Designing the New Green Deal: Where's the Sweet Spot?
| Date | 01 May 2019 |
| Author |
49 ELR 10428 ENVIRONMENTAL LAW REPORTER 5-2019
The Donald Trump years have been painful for
advocates of a forceful U.S. response to climate
change. e W hite House has pulled out of the
2015 Paris Agreement, tried to revive coa l, and moved to
scuttle landmark U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) regulations for vehicles and power plants. Despite
these setbacks, a heightened sense of urgency and passion
has emerged following the Democratic takeover of the
U.S. House of Representatives. Progressive climate policy
is once again at the top of the national agenda.
is Comment examines the factors that have created
a unique moment of opportunity for climate policy while
underscoring the absence of a broadly accepted paradigm
to guide policymakers. To provide historical context, it
then steps back from the current policy scene and review s
the long and largely unsuccessful U.S. struggle to nd a
path forward on climate change and the lessons it o ers
for nding solutions that are both politically durable and
e ective in addressi ng the climate threat. Against the
backdrop of recent changes in emissions and technologies,
the Comment nally seek s to chart a course for post-2020
policymak ing that max imizes emission reduct ions while
acknowledging and working within politica l and eco-
nomic real ities.
I. Setting the Scene
Several factors have converged to bring climate back to cen-
ter stage. Authoritative reports by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)1 and federal agencies2
have reinforced the underlying science and underscored
the potential high costs and social a nd economic conse-
quences of inaction. e impacts of climate change are
now palpable: they are manifested by high average tem-
peratures, extreme weather events, melting ice packs and
1. IPCC, G W 1.5°C (Valérie Masson-Delmotte et al. eds.,
2018), available at https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/.
2. U.S. G C R P, C S S R-
: F N C A, V 1 (D.J. Wuebbles
et al. eds., 2017), available at https://science2017.globalchange.gov/.
glaciers, a surge in wild res, rising oceans, and shifting
patterns of rainfall and drought. As the e ects of climate
change become more overt, public concern has increased.
A rec ent Yal e sur vey sho wed th at the n umber o f Amer ican s
who say they are “alarmed” by cli mate change has doubled
in ve years, while the number who doubt or dismiss it ha s
dropped to less than 20%.3
e ground is also shifting politically. Ambitious emis-
sion reduction goals have been embraced by leadership
states like New York4 and California,5 and several newly
elected Democratic governors have launched climate initia-
tives.6 Despite the drumbeat of skepticism from the presi-
dent and his senior o cials, more Republicans are willing
to e ngag e in di alog ue. E stabl ishme nt lum inar ies l ike Ja mes
Baker and George Shultz and conservative think-tanks are
coalescing around serious carbon tax proposals,7 and a
growing number of Republican members of the U.S. Con-
gress have recognized the seriousness of climate change
even if they are far from agreeing with Democrats on the
best solutions.8
3. Y U G M U, C C
A M (2018), available at http://climatecommunication.
yale.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/Climate-Change-American-Mind-
December-2018.pdf.
4. Jon Campbell, President Can’t Stop New York’s Clean-Energy Progress,
USA T, June 1, 2017, https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/
politics/2017/06/02/new-york-climate-change/364178001/.
5. Press Release, California Air Resources Board, Climate Pollutants Fall Be-
low 1990 Levels for the First Time (July 11, 2018), https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/
news/climate-pollutants-fall-below-1990-levels- rst-time.
6. David Roberts, ese Governors Are Showing What Happens When You Cam-
paign on Climate Action and Win, V, Feb. 5, 2019, https://www.vox.
com/energy-and-environment/2019/1/31/18204898/climate-change-
policy-governors-oregon-colorado.
7. John Schwartz, “A Conservative Climate Solution”: Republican Group
Calls for Carbon Tax, N.Y. T, Feb. 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.
com/2017/02/07/science/a-conservative-climate-solution-republican-
group-calls-for-carbon-tax.html.
