logo
    • Magazine
    • Membership
    • Donate
  • Racial Justice
  • Economic Justice
    • Collections
  • Climate Justice
  • Health Justice
  • Leadership
  • CONTENT TYPES
  • Subscribe
  • Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
    • Complimentary Webinars
    • Premium On-Demand Webinars
  • Membership
  • Submissions

Can the Federal Administration Resist the Growing Clean Energy Economy?

Cyndi Suarez
May 2, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
By photo: Qurren (talk)Taken with Canon IXY 430F (Digital IXUS 245 HS) (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons

May 1, 2017; E&ETV

Although lately any movement on the environment at the federal level seems to be in reverse, state and city governments are steadfastly moving forward with what have been called “clean energy jobs of the future, solar energy, wind power and storage that works.”

Howard Learner, president and executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center (ELPC), recently said in an interview on E&ETV,

Clean energy development is moving forward at a rapid pace in the Midwest states. When it comes to places like Iowa, tremendous amount of wind power development. Illinois just passed the strongest renewable energy standard in the region; one of the best in the country…the Clean Power Plan has not been implemented yet, but in Illinois we’re 80 percent of the way toward achieving the carbon pollution reduction benefits that are required by 2030 without the Clean Power Plan even being implemented…Minnesota’s about 100 percent. Michigan’s about 90 percent.

Agreeing with a request made by the Trump administration, a lawsuit brought by 28 states challenging the Clean Power Plan has been halted by a federal judge while the EPA reviews the plan. According to the Washington Post, this represents “the likely end of President Barack Obama’s signature climate policy.”

According to Learner, almost every lake and river in the Midwest has a fish advisory due to mercury contamination. He is hoping the Trump administration will reconsider undoing the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards already in effect. Illinois and Michigan have their own mercury standards, so reversing the federal standard may not be an issue. However, there is still work to be done.

For Learner, the biggest challenge for the environmental field and NGOs now is moving from working with Obama’s mostly supportive administration to Trump’s mostly disagreeable one. Though Trump won his election in the Great Lakes states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, “his administration’s policies and funding decisions in the first 100 days amount to a war on the Great Lakes,” according to Learner.

Local leaders—including Democratic U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois and GOP governors Rick Snyder of Michigan and Scott Walker of Wisconsin—are fighting back. They want Trump to reverse his decision to cut the Great Lakes restoration initiative from $300 million to zero. Learner said,

Sign up for our free newsletters

Subscribe to NPQ's newsletters to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Everybody in the Midwest cares about safe, clean drinking water…

It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat. You live in the city. You live in a rural area. When it comes to mercury people understand about kids’ health. People understand about maternal health. People don’t want more mercury getting into our lakes and rivers.

Further, the new jobs are in clean energy.

When it comes to solar energy development, that’s about jobs. When it comes to wind power development, that’s about jobs. We understand the president’s concerns with job creation, but when it comes to clean energy, that’s where the new jobs are being created. Again, politicians on both sides of the aisle understand that, as does the public.

ELPC currently has a dual defense/offense strategy. On the defense side, it expects citizen legal suits under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act to prevent the undoing of the EPA and the Department of Justice. On the offense side, it is increasing resources to eco-business, such as policy and business deal-making support, to accelerate clean energy development in the Midwest, which is working because solar energy is becoming more practical and economical with the aid of significant government investment and subsidies. Learner said,

What’s happening is we’re seeing a combination of savvy policies, technological innovation and market forces working that some of the coal plants are shutting down and more wind power and solar energy and storage is coming into the market. Energy efficiency is working. The system’s getting cleaner, and that’s all happening while the very justifiable battle’s going on over the Clean Power Plan.

Ironically, though it remains to be seen, emerging market forces may yet trump the political will of an administration.—Cyndi Suarez

Share
Tweet
Share
Email
Print
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cyndi Suarez

Cyndi Suarez is president and editor-in-chief of NPQ (Nonprofit Quarterly). She is author of The Power Manual: How to Master Complex Power Dynamics, in which she outlines a new theory and practice of liberatory power. Suarez has worked as a strategy and innovation consultant with a focus on networks and platforms for social movements. She has 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector—in community-based, advocacy, organizing, consulting, infrastructure, and philanthropic organizations. She is passionate about elegant design and designing for power. Her studies were in feminist theory and organizational development for social change.

More about: renewable energyNonprofit NewsPolicy

Become a member

Support independent journalism and knowledge creation for civil society. Become a member of Nonprofit Quarterly.

Members receive unlimited access to our archived and upcoming digital content. NPQ is the leading journal in the nonprofit sector written by social change experts. Gain access to our exclusive library of online courses led by thought leaders and educators providing contextualized information to help nonprofit practitioners make sense of changing conditions and improve infra-structure in their organizations.

Join Today
logo logo logo logo logo
See comments

NPQ_Winter_2022Subscribe Today
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of Housing Insecurity for Black Women
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn
The Human Impact of the Global Refugee Crisis Must Be Understood—And Acted Upon
Anmol Irfan
Black Americans Need Reparations: The Fight for the CTC Highlights the Roadblocks
Jhumpa Bhattacharya and Trevor Smith
Edgar Cahn’s Second Act: Time Banking and the Return of Mutual Aid
Steve Dubb

Popular Webinars

Remaking the Economy

Black Food Sovereignty, Community Stories

Register Now

Combating Disinformation and Misinformation in 21st-Century Social Movements

Register Now

Remaking the Economy

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap

Register Now
You might also like
Cancelling Student Debt Is Necessary for Racial Justice
Kitana Ananda
To Save Legal Aid, Expand Public Service Loan Forgiveness
Zoë Polk
No Justice, No Peace of Mind and Body: The Health Impacts of...
Jhumpa Bhattacharya, Maile Chand and Andrea Flynn

Like what you see?

Subscribe to the NPQ newsletter to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

See our newsletters

By signing up, you agree to our privacy policy and terms of use, and to receive messages from NPQ and our partners.

Independent & in your mailbox.

Subscribe today and get a full year of NPQ for just $59.

subscribe
  • About
  • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Copyright
  • Careers

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

 

Non Profit News | Nonprofit Quarterly
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.