Complications In Democrats’ Climate Fight

As Climate Change Returns to Capitol Hill, Disagreements Remain Among Democrats

Carolyn Kormann, February 9, 2019 (The New Yorker)

“…[The first House Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on climate change since 2013 and the first by the House Committee on Natural Resources since 2009 were held last week, signaling] some degree of new momentum…[but the] Democratic leadership seemed willing to go only so far in advancing climate talks on Capitol Hill…[The new Select Committee on the Climate Crisis] will have no legislative or subpoena power…The chairwoman will be Kathy Castor, of Florida, who has a mostly unknown record, outside her district, for environmental and emissions-reduction policy…[Only one of the committee’s members were among the 41 of the House’s 435 members to not take money from fossil fuel interests and, during the 2018 election cycle, the other committee members] or their political-action committees received $238,000 from the oil, gas, and electric-utilities industries…[Some] have investments in fossil-fuel assets…

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[Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] declined to serve on the committee, but] introduced a much-hyped resolution for a Green New Deal… [Conservatives] have blasted the proposal as an impossible fantasy…The point of the declaration is to put increasing pressure on the Democratic Party, especially Presidential candidates, to treat climate change with the urgency it demands… [According to just released NASA and NOAA analyses of 2018 trends, 2018 was the fourth-warmest year on record since 1880, following 2016, 2017, and 2015, but House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi said that the select climate committee was not specifically tasked with pursuing the Green New Deal…Without a unified front, the Democrats risk wasting valuable time that should be devoted to enacting federal policies to reduce emissions by as much as three per cent a year over the next several years—the necessary amount if the U.S. is to meet its climate targets under the Paris Agreement…” click here for more

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