8. James Osborne, Are Republicans Wavering on Climate Change, H
C., Feb. 22, 2019, https://www.houstonchronicle.com/business/
energy/article/Are-Republicans-wavering-on-climate-change-13635463.
php. An op-ed from three prominent House members, Reps. Fred Upton
(R-Mich.), Greg Walden (R-Or.), and John Shimkus (R-Ill.), re ects this
willingness to accept the need to address climate change but also under-
scores how Republican solutions di er from those of Democrats. Greg
Designing the New Green Deal:
Where’s the Sweet Spot?
by Robert Sussman
Robert Sussman, an environmental lawyer, was previously U.S. EPA Deputy Administrator under
President William Clinton and Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator under President
Barack Obama and has taught at Georgetown Law Center and Yale Law School.
Copyright © 2019 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
5-2019 NEWS & ANALYSIS 49 ELR 10429
On Capitol Hill, several House committees are conduct-
ing hearings on climate science and policy, and Speaker
Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) has created the Select Committee on
the Climate Crisis.9 Early attention has focused on the Green
New Deal (GND), a call to action for a massive government
program to achieve zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emis-
sions in 10 years.10 e brainchild of new House member
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and grassroots groups,
the GND created a media sensation, winning t he endorse-
ment of most of the aspirants for the Democratic presiden-
tial nomination11 while being derided by President Trump
and his followers in the House and U.S. Senate as a reck less
“socialist” manifesto that would cripple the economy.12
Walden et al., Republicans Have Better Solutions to Climate Change, RC
P’, Feb. 13, 2019, https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2019/02/13/
republicans_have_better_solutions_to_climate_change_111045.html. In
the U.S. Senate, Lisa Murkowski (R-Ark.) and Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.),
the chair and ranking member of the Committee on Energy and Natural
Resources, published an op-ed accepting the reality of climate change and
underscoring its consequences and calling for an “energy innovation” agen-
da to address the issue. Lisa Murkowski & Joe Manchin, It’s Time to Act on
Climate Change—Responsibly, W. P, Mar. 8, 2019, https://www.
washingtonpost.com/opinions/lisa-murkowski-and-joe-manchin-its-time-
to-act-on-climate-change--responsibly/2019/03/08/2c4025f2-41d1-11e
9-922c-64d6b7840b82_story.html?utm_term=.28bf083b1f8b. Similarly,
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), also acknowledging the climate challenge,
has proposed a “Manhattan Project” for clean energy development that
would double federal research and development (R&D) spending. Emily
Kopp, Republican Proposes Green “Manhattan Project” in Lieu of Green New
Deal, Mar. 27, 2019, R C, https://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/
republican-proposes-green-manhattan-project-in-lieu-of-green-new-deal.
9. Anthony Adragna & Sarah Ferris, Pelosi Announces Dems for New Climate
Panel, P, Feb. 7, 2019, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/07/
pelosi-climate-change-panel-1154847. e Committee has announced that it
will be conducting a series of hearings on climate change around the coun-
try and issuing a report outlining policy recommendations but will not be
developing legislation. Mark K. Matthews, New Climate Committee to Take
Its Show on the Road, C, Mar. 29, 2019, https://www.eenews.net/
climatewire/stories/1060133291; Nick Sobczyk, New Carbon Bill Emerges as
Select Committee Convenes, Mar. 28, 2019, G, https://www.eenews.
net/greenwire/stories/1060132647.
10. H.R. Res. 109, 116th Cong. (2019), https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-
congress/house-resolution/109/text.
11. Jason Lemon, Nearly Every Declared Democratic 2020 Candidate Supports Oc-
asio-Cortez’s “Green New Deal” While Trump Mocks the Proposal, N,
Feb. 10, 2019, https://www.newsweek.com/democratic-2020-candidates-sup-
port-ocasio-cortez-green-new-deal-1325775. However, one candidate, former
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, criticized the GND’s “unachievable goals”
and said it “sets us up for failure.” John Hickenlooper, e Green New Deal
Sets Us Up for Failure. We Need a Better Approach., W. P, Mar 29, 2019,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/03/26/john-hickenlooper-
green-new-deal-sets-us-up-failure-we-need-better-approach/?utm_term=.
aced806956fb.
