March 13, 2023
RELEASE: Biden Betrays Campaign Promises And His Own Interior Department By Approving Willow Project
In response to the U.S. Department of the Interior approving three drilling pads to allow the controversial Willow Project to advance, Revolving Door Project Climate Research Director Dorothy Slater released the following statement:
March 10, 2023
The Willow Project Is Not A "Both Sides" Story
March 08, 2023
A Test For DOJ De-Trumpification: State-Level Climate Liability Cases
Over halfway through Biden’s term, Attorney General Merrick Garland is maintaining the Trump Justice Department’s position on an alarming number of legal cases. Our litigation tracker documents approximately 40 such cases across education, immigration, the environment, criminal justice, transparency, agriculture and other issues. It is by no means a comprehensive list.
March 01, 2023 | The American Prospect
Op-Ed Climate and EnvironmentConsumer ProtectionCorporate CrackdownExecutive BranchGovernanceGovernment Capacity
Calling Deficit Squawks’ Bluff on Environmental Enforcement
A 38-car train wreck. Toxic chemicals seeping into water and soil, and a black plume rising in the sky. Sick people, sick pets. As the Prospect’s Jarod Facundo wrote last week, the national spotlight remains fixed on the ecological consequences of the February 3 derailment of a Norfolk Southern train carrying hazardous chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio.
In the context of this ecological disaster, arguing for a reduced budget for federal investigators, air and water quality testing, and programs that hold polluting corporations accountable for proper cleanup and restitution is sheer madness. But that’s exactly what the current right-wing push for massive government spending cuts in the name of deficit reduction would entail.
February 15, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
The Value of a Human Life, According to Economists
Last week a shocking story from NPR largely slipped under the radar. The headline: “Why the EPA puts a higher value on rich lives lost to climate change.” Climate Correspondent Rebecca Hersher shared the “twisted tale of math, ethics and climate change” that is the Environmental Protection Agency’s effort to decide what’s been called the most important number you’ve never heard of: the social cost of greenhouse gases.
February 14, 2023
Secretary Buttigieg Must Overhaul Rail Safety Regulations, Reinstate Upgraded Brake Requirements For Freight Trains
“Corporations do not respect Buttigieg as a regulator.”
February 03, 2023
Revolving Door Project Reading List: The Justice Department
The Justice Department was deliberately weaponized under Trump to advance and defend his corrupt agenda. How successfully has Biden’s Justice Department, led by Attorney General Merrick Garland, replaced Trump appointees and policies, and charted a new course towards a more just interpretation and application of the law? Below, we’ve compiled a non-comprehensive reading list of some of our work from the past year plus on the Justice Department, and its all-important, uneven progress out of Trump’s long shadow.
February 01, 2023 | Talking Points Memo
Biden Should Wed His Cancer Moonshot To The Energy Transition
But succeeding at his Cancer Moonshot’s goals will require more than funding research into cancer treatments. As the first day of February marks the beginning of National Cancer Prevention Month, it’s worth acknowledging that cancer prevention requires different approaches than treatment, and must include a reckoning with the carcinogens that pervade our environment. If Biden really wants to fight cancer in America, he’s going to have to challenge the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries. Among other things, this means confronting an Achilles heel of the Democratic Party: domestic fracking.
January 18, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Climate and EnvironmentDepartment of TransportationEthics in GovernmentRevolving DoorTreasury Department
FDA Tobacco Scientist Joins Cigarette Company. Nothing To See Here!
We’ve barely begun wading into the troubled waters of the 118th Congress, and House Republicans are already out for the blood of their longtime nemesis: federal workers.
January 18, 2023
Treasury's Ineffectual Climate Advisor Revolves Out
Morton’s tenure brought no visible advancement in the fight against climate change.
January 18, 2023
Good News, Everyone! Space Force Has An Astronomical Budget
Congress passed a $1.7 trillion omnibus bill, ensuring that our government is funded for Fiscal Year 2023. You probably haven’t seen the amount given to the most stellar agency: Space Force. Thankfully, Congress listened to the space advocates and appropriated the Space Force the money we’ve all been begging for – $26.29 billion. Americans can now sleep soundly knowing the Space Force has an overflowing pocketbook to protect us from aliens and whatnot.
January 11, 2023
Revolving Door Project Condemns TVA Decision To Expand Fossil Fuels, Urges EPA and White House To Be More Aggressive
In response to news that Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) CEO Jeff Lyash issued a final decision to construct a new fossil gas plant and pipeline to replace an aging coal plant, Revolving Door Project Climate Research Director Dorothy Slater released the following statement:
January 11, 2023 | Revolving Door Project Newsletter
Newsletter 2022 ElectionClimate and EnvironmentExecutive BranchGovernanceGovernment CapacityIndependent Agencies
Government Spending and its Discontents
We spent October highlighting the perpetual underfunding of most federal departments and agencies, and urging Congress and the Biden administration to use December’s omnibus bill to finally provide them with the money and resources they need. Sadly, while appropriations did increase for FY2023, budgets consistently fell short of what agencies requested. The most jarring example may be the Department of Housing and Development (HUD), whose budget is a whopping $16 billion shy of the requested $77.8 billion. Biden recently announced his goal to cut homelessness by 25 percent in the next two years, but it’s hard to see how even this meager goal will be achieved without a fully funded HUD.
January 05, 2023
112 Organizations Call For White House To Fully Review TVA Decision On Fossil Gas Expansion
Organizations from at least 20 states signed on, including states which receive their power from the TVA, such as Tennessee, Alabama, Kentucky, and North Carolina.
December 22, 2022
RELEASE: TVA Board Might Have Easily Blocked Fossil Energy Expansion, Had Senate Confirmed Them Sooner. The EPA Still Can.
In response to reports that the U.S. Senate confirmed six nominees to the Board of the Tennessee Valley Authority by voice vote Wednesday, Revolving Door Project Climate Research Director Dorothy Slater released the following statement: