On energy and environment, the Democrats in Philadelphia last week offered a dramatic contrast to the Republicans in Cleveland the week before. This week in CIB:
Campaign Watch: “I Believe in Science”
In her address last week accepting her party’s nomination for president, Hillary Clinton sought to emphasize the sharp contrasts between herself and Republican nominee Donald Trump. Those contrasts included her simple but telling declaration, “I believe in science.”
Clinton was referring to Trump’s high-profile status as leader of the “climate deniers.” He rejects climate science’s conclusions that major global warming is already underway, that if not checked it will have catastrophic results, and that human activities (especially greenhouse gas releases) are a major contributor to the changes.
Clinton, on the other hand, has made continuing and expanding upon the Obama Administration’s work to curb global warming a major part of her campaign commitments. She points to her work as his Secretary of State in helping further that work. As a presidential candidate, she repeatedly emphasizes her plan to swiftly increase solar energy generation.
In addition to nominating their presidential ticket, national Democrats meeting at their quadrennial national convention last week also adopted a party platform staunchly committed to addressing climate change. That platform supports pursuing the Paris international climate action agreement, getting half of American electricity from clean sources within a decade, 500 million solar panels installed within four years, and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% below 2005 levels by 2050. It declares both that “greenhouse gases should be priced to reflect their negative externalities” and that “every tool available to reduce emissions now” should be pursued, including the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Other provisions include eliminating the “Halliburton Loophole” which exempts fracking from federal clean water supply rules, not building the Keystone XL pipeline, protecting public lands and waters, and addressing issues of environmental and climate justice. To read the details, see the full platform here, starting on p. 27.
The details of this Democratic platform, including the climate change action calls, reflect policy language agreed to by the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The result was the most specific and ambitious combination of climate change action proposals ever contained in a major party platform.
In contrast, the Republican National Convention the week before adopted a party platform rejecting action on climate change (including the Clean Power Plan and the Paris international agreement), calling for increased production of coal and oil (including via the Keystone XL Pipeline), opposing the EPA’s Clean Water Rule, barring federal regulations on fracking, calling for the transfer of federal public lands management to the states, and seeking the dismantlement of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency itself.
National League of Conservation Voters (LCV) president Gene Karpinski personally appeared and spoke to the Democratic convention, delivering a strongly worded statement attacking Trump and supporting Clinton. See his full statement here.
Karpinski’s positive address to the Democratic convention stands in stark contrast to LCV’s statement about Trump’s nomination. It called Trump disqualified for the presidency based on his “blatant ignorance of basic science and insistence that climate change is a hoax.”
LCV’s unusually pointed distinction between the Clinton and Trump tickets reflects the polar opposition of their stances on climate and environment, as well as the critical importance of this election. In the view of environmental advocates nationwide, the November outcome will determine whether international efforts to control climate change continue and grow or collapse. Our planet does not have time for a re-set and do-over four or eight years later.
Environment, clean energy, and climate change are set to remain clear and critical distinctions between the major parties and their national tickets for the remainder of the 2016 campaign.
Judicial Watch: Court Strikes Down Voter Suppression Law
The U.S. Court of Appeals last week struck down the entire package of legal changes by the NC General Assembly in 2013 which narrowed and restricted key voting rights provisions. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals panel deciding the case ruled that the changes were based on discriminatory intent impacting minority race voters.
Among the controversial provisions invalidated by the decision are the following:
1) Voter photo identification requirements.
2) Elimination of same-day registration and voting during the early voting period.
3) Shrinking the early voting period from three to two weeks.
4) Elimination of ‘out of precinct’ voting, in which a voter who accidentally goes to the wrong precinct on election day can cast a ballot there on the contests in which they are entitled to vote.
5) Controversial increases in who could challenge voters’ eligibility.
Responding to the Appeals Court’s ruling, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said, “I am pleased that the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has struck down a law that the court described in its ruling as ‘one of the largest restrictions of the franchise in modern North Carolina history.’ As the court found, this law was passed with discriminatory intent. It targeted African-Americans ‘with almost surgical precision’–imposing stringent ID requirements, reducing same-day registration and constraining out-of-precinct voting to place barriers between citizens and the ballot box. And it sent a message that contradicted some of the most basic principles of our democracy. The ability of Americans to have a voice in the direction of their country–to have a fair and free opportunity to help write the story of this nation–is fundamental to who we are and who we aspire to be. Going forward, the Department of Justice will continue our work to protect that sacred right for all.”
Voting rights advocates cheered the decision. “We are happy today that the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision exposed the racist intent of the extremist element of our government in North Carolina,” Rev. William Barber, state president of the NAACP, said in a statement. “We know that this decision is a step closer to a freer, fairer electoral system in our state and in the nation.”
Gov. Pat McCrory, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, and House Speaker Tim Moore attacked the decision as enabling voter ‘fraud’ despite the lack of evidence that any significant level of voter fraud has taken place in North Carolina for decades. They pledged to appeal the decision.
The Appeals Court ruling directed the federal District Court to issue an order immediately enjoining (blocking) the voter suppression law. Even though the law’s backers plan to appeal, observers question whether the currently short-handed U.S. Supreme Court has enough justices who consider the challenged law constitutional to reverse that order.
NCLCV and other citizen conservation advocacy groups are involved in ongoing efforts to encourage voting, in order to hold elected leaders accountable for their decisions on the environment and public health. Therefore, we must cheer major decisions such as this one which make it easier, not harder, for more North Carolinians to vote.
Education & Resources: Global Warming & Sizzling Summers
Speaking of climate change, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy (SACE) this week is conducting a webinar on the topic of “Global Warming and Sizzling Summers in the Southeast.” The webinar will examine research by Climate Central’s “States at Risk Project,” which analyzes climate data and trends, and finds that global warming has already increased the number of extremely hot summer days, including in parts of the southeastern United States.
The webinar will be held this Thursday, August 4, from noon to 1pm. You can find more information and register here. There is no charge to participate.
Conservationists: Stanback Intern Cheryl Ross
NCLCV welcomes our Stanback Interns each summer to join our team of citizen advocates for a clean, green, and healthy North Carolina. This week meet 2016 Stanback Intern Cheryl Ross.
That’s our report for this week.