12. Joel B. Pollak, Donald Trump Mocks Democrats’ Embrace of “Green New
Deal”: “Brilliant!,” B, Feb. 9, 2019, https://www.breitbart.com/
politics/2019/02/09/donald-trump-mocks-democrats-embrace-of-green-new-
deal-brilliant/. In an e ort to use the GND to paint Democrats into a corner,
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called for a vote on the
GND resolution, which was then defeated 57-0, with most Democrats voting
“present” to protest the partisan motivation of the Republican leadership. Dino
Grandoni & Felicia, Senate Defeats Green New Deal, as Democrats Call Vote
a “Sham,” W. P, Mar. 26, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/
powerpost/green-new-deal-on-track-to-senate-defeat-as-democrats-call-
vote-a-sham/2019/03/26/834f3e5e-4fdd-11e9-a3f7-78b7525a8d5f_story.
html?utm_term=.437441cf5708.
Despite the burst of activity, prospects for immediate
action at the national level are remote. Even as main-
stream Democrats cheered the GND, they hinted that
it was largely an aspirational messaging vehicle rather
than a practical policy blueprint.13 With a president who
has persistently questioned climate change and a con-
servative majority in the Senate, the next two years are
likely to produce little or no major climate legislation.
As experienced Democratic lawmakers understand, the
heightened activity in the House is mainly about build-
ing a base of public support for climate action and road-
testing ideas and options to see which ones should shape
the party platform heading into the 2020 election and
beyond. If the Democrats win the White House, they
will need to be ready with a fu lly developed and action-
able climate policy agenda; building this agenda will
take time and must begin now.
Compared to 2008, the policy landscape on climate
change is very uid. Comprehensive cap-and-trade legis-
lation was the de ning policy construct when President
Barack Obama took o ce, but there has been much water
under the bridge since then. Af ter the Waxma n-Markey bill
to establish a national cap -and-trade program faltered,14 the
Obama Administration turned to executive action under
existing law. e results were promising in some areas but
disappointing in others; nearly all t he Obama initiatives have
now been jettisoned by the Trump Administration. With a
policy void at the federal level, progressive states have seized
the mantle of climate leadership, but they have not moved
in lockstep and their ideas m ay not be readily tr ansferable to
the national scene. e GND throws yet another wild card
into the mix with its emphasis on large-scale government
mobilization of resources to address t he combined chal lenge
of climate change and social a nd economic injustice.
In this dynamic environment, no single policy para-
digm is now dominant. ere are di ering and poten-
tially con icting views on a set of core issues, including
how ambitious our emission reduction goals should be,
the role of carbon pricing and how to implement it, the
13. For example, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) described the GND as
aspirational and cautioned that implementing its ambitions in legis-
lation would be another matter, noting that “we may not have agree-
ments on exactly how it will work and when we can get it done [a]
nd . .. this is a discussion that we must have as a country.” Mark K.
Matthews & Adam Aton, “Green New Deal” Is Shrinking, and It Mys-
ti es Activists, C, Feb. 21, 2019, https://www.eenews.net/
climatewire/2019/02/21/stories/1060121671. Speaker Pelosi has also
downplayed the prospect of near-term action on the GND, saying, “I
salute the enthusiasm, but I can’t say we are going to take that and pass
that because we have to go through the checks and balances of it with our
committee chairs.” George Cahlink, Pelosi “Can’t Say” Congress Will Pass
“Green New Deal,” EE N PM, Feb. 27, 2019, https://www.eenews.
net/eenewspm/2019/02/27/stories/1060122589.
14. Formally known as the American Clean Energy and Security Act of
2009, Waxman-Markey narrowly cleared the House on June 26, 2009,
by a vote of 219-212. H.R. 2454, 111th Cong. (2009), https://www.
congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/2454. However, it was never
brought to the oor of the Senate for debate or a vote.
Copyright © 2019 Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, DC. Reprinted with permission from ELR®, http://www.eli.org, 1-800-433-5120.
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