Your weekly resource to learn what the environmental movement is saying about the news of the day and the political fight of our generation. This week, we’re covering state officials making good on campaign promises to lower energy bills, and efforts from the federal government to pollute our air and water.
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“Too many working families are being put to an impossible choice of either keeping the lights on or paying for the mortgage or groceries. Meanwhile, the utility monopolies are making record profits while jacking up rates. It’s unacceptable.”
— Representative Josh Riley (NY-19) on launching the Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus.
“It would set a terrible and dangerous precedent for Congress to roll back protections for any of our treasured public lands with little oversight or notice, because Republicans have decided they’d rather pillage them for profit. Some places are worth protecting. This pristine, one-of-a-kind place is one of them.”
— Representative Jared Huffman (CA-02), Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member, on the House’s vote to overturn protections against toxic mining in the Minnesota Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
“Not in the last 60 years has the right to vote been so under threat and under attack.”
– Vermont State Senator Kesha Ram Hinsdale, Chittenden County Democratic Senate Majority Leader, on Vermont Democrats’ urgent need to enshrine a voting rights act into state law.
STATE LEADERS DELIVER ON CAMPAIGN PROMISES: In their first few days in office, newly elected governors in New Jersey and Virginia and utility commissioners in Georgia took decisive action to lower energy costs, hold utilities accountable for rising prices, and to expand clean energy initiatives. New Jersey Governor Mikie Sherrill signed two executive orders to freeze electricity rates and accelerate clean energy solutions that lower costs for New Jersey families, while Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger pledged to rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). In Georgia, Dr. Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard were sworn into the Public Service Commission and are immediately working to focus their efforts on utility rate relief. The swift actions of these newly elected leaders reflects the clear message from voters last November, who supported candidates ready to address high energy costs and push for clean energy solutions.
OUR TAKE: LCV Vice President of State Policy and Advocacy Bill Holland said, “These rapid, immediate actions to address costs follow the clear message from voters last November. They supported clean energy champions who were ready to address high energy costs and build more clean affordable energy. With overwhelming results in key races like Virginia and New Jersey Gubernatorial elections and Georgia’s Public Service Commission, voters rejected the Trump Administration’s policies that ban clean energy and prop up dirtier, more expensive sources.
“In just their first days in office we are already seeing new leaders deliver on election promises for real action to lower bills, build more clean energy, and take on utilities raising rates.”
NEW JERSEY LCV TAKE: New Jersey LCV Interim Executive Director Allison McLeod said, “Governor Sherrill is wasting no time in delivering on her promise to make New Jersey more affordable for New Jersey’s working families. By taking strong executive actions on her first day, she is taking a holistic approach to the energy crisis: providing an immediate rate freeze for families while simultaneously clearing the path for the long-term clean energy solutions that will permanently lower rates.
“We look forward to working closely with the Governor to build on this momentum. We know clean energy like solar is the cheapest form of energy available, the fastest to deploy and can create high-quality, local union jobs right here in our communities. Today’s actions prove that we can protect our environment and the pocketbooks of working families at the same time.”
VALCV TAKE: Virginia League of Conservation Voters Executive Director Michael Town said, “Governor-elect Spanberger is wasting no time delivering on her promises to cut energy costs for Virginians. The agenda she laid out today goes a long way toward getting more clean, affordable energy online, holding utilities and big corporations accountable, and cutting energy bills. We look forward to working with lawmakers to pass this ambitious agenda in the coming legislative session as part of a larger effort aimed at securing a clean, affordable energy transition that puts Virginians first.”
GCV TAKE: Georgia Conservation Voters Executive Director Brionté McCorkle said, “The message of this election is unmistakable: Georgians demand an end to utility bill rate hikes and corporate politics as usual on the PSC. Georgia Conservation Voters and our affiliated entities invested over $3 million in these elections, marking our largest investment ever because we had to make sure voters knew the stakes at the ballot box – from utility bills to corporate polluters.”
HOUSE DEMOCRATS LAUNCH CONGRESSIONAL LOWERING UTILITY BILLS CAUCUS: Representative Josh Riley (NY-19) and more than a dozen House Democrats are launching a new Congressional Lowering Utility Bills Caucus to address rising electricity, gas, and water costs nationwide. The caucus aims to focus on legislative strategies to rein in utility monopolies and reduce energy costs for consumers.
HOUSE OVERTURNS PROTECTIONS FOR BOUNDARY WATERS FROM TOXIC MINING: The House passed a Congressional Review Act (CRA) resolution of disapproval to overturn popular protections for the headwaters of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, Voyageurs National Park, and the surrounding Superior National Forest from toxic copper-nickel sulfide ore mining. Republicans are trying to use the CRA for purposes outside of its statutory text; this illegitimate resolution is the first time a public lands withdrawal has been challenged through the CRA.
