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“I think these issues really are core to who she is and she cares deeply.”
— Tiernan Sittenfeld, LCV Action Fund senior vice president of government affairs, in the Washington Post after LCVAF endorsed Kamala Harris for president.
“If you believe that scientists, meteorologists should be able to share basic science and weather information — hurricane warnings, tornado warnings, flood warnings with the public — then you have to join us in making polluters pay.”
— Representative Kathy Castor speaking at the Make Polluters Pay press conference on Capitol Hill on Tuesday.
“What sustained us for generations has gone; it’s like an alien invasion. CP2 will be the nail in the coffin, it will finish everything off. But we are going to keep fighting it.”
— Travis Dardar, a shrimper in Cameron, LA, on the environmental harm the LNG facility Calcasieu Pass has inflicted on his home, and the threat the extension CP2 poses to his community.
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $4.3 BILLION IN GRANTS TO CUT CLIMATE POLLUTION: EPA announced 25 selected recipients of $4.3 billion in Climate Pollution Reduction Grants to support community-driven solutions to cut climate pollution. The grants are made possible by the Inflation Reduction Act and will fund projects across 30 states to reduce pollution from transportation, electric power, commercial and residential buildings, industry, agriculture, natural and working lands, and waste and materials management.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of Government Affairs Sara Chieffo said, “We applaud the Biden-Harris administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for this monumental investment in community-driven climate change and environmental justice projects. These grants are another critical step forward and build upon the historic climate progress the Biden-Harris administration has already made. These grants, totaling more than $4 billion, invest in states, local governments and Tribes to launch a wide range of projects that will reduce carbon pollution across six sectors spanning everything from how we power our lives and craft our buildings to cleaning up heavy industry and expanding nature-based climate solutions. These projects lay the groundwork for an economy that not only will tackle the climate crisis, but also prioritize the health and safety of our families. We look forward to continuing to work with the Biden-Harris administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop an equitable clean energy economy that provides high-paying, family sustaining jobs and protects communities from the climate crisis.”
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES FIRST RECIPIENTS OF COMMUNITY CHANGE GRANTS: EPA announced the first round of awardees of $325 million in Climate Justice Community Change Grants, a $2 billion program created under the Inflation Reduction Act, and the largest investment in environmental and climate justice in history. These grants will provide direct support to communities who are facing some of our country’s most dangerous environmental and health hazards for projects that reduce pollution and increase climate resiliency, ranging from home weatherization projects to workforce development programs to wastewater treatment installations.
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION AWARDS $371 MILLION TO SUPPORT TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE: Department of Energy announced 20 projects across the country would receive up to $371 million to accelerate the permitting and siting of electricity transmission and support the workforce in communities hosting transmission projects. Part of the Biden-Harris administration’s affordable clean energy plan, these grants will help clear the path for transmission projects needed to strengthen our grids in the face of climate change and transition to a clean energy economy. DOE will be accepting applications this fall for the next round of applications for their Transmission Siting and Economic Development (TSED) grants program.
THANK YOU, PRESIDENT BIDEN FOR YOUR HISTORIC LEADERSHIP: President Biden, the most pro-climate, pro-environment president in history, announced that he will not seek the Democratic nomination for president in the 2024 election.
OUR TAKE: Former EPA Administration and LCV Board Chair Carol M. Browner said, “Today we celebrate President Biden’s unparalleled leadership to address the climate crisis and environmental injustices, supercharge the clean energy economy and restore America’s global leadership. Thank you, President Biden, for all you have done to transform our economy, create jobs, lower costs, protect clean air and water, preserve our public lands and invest in the communities that have historically powered our country and the communities of color and low-wealth communities that have been disproportionately burdened with pollution and climate impacts.”
TAKE 2: LCV President Gene Karpinski said, “We are forever grateful to President Biden, the most pro-environment, pro-climate president ever and by far. The Biden-Harris administration has taken more than 300 actions to date to protect clean air and water, advance a just transition to a clean energy economy, address environmental injustice, and protect our public lands and waters. President Biden fought tirelessly for the historic investments in climate, clean energy, and environmental justice in the Inflation Reduction Act, the single biggest thing our country has ever done to address the climate crisis.”
