable policy platform to build the climate resilient communities that the nation needs. More concerningly, climate change has become a polarizing issue when it should be a unifying one. Democrats and Republicans need to take this threat seriously and reignite a bi-partisan platform for climate action grounded in disaster risk reduction.
Developing over ultra hot Atlantic waters that supercharged the storm, Beryl reached Category 5 status faster than any previous hurricane. By the time it made landfall in Texas on Monday, July 8, Beryl had been downgraded to a Category 1, but it still caused tremendous destruction. First striking Corpus Christi and then Houston, the hurricane caused 13 deaths, and left over 2.2 million residents without electricity. As of Monday, July 15, a full week after making landfall, roughly 300,000 Houstonians are still without power.

16 July
The MAGA Plan to End Free Weather Reports
Project 2025 would all but dissolve the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
By Zoë Schlanger
(The Atlantic) In the United States, as in most other countries, weather forecasts are a freely accessible government amenity. The National Weather Service issues alerts and predictions, warning of hurricanes and excessive heat and rainfall, all at the total cost to American taxpayers of roughly $4 per person per year. Anyone with a TV, smartphone, radio, or newspaper can know what tomorrow’s weather will look like, whether a hurricane is heading toward their town, or if a drought has been forecast for the next season. Even if they get that news from a privately owned app or TV station, much of the underlying weather data are courtesy of meteorologists working for the federal government.
… NOAA’s scientific-research arm, which studies things such as Arctic-ice dynamics and how greenhouse gases behave (and which the document calls “the source of much of NOAA’s climate alarmism”), should be aggressively shrunk. “The preponderance of its climate-change research should be disbanded,” the document says. It further notes that scientific agencies such as NOAA are “vulnerable to obstructionism of an Administration’s aims,” so appointees should be screened to ensure that their views are “wholly in sync” with the president’s.
Trump’s Environmental Impact Endures, at Home and Around the World
His break from the Paris accord inspires other populist leaders, while his reshaping of the federal courts and environmental rollbacks affect the air, water, wetlands and public lands, disrupting efforts to counter climate change.
(Inside Climate news) Former President Donald Trump dismantled the pillars of U.S. climate policy when he exited the Paris climate accord and rolled back more than 100 regulations to protect air, water, endangered species and human health.
… President Joe Biden’s administration has reversed most of the regulatory rollbacks of his predecessor, but Trump left behind a conservative 6-3 majority on the Supreme Court that has already irrevocably changed environmental protection in America. The biggest shock came on June 28, when the court overturned a 40-year-old legal precedent that buttressed federal regulatory action. By dismissing the so-called “Chevron doctrine,” the court handed a legal advantage to those challenging aspects of Biden’s climate change agenda.
… Trump’s international influence and his broader reshaping of the federal courts will hinder climate policy for years to come, leading environmentalists contend—a legacy they say will endure whether or not he is re-elected in November. If Trump does regain the White House, his allies expect him to further break from international cooperation on climate and free existing constraints on U.S. oil, gas and coal production.
But as Republicans convene this week in Milwaukee to make Trump their presidential nominee, don’t expect them to call climate change a “hoax,” as Trump himself did repeatedly on social media years before the 2016 election. By the time he became president, Trump showed an awareness of the political popularity of environmental protection. Instead of dismissing climate science, he talked about lifting the economic burden he said the Paris agreement imposed on the nation. He framed his actions as part of an America-first agenda of energy “dominance” that safeguarded the nation against competitors, particularly China. Eventually, he signed a well-received environmental law, the Great American Outdoors Act, and proposed long-overdue standards to reduce lead in drinking water.

13 June
Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Spring 2024
Most registered voters have not heard much about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022.
On August 16, 2022, President Joe Biden signed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) into law. The law aims to curb inflation by reducing the federal deficit, lowering prescription drug prices and the cost of health insurance, modernizing the Internal Revenue Service, and investing in U.S. clean energy production. The law authorizes $391 billion for developing clean energy and addressing global warming, including tax incentives and rebates to help consumers and businesses buy energy-efficient appliances, solar panels, electric vehicles, etc. The IRA also includes support for clean energy jobs and investments in communities that are most harmed by air and water pollution. It is the largest investment the U.S. government has ever made to reduce global warming, and it is projected to help the U.S. reduce its carbon pollution 40% by 2030. The law will be paid for by closing tax loopholes.

16 May
Understanding the Inflation Reduction Act
The Inflation Reduction Act passed into law in August 2022. In just the past year and a half, the law already has begun driving low-carbon investments—but additional policies could help the United States reach the overarching goal of decarbonizing by midcentury.