As President Donald Trump overturned a landmark scientific finding that underpinned federal climate rules, he called the move “as big as it gets.”
But the administration’s repeal of the Obama-era endangerment finding that greenhouse gases are a dangerous pollutant under the Clean Air Act barely registered among congressional Republicans.
Democrats spent the week calling the expected action a denial of science and a gift to the fossil fuel industry, and they’re looking to the courts to set things right.
But Republicans active on climate issues, like Sens. John Curtis of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, stayed quiet or dodged questions on the issue Thursday.
In the House, Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa) and Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) — who lead the Conservative Climate Caucus and Climate Solutions Caucus, respectively — also did not weigh in.
The few Republicans who did make statements were laudatory of the president and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.
“I think it’s great,” said Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) in an interview.
“It’s been a crippling regulation put out during the Obama administration, way overstepping legal authorities. And it has hampered us. So I’m fully supportive of what the administration is doing.”
It was a change in tone for Capito, who last year suggested that it would be legally challenging for the Trump administration to overturn the finding.
Groups like the Environmental Defense Fund and the American Lung Association have already announced plans to sue over the repeal.
But Capito said Thursday that she now expects the administration to win in court. She’s also supportive of congressional action that would be harder for Democrats to overturn.
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who has been supportive of climate legislation, downplayed the impacts of eliminating the endangerment finding.
He told POLITICO’s E&E News that because international markets continue to have climate standards in place, he does not expect companies to respond to the White House by upping their carbon emissions.
“The goal is to decrease emissions. I saw a nice graph showing that even with repeal, our emissions continue to decline significantly,” Cassidy said.
Tossing the endangerment finding, he added, “may just be pointing in the direction that we’ve now got lower emissions in absolute amounts than we did in 2005, despite a much bigger economy, more oil and gas development, more people.”
House Science, Space and Technology Chair Brian Babin (R-Texas) issued a statement in support of the move. So, too, did Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), who holds a leadership position on the Conservative Climate Caucus.
“I applaud the EPA for enacting the largest deregulatory action in American history. Reversing $1.3 trillion in burdensome Green New Deal regulations will make life more affordable for Americans, empower consumer choice, and allow the free market — which is already paving the way in reducing emissions — to do so without being hamstrung by Big Government,” Carter said.
‘Corrupt giveaway’
Democrats, meanwhile, lined up this week to condemn the Trump administration’s decision to dismantle the climate finding.
In a floor speech Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the repeal one of the “most nakedly corrupt steps since Donald Trump returned to office.”
“Let’s be very clear what this announcement represents: It is a corrupt giveaway to Big Oil, plain and simple,” Schumer said.
A slew of other Democrats, including leaders of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition and Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, amplified the message that Trump was catering to fossil fuel donors.
Senate Environment and Public Works ranking member Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) joined a protest in front of EPA headquarters Wednesday.
“This is a disaster that is unfolding,” Markey said. “We’re going to fight this every day in the United States Senate.”
Whitehouse added that Democrats should continue to amplify the impacts of the endangerment finding repeal during the midterm election season.
“The climate denial fraud lies of the fossil fuel industry and the dark money corruption of the fossil fuel industry are issues we need to take into the public, into this next election, and thrash this crooked industry,” he said.
This story also appears in Climatewire.
