Democrats will make climate change a priority
As party gains House, Trump policies to be targeted
WASHINGTON – Capitol Hill Democrats who soon will be running the House are prioritizing climate change nearly a decade after their attempts to slow global warming helped whisk them out of power.
Party leaders are vowing to hold hearings on President Donald Trump’s aggressive efforts to undo Obama-era climate rules and already are demanding internal documents on administration decisions to scale back restrictions on fossil fuels that contribute to global warming.
In addition, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who is vying to regain her role as House speaker, said she planned to revive a special congressional panel. The Select Committee on Energy Independence & Global Warming was shelved after Republicans took over the House in 2010.
Though they won back the House during the recent midterm elections by campaigning largely on health care, Democrats also got the backing of environmental groups.
The quandary for party leaders when they take back power Jan. 3 is how aggressively to pursue an issue that contributed to the tea party wave that fueled the Republican takeover of the House in 2010.
How prepared are they to address opponents’ arguments that “alarmist” climate change policies would hike energy prices and reduce consumer choice? And how willing are they to take on a president who just two years ago was elected on an America First platform that promised to “bring back coal” as part of an energy independence agenda.
For now, Democrats are content to build a case through fierce congressional oversight and the power to subpoena administration records knowing that any major legislation they could pass would probably be vetoed by the president even if it was able to get past the GOP-controlled Senate.
Lawmakers led by incoming Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., are demanding documents related to EPA proposals to let states regulate their power plants, freeze fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, and roll back requirements on the power industry to check and repair methane leaks.
“The tragic and human and financial costs of unchecked climate change are high and increasing fast, and unfortunately the Administration’s actions for the last two years are only exacerbating these conditions,” Pallone wrote in a Nov. 20 letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler.
Effects are already being felt through stronger hurricanes, more intense wildfires, melting glaciers and loss of habitat, researchers say.