Climate

July 26, 2022

Dorothy Slater Toni Aguilar Rosenthal

FOIA Request Climate

Fossil Fuel-Tied Legal Experts Are the Main Critics of a Climate Emergency Declaration

months of dedicated advocacy and both public and private pressure from environmental groups which insisted an emergency declaration was necessary to meet the moment, it seemed like Biden was finally ready to respond. But the declaration didn’t come, and in the days since, PoliticoPro’s EnergyWire and GreenWire have given spotlights to legal experts opining on the legal and political merits of such a declaration. 

June 30, 2022

Hannah Story Brown

Press Release ClimateCongressional OversightEthics in GovernmentExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

RELEASE: Impact of Supreme Court’s EPA Decision Can Be Minimized Through Decisive Executive Counteractions

Today the Supreme Court issued its long-awaited opinion in West Virginia v. EPA, curbing the EPA’s authority to establish carbon emissions caps under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act. It is a significant blow, and is further evidence of how far this empowered, extremist Supreme Court will go to erode the functions of our government and contravene the public interest. But it is not a lethal blow. Many tools to stave off the climate crisis and facilitate an equitable energy transition remain available to the EPA, to the White House, and to Congress. 

June 06, 2022

Dorothy Slater

Press Release ClimateExecutive Branch

RELEASE: Revolving Door Project Applauds Use Of Defense Production Act For Clean Energy Projects

In response to the Biden administration’s announcement that it will activate the Defense Production Act to spur domestic production of crucial clean energy projects including solar panel parts, building insulation, heat pumps, and power grid infrastructure, Revolving Door Project Senior Researcher Dorothy Slater released the following statement:

June 01, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Daniel Boguslaw

Newsletter

ClimateDepartment of JusticeExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

Biden's War Against Himself

If the unchecked blood letting, billowing inflation, foreign conflict, and typhoon of domestic Covid infection wasn’t enough to set Americans on edge the past week, a persistent high pitched whine–not unlike the kind projected outside 7/11s to deter listless teenage delinquents from Sacramento to Scranton–descended on the nation. It emanated not from a thoughtfully angled speaker system, but out of the oval office and into the pages of the Wall Street Journal and Fox News studios. Nonetheless, It has had a similar effect in driving young people away.

May 25, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter

ClimateConfirmations CrisisExecutive BranchFood and Drug Administration

The Filth Circuit Takes a Wrecking Ball to Precedent

Over the past week Biden invoked the Defense Production Act to require that the ingredients necessary for baby formula go to formula manufacturers first, and initiated Operation Fly Formula, using military planes to fly the equivalent of 1.5 million bottles of hypoallergenic formula across the Atlantic. It’s good to see the White House roused to take action, and to use emergency presidential powers to protect people in need. That’s what emergency powers are for.

May 17, 2022

Mekedas Belayneh Dorothy Slater

Blog Post ClimateExecutive BranchIndependent Agencies

One Weird Trick To Prevent the TVA From Building New Gas Plants

The Tennessee Valley Authority, an independent agency of the federal government which acts as a public utility for over 10 million residents in and around Tennessee, announced in March that it would replace two aging coal-fired power plants with gas-powered plants. As the nation’s largest public utility company, the move goes against Biden’s goal to achieve a clean energy grid by 2035. TVA could be leading the charge for renewables, but its fossil fuel CEO Jeff Lyash, who comes out of fossil fuels, is instead choosing to lock in polluting gas for decades. This does not have to be the case. 

May 11, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter

Anti-MonopolyClimateDepartment of JusticeIndependent Agencies

Environmental Quality, Justice, Enforcement, Oh My!

Tuesday dawned with the unwelcome news that Antitrust Chief Jonathan Kanter has been indefinitely barred from working on the anti-monopoly case against Google while the Justice Department decides whether his past work representing Google’s critics should require his recusal. This, despite the fact that none of his past clients are parties in the Google case at issue.

April 27, 2022 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter

Eleanor Eagan Hannah Story Brown

Newsletter

ClimateCongressional OversightCorporate CrackdownIndependent Agencies

More “Terrifying” Enforcement Please

On Earth Day 2021, President Biden affirmed his administration’s commitment to bold climate action that would set the world on a path to less than 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming. In the days leading up to this year’s Earth Day, in contrast, his Interior Department announced that it would reopen oil and gas lease sales on public lands. That’s bad enough. At least as alarming, however – if not more, quite frankly – is what his administration still isn’t doing to avoid catastrophic climate change.