In the News

As floods and wildfires have battered national parks in recent years, a new study from green and Democrat-aligned groups aims to tie climate change to ecological decline. The report from the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Institute and the Coalition to Protect America’s National Parks, to be released Tuesday, argues that parks will continue to see degradation until the rise in global temperature begins to cool — whether that’s decreasing snowpack in Yellowstone, wildfires in Yosemite or sea level rise in Acadia.

After Senate Republicans narrowly passed their version of the megabill — which took a softer strategy to phasing out Democrats' climate legislation on Tuesday than many hardline conservatives had sought — it's now up to the House to vote, with only a couple days until their self-imposed July 4th deadline. Lawmakers, industry officials and environmental groups are sounding alarms over the legislation’s elimination of key tax credits, pointing out how it will hurt America’s solar industry, put additional strain on the electric grid and halt America’s economic growth in the energy sphere. Members of the all Democratic House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition slammed the bill, saying it “destroys American energy security, kills jobs and sends electricity costs through the roof for American families.”

Democrats in the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition (SEEC) condemned the bill as a "Blackout Bill," warning of higher energy bills and long-term economic consequences. "This disastrous legislation will cause more frequent and severe blackouts across the country, drive up household electricity bills by more than $400 a year, and kill hundreds of thousands of good-paying jobs," SEEC co-chairs Reps. Doris Matsui, Mike Quigley and Paul Tonko wrote in a statement. "It's not too late to stop the madness."

Democrats were quick to slam the bill after passage Tuesday. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the measure a betrayal and said that Republicans had “covered the Senate in utter shame.” The House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition, composed exclusively of Democrats, called out the energy provisions passed by the Senate. “This bill cedes America’s leadership in the industries of the future while giving handouts to the industries of the past,” the group wrote in a statement.

Democrats, meanwhile, said the proposed rollback would be a major threat to air quality and would accelerate global warming. The House’s Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition slammed the proposal as a misinterpretation of the federal government’s obligations under the Clean Air Act. “We at SEEC understand that our job as public servants is to protect the freedoms of Americans to breathe clean air and drink clean water, not the freedoms of large polluting corporations to lay waste to our children’s health and future,” the Democratic group said in a statement.

Democrats also sought to put Republicans on the record opposing climate, clean energy and manufacturing subsidies in the Inflation Reduction Act that many of them have supported or benefited from, even if they did not vote for the underlying legislation. “Republicans are stealing money from their own communities,” said Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Calif.), who is a co-chair of the House Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. Rep. Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), another SEEC co-chair on the Energy and Commerce Committee, called the GOP proposals “complete nonsense.” He added, “When the American people hear about the specific funding being cut, they will agree.”