LEADING ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS ENDORSE KAMALA HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT: Four leading environmental, clean energy, and climate organizations, including LCV Action Fund, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president after Biden announced he would not seek reelection.
LCVAF TAKE: LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said, “Whether holding polluters accountable as San Francisco District Attorney and California Attorney General, leading the charge on electric school buses in the U.S. Senate, or casting the deciding vote on the biggest investment ever in climate, clean energy and environmental justice and leading on climate on the world stage as Vice President, Kamala Harris has long been a climate champion. LCV Action Fund is proud to support her historic candidacy and to continue working together to protect our climate, defend our democracy, and much more over the next four years.”
LCV VICTORY FUND MEMO DETAILS IMPORTANCE OF CLIMATE ISSUES IN UPCOMING ELECTION: In recent elections, voters have preferred candidates who support action on climate change and reject polluter agendas – the contrast between Trump and Harris on climate is clear. Read more on the role climate has played in recent elections and what a Harris presidency could mean for the climate in a new LCV Victory Fund memo.
LCV ACTION FUND ENDORSES SLATE OF CANDIDATES FOR U.S. CONGRESS: LCV Action Fund announced endorsements of one candidate for U.S. Senate, and four candidates for U.S. House of Representatives. The endorsements include U.S. Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-25) and candidates Katrina Christiansen (ND-Sen), Wisconsin State Assemblymember Katrina Shankland (WI-03), Eugene Vindman (VA-07), and former U.S. Representative and Wisconsin Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca (WI-01).
LCVAF TAKE: LCV Action Fund Senior Vice President for Government Affairs Tiernan Sittenfeld said, “As election season continues to heat up and the excitement from climate voters is palpable on the ground all across the country, LCV Action Fund is excited to announce our latest endorsements for the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives. The stakes of the election become clearer every day as we continue to see record-breaking heat and increased frequency of ‘natural’ disasters. We need to expand the pro-environment majority in the U.S. Senate and elect more members in the U.S. House who support strong climate action. LCV Action Fund is proud to support these candidates who are committed to fighting for the future of our planet and a clean energy economy with good-paying, family sustaining jobs.”
SENATORS MANCHIN, BARRASSO INTRODUCE ENERGY PERMITTING REFORM ACT OF 2024: Senators Joe Manchin and John Barrrasso introduced the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024, which includes many harmful environmental provisions which would benefit fossil fuel companies.
OUR TAKE: LCV President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis said, “The Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 is filled with more handouts to fossil fuel executives and gives a pass to Big Oil and Big Polluters to move forward with drilling and spilling that is harmful to our families, communities and the environment. It limits the Department of Energy on studying the very real impacts of liquid methane gas on consumers and the environment, attempts to stymie the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to reduce carbon pollution from power plants, and forces more of our public lands and waters to be leased to coal, oil, and gas companies. It is clear that this bill continues to do the bidding for Big Oil and is a blatant give away of our public lands. These environmentally damaging provisions are dangerous to communities and consumers, and must be rejected. Efforts to improve the resiliency of our electricity grids and the transition to clean energy must not be paired with fossil fuel handouts that continue to damage communities and our climate.”
ADVOCATES, EXPERTS, COMMUNITY MEMBERS HOST PRESS CONFERENCE ON THE DANGERS OF MAGA SPENDING CUTS: On Tuesday, Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro held a press conference with several environmental, education, and public health advocates, experts, and community members – including LCV – to address the consequences of MAGA Republicans’ harmful spending cuts and policy riders in the proposed fiscal year 2025 (FY25) appropriations bills.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Government Affairs Advocate David Shadburn said, “Extreme MAGA House Republicans will stop at nothing to continue to push their dangerous right-wing agenda as outlined in Project 2025. Nearly all of this year’s House Republican spending bills propose poison pill riders and budget cuts to environmental programs and departments in an effort to not only roll back the climate progress made by the Biden-Harris Administration, but also do the bidding of Big Oil. These poison pill riders are not only a waste of time, but are also harmful to the health and safety of our families and communities and have no place in spending bills. We urge Congress to reject these cuts to climate progress and the clean air and clean water protections our communities rely on.”
