Each month, LCV shares five stories about the impact of our work. This month, we’re focusing on new pro-climate leaders in Congress, schools’ clean energy investments, Biden’s record-breaking 670 million acres of lands and waters conserved, the increasingly diverse judicial bench, and Montana’s monumental climate win.

This Month’s Stories

1. Welcoming New Pro-Environment, Pro-Democracy Members of Congress

After many hard-won races in November, LCV staffers were thrilled to be on Capitol Hill on January 3 to welcome incredible new pro-environment and pro-democracy leaders to Congress.

These climate champions bring a wide range of diverse experiences to the U.S. House and Senate, and include:

• Rep. Shomari Figures (AL-02), an environmental champion who previously served as White House liaison to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and deputy chief of staff and counselor to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland.
• Rep. Julie Johnson (TX-32), LGBTQ+ advocate, the first openly gay member of Congress from Texas, and voting rights champion who will be focusing on climate-smart agriculture in the House.
• Rep. Johnny Olszewski (MD-02), a former civics teacher with years of experience leading on environmental policies who was also the youngest person elected to serve as Baltimore County Executive when he won that race in 2018.
• Sen. Elissa Slotkin (MI), a former CIA analyst who has consistently highlighted the connection between the climate crisis and national security, including co-sponsoring legislation to include climate change as a factor in all national security planning when she served in the U.S. House.

The leadership of these new senators and representatives protecting and defending our climate, communities, and democracy is more important than ever. Meet these and other newly elected climate and democracy leaders in LCV’s New Member Guide.

2. School Districts Nationwide Advance Clean Energy

Clean energy has become even more accessible, affordable, and appealing, thanks to federal investments flowing from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). These federal dollars are helping to create healthier, more resilient, and more efficient schools in districts across the country by funding investments in solar power, energy storage, ground-source heat pumps, electric school buses, and electric vehicle charging equipment. Expanding clean energy in schools helps districts save money that they can reinvest in students and classrooms. It also helps improve indoor air quality, creating a healthier learning environment for young people.

Many of the school districts benefiting from these federal clean energy investments are in congressional districts represented by Republicans who voted against the IRA, including some who later changed their tune and signed the “don’t repeal the IRA letter” sent to House Speaker Johnson in August of last year. As thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in private investments from clean energy projects benefit their districts, Republican leadership mulls just how much of the IRA benefits to eliminate.

According to Undauntedk12, an organization that tracks schools’ clean energy progress, more than 400 clean energy projects in schools across 37 states are either underway or fully online. Examples include:

• Upper Dublin School District (PA) — Transformed an urgent response to a climate disaster by prioritizing installation of an energy efficient ground-source heat pump when rebuilding an elementary school damaged by a tornado during Hurricane Ida in 2021.
• Loudoun County Public Schools (VA) — Completed electric vehicle and solar projects, is installing ground-source heat pumps, and has more clean energy projects on the horizon. These actions build on the district’s longstanding track record of energy-saving energy efficiency efforts.
• Seattle Public School District (WA) — Working toward being fossil fuel-free by 2040, with 19 schools already using ground-source heat pumps for heating and cooling, and sustainable clean energy practices advancing in all new construction projects.
• Greenbrier Public Schools (WV) — Installed the largest district-owned solar array in the state along with ground-source heating, which are projected to lower energy costs and generate dividends to cover installation and benefit the county overall.

The IRA is the world’s largest-ever investment in climate and clean energy to date. Passing such a momentous bill in 2022 took years of work by LCV, our state affiliates, and climate action activists across the country. We are thrilled to see these investments benefiting everyday people in communities nationwide — including those who attend and work in our nation’s public schools.

Dig Deeper: Read Climate Power’s new report, The State of the Clean Energy Boom, to learn more about the positive impact the IRA is having across the country.

3. Record-Breaking Land and Water Protections

With two major conservation announcements made earlier this month, the Biden-Harris administration has protected more of our nation’s lands and waters than any other presidential administration in U.S. history — an astounding 670 million acres. 

