By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Congress will move spending legislation on multiple fronts this week, possibly including the Energy and Water Development bill in the Senate and a stopgap measure in the House. Lawmakers are pressing to pass fiscal 2020 spending bills before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1 amid partisan splits over funding levels and policy riders.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Congress is back from its August recess. It appears the break did nothing to cool tensions—either between Congressional Republicans and Democrats or between Hill Democrats and Trump. If anything, inter-party relations are more acrimonious than before.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
The rise in the percentage of young Republicans that are concerned about the future of Earth’s climate and its populations is a critical bit of information. It speaks to a better future. It will be interesting to see if the youth on the right and left are any better able to cooperate than the generation that has gone before.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
It is hard to take the Trump administration at its word when it comes to environmental impact assessments and studies. The administration continues to assault NEPA requirements without any real regard to the science involved.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
By declaring a national emergency concerning the southern border of the US, Trump may have unwittingly given the next Democratic president an additional weapon with which to combat climate change.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Although Trump is not single-handedly responsible for today’s pejorative politics, his reliance on invectives instead of facts has set a tone that others are willing to follow to the detriment of the nation.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
EPA has far surpassed deregulatory goals set by Trump's executive order 13771, which stipulated agencies must cut two existing regulations for each new one issued. However, the agency has not been transparent enough in deciding which regulations to cut, according to a new EPA inspector general report.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Countries under the leadership of populists, e.g., the US, Italy, Poland, and Brazil, are likely to follow Trump’s lead and go their own way—which is away from any commitments their predecessors may have made.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
Millions of people, led by students, are signing up to walk out of their schools and jobs on September 20 and 27 to demand the world stop using fossil fuels—according to organizers.
By Joel Stronberg, Civil Notion
The dilemma in these cases is really about the impracticality of making oil companies pay the trillions of dollars in damages caused by an act that the federal government essentially sanctions—the refinement, sale, and use oil and gas. You can also lump in coal.