[[link removed]]

FLORIDA REPUBLICANS AIM TO BLOCK CLIMATE DECLARATION  
[[link removed]]


 

Freddy Brewster, Katya Schwenk, Helen Santoro
October 8, 2024
The Lever
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ As the storm bears down on their districts, fossil fuel-backed
Reps. Greg Steube and Byron Donalds are pushing legislation claiming
the climate crisis is a “false emergency.” _

Reps. Byron Donalds and Gregory Steube superimposed on an infrared
satellite image of Hurricane Milton. , AP Photo/Mandel Ngan and Alex
Brandon, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

 

As a hurricane intensified by hot ocean water
[[link removed]]
now threatens to destroy the Tampa Bay region, Florida Republicans
bankrolled by the fossil fuel industry are pushing legislation that
would bar the president from declaring a climate emergency.

Reps. Greg Steube and Byron Donalds, both Republicans who have
together
[[link removed]]
received
[[link removed]]
more than $175,000 from oil and gas interests over their relatively
short careers, co-sponsored the House version of the bill last year,
which frames the climate crisis as a “false emergency.” Steube
represents Sarasota
[[link removed]] and
Charlotte counties, both south of Tampa, and Donalds represents much
of Florida’s Lee County — all areas under evacuation orders
[[link removed]]
as of Tuesday. 

Neither Steube nor Donalds returned _The Lever_’s requests for
comment on Tuesday.

Both lawmakers co-sponsored
[[link removed]]
the legislation alongside 17 other Republicans, including several that
represent the Gulf Coast region threatened by climate-intensified
hurricanes: Reps. Randy Weber (R-Texas), Brian Babin (R-Texas), and
Clay Higgins (R-La.). So far this election cycle, these
[[link removed]]
three
[[link removed]]
representatives
[[link removed]]
have received more than $190,000 from the oil and gas industry.
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) — who has received more than $1.2
million
[[link removed]]
from oil and gas interests since 1993 — is co-sponsoring
[[link removed]]
the Senate version of the bill.

The bill’s backers claim that declaring a climate emergency —
which could enable the government to end offshore drilling, accelerate
clean energy production, and take other bold action — would weaken
national security and jeopardize valuable fossil fuel interests.

“President Biden and his radical administration are working around
the clock to destroy American-made reliable energy sources,” said
Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), author of the House bill, in a June
2023 news release. 

A similar bill
[[link removed]]
was introduced in the Senate in April 2022, where it was co-sponsored
by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who received almost $242,000
[[link removed]]
from oil and gas interests that year. The legislation died in
Congress.

Environmental groups and some Democratic lawmakers
[[link removed]]
have demanded
[[link removed]]
President Joe Biden declare a national climate emergency, which would
allow the executive branch to use powers under the National
Emergencies Act to address the climate crisis. Biden has refused to do
so, though he has claimed he has “practically” declared such an
emergency
[[link removed]]
by conserving lands, rejoining the Paris Climate Accords, and taking
other environmental actions
[[link removed]].

Experts say the devastation that Hurricane Helene left across the
Southeast two weeks ago, killing more than 200
[[link removed]]
people, and the looming disaster of Hurricane Milton, which is
expected to be the worst storm Tampa Bay has seen in a century
[[link removed]],
are stark reminders of the consequences of extreme weather fueled by
[[link removed]]
a changing climate. 

In the years before Helene devastated parts of western North Carolina,
state Republicans
[[link removed]]
blocked
[[link removed]]
climate adaptation measures, barred agencies from using accurate
climate change science, and scuttled other initiatives that could have
helped the state better prepare for increasingly severe storms. 

A “False Emergency”

The climate-emergency prohibition co-sponsored by Steube and Donalds
was first introduced in 2022
[[link removed]],
when it was sponsored by Sen. Shelley Capito (R-W.Va.) in the Senate
and Rep. David McKinley (R-W.Va.) in the House
[[link removed]]. So far
this session, neither the House or Senate versions of the bill have
made it out of committee. 

