©2024 League of Conservation Voters
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Your weekly resource to learn what the environmental movement is saying about the news of the day and the political fight of our generation. Be sure to follow LCV on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.
“Trump is worried about himself and his corporate polluter allies, and we saw that over and over again. When people show you who they are, believe them.”
— Tiernan Sittenfeld, LCV Senior Vice President for Government Affairs, on Donald Trump’s environmental record.
“J.D. Vance is an opportunist, election-denier, abortion ban believer, and extremist who wants to implement Trump’s Project 2025 on Day One. This is an extreme MAGA ticket that the country will reject.”
— Representative Shontel Brown (D-OH-11) on Donald Trump’s choice of J.D. Vance as his running mate in the 2024 election.
“Rather than just counting the costs of climate carnage, all governments must supercharge efforts to prevent them. We must stop making things worse. We must slash fossil fuel pollution now, and halve it this decade, as science demands.”
— Simon Stiell, UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, in the aftermath of Hurricane Beryl, which set records as the earliest Category 5 hurricane to form in the Atlantic.
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION ISSUES REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON SPECIAL AREAS IN ALASKA’S WESTERN ARCTIC: The Bureau of Land Management issued a Request for Information (RFI) seeking public input to identify new areas for protection and conservation in the Western Arctic.
OUR TAKE: LCV Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick said, “We applaud the Biden-Harris administration for building on its commitment to protect America’s Arctic by taking this important step to consider new protections in the Western Arctic. This action builds on the historic actions taken by the administration in April to protect more than 13 million acres of America’s Western Arctic, a culturally and biologically rich landscape that supports wildlife and has sustained Alaska Native cultures and communities since time immemorial. While Big Oil CEOs and their extreme MAGA political allies remain determined to boost their profits by expanding oil and gas development that is detrimental to the region’s immense cultural and biological resources, we will work with the Biden-Harris administration to deliver the strongest possible protections for our communities, our climate, and America’s Arctic.”
DOI DESIGNATES BLACKWELL SCHOOL HISTORIC SITE: The Department of the Interior has announced the establishment of the Blackwell School National Historic Site in West Texas as the nation’s newest national park to honor the site’s historic and cultural significance.
OUR TAKE: LCV Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick said, “LCV applauds President Biden and Secretary Haaland for establishing the Blackwell School Historic Site to honor the hardships that Latine students face, both historically and today, and highlight their resilience in the face of segregation and discrimination. This designation builds on the President’s already impressive and historic conservation and climate legacy, which includes the protection of more than 41 million acres of public lands since taking office. We urge the Biden-Harris administration to continue to champion the protection of our nation’s public lands and cultural sites, including by designating the proposed 1908 Springfield Race Riots site, Chuckwalla in the California desert, and many others worthy of permanent protection as national monuments.”
CHISPA TAKE: Chispa Senior Director Estefany Carrasco-González said, “The newest national park designated at the Blackwell School National Historic Site represents our nation telling and preserving a little known part of Mexican-American history that is truly American history. This historic three-room schoolhouse in West Texas is a reminder of the complex history of an education system in the Southwest that segregated Mexican-American students from their White peers from the late 1800s through the 1960s. Today Marfa is a popular place to visit, and visitors will be able to take in the landscape, and a piece of our history, preserved. We are heartened that our national park system is honoring the hardships Mexican-American students overcame and highlights their resilience in the face of discrimination, providing an opportunity for the nation to learn from their stories.”
BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION LAUNCHES FIFTH INVESTING IN AMERICA TOUR: The White House has launched its fifth Investing in America tour to highlight how President Biden’s policies have lowered costs, created good paying jobs and revitalized communities across the country. The White House has additionally made new tools available on Invest.gov including a Savings Explorer to show how people have saved due to the president’s policies.
EPA ANNOUNCES $160 MILLION IN GRANTS TO SUPPORT CLEAN MANUFACTURING OF CONSTRUCTION MATERIALS: EPA announced grants of $160 million from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act to 38 recipients across the U.S. to help mitigate climate pollution from the manufacturing of construction materials. These materials currently account for an estimated value of over 15% of annual global greenhouse gas emissions.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES RUNNING MATE: Donald Trump announced Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate for the 2024 Presidential election. Vance’s atrocious voting record in the Senate has earned him a score of zero on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard.
LCVVF TAKE: LCV Victory Fund Vice President of Paid Communications and Elections Megan Jacobs said, “As an Ohioan myself, I’ve had a chance to see what J.D. Vance cares most about – and it hasn’t been clean air or clean water or fighting for Ohio families – it’s been advancing his political career and an extreme right wing agenda. Before his political career, Vance described Trump as a danger and a disaster, but has now fallen in line and will stand by Trump to enact the extreme right-wing agenda, Project 2025, which is a threat to our rights and freedoms. Vance is cosigning this power-hungry takeover and is willing to put Big Oil’s wish list ahead of the health and safety of families and communities across the country.
“As a candidate, unfortunately all we can expect from J.D. Vance is the same mix of extreme rhetoric and Big Oil talking points we already hear from Trump. As a Senator he earned a 0% on LCV’s National Environmental Scorecard. He denies the science of climate change and has called solar a ‘fantasy’ and wind power ‘disgusting.’ He repeatedly attacks protections for clean air and water. He has praised the architects of Project 2025, and the policies he and Trump supports could result in the loss of thousands of clean energy jobs.
“Meanwhile, Joe Biden’s Vice Presidential pick, Kamala Harris has been a true climate and environmental justice champion, who received a 90% on the LCV scorecard while in the Senate, was an early champion of clean buses, and a clear advocate for climate change. She, along with Joe Biden, has worked tirelessly to make more climate progress than any other administration, taking crucial steps to building a clean energy economy, creating high-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and working to lower utility bills for families across the country. The choice could not be clearer this November – only one Vice Presidential candidate has the experience and has made the commitment to protecting our communities, families and environment.
“We deserve a future where everyone has access to clean air and water, where they know their government is looking out for their best interests by lowering costs, and where clear efforts are being made to reduce the impacts of climate change – that future is not with a Trump-Vance administration.”
LCVVF RELEASES MEMO AHEAD OF THIRD NIGHT OF RNC: Ahead of the third night of the Republican National Convention, LCV Victory Fund Vice President of Paid Communications and Elections Megan Jacobs sent out a memo highlighting issues to watch out for.
LCVVF TAKE: From the memo, “After serving as the most anti-environmental president of all time, Donald Trump and his loyalists are once again determined to do the bidding of the Big Oil CEOs funding their campaigns by rolling back the historic climate progress made by the Biden-Harris administration. While working families across the country are benefiting from clean energy initiatives, Trump’s agenda could lead to thousands of workers being laid off, higher energy bills, and more pollution in our air and water. Absent from discussion is any mention of the existential threat of climate change or the impacts of extreme weather people are feeling right now. Instead, all we see are plans to strip away environmental protections and prioritize Big Oil’s wish list.”
TRUMP SPEAKS AT RNC: On Thursday night, Donald Trump addressed audience members at the Republican National Convention. Ahead of the speech, LCV Victory Fund released a memo detailing what we expected Trump would NOT mention during his remarks. Read the full memo.
LCVVF TAKE: LCV Vice President of Paid Communications and Elections Megan Jacobs said, “If Trump’s stump speeches are any indication, his speech to close out the RNC tonight is bound to include a slew of lies and misinformation about climate change, clean energy and his record on the environment. Here are a few of the things we expect Trump NOT to mention tonight:
“Project 2025: Project 2025 is a clear threat to our rights, freedoms and democracy and what’s more, the recently released RNC platform outlines nearly identical policies. Trump won’t say Project 2025, but that doesn’t change the fact that he would actively force the federal government to deny the reality of climate change while trying to end the development of a clean energy economy that lowers costs, creates high-paying, family-sustaining jobs, and tackles the climate crisis head on.
“Allegiance to Big Oil: Although Trump has talked a lot about costs, including gas, what he has conveniently left out is that Project 2025’s agenda and his deal with Big Oil will likely lead to increased price gouging at the pump.
“Extreme Weather and the impacts of Climate Change: This summer alone we have seen extreme heatwaves in the Midwest and Northeast, hurricane Beryl in the Gulf, wildfires in the West, and extreme flooding, but don’t expect Trump to acknowledge it. This extreme weather is not normal, but is actually a symptom of the impacts of climate change pollution, which Trump and MAGA Republicans attempt to deny and ignore.
“With a Trump-Vance administration we will only see increased tax cuts for corporations, more pollution in our air and water, higher costs for working families and revocation of all the climate progress that has been made.”
40 LAWMAKERS CALL FOR STRONG GAS PIPELINE LEAK DETECTION AND REPAIR RULE: Forty legislators from both chambers were led by Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Representative Scott Peters (D-CA) in sending a Dear Colleague letter to Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg calling on the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to finalize a strong Gas Pipeline Leak Detection and Repair rule.
