It’s official: Donald Trump is the Republican nominee for the presidential election this November, and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio is his running mate.
The long-awaited announcement of the vice-presidential candidate came as the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee on Monday and Trump made his first public appearance since the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
Climate change was not on the agenda. But the convention’s first day, which was focused on the economy, offered fresh signs of what a new Trump presidency might look like in terms of climate policy.
Today, I want to share with you some of the reporting my colleague Lisa Friedman has been doing on the Republican ticket and what to expect when it comes to climate and the environment. Lisa has covered environmental policy from Washington for more than a decade.
For Republican leaders, it’s all about energy
June was the Earth’s 13th consecutive month to break a global heat record and more than a third of Americans are facing dangerous levels of heat. But climate change is unlikely to be a major theme at the Republican convention, which runs through Thursday. It was not mentioned in any of the main speeches on Monday, which instead focused on inflation and the economy.
(The closest thing to a mention of global warming Monday night came from Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, who derided what she called the “Green New Scam,” saying it was destroying small business.)
The party platform, issued last week, makes no mention of climate change, Lisa reported. Instead, it encourages more production of oil, gas and coal, the burning of which is dangerously driving up global temperatures. “We will DRILL, BABY, DRILL,” the document says, referring to oil as “liquid gold.”
The platform also lists “crippling restrictions on American energy production” as one of the “core threats” to America’s survival as a nation.
While some Republicans no longer deny the overwhelming scientific consensus that the planet is warming because of human activity, party leaders clearly see fossil fuel development as a more pressing issue.
“I don’t know that there is a Republican approach to climate change as an organizing issue,” Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, a conservative research group focused on energy, told Lisa before the Republican convention. “I don’t think President Trump sees reducing greenhouse gases, using the government to do so, as an imperative.”
What Vance brings to the ticket
Vance was once a fierce Trump critic. Between 2016 and 2017, Vance called Trump “unfit” for the presidency, referred to him as “cultural heroin” and privately wondered whether he could be “America’s Hitler,” as my colleague Simon J. Levien wrote.
And, as recently as 2020, Vance said in a speech at Ohio State University that “we have a climate problem in our society.” He praised solar energy and he called natural gas an improvement over dirtier forms of energy, but not “the sort of thing that’s gonna take us to a clean energy future.”
But many of his public opinions have changed. His position on global warming is one of them, Lisa reported.
Both Trump and the oil and gas industry backed Vance for his 2022 Senate campaign. Now, like Trump, Vance strongly supports fossil fuel use and opposes renewable energy and electric vehicles.
He has also said climate change is not a threat, a position that President Biden highlighted when he criticized Vance in an interview on Monday night with the NBC News anchor Lester Holt.
As a senator, Vance has repeatedly assailed the Inflation Reduction Act, the 2022 law that has become the centerpiece of Biden’s climate agenda.
He was also a sponsor of legislation to repeal an I.R.A. program devised to curb leaks of methane, and also of a bill to undo an Environmental Protection Agency rule setting strict emissions standards for cars and light trucks.
Vance introduced legislation to repeal federal tax credits for electric vehicles that were created under the I.R.A., even though his state has seen $12 billion in clean energy investment since the law passed, including for electric vehicle manufacturing.
None of those measures supported by Vance have become law.
He did take strong action in response to the 2023 train derailment that spilled hazardous chemicals in the waterways around East Palestine, Ohio. He’s a lead sponsor of the “Railway Safety Act,” a bipartisan bill that would require the Transportation Department to tighten safety rules for freight rail, especially for trains carrying hazardous materials.
What’s greenest and cleanest when nature calls?
These days, the toilet paper aisle is crowded with products that claim to be more sustainable, from bamboo and recycled material to products with “forest-safe” labels. But are they really better for the environment?
This week’s Ask NYT Climate tries to get to the bottom of it.
If you’re in the United States, the roll in your bathroom right now most likely comes from somewhere in North or South America. It could be a blend of trees from the United States Southeast and the boreal forest of Canada, or maybe from eucalyptus grown in Brazil. Those sources present several environmental problems.
The best way to lessen the environmental impact when nature calls is to reduce the amount of conventional toilet paper your household uses. If you’re looking to do that without really changing your bathroom routine, your best bet is probably T.P. made from recycled material. Bamboo toilet paper also shows promise as an alternative to tree-based products, depending on where it comes from.
But, if you’re feeling bold, you can get rid of the T.P. altogether. To find out how, read the full article here. — Elizabeth Anne Brown