OUR TAKE: LCV Conservation Program Director America Fitzpatrick said, “The Trump administration and its Republican allies in Congress are once again prioritizing polluter profits over people by attempting to sell off our treasured public lands to foreign mining interests. Rolling back protections that safeguard the headwaters of the Boundary Waters, the most visited wilderness area in the country, ignores decades of science and hundreds of thousands of public comments from across the country that shaped and supported safeguards for this beloved place. The use of the CRA to unwind a withdrawal and strip these protections from toxic mining would not only cause irreparable harm to the surrounding ecosystems, but would set a dangerous precedent for Congress to target public lands withdrawals as rules under the CRA. We cannot allow this administration to ignore science and democracy to destroy our public lands for the benefit of Big Polluters.”
CONSERVATION MINNESOTA TAKE: Conservation Minnesota Executive Director Paul Austin said, “The Boundary Waters are part of who we are as Minnesotans—a place where generations have learned to paddle, fish, and fall in love with clean water and wild spaces. Protecting them means protecting our shared heritage. The Boundary Waters wilderness area is also an economic engine for Minnesota, generating $1.1 billion annually, including 17,000 jobs across the tourism industry. Sulfide-ore copper and nickel mining carries far greater risks to water quality than traditional iron mining, and those risks are simply too high for a place this special. We have a responsibility to protect the Boundary Waters for generations to come.”
LCV RELEASES MEMO ON HOW TRUMP’S COAL OBSESSION IS DRIVING UP OUR COSTS: LCV released a memo detailing how the Trump administration is driving up energy costs by forcing outdated and expensive coal plants to stay open. These plants were scheduled to retire due to their high operating costs, frequent breakdowns, and crumbling infrastructure, but the administration plans to prop them up with millions of taxpayer dollars, ignoring the public’s demands for affordable, clean energy.
OUR TAKE: LCV Senior Director of State Climate and Equity Policy Lashelle Johnson and LCV Vice President of Federal Policy Matthew Davis said, “We know that clean sources like wind and solar are now the fastest and cheapest way to get more energy onto the grid. As energy demand ramps up significantly, blocking wind projects, cutting clean energy tax incentives, and pulling dedicated funding have dramatically reduced the supply of new energy, making prices continue to rise. This latest coal plant campaign is their most egregious example yet. Holding these dilapidated dying plants open costs us millions, all while we could be connecting and building more clean, affordable energy. The public needs to see the coordination. They must understand the corruption. And they have to know who is to blame.”
VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE SENDS RESTORATION OF RIGHTS TO THE BALLOT: The Virginia Legislature passed resolutions in both chambers to send a constitutional amendment to the voters this fall that would restore the right to vote to returning citizens. Virginia is the only state that permanently and automatically bans anyone with a felony conviction from voting and requires them to individually petition the governor to get their voting rights restored. This law is a remnant of Jim Crow, aimed at diminishing the rights and powers of Black Virginians.
VALCV TAKE: Virginia LCV Chief Program and Communications Officer Lee Francis said, “Passage of these amendments is a huge step forward for a healthier democracy in Virginia as we work toward ending more than a century of constitutionally enshrined disenfranchisement in the Commonwealth. We look forward to working to get this ballot measure across the finish line this Fall and securing a democracy that works for all Virginians.”
VERMONT LEGISLATURE INTRODUCES STATE VOTING RIGHTS ACT: This week, Senate Democrats introduced a state Voting Rights Act to codify voting rights into state law and protect Vermonters from Trump’s attempts to disenfranchise large swaths of eligible voters. Vermont Conservation Voters led the charge on getting the VRA drafted and introduced. The bill, S. 298, is sponsored by 18 of the state’s 30 state senators, and includes tripartisan support.
VCV TAKE: Vermont Conservation Voters Political Director Justin Marsh said, “Environmental protection and voting rights are inseparable. By passing a state Voting Rights Act, Vermont can once again show that democracy and environmental leadership go hand in hand. Because when more people can safely and fairly participate in elections, we make better decisions for our climate, our communities, and future generations.”
LCV, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS CALL ON CONGRESS TO HOLD ZELDIN ACCOUNTABLE: LCV joined Mom’s Clean Air Force and 197 additional organizations to call on Congress to hold EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin accountable for abandoning EPA’s mission to protect public health and the environment.
COALITION TAKE: From the letter, “Our organizations are concerned that EPA is pursuing an aggressive deregulatory agenda that has resulted in a massive increase in health-damaging air pollution, toxic chemicals, and climate-heating greenhouse gases. These actions put our children’s lives in danger and will harm the health of people in the U.S. for generations.
“EPA’s only job is to protect human health and the environment. Congress has tasked EPA with clear mandates to achieve this goal through laws like the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. We urge you to exercise your oversight authority to ensure that EPA fulfills its core mission, including by calling for EPA Administrator Zeldin to testify before Congress.
ON THE BLOG: Trump’s first year has been full of broken promises and attacks on the environment and the health, safety, and financial well-being of our communities… all to benefit his Big Oil and Gas buddies. Learn about the shocking ways Trump has prioritized polluters over people, and one way you can stand up to this administration, now on The Power Source Blog.
ON OUR SOCIALS: Last year was bad, but the Trump administration is already giving 2025 a run for its money by announcing that the value of human life is now (checks notes)…$0? 2027 is gonna be our year, for real.
JANUARY 30: Partial government shutdown funding deadline.
FEBRUARY 16: President’s Day.
FEBRUARY 17: Lunar New Year.
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