Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (a Democrat representing Rhode Island since 2007) has given weekly speeches called Time To Wake Up, in which he urged the Senate take action on climate emergencies for nine years.
After Joe Biden was elected president, and Democrats took control in both houses of Congress, he ended the weekly ritual. Whitehouse is back, with new climate legislation in doubt, and hopes of a revival. He said that I had lost faith in the momentum of a climate solution and revived the speech series.
Whitehouse spoke to Guardian about Bidens stagnant climate agenda, dark money influence politics, and a future that transcends fossil fuels.
Despite Democrats controlling Congress and a Democrat in White House, why is there no progress?
The Democratic party hasn’t taken climate change as seriously that it should. It has not invested the energy that would generate a public reaction that would encourage more action.
We have put all of our eggs into the big reconciliation bill. [Build Back Better legislation]The belief that everything would be fine by doing that. We had to keep the caucus in place for that piece. However, we didn’t plan to do anything serious about regulation or litigation to disrupt the process. This was not the best approach. We need to start over. We must do our best through legislation, but we also need the legislative engine to be pushed to the limit.
You have spoken before about the effects of corporate black money, the oil sector’s climate denialism, and fossil fuel company strategies to delay regulations and policies. It seems that the issue is not so much a lack in political will as it is resistance by financial or industrial interests to advance the climate agenda.
They are both related. The two are closely related. We would have likely succeeded in passing the legislation if not for the organized opposition from fossil fuel interests to stop these things from happening. To succeed, you must be ready to increase your pressure on the fossil fuel industry. It is in that area that we’ve been particularly deficient.
However, the disinformation machine used by the oil and gas industry has a weakness. The more it is exposed, and the more it is made public, the greater the public’s understanding of what the industry has done, and the more pressure can be applied to public opinion.
To this end, I sponsored legislation to expose the flow and influence of dark money from the fossil-fuel industry and other industries. The NotifyActThis would require organizations spending money on federal elections to disclose their sources of funding. What are the chances of that legislation being passed?
The president requested that we vote on it in the State of the Union. This will provide a fulcrum for any further activity. Because the public hates corruption with dark money, I believe he sees it as an opportunity for him to use considerable political leverage.
This is unlikely to be popular in the short-term. Mitch McConnell [the Republican minority leader in the US Senate]Dark money is a major determinant of our ability to function. The public hates dark currency so much that it makes it difficult for us to push for the vote. [and]We may see that the Republican party feels that, even though they don’t like having to give up their black money, it is better than being called the dark money party.
A Guardian poll from last year found that a majority of Americans want oil and gas companies to be held accountable for lying about climate change and contributing to global warming.There are many divisions about cutting oil consumption and other actions you promote. How can you overcome this?
We have won the battle of public opinion, to the point that strong majorities support a lot climate repair and clean-energy development. The public is already behind us. It is not enough that the public can overwhelm the financial hold of the fossil fuel industry on the Republican party.
What do you hear from your Senate colleagues when you say these words?
Politics is complicated by the fact that almost every day has an event. Like a bad soccer team, we are all prone to run to win, to run to the next event, and not to play a position and have a strategy to win the game. That sentiment is not being operationalized as well as it should. While there is always tomorrow to operationalise that sentiment, we now have to worry about Covid and Ukraine, inflation, and crime. The problem is that there are only so many futures you can defer this to before it’s too late.
The current event of the day is Ukraine. It has generated a lot discussion about American energy independence and the need to pump additional oil. Also, rising gas prices, which are always a political problem, have been a big topic of conversation. It’s a huge challenge for you, right?
It’s a huge challenge because the misinformation operation of the fossil fuel industry is quick and adaptable, jumping in at these moments. They have had experience. They are prepared to respond to any emergency by drilling more oil.
You can solve this problem only by getting off the merry-go round and moving on to clean and sustainable fuels. Then the cartels, Russians, and Saudis won’t be able to dictate prices or make money in the global community. We will be able to get off fossil fuels as quickly as possible and onto renewables, which will make our planet safer not only from an environmental perspective but also from a national security standpoint.
How do you feel President Biden is delivering on his climate change commitments?
He brought a lot to it. He brought in many really great people. John Kerry has done an amazing job trying to make the world a better place. [Cop26 in]Glasgow should be as strong as possible and provide a separate lane for Chinese workers despite all their objections about US policies to cooperate with them on climate.
The legislative portion has been a disaster. So far, we have not passed any serious legislation. It will be crucial that we are able to pass this reconciliation measure in the next few weeks. This is very uncertain and up for grabs. They’ve stopped both with regard to regulation and litigation to create a calm environment in order to achieve the big bill passing. We lost a whole year of activity in both the regulatory as well as the litigation areas.
Which party is to blame for the inability to pass the legislation?
Every senator who prevented us from getting 50 votes and moving forward.
Joe Manchin, a Democratic Senator from West Virginia, is the top candidate. West Virginia is a coal state. Are you able to see Manchin’s positions as being in any way connected to the earlier discussion about nefarious forces at play?
[Manchin]Does reflect the views of his state which is a heavily dependent on fossil fuels. The current position of fossil fuel industry is to sham support serious climate legislation and powerful secret countermeasures that ensure that this never happens. They might be more determined to find an acceptable path if they felt under more pressure.
So, it is possible to reduce the pressure on Senator Manchin.
You can also come to him and tell him that this is our safest path as well as the safest route for the planet. These measures can be advocated for by you.
With polls showing that the Republicans could well win the House and retain control of the Senate, the November midterm elections could pose a problem for Democrats. Are we closing in on President Biden’s opportunity to fulfill his climate pledges?
This could be the end. The reconciliation measure expires on September 30. This is when the door to an all Senate Democrat Climate Bill closes. Our only hope is to find enough Republican support to overcome the Senate’s 60 vote cloture rule, which will likely mean a dozen Republicans. The likelihood of producing those dozen Republicans is not very high when you consider how the Republican party has been reduced to a political arm of the fossil fuel sector.
After the difficulties of getting 50 Senate Democrats on board, the Biden administration now has to decide how to proceed. Do you put all your eggs in the legislation basket or do you not? Or do you continue with an offense strategy against the fossil fuel climate denialism operation, and a regulatory strategy to address this within the agencies you control? And with the litigation strategy that will bring the law into play on the allegedly fraudulent conduct in the industry?
For ordinary Americans who view the climate as the most pressing issue, particularly for a younger generation, who say, “W”What are our political leaders doing all this for?What can they do to improve the situation?
Keep raising hell. Understand that there is a dark money problem as well as climate change. If you solve the dark money issue, the climate change obstruction will vanish. Exxon Mobil cannot hide their dirty politics. If they run an advertisement claiming that climate change is a big hoax and Exxon Mobil approves of this message, it will backfire. It won’t trace back if it is run through a front group such as Americans for Peace and Puppies and Prosperity. The fossil fuel industry is very dependent on transparency. Its motives, methods, and self-interest become obvious.