DELAURO TAKE: Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) said, “Like last year, the Republicans’ basket of awful ideas has no chance of becoming law, but their harmful policies are part of MAGA Republicans’ Project 2025 takeover plan that hurts the middle class and favors their billionaire donors. At every turn, the Republicans are making abortion illegal, eliminating federal support for public education, undermining workers, and disarming America in the face of the climate crisis. Their policies make communities less safe and threaten national security. House Democrats will not support these funding bills that harm children, working families, seniors, and veterans.”
HOUSE REPUBLICANS PASS HARMFUL INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL: House Republicans once again prioritized polluters over people by passing their Fiscal Year 2025 Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, which would dramatically cut funding for clean air, water, and public lands.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Government Affairs Advocate David Shadburn said, “MAGA Republicans in the House keep working to block the development of clean energy initiatives while their Big Oil donors make record profits. This bill would mandate fossil fuel leasing on our public lands and waters while stymying clean energy deployment, prevent the protection of endangered species, and block the Biden-Harris administration’s climate and public health safeguards. Despite working families benefiting from a clean energy economy, with high-paying, family sustaining jobs, lower costs, and access to clean air, water, and public lands, House Republicans are trying to cut funding to environmental agencies that support these goals. MAGA extremist House Republicans must stop wasting valuable time pushing these harmful poison pill riders and steep spending cuts when they should be negotiating bipartisan spending. We need legislation that puts our families, communities and environment first.”
Prior to the vote, LCV joined 82 environmental groups in a letter to the House urging members to oppose H.R. 8998, the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2025.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “This bill does not just fail to address the climate and biodiversity crises; it would exacerbate them. As America faces record-breaking heat waves, the bill would defund climate resilience and emissions reduction programs while mandating new fossil fuel lease sales. It would drastically reduce the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 20% while eliminating environmental justice programs entirely, opening the door to more hazardous pollution and cutting impacted communities out of the decision making process. Poison-pill policy riders would doom imperiled species to extinction and strip protections for iconic lands and waters.”
LCV also led 48 environmental groups in sending a letter to the House urging members to oppose certain amendments to the bill.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “This amendment would block funding for the IRA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, an unprecedented investment in and catalyst of private capital mobilization for community development and clean energy projects. The Fund’s awardees have been selected to combat climate change, advance environmental justice, and accelerate the transition to an equitable energy future while also creating jobs and lowering energy costs for families. This amendment would prohibit the EPA from ensuring transparent and effective administration, implementation, or enforcement of the awards.”
SENATE COMMITTEE MARKS UP FY25 INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS BILL: The Senate Appropriations Committee marked up its version of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act on Thursday afternoon.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Government Affairs Advocate David Shadburn said, “While MAGA House Republicans have attempted, with limited success, to jam through harmful, anti-environmental spending bills, today the Senate Appropriations committee demonstrated that bipartisan agreement on appropriations is the pathway forward. This bill rejects the cavalcade of new poison pill riders that put people’s lives at risk being pushed by MAGA extremist House Republicans and instead focuses on supporting investments to protect our environment and public lands and ensuring people have access to clean air and water. While we continue to believe that additional funding is needed to fully meet the needs of our communities and our planet and are disappointed by the continued inclusion of legacy riders, we acknowledge the realities of bipartisan compromise and thank Chair Murray and Chair Merkley for their work to strengthen this bill. We urge House Republicans to follow the Senate’s lead and stop wasting time on harmful partisan spending bills that do the bidding of Big Oil, hinder the development of a clean energy economy, stoke dangerous discrimination and division, and have no chance of becoming law.”
