CONCLUSION

EXCERPT FROM PAGE 201

​“In large part, Trump’s environmental strategy followed the playbook of the Republican reversal that had begun with Ronald Reagan—it dismissed the urgency of environmental issues, disregarded environmental expertise, and downplayed the need for government regulation to protect public health and the environment. While the Reagan’s administration’s anti-regulatory, pro-energy agenda marked the advent of the Republican reversal, considering the first year of the Trump administration highlights important ways that the Republican reversal and environmental politics have evolved since the 1980s.”

Primary Sources ​

2002

Source: Gage Skidmore (Flickr)

Frank Luntz, memorandum to Congressional Republicans
​In 2002, a memo by Republican pollster Frank Luntz to Republican congressional candidates offered advice and strategies for addressing the issue of climate change. He advised Republicans to downplay arguments about the economic costs of environmental protection and rather to emphasize the uncertainties of climate science and the potential for technological solutions.

2010

Click to download

Pollster Frank Luntz Releases New Polling Results: Bipartisan Public Support for National Climate Legislation
After years of working with Republicans to soften their image on the environment, Republican pollster Frank Luntz published a report that emphasized the American public was less interested in partisan debate than they were in solutions; the majority of Americans believed that climate change was happening. ​

2017

Source: C-SPAN

Source: C-SPAN

Confirmation Hearings of Scott Pruitt [video] | and Ryan Zinke [video] | Pruitt transcript | Zinke transcript
In 2017, President Trump selected Scott Pruitt as head of the EPA and Ryan Zinke as the Secretary of the Interior. Prior to his nomination, Pruitt was the Attorney General of Oklahoma where he often favored corporate interests over public health. Zinke, who also had experience in the public sector, was serving as a Representative of Montana until his nomination in 2017. Zinke received a four percent score from the League of Conservation Voters on his support for environmental regulations. Democrats strongly opposed both nominations.

Source: Ken Lund (Flickr)

EPA and Toxic Chemical Rules Documents | PDF of Documents | NYTimes Coverage
Shortly after Dr. Nancy Beck signed on as a member of the EPA’s toxic chemical unit at the start of the Trump administration, the EPA revised chemical safety regulations to favor the chemical industry. Under the Freedom of Information Act, The New York Times requested all documents pertaining to the changes in the EPA and Chemical Safety Act, yielding a trove of information about the agency’s decision-making.

Source: BLM

Reducing Bears Ears Documents | PDF of Documents  | NYTimes Coverage 
In December 2017, President Trump announced his decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Following Trump’s announcement, The New York Times obtained thousands of documents pertaining to the decision under the Freedom of Information Act, which suggested how important the energy industry was to its decision. ​

“...MAKING THE MONUMENT A REALITY REQUIRED HARD AND LONG WORK BY A LARGE NUMBER OF INDIAN PEOPLE...”
- LOMAHQUAHU and BOWEKATY (Bears Ears Commission Interim Chairs) 

President Trump’s withdrawal from Paris Climate Accord [video] |Transcript| Scott Pruitt on Paris Climate Accord
​In June 2017, President Trump made a monumental decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, an international agreement made through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Trump claimed the accord was a “bad deal” for the United States and gave an advantage to developing countries, such as China. The accord was created to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and hold global warming at two degrees Celsius. It was also one of President Obama’s crowning achievements in environmental policy and international affairs. ​

“EVEN IF THE PARIS AGREEMENT WERE IMPLEMENTED IN FULL, WITH TOTAL COMPLIANCE FROM ALL NATIONS, IT IS ESTIMATED IT WOULD ONLY PRODUCE A TWO-TENTHS OF ONE DEGREE — THINK OF THAT; THIS MUCH — CELSIUS REDUCTION IN GLOBAL TEMPERATURE BY THE YEAR 2100. TINY, TINY AMOUNT” - TRUMP         ​

MIT News: MIT Issues Statement Regarding Research on Paris Agreement
In response to President Trump’s reference to MIT research in support of his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, MIT set the record straight.

“...THE PARIS AGREEMENT IS AN UNPRECEDENTED AND VITAL EFFORT BY NEARLY 200 COUNTRIES TO RESPOND TO THE URGENT THREAT OF GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE” - MIT NEWS OFFICE ​

2018

Scott Pruitt’s “Back-to-Basics” Plan [video] | PDF of plan
In May 2018, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt signed a memorandum outlining a plan to review the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) under the Clean Air Act. The NAAQS monitor the amount of key pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and ozone in the atmosphere. The decision to review these standards came as part of President Trump’s initiative to increase domestic manufacturing and job creation, implying that a review of these standards will fall in favor of the energy industry.

Discussion Questions​

1. Why did Frank Luntz think that Republican candidates might be vulnerable on environmental issues in the 2002 midterm elections? How did Luntz’s 2002 advice to Republicans affect their strategy on environmental issues?
2. To what extent did Trump follow Luntz’s advice in his 2016 presidential campaign?
3. How has the Republican reversal evolved since the 1980’s?
4. What role does science play in environmental politics?  What are “tornado” politics? How do they differ from “abortion” politics?  What examples from the book illustrate these issues?
5. In what venues have environmentalists been most successful in fending off the Republican reversal for American environmental policy?  What have been the lasting consequences of the Republican reversal?

Additional Readings​ ​

Science and Environmental Politics

The Republican War on Science
Chris Mooney | New York: Basic Books, 2005

“Forests, Tornadoes, and Abortion: Thinking about Science. Politics, and Policy”
Roger A. Pielke. Jr. | Forest Futures: Science, Politics, and Policy for the Next Century, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004
​​
The Honest Broker: Making Sense of Science in Policy and Politics
Roger A. Pielke. Jr. | Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007

U.S. Environmental Policymaking

American Environmental Policy: Beyond Gridlock (updated and expanded ed.)
Christopher M. Klyza and David J. Sousa | Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2013
​
Open for Business
Judith Layzer | Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012

Trump Administration's Environmental Record

”Why Has the E.P.A. Shifted on Toxic Chemicals? An Industry Insider Helps Call the Shots”
Eric Lipton | The New York Times, 21 October 2017

“Oil Was Central to Decision to Shrink Bears Ears Monument, Emails Show” 
Eric Lipton and Lisa Friedman | The New York Times, 2 March 2018

”One Big Legal Obstacle Keeps Trump from Undoing Greenhouse Gas Regulation” 
John McQuaid | Scientific American, 26 April 2017

The EPA Under Siege
Chris Sellers et al. | Environmental Data and Governance Initiative, 19 June 2017 

Environmental Data and Governance Initiative
An excellent resource on the consequences of Trump administration’s environmental policy agenda for environmental policy, data, scientists, and other policymakers.  

“’Whither We Are Tending’: Interrogating the Retrenchment Narrative in U.S. Environmental Policy”
David J. Sousa and Christopher M. Klyza | Political Science Quarterly, September 2017