Watching the latter portion of the House Impeachment Manager’s Wednesday case against former President Trump, I was struck less by the argument Trump’s lawyers — and Congressional Republicans — wanted to make — that the President is not guilty as charged of incitement of insurrection because a portion of his supporters (and those of the GOP) were dead set on insurrection prior to January 6, and perhaps even prior to the election. In this narrative Trump might have inadvertently fired up the mob, but it had already planned to assault the capitol, so he merely lit tinder ready to explode…

“A version of this article appeared in Salon”

Just 10 days after the Biden administration took over, in alignment with the new president’s overall blitz strategy, a flabbergasting phalanx of U.S. climate policies have been turned smartly on their heels and are marching toward the future. President Biden has returned the nation to the Paris Agreement, required truth-telling in government reporting, enforced a regulation that government purchases must feed U.S. supply chains rather than imports, terminated the massive giveaway of taxpayer property to coal, oil and gas extractors, restored the integrity of federal climate science, frozen a horde of horrible…

“A version of this article appeared in Salon”

Fifty years ago, as a young environmental lobbyist, my first big assignment came to fruit: Congress passed, and President Nixon signed, the Clean Air Act of 1970. That bill made the nation a promise: By 1977, the air in every community would be safe to breathe.

That deadline was missed and extended. Every subsequent extended deadline for air safe to breathe been missed. While the act is usually described as being a success, it has failed to achieve its fundamental purpose; clean air for every American. …

“A version of this article appeared in DesMoines Register”

By: James L. Witt and Carl Pope*

The last three years should have taught Americans an important lesson:

With Western wildfires, heartland flooding and hurricanes becoming more frequent and more severe because of climate change, the time has come for the federal government to establish a trust fund with a dedicated funding source that provides communities around the country reliable funding for risk reduction and hazard mitigation investments.

And at a time when Washington cannot agree on how to finance badly needed programs, it’s a remarkable truth that protecting communities against…

“A version of this article appeared in Bloomberg Opinion”

In naming former Secretary of State John Kerry to become America’s global climate czar, President-elect Joe Biden is wasting no time making emissions reduction a top White House priority. Political observers are already gaming how much Biden will be able to accomplish on climate protection. Will Mitch McConnell lead a Republican Senate to tie up legislation? If the two Georgia Democratic candidates prevail in their runoff elections, can a Chuck Schumer-led Senate bridge divisions among Republican oil minions, progressive climate hawks and moderate “all of the above” straddlers?

Either way, the…

“A version of this article appeared in Salon”

On Wednesday, one day after our closely contested presidential election, the United States stepped away from its adherence to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, a decision announced by President Trump back in June, 2017 as the rhetorical centerpiece of his campaign to unleash the ferocity of an even more unstable climate on American communities in the name of “energy dominance.”

Given the decision by a solid popular-vote verdict of American voters — and apparently also the needed majority in the Electoral College — to choose a change in direction on energy policy…

“A version of this article appeared in Salon”

Last week’s final presidential debate ended with a revealing split between Donald Trump and Joe Biden on climate policy. But most of the media coverage is missing the real story because the media ignores what is already happening in the economics of the energy sector.

Biden was clear that he is not going to ban fracking or shut down the oil industry. He mentioned ending new drilling on public lands and shutting down subsidies for coal, oil, and gas. And he said we would transition away from oil — that it would…

“A version of this article appeared in Salon”

Donald Trump’s promising on ABC that he would soon achieve “herd immunity” for the coronavirus, and conflating it with herd mentality, must be explained because he is counting on the latter to rescue his second term. It is otherwise impossible to imagine a campaign whose end game is recovering the lost loyalty of voters over 65 selecting as its closing argument to those voters, “Not enough of you have died yet.”

It’s a safe bet that none of his 2016 Republican primary challengers would have openly embraced the idea that the solution…