625 Million Acres of U.S. Waters

These protections cover the entire U.S. Atlantic and Pacific coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and portions of Alaska’s Northern Bering Sea — withdrawing 625 million acres of offshore waters from future oil and gas leasing. Preventing the expansion of oil development off our coasts will help meet essential climate goals and safeguard communities where tens of millions of people live. Conservation highlights include:

The designations were made using presidential authority under Section 12(a) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act. The resulting protections from future oil and natural gas leasing have no expiration date and prohibit all future oil and natural gas leasing in the areas protected.

LCV has worked for many years to secure these historic protections by advocating with elected officials and garnering grassroots support for conservation that protects people and the environment over polluters and their profits.

Chuckwalla and Sáttítla Highlands National Monuments

These two new national monuments in California conserve 848,000 acres of lands with ecological and historical importance — honoring areas of cultural significance to Tribal Nations and Indigenous peoples and enhancing access to nature for all:

LCV and our California affiliate, California Environmental Voters, supported those who advocated for years to protect these lands, including Tribal Nations, Indigenous peoples, community leaders, conservation organizations, renewable energy companies, utilities, local businesses, state and local officials, and members of Congress.

These most recent land and water protections are a capstone to four years of conservation progress by the Biden-Harris administration, advocated for by LCV, our state affiliates, our members, and our donors. As Trump works to override these and other protections, LCV and our state affiliates will be there organizing, mobilizing, and advocating to oppose his efforts to do so.

4. Biden’s Historic and Diverse Judicial Legacy

To address our nation’s challenges, including climate change and environmental threats, we need judges who are able to rule impartially on critical issues and who bring a diverse set of perspectives to the bench. Federal judges are especially important, as they serve for life and rule on cases that affect climate, clean air, clean water, voting rights, gerrymandering, reproductive health, and more.

Thanks in part to the advocacy of LCV and our state affiliates, President Biden secured 235 judicial confirmations before leaving office. Last year alone, LCV and our partners mobilized constituents to send tens of thousands of messages to Capitol Hill in support of judges who work for the people, not polluters.

Biden’s judicial confirmation total is the largest secured in a single term since the 1980s. These highly qualified individuals have had distinguished legal, judicial, and academic careers and contribute to a federal bench that looks increasingly like the nation. They include:

• Nancy Abudu, a leading civil rights lawyer and the first Black woman on the Eleventh Circuit.
• Nicole Berner, a leading labor lawyer and the first openly LGBTQ woman on any federal court of appeals.
• Rachel Bloomekatz, the first public-interest environmental lawyer ever appointed to a federal appeals court.
• Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first Black woman and public defender to serve on the U.S.  Supreme Court.
• Bradley Garcia, the first Latino judge ever appointed to the powerful D.C. Circuit.
• Dale Ho, a leading voting rights lawyer and the first ACLU lawyer appointed directly to the federal bench since Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
• Myrna Perez, a leading voting rights lawyer and the first Latina woman appointed to the Second Circuit since Sonia Sotomayor.

These judges also have backgrounds and experiences that have long been overlooked on the bench, including working as advocates for environmental protection, democracy, civil rights, workers’ rights, abortion rights, and immigrants’ rights. 

LCV, our state affiliates, and our allies will continue to advocate and mobilize in favor of a judicial bench that is committed to upholding laws that protect people and the planet rather than the interests of polluters.

5. Montana Affiliate Helps Secure Monumental Climate Win

Montana’s state constitution guarantees “a clean and healthful environment” to those who live there. In August 2023, young environmental activists cited that right to score a groundbreaking legal victory and set an important precedent in the nation’s first-ever constitutional climate trial. A district judge ruled that a law preventing the state from considering climate emissions when approving energy projects violates Montanans’ rights due to the impacts of fossil fuel pollution and climate change. Last month, the Montana Supreme Court upheld that decision, siding with the youth climate activists in a 6-1 ruling.

The rulings stipulate that state agencies must consider greenhouse gas emissions as part of fossil fuel permitting processes. According to The Hill, “The court rejected an argument from Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) that state-level efforts will have no effect without action from the rest of the world, comparing that argument to ‘the old ad populum fallacy: If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?’”

LCV’s state affiliate, Montana Conservation Voters (MCV), played a part in this win by investing in climate and democracy champions running for the state Supreme Court over the past few election cycles, running a large public education campaign, and successfully blocking proposed bills seeking to undermine or eliminate the right to a clean environment from the state constitution.

Dig Deeper: Read more about the recent Montana Supreme Court ruling.