The bill — dubbed the “Real Emergencies Act” — would bar
[[link removed]]
U.S. presidents from declaring a climate emergency using three federal
laws that give the executive branch additional powers in times of
crisis: the National Emergencies Act, the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and the Public Health Service
Act. The proposed legislation would still allow for an emergency to be
declared in the event of a hurricane or other climate-change-fueled
extreme weather.

Environmental groups advocating for Biden to use this authority to
declare a climate emergency have mapped out ways that such powers
could be used to more swiftly address climate change as Congress
stymies aggressive climate action
[[link removed]]. 

Using emergency powers could “lead a tectonic shift” in addressing
climate change, environmental advocates
[[link removed]]
say. They claim the move would allow the federal government to halt
crude oil exports, end oil and gas drilling in federal waters,
restrict international trade and private investment in fossil fuels,
and expand domestic manufacturing of clean energy.

Yet sponsors of the Real Emergencies Act claim
[[link removed]]
that declaring a “false emergency” on the basis of climate change
will limit the country’s ability to “be energy independent.”
Instead, they argue, Congress should “take steps to strengthen our
national security by implementing” energy politics that “include
our competitive advantage in fossil energy production.” 

The companies behind that fossil fuel energy production have been
lobbying on the matter.

In 2022, oil and gas company ConocoPhillips spent $560,000
[[link removed]]
lobbying Congress and other regulators on “planning for potential
climate emergency declaration” and “general discussions” about
their climate change action plan, among other issues.

Donalds received more than $54,000 in oil and gas donations in the
three years following his first election to Congress in 2000,
according to reporting by _Politico_
[[link removed]].
Altogether, the energy and natural resources sector contributed
$77,155 to Donalds over that time span, making it the seventh largest
industry sector to donate to Donalds’ coffers. 

That support has continued. So far this election cycle, the oil and
gas industry has donated more than $43,000
[[link removed]]
to Donalds, who is running for reelection this November. He has also
received more than $25,000
[[link removed]]
from Koch Industries — a petrochemical empire founded by
billionaires Charles and David Koch.

Koch Industries
[[link removed]]
has a long history of funding climate denialism
[[link removed]],
contributing more than $145 million to such efforts from 1997 to 2018,
according to data collected by Greenpeace
[[link removed]],
a network of campaigning organizations dedicated to protecting the
Earth. 

Donalds was also among
[[link removed]]
the Republicans that voted against $20 billion in disaster relief
funds for the Federal Emergency Management Agency in a stopgap
spending bill
[[link removed]]
that passed both chambers on Sept. 25. The agency may be strapped for
cash as hurricane season continues on, officials have warned
[[link removed]].

Like Donalds, Steube has benefited from oil and gas contributions over
his seven-year career, receiving more than $52,000 from the industry
since 2017
[[link removed]],
according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign finance and lobbying
data. 

Steube has a history of voting against environmental measures
[[link removed]], including the
Environmental Protection Agency’s attempt to set cleaner car and
truck standards
[[link removed]]
and efforts to reduce pollution and climate threats impacting
communities on the front line of environmental and health hazards
[[link removed]]. 

As Milton bore down on their constituents, both Donalds and Steube
appeared to recognize the storm was out of the norm. “Sarasota, we
cannot take this lightly,” Steube wrote on X
[[link removed]] on Tuesday
morning.

“The office of Congressman Byron Donalds is closely monitoring
Hurricane Milton and is actively coordinating storm preparations
alongside federal, state, and local partners,” Donalds’ office
said in a news release on Monday. “The Congressman and his team
stand ready to support our Southwest Florida community and ensure all
necessary resources are available.”

Each day, The Lever ’s staff tirelessly investigates, researches,
writes, fact-checks, and edits stories that hold the powerful
accountable in ways corporate media will not. All of that work is
supported by readers who become paid supporters.

If you are able, please click here now
[[link removed]]
to become a paid supporter of The Lever and help us hold the powerful
accountable.

* Climate Deniers
[[link removed]]
* republicans
[[link removed]]
* Oil lobby
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]