GREENS EQUATE ELECTION RESULTS WITH WINS FOR ENVIRO POLICY, CLEAN ENERGY

But Old Balance of Power Remains in Washington 

Tamar Hallerman
GHG Monitor
11/9/12

Green groups declared victory for environmental policy and clean energy after Democrats secured key wins in the White House and Senate in Tuesday’s elections. After spending tens of millions of dollars this campaign cycle fending off challenges from the fossil fuel industry, environmental groups said the reelection of President Barack Obama and key Democratic pickups in the Senate are indications that the public cares about climate change. “The environment won and polluting industries lost; there is no clearer way to state it,” Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, said in a statement. “When faced with a choice between a clean energy future where our air, water, lands and wildlife are protected and more of the same dirty energy policies, not even the millions spent by polluting industries could sway Americans to their side.”

In a press conference held the morning after the election, representatives from several of the country’s prominent environmental NGOs called for quick action on climate change. “Now it’s time to take decisive action to create the clean energy future that will address climate change—an urgent need amplified by Hurricane Sandy’s devastation,” Frances Beinecke, president of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s political advocacy arm, said. In his acceptance speech early Wednesday morning, Obama also briefly mentioned the need to mitigate climate change even though his campaign—and that of his opponent—only sparingly brought up the issue on the trail this year. “We want our children to live in an America that isn’t burdened by debt, that isn’t weakened by inequality, that isn’t threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet,” he said. While many energy experts this week said that carbon legislation would be a welcome development under a second Obama Administration, many predicted that approach would be unlikely given the continued Republican control of the House. Instead, many said they expect the Administration to continue limiting greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.

NGOs Highlight Key Senate Wins

Environmental groups highlighted key Senate wins for the Democrats that kept several seats out of the hands of Republicans they said were backed by the fossil fuel industry. “From Massachusetts to Ohio, from Virginia and Indiana to Missouri, from Wisconsin and New Mexico, champions of clean air and public health will be at the battle stations in the United States Senate next year—not only to promote smart policies that move America forward but also to fight any efforts by extremists in the House to continue its reckless assault on our health and the environment,” Beinecke said.

Several incumbent Democrats managed to hold onto their Senate seats despite close challenges from Republicans in races that frequently focused on energy production and coal. Sherrod Brown of Ohio handily held off a challenge from Republican state Treasurer Josh Mandel, ultimately garnering 50.3 percent of the vote. Throughout that race, Mandel aimed to link Brown to the Obama Administration’s coal policies, deeply unpopular among many in the state. “Obama is the general in the war on coal and Sherrod Brown is his lieutenant,” Mandel said at a campaign rally earlier this fall. In Pennsylvania, incumbent Democrat Bob Casey defeated former coal company owner Tom Smith 53.6 percent to 44.7 percent in a race that also tested both candidates’ support of the coal industry. Meanwhile, Democrat Jon Tester squeaked past Republican opponent Denny Rehberg to retain his Montana Senate seat in what was one of the most hotly contested races.

Greens also declared success when Democrats won two open seats in Virginia and North Dakota in what became two key energy-centric races. In Virginia, former Gov. Tim Kaine defeated former Sen. George Allen by an unexpectedly wide five-point margin. Throughout the campaign, Kaine frequently touted his support for the coal industry in an attempt to gain support in the state’s coal-producing southwest corner, but also embraced the issue of environmental protection. On his campaign website, Kaine said he would act on global warming and “resist ongoing efforts to weaken environmental regulations that are needed to protect public health.” In North Dakota, former Attorney General Heidi Heitkamp narrowly declared victory on GOP Rep. Rick Berg by one percentage point to replace the retiring Sen. Kent Conrad, one of the upper chamber’s most prominent supporters of carbon capture and storage and enhanced oil recovery.

Balance of Power Maintained

Despite those key Democratic wins in the Senate, Tuesday’s election results ultimately maintain the balance of power in Washington, one that has ultimately stunted all energy—and most other—legislation over the last two years given the House’s Republican majority. That political gridlock could easily be extended to energy and environmental policymaking in the new Congress given that much of the upper echelon of the House Energy and Commerce Committee cruised to victory this week. Senior Republicans on the Committee, including Chairman Fred Upton (Mich.) and Energy and Power Subcommittee Chairman Ed Whitfield (Ky.) easily won reelection, essentially guaranteeing the same upper-level leadership for energy and environmental issues on the House side for the next two years. That pair will also likely face the same Democratic minority on the committee given that Ranking Member Henry Waxman of California, as well as Energy and Power Subcommittee Ranking Member Bobby Rush (Ill.) and senior member Ed Markey (Mass.) also won reelection. The fact that most of the leadership will likely stay the same of that committee could lead to familiar battles over loan guarantees and the regulation of fossil fuels, some experts speculated.

Perhaps the most marked changes in energy and environmental policy in Congress could come from new committee leadership in the Senate. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) is widely expected to replace the retiring Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) as chairman of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, the body that has jurisdiction over clean energy technologies such as carbon capture and storage. While Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is expected to retain her role as chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which has held several divisive hearings on climate change and the scope of the Clean Air Act in recent years, the Republican leadership on the panel will change given that current Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), is term-limited. Inhofe, perhaps the Senate’s most prominent climate change skeptic, could also be replaced by a Republican skeptical of climate science. The next two senior-most Republicans on that panel, Louisiana’s David Vitter and John Barrasso of Wyoming, both hail from fossil fuel-producing states and have both voiced skepticism about the scientific consensus on global warming. In 2009, Vitter referred to cap-and-trade legislation as “draconian” and called some evidence of climate change “ridiculous pseudo-science garbage.” Meanwhile, Barrasso introduced legislation in the Senate last year that would block the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions in order to address climate change. Similar legislation has twice passed the House over the last two years.