The Environmental Movement is Strong Even Without the EPA Climate Regulations
First of all, the Obama Clean Power Plan program was already blocked by the courts, and President Biden had not yet proposed his regulations to get around this. Meanwhile, the American people, governing bodies, blue states, Pope Francis, businesses and environmental groups have been massively attacking the problem. Add to that the gains in energy technology which had been making natural gas, wind, and solar power as well as electric cars cheaper.
Besides that, the House Representatives and Senators who are indebted to fossil fuels will now have to stand up and show where they stand on meeting this crucial challenge for the planet as we face repeated record droughts, heat waves, storms, floods, sea level rise, etc.
The Supreme Court invoked their Major-Questions Doctrine which would not allow regulatory agencies to do generation switching rules without explicit Congressional approval. In this case, it would have forced the bad CO2 greenhouse gas emitting coal plants to shut down and restart or be replaced with natural gas plants which emit only 40%-50% as much CO2 per unit of energy produced. Observers think that this does not apply to gradual changes as in transportation under the Clean Air Act.
However, Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of the UC Berkeley School of Law, thinks that it is now open season for attacks on all aspects of the administrative state. The court has not defined what is a “Major Question”, or what legislative directions are “sufficiently specific”. In response to the doctrine of Originalism, Chemerinsky says that the Constitution is actually supposed to be a Living Constitution.
(Unfortunately, the Court does not apply the Major-Questions Doctrine to the 49 year old and multiply confirmed precedent of Roe vs. Wade allowing abortions, which is now shifting many generations of freedoms. Hypocritica decisis instead of stare decisis.)
States, counties, and cities have joined the Paris Agreement pledges and some are even backing green utilities with more renewable energy. There are 468 cities signed up to climatemayors.org, representing 74 million Americans. There were 1.066 signed into the US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Utilities have switched to time-of-day usage charging which encourages energy use during the daytime when solar and wind can make major contributions.
The CDP environmental group (cdp.net) rates countries worldwide on climate change, water security and forests. Just looking at their USA ratings for climate change, there are 31 companies with an A rating, 87 with A-, 225 with B, and 52 with B-, for a total of 395 with these high grades.
Batteries for EVs are getting cheaper with scale, and newer battery types promise breakthroughs of cost, distance, speed of charging, and service lifetime. The batteries can also be used for short term balancing of fluctuating renewables. The EV requirements by Blue states force American auto makers to provide for that market. Also European sentiment and goals motivate their auto makers to provide for the EV market. The high cost of gasoline due to refinery shutdowns of the pandemic and the sanctions on Russia are motivating Americans to save on gas, and to consider EVs.
Coal power has been losing out to cheaper natural gas power. Coal mining has been reduced, and changed to cheaper strip mining, employing fewer people, with less political clout. The EPA Clean Water Act can still be used to clean water which Trump allowed to be polluted by leftovers from coal mining, or from coal ash piles. The important regulation of methane emissions can be done under the Clean Air Act, since methane produces ozone, which leads to smog. Hillary Clinton supported retraining coal workers to other industries, which could also help remove political pressure from those states.
The world is now forced into producing power and heat despite the sanctions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Temporarily, it is good that we are still producing excess natural gas and coal, which are shipable to Europe.
In the past, Texas backed wind power, and now is its greatest producer. This is also true of Oklahoma and other Plains and MidWest states. These produce political components for climate action and funding.
As climate threats grow, insurance companies will be increasing rates for coverage, which will motivate owners to back mitigation measures.
President Biden is suspending the import duties on solar panels from China, which will restart the growth of the solar industry.
We see that progress on energy policy starts on the local level, and the greatest progress will be achieved by motivation, and not by government regulation and by political goals which are just arbitrarily proposed.
Playing through my Patriotic Songs for the Fourth of July reminds us that Americans do not give up fighting for the things that they want for a greater America.