LACKING SUPPORT, HOUSE REPUBLICANS PULL ENERGY AND WATER SPENDING BILL FROM FLOOR CONSIDERATION: After hours of debating the Fiscal Year 2025 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act and voting on numerous amendments, MAGA House Republican leadership canceled final votes on their own dangerous and extreme bill.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Government Affairs Advocate David Shadburn said, “The decision to pull the Energy and Water spending bill from the House floor tonight is further evidence of how out of touch MAGA Republicans’ pro-polluter agenda is. This radical and dangerous bill threatens our communities and our planet, is squarely in line with the extreme Project 2025 agenda, and should be abandoned. This bill would have massively cut funding to clean energy and technology deployment programs like the Department of Energy’s office of Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Loans Program Offices, blocked appliance efficiency standards that would lower household energy costs, and accelerated the expansion of liquified methane gas threatening communities, consumers, and our climate. Now more than ever, we need to be working toward building a clean energy economy and ensuring everyone has access to clean air and water, not cutting funding from crucial renewable energy and clean water programs. We urge Congress to work together to find a path forward on bills that meet the needs of our communities and our planet, and to oppose all of these harmful spending bills.”
Earlier this week, LCV and the Natural Resources Defense Council led a group of 30 environmental organizations in sending a letter to the House opposing H.R. 8997, the Fiscal Year 2025 House Energy and Water Development and Related Appropriations Act.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “H.R. 8997 is an affront to our communities who are being devastated by the impacts of a changing climate. Among the cuts proposed is a devastating 43% cut to the Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), which plays a pivotal role in accelerating research, development, and demonstration of technologies and solutions that boost American economic competitiveness, clean energy independence, families’ energy savings, and job creation. Furthering the attempts to stymie home-grown clean energy, the proposed legislation also cuts $8 billion from the Department of Energy’s Loan Program Office (LPO), which already has resulted in more than $50 billion in total project investments and the creation of over 47,000 jobs while delivering a return on investment for US taxpayers. The harmful spending caps imposed last summer have hit agencies and programs hard, compounding a decade of atrophy wrought under previous budgetary restrictions. This attempt to cut their toplines even further would have long-lasting consequences that would harm communities for decades to come.”
LCV also led 20 environmental groups in sending a letter to the House to urge members to oppose certain amendments to the bill.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “The underlying bill already hollows out the the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) with an over 40% cut, despite the fact that it plays a pivotal role in accelerating research, development, and demonstration of technologies and solutions that boost U.S. economic competitiveness and job creation, advancing our national security and energy security, reducing emissions of greenhouse gasses and other harmful pollutants, and ensuring that the clean energy economy benefits all communities. Even further reducing funding for renewable energy, as this amendment proposes, would seriously put U.S. clean energy innovation and jobs at risk.”
ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS OPPOSE FINANCIAL SERVICES APPROPRIATIONS BILL: LCV led 27 environmental groups in sending a letter to the House of Representatives urging members to oppose H.R. 8773, the Fiscal Year 2025 House Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, which was scheduled for a vote this week MAGA House Republicans also pulled this bill from their agenda, and are now planning to adjourn for August recess having failed to pass seven of their 12 FY25 appropriations bills.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “Despite the known financial impacts of climate change, H.R. 8773 disregards these risks and would expose Americans to unnecessary and avoidable economic hardship. This bill shields companies from disclosing material risks, including climate-related risks. It impedes efforts by federal agencies to understand their own contractors’ climate-related financial risks and greenhouse gas emissions, further exposing the federal government to climate impacts. It politicizes the retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees and uniformed service members by preventing investments in mutual funds that consider environmental, social, and governance criteria, even if those funds deliver the best returns. It blocks a series of executive orders that strengthen climate resilience, accelerate the transition to clean energy, and promote environmental justice and public health. It bars the government from updating its outdated cost-benefit analysis framework to reflect modern economic data (like growth, discount rates, and methods for estimating unquantified values) as agencies promulgate new rules and regulations. The provisions in H.R. 8773 willfully ignore the cost of climate change and leave American taxpayers footing a growing bill.”
