President Biden climate change

Peter Dykstra: GOP rising

Democrats’ razor-thin majorities in both houses of Congress could vanish in November—so could much of President Biden’s environmental agenda.

Washington’s bottomless supply of pundits is always ready to state the obvious: Democrats fear they’re walking into a midterm election slaughter.


In modern times, the party that holds the White House almost always takes a drubbing as one-third of U.S. Senate seats and the entire House of Representatives is up for grabs. The smart money, if there is such a thing in Washington, sees Republicans recapturing both houses later this year, and making a serious play for the White House in two years.

This, in part, explains why the current administration's pro-environment rhetoric is run off the road by its pro-petroleum actions.

Winter blends 

This week, President Biden traveled to the heart of corn country, Iowa, to announce the suspension of a 1989 Environmental Protection Agency regulation seasonally limiting the amount of ethanol in gasoline.

The corn-based fuel acts as gasoline’s Hamburger Helper, extending its use. But it also creates more smog—ground level ozone pollution that impacts asthma and other respiratory woes. Smog is a warm-weather phenomenon, so the EPA limited the summertime use of ethanol additives. “Summer blend” gasoline can add as much as 15 cents per gallon to gas prices. Selling "winter blend” gas is a windfall for corn growers, but ignores environmental and health concerns.

Pain at the pump

State governments are using the Ukraine crisis to drop at-the-pump prices by another dime or so. More than 20 states have suspended their collections of state gasoline taxes for the next several months. For many of these states, the date for reinstating those taxes will arrive shortly before Election Day.

And last week, Biden took the unprecedented step of releasing more than a million barrels of oil per day for at least several months from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. This may sound like an Oprah-ish everybody-gets-a-car tactic but analysts warn it will have little impact on prices at the pump.

Environmental electoral politics 

Even if Biden’s moves are cosmetic and electorally motivated, they can’t match the cold-blooded condescension of George W. Bush’s eight years. Vice President Dick Cheney headed Bush’s Energy Task Force. Cheney was roundly criticized for huddling with fossil fuel interests and shutting out environmentalists. A few months into the Bush-Cheney leadership, Cheney shrugged off energy conservation efforts, saying “conservation may be a sign of personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for a sound, comprehensive energy policy."

Instead, Cheney’s task force created mechanisms for oil and gas interests to hide many of the pollution and climate change risks of fracking, a drilling technique for both oil and natural gas that enjoyed a boom in subsequent years.

On the Democrats’ side, green lobbyists say they were stiffed by both the Clinton and Obama administrations during their respective first terms. The Clinton-Gore Administration held off on most environmental moves, then took a beating from Newt Gingrich’s anti-regulatory “Contract With America” in the 1994 midterms.

In 2009, Obama’s staff told environmental reps that the White House would shelve any major environmental initiatives until the sagging U.S. economy was fixed. The 2010 midterms handed the House back to an increasingly hostile GOP.

So Biden faces the strong possibility that his agenda will be hogtied after his first two years. Just at a time when a desperate world looks to America for climate leadership.

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate, or publisher Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo: The White House

Alaska oil & gas drilling pipeline with snowy mountains in background.
Credit: cec72/ BigStock Photo ID: 21712223

Trump administration moves to revive controversial drilling plan in protected Alaska wilderness

The Trump administration is moving to scrap environmental protections in Alaska’s North Slope, opening up millions of acres of fragile wilderness to oil drilling and mining.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
A row of wind turbines in a field on a sunny day.

US Department of Energy cancels billions in clean energy and carbon capture grants

The U.S. Department of Energy has pulled $3.7 billion in grants for carbon capture and industrial decarbonization, halting dozens of projects that had bipartisan backing and were designed to cut emissions from cement, chemicals, and food production.

Jake Spring reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
a factory with a lot of glowing molten steel.

Trump’s reversal on U.S. Steel sale raises fears of long-term coal dependence in Pennsylvania

President Donald Trump celebrated the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel on Friday, a move that could lock in coal-powered steel production for another generation despite environmental and economic shifts away from the fuel.

Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
Large gray concrete columns.

Charleston climate case sparks national security debate in federal court

A South Carolina judge questioned whether a local lawsuit accusing oil companies of climate deception could undermine national security, as President Trump’s executive order claims.

Karen Zraick reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
Scientist wearing purple gloves looking at samples in a tray.
Credit: CDC/Unsplash

Trump administration hands political appointees sweeping authority over federal science

A Trump executive order claims to champion scientific integrity but scientists warn it centralizes political power over research and undermines independence.

Carolyn Y. Johnson reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
An oil pipeline stretching across a landscape.

Trump officials court support in Alaska for drilling and massive gas pipeline plan

The Trump administration sent top officials to Alaska this week to advance oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revive a $44 billion natural gas pipeline project aimed at exports to Asia.

Becky Bohrer reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Wildfire with billowing smoke rising from the flames.

Wildfire smoke from Canada worsens air pollution across central U.S. as alerts expand

Smoke from dozens of uncontrolled Canadian wildfires has drifted into the central U.S., triggering air quality alerts from North Dakota to Georgia and prompting warnings for people with health vulnerabilities.

Aria Bendix reports for NBC News.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.