Bidenâs Climate Team Begins to Take Shape
The president-elect is expected to pick Gina McCarthy, a former E.P.A. chief, as White House climate coordinator. Jennifer Granholm, a former Michigan governor, is said to be his choice for the Energy Department.
Gina McCarthy led the Environmental Protection Agency from 2013 to 2017 and helped design Obama-era climate regulations.Credit.Sarah Blesener for The New York Times
Dec. 15, 2020
WASHINGTON â President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. is expected to announce a significant part of his energy and environment team this week.
In the coming days, Mr. Biden intends to name prominent leaders in the climate and clean-energy world to two senior positions: Gina McCarthy, a former administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, will be his senior adviser on climate change, and Jennifer M. Granholm, a former governor of Michigan, will lead the Department of Energy.
At the EPA, new names have been circulating in the last week. Michael Regan, the head of North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality, and Richard Revesz, a professor and former dean at the New York University School of Law, are reportedly under consideration to lead the agency after opposition arose to front-runner Mary Nichols
Nichols, California’s top air regulator, was expected to face resistance from Senate Republicans, but a letter from a coalition of 70 environmental and social justice groups complaining she did not do enough to consider their voices when working to craft the state’s cap and trade program has reportedly diminished her prospects.
Revamping Federal Climate Science
December 15, 2020, 5:00 am Getty/Liu Shiping/Xinhua
Sam Hananel
Ari Drennen
Introduction and summary
The United States has been the global leader in climate science for decades. Unfortunately, progress has slowed and in some cases, even moved backward over the past four years, with the Trump administration dismantling core elements of the federal climate science apparatus. As the country and the planet head toward an increasingly unstable climate, the U.S. government needs to get back to the business of being the preeminent source of trusted applied science that supports climate change mitigation and adaptation decision-making of governments and civilian stakeholders.
December 14, 2020 7:01 AM By Zachary Sherwood and Brandon Lee
Members of the Electoral College meet today to officially elect Joe Biden, a moment some Republican lawmakers have targeted as the end of President Donald Trumpâs attempts to overturn the results as far as theyâre concerned.
The constitutionally mandated procedure across the 50 states and the District of Columbia usually passes with little notice. But this year, it may help conclude a chaotic election season punctuated by Trumpâs refusal to concede and his frequent insistence, without evidence, that the vote was âriggedâ against him.
Many prominent Republicans joined the president in declining to recognize Bidenâs victory a month ago, saying Trump had a right to pursue legal challenges. That process will have played out once the electors reach a majority of 270 ballots for Biden. Congress will then officially count the Electoral College votes and declare the winner on Jan. 6.
Was SCOTUS unanimous in tossing Texas election suit on standing ground? Alito a cipher
Image from Shutterstock.com.
The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday evening refused to allow Texas to file a lawsuit directly with the court that challenged the election results in four other states.
The court’s order cited lack of standing by Texas, SCOTUSblog reports.
“Texas has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections,” the order said. “All other pending motions are dismissed as moot.”
Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. issued a statement accompanying the order that is leading to differing interpretations, according to appellate litigator Howard Bashman of How Appealing. Alito’s statement was joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.