MARKEY, JOHNSON HOST PRESS CONFERENCE ON EXPANDING THE SUPREME COURT: Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA-04) hosted a press conference with reproductive rights, environmental, and judicial advocacy groups expressing support for the Judiciary Act to expand the Supreme Court.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Director of Judiciary & Democracy Doug Lindner said, “We need judges who will protect our climate and environment and look out for the health and safety of our families and communities. But MAGA justices on the Supreme Court, some of whom have questionable ties to the fossil fuel industry, continually twist the law to undermine critical climate, clean air, and clean water safeguards. At the same time, they are working to weaken our democracy, roll back voting rights, excuse insurrectionists, and sanction polluter money in politics—all in defiance of longstanding legal principles. LCV is proud to join Senator Markey in the urgent call to expand and rebalance this captured Supreme Court with qualified, ethical justices who protect our climate, our democracy, and our rights instead of attacking them.”
GRASSROOTS CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY LEADERS RAISE OVER $100K FOR KAMALA HARRIS: Last night, nearly a dozen environmental advocates led a fundraising and volunteer call for grassroots climate and clean energy leaders in support of Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for president, raising over $100k during the 90 minute event. Special guest speakers included U.S. Senator Ed Markey and Washington Governor Jay Inslee.
EXPERT TAKE: Dr. Leah Stokes said, “The grassroots momentum behind Harris is exceptional. The climate movement alongside environmental justice leaders and folks working in the clean energy industry are all behind Kamala Harris. It’s amazing to see our movement coalesce behind Harris. When it comes to the planet, the stakes of this election could not be higher. Kamala Harris is the climate leader we need in the White House.”
NEW YORK GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES $100 MILLION TO DECARBONIZE EMPIRE STATE PLAZA IN ALBANY: New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced $100 million to fund the first phase of decarbonizing Albany’s Empire State Plaza, which will implement more energy-efficient improvements to reduce the Plaza’s greenhouse gas emissions by 20%.
NYLCV TAKE: New York League of Conservation Voters President Julie Tighe said, “Buildings are one of the largest contributors of planet warming emissions, so if we are going to tackle the climate crisis and meet our CLCPA obligations, there’s no better place to start than decarbonizing the state’s largest facilities like the Empire State Plaza. We applaud Governor Hochul for leading this effort and for ensuring this New York landmark will be a shining example of New York’s clean energy future.”
VIRGINIA GOVERNOR PROMOTES USE OF NATURAL GAS AS PART OF HIS ENERGY PLAN: Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin made a speech at the Virginia Energy Summit promoting the use of highly polluting natural gas as part of his all-of-the-above energy plan, and referred to those opposed to natural gas as “small-minded.”
VALCV TAKE: Virginia League of Conservation Voters Deputy Director Lee Francis said, “It’s bold to call people who are working to solve our largest environmental threat — climate change — ‘small minded.’ ‘Small minded’ is pretending this isn’t a problem. I’m glad Youngkin thinks he’s a conservationist. Maybe he’ll start to act like one one of these days.”
LATINO VOTERS IN ARIZONA WANT MORE ACTION ON CLIMATE AND CLEAN ENERGY: New polling released by Chispa AZ shows more than 70% of Latino registered voters expressed concern about climate change, and 60% support Arizona increasing clean energy requirements for electric utilities. In a state where the presidential winner was decided by just 11,000 votes, this could make a major difference between candidates. This is especially the case for the state’s Corporate Commission, which has oversight over the state’s utilities and has major elections coming up in November.
CHISPA AZ TAKE: Chispa Arizona Communications Director Nuvia Enriquez said, “Communications efforts will continue as long as the (Arizona Corporation Commission) is making bad decisions. A key aspect of this awareness campaign is to just make sure people know who is having power over their lives.”
ON THE BLOG: Meet three youth climate and LGBTQ+ activists, Maggie, Jules, and Krishna, and learn about the connections between climate justice and LGBTQ+ justice in a new article on the Power Source Blog!
ON OUR SOCIALS: Climate champion Kamala Harris is running for president, and we couldn’t be more excited. In honor of Harris’ incredible climate track record, and the fact that she is SO brat, it is now OFFICIALLY brat summer on our socials (check out our X/Twitter and TikTok for a special surprise) and we will be acting accordingly. Thank you for understanding.
MONTH OF AUGUST: August Congressional Recess.
AUGUST 1: National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.
AUGUST 19-22: Democratic National Convention.
©2024 League of Conservation Voters