LEGISLATORS TAKE: From the letter, “The rule is urgently needed to improve community safety and reduce methane emissions from millions of miles of pipelines across the United States…We urge the Department of Transportation and PHMSA to finalize, as soon as possible, the proposed protective standards to improve public safety and cut methane pollution from gas pipelines. We look forward to working with you and your Department to achieve these objectives.”
The letter was endorsed by LCV, Environmental Defense Fund, Pipeline Safety Trust, Evangelical Environmental Network, Earthworks, Sierra Club, and Western Organization of Resource Councils.
COALITION TAKE: Senior Attorney for Energy Markets & Utility Regulation for the Environmental Defense Fund Erin Murphy said, “Strong safeguards are needed to protect public safety and the environment from pipeline leaks which cause methane pollution, accelerate climate change and put communities at risk. PHMSA must act rapidly to finalize strong standards for gas pipeline leak detection and repair as quickly as possible. We applaud Sen. Heinrich, Rep. Peters and the over 30 other members of Congress who signed onto this letter for their support of finalizing this urgently needed action.”
EQUITABLE AND JUST NATIONAL CLIMATE PLATFORM FIFTH ANNIVERSARY: The Equitable and Just National Climate Platform (EJNCP) is celebrating its fifth anniversary! As we face the political uncertainty of this moment, the EJNCP’s platform is more critical than ever to continue to advocate for an equitable climate future.
SUNRISE WIND BREAKS GROUND: Sunrise Wind, an Ørsted offshore wind project in New York, broke ground in Long Island. The 940 MW project is New York’s largest offshore wind project to date and is expected to power up to 600,000 homes and create 800 good-paying direct jobs in the construction phase alone.
NYLCV TAKE: New York League of Conservation Voters President Julie Tighe said, “Today’s groundbreaking for Sunrise Wind coupled with NYSERDA’s 5th competitive solicitation for offshore wind energy projects is an exciting moment as the state marches toward a clean energy future — a future with fewer emissions, cleaner air, a robust domestic renewable energy supply chain, and a steady pipeline of well-paying union jobs. NYLCV congratulates Ørsted on this progress and we commend Governor Hochul, NYSERDA President Doreen Harris, and BOEM Director Liz Klein for turning the state’s climate plans into climate action.”
MASSACHUSETTS HOUSE PASSES CLEAN ENERGY BILL: Following the passage of a similar bill in the state Senate, the Massachusetts House has approved a bill to boost renewable energy in the state. The bill includes plans to build a statewide network of fast electric vehicle chargers, set time limits on permitting decisions, and direct the state to obtain additional resources necessary for the clean energy transition. The state legislature must now find an agreement between the two bills to send to Governor Maura Healey by the end of the month.
CHISPA ARIZONA SURVEY CAPTURES LATINE/X VOTERS’ VIEWS ON CLEAN ENERGY, THE ENVIRONMENT, AND THE ARIZONA CORPORATION COMMISSION: A new poll from Chispa Arizona found that nearly 75% of Latinx/e voters believe Arizona needs to produce as much clean energy as possible. Additionally, over 90% of all Latinx/e voters think the rising cost of electricity is a serious issue and 92% think the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) is moving in the wrong direction. The poll included 520 Latinx/e voters surveyed in 2024 by Embold Research for Chispa Arizona with 4.5% margin of error.
GEORGIA CONSERVATION VOTERS FILES LAWSUIT AGAINST UNCONSTITUTIONAL UTILITY REGULATOR ELECTIONS: Georgia Conservation Voters Education Fund and Georgia WAND Education Fund filed a lawsuit to overturn a law that extends the terms for public service commissioners. GCV Executive Director Brionte McCorkle alleged that the law violates the 6 year term set by Georgia’s Constitution and voters’ due process rights under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.
ON THE BLOG: Stay tuned to hear from three youth activists on how they see the connections between LGBTQ+ and climate justice!
ON OUR SOCIALS: Yikes, Trump’s VP pick said what, and scored WHAT?! Learn more about J.D. Vance’s abysmal climate record on Tiktok and Threads, as well as what MAGA extremists’ plan for a second Trump presidency, known as Project 2025, would mean for climate. Then, head over to Instagram to clear your head with some classic climate and democracy memes.
MONTH OF AUGUST: August Congressional Recess.
AUGUST 1: National Poll Worker Recruitment Day.
AUGUST 19-22: Democratic National Convention.
©2024 League of Conservation Voters