Assessing the current Republican platform for the environment

From late June through the end of the Republican Convention in Milwaukee July 18th, the nation has been suffering a mammoth heat wave that has affected most of the country for weeks. In Las Vegas daytime temperatures reached over 120 degrees F for more than ten days in a row. Hospitals were overflowing with patients suffering from heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses. Severe burns from contact with pavement and other surfaces were widespread. Meanwhile, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes and huge wildfires were devastating other parts of the country. According to a report in the July 24th New York Times, our planet just recorded its two hottest days ever.

In their air-conditioned arena delegates to the Republican Convention took little or no notice of our country’s record-breaking heat wave. The Republican Platform made no mention of climate change or global warming.

Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has continued to deny global warming, continuing to call it a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese. In his recent televised debate with President Biden, twice he was asked if he would “take any actions to slow the climate crisis”; he evaded the question with a totally irrelevant answer. According to Trump, we need to maximize our production of energy. His favorite slogan is “Drill. baby. drill”! But he always fails to note that the United States last year pumped more crude oil than any country in the world. And also the US is now the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas well. Most economists believe that greatly increased oil production will worsen inflation not reduce it. But producing more energy is the only goal of the Republican plan other than doing whatever it can to cut back all regulations that might slow down fossil fuel production.

Trump’s selection of Senator J. D. Vance as his vice presidential candidate assures that Trump’s energy policies will only be amplified should he win the White House. Vance, Trump and most Republicansspeak of oil as “liquid gold” and “clean energy”.

Both Trump and Vance have called for greatly increased nuclear power and severe cutbacks to wind and solar. They’ve called for cutting all subsidies for electric vehicles as well (although the recent addition of Tesla’s Elon Musk to Trump’s “team” may change that).

High on Trump’s list would be to erase the scores of rules imposed by executive order by President Biden, many of which were originally put in place by Obama and then cut by Trump in his first term.

High on Trump’s list would be to erase the scores of rules imposed by executive order by President Biden, many of which were originally put in place by Obama and then cut by Trump in his first term.

Although the Republican environmental platform speaks only about increasing production of fossil fuels and cutting regulations, there is much more in the works. Mr. Trump has promised to do away with regulations designed to reduce greenhouse gases from power plants and cars.

The ultra right-wing Heritage Society has put forth a 900-page document entitled Project 2025 which describes in detail how they intend to revise the federal government should Trump win in November. Their environmental proposals include nullifying all Biden’s Executive Orders on climate change, eliminating or downsizing several agencies such as EPA, NOAA, OSHA, and much of the Interior Department. And replacing career civil servants with Trump’s political appointees.They have similar strategies for all the other federal agencies.

The Republicans desire to cut regulation will be made easier by the recent Supreme Court decision to no longer honor the Chevron Deference which, for the past 40 years, gave federal agencies the prerogative to interpret ambiguous federal regulations. The effect is likely to give the now rather partisan judiciary the authority to decide often complex matters formerly left to agency experts.

Two former Republican E.P.A. administrators, William K Reilly and Christine Todd Whitman, are worried about the agency’s future should Trump be re-elected. “Because of the Supreme Court in particular, he’ll be able to get away with a lot more than anyone ever suspected,” said Ms. Whitman, who led the Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush. She said the courts have effectively given a second Trump administration a “free hand” to slash regulations.

“Significant weakening of the E.P.A.’’, said Ms. Whitman is “going to be devastating for the country and the world, frankly, because we all suffer from climate change”. Reilly, who served under George H. W. Bush noted, “If political people are put in there we will find we have destroyed one of the greatest achievements we have in government”.

Perhaps some of the several thousand Republican officials who attended the Convention may return home to experience a taste of what’s happening outdoors across the country in what is expected to be the hottest year ever recorded. Will it mean anything to them?

Architect and landscape designer Mac Gordon lives in Lakeville.