©2024 League of Conservation Voters
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 and Twitter.
ICYMI: Check Out LCV’s New Video Capturing the Momentum of the Enviro Resistance Movement. Click Here to View.
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
“President Donald J. Trump should keep his hands off the clean air and water, majestic public lands, and thriving wildlife that communities across the country expect our government to safeguard. His proposal to drill in the pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is emblematic of this budget’s prioritization of Big Polluters no matter the damage. Unconscionable cuts like the ones contained in Trump’s budget would risk public health and the clean energy and outdoor recreation economies, and they were roundly rejected in the recent 2017 spending bill. We urge Congress to again rebuff Trump’s dangerous proposal and pass a clean budget for 2018 free of anti-environmental or other harmful policy riders and with robust investments to safeguard our climate, air, water, lands, and wildlife.”
-LCV President Gene Karpinski on Donald Trump’s budget proposal
“Massive numbers of people all across this country have sent a message to President Trump and Secretary Zinke: Hands off Bears Ears National Monument! This majestic landscape is a classic example of the priceless historic, cultural and natural wonders that are protected as national monuments. Bears Ears honors five tribes who came together to seek protections from oil and gas drilling and mining for the 100,000 archaeological and cultural sites on their ancestral lands. Secretary Zinke should respect those tribal voices and people across America who want Bears Ears and all of our national parks and monuments preserved for future generations. Any attempt to abolish or diminish a national monument will heighten the public backlash already produced by Interior’s ‘review’ of them.”
-LCV President Gene Karpinski on the outpouring of support for Bears Ears National Monument
“These iconic waterways support the health and economies of communities all across this country. Protecting and restoring these waters has long been a bipartisan priority, and these cuts show how out of touch Trump and (EPA Administrator Scott) Pruitt are with people in these regions.”
-LCV Deputy Legislative Director Alex Taurel on impacts of the EPA budget cuts
LCV IN THE NEWS
THIS WEEK
OUTSIDE THE BELTWAY
LCV’s state affiliates are hard at work protecting the environment and fighting climate change in the states. Here’s what people are reading across the country:
BUDGET REDUX: Donald Trump released his proposed budget this week, which takes an ax to crucial environmental and climate programs. The EPA suffers the steepest cut of any agency as Trump looks to reduce funding by a third.
Trump’s decision to slash funding for programs was met with resistance across the board this week. LCV released a video illustrating the momentum that the environmental movement has following over 200,000 people participating in the Peoples Climate March last month. View here.
RUNNING ON CLEAN ENERGY: The super PAC of League of Conservation Voters’ New Jersey state partner, the NJLCV Victory Fund announced this week it will invest in the New Jersey gubernatorial race, in support of Phil Murphy with $130k on mail and digital advertising to support his candidacy. Murphy has made a commitment to 100 percent clean energy by 2050.
RUNNING AGAINST CLEAN ENERGY: As the Nevada state legislative session nears its end, a shadowy group has emerged spending big dollars to fight a bold new renewable energy standard that would spur a rebirth of Nevada’s clean energy economy. Jon Ralston reported in NVIndy: “Secure Nevada’s Future, which is helmed by former Republican National Committee field director Chris Young, will be running digital ads and calling lawmakers to defeat Assembly Bill 206.” Andy Maggi of the Nevada Conservation League responded: “Our policies have strong bipartisan support and our state is led by a governor who has a proven record of supporting clean energy.”
INTERNATIONAL LEADERS PRESSURE TRUMP: Donald Trump’s first big international trip is going anything-but-well. Pope Francis has urged for action on climate change and the environment, and he continued his push for action when he met with Trump this week and gave him a 2015 encyclical on climate change. At the G7 this weekend, other world leaders, including Angela Merkel, have pledged to continue to pressure Trump to remain a part of the Paris Agreement and work internationally to reverse climate change.
LCV SLAMS POISON OUR WATERS ACT: LCV slammed the passage of H.R. 953, the more aptly named “Poison Our Waters Act,” which will make it easier to spray pesticides into our waterway, saying the bill “hurts everyone who depends on clean drinking water. LCV will fiercely oppose the legislation to ensure clean drinking water.
NATIONAL LAB SCIENTISTS CHALLENGE PRUITT CLIMATE DENIAL: A new scientific paper out this week directly refutes EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s claims on climate change during his confirmation hearings earlier this year. During his confirmation hearing, Pruitt said “over the past two decades satellite data indicates there has been a leveling off of warming.”
Scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory pointed to data sets that directly dispute the claim saying to the Washington Post, “In my opinion, when incorrect science is elevated to the level of formal congressional testimony and makes its way into the official congressional record, climate scientists have some responsibility to test specific claims that were made, determine whether those claims are correct or not, and publish their results.”
COVERING TRUMP AT MAR-A-LAGO? PACK YOUR SCUBA GEAR: The irony. As the Trump administration released a budget that includes severe cuts to climate and environment programs, a sinkhole has opened up directly in front of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago (or “second White House”) in Palm Beach.
Trump’s dirty budget slashes funding for safeguards that protect our air, water and lands. The cuts jeopardize any progress we’ve made on reversing climate change, and put coastal communities like Palm Beach at huge risk.
A recent leak from the administration revealed that national security advisors strategically include Trump’s name as much as humanly possible in briefing materials, because he continues to pay attention if he sees his own name and can put information in the context of how it affects his number one concern — himself.
Maybe his advisors should start to include his name in the climate briefing materials, because here’s a doozy for Donald — the severe cuts your administration has proposed to programs that work to reverse climate change and protect our environment place your beloved “second White House” in direct danger. The rate at which sea levels are rising has tripled since 1990, and Mar-a-Lago could be completely underwater by 2100.
Up Ahead
PARIS WATCH: A decision on whether or not the U.S. will remain in the Paris Agreement is expected to come at the G7 this weekend, unless the administration continues to waffle and jeopardize our position of global leadership. Leaders at home and abroad have encouraged Trump to make what should be an easy decision — to remain a part of an international partnership that will work to reduce the harmful effects of climate change.
©2024 League of Conservation Voters