Boiling Point: Democrats who make nice with Trump aren’t helping on climate

What do you do, as a politician, when your lawfully elected opponents reveal they have nothing but contempt for the Constitution, rule of law and separation of powers? Do you refuse to work with them, eschewing the norms of bipartisanship in favor of all-out political combat to defend democracy? Or do you choose your battles, accepting that voters made their decision and it’s your job to secure the victories you can for your constituents?

Gov. Gavin Newsom has seemingly made his choice. Newsom met with President Trump at the White House last week, part of an effort to secure wildfire aid for Los Angeles County. The governor said that people “need to see their representatives working together,” and that he has “no patience for people not working together in a crisis.”

Other Democrats are making similar calculations. Eight Senate Democrats voted to confirm Chris Wright, a fossil fuel executive who downplays the well-documented link between climate change and worsening fires, as Trump’s Energy secretary. Even Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a liberal icon and climate champion who didn’t vote for Wright, has said she’s looking forward to working with Trump on economic solutions for working people.

Not all Democrats are acting so cooperatively.

California’s attorney general, Rob Bonta, has already filed several lawsuits against federal agencies, and said at a recent news conference that Trump has been “spitting in the face of our democracy” by refusing to comply with a court order to release congressionally mandated funds for clean energy and other priorities.

Trump’s determination to defy Congress and the courts shows clear disdain for the separation of powers spelled out in the Constitution — a bedrock of U.S. democracy. Vice President JD Vance and Trump advisor Stephen Miller have begun openly questioning whether courts should be allowed to serve as a check on the president’s power.

As part of his power grab, Trump has delegated sweeping authority to billionaire advisor Elon Musk.

A few years ago, climate advocates might have considered Musk in this sort of role good news for reducing fossil fuel pollution, whatever else Trump might do wrong. Musk, after all, runs electric vehicle company Tesla.

Alas, Musk doesn’t seem focused on climate. His so-called Department of Government Efficiency is attempting to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, which could derail climate and clean energy programs around the world. His henchmen were also spotted at the headquarters of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, inciting fears that America’s premier climate and weather science agency will be dismantled.

There’s a reason solar and wind energy companies are keeping quiet on climate change and pitching themselves to Trump as crucial to his “energy dominance” agenda, instead of talking to Musk about clean electricity.

Elon Musk speaks after President Trump during an America First Policy Institute gala at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 14.

(Alex Brandon / Associated Press)

With Republicans controlling both the House and Senate for the next two years, any hope of climate progress at the federal level rests on democracy functioning as it’s supposed to: the Trump administration disbursing funds and carrying out programs required under laws such as President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, whether by choice or by court order. In other words, Trump faithfully executing the laws of the United States.

But political scientist Monty Marshall, who studies democracies and their declines, told The Times’ Anita Chabria that as of the last few weeks, the U.S., “by his index, is no longer considered a functioning democracy.”

Now more than ever, we need fearless, adversarial journalism to shine a light.

But as journalist Oliver Darcy argued last week in his media-focused newsletter, Status, major news outlets are “failing to present the extreme measures coming out of Washington as an urgent crisis.” They are “largely stuck in the same journalistic rhythms as before,” even as Trump undermines the foundations of democracy.

“The American public should feel that something profoundly different and unsettling is unfolding,” Darcy wrote.

“The news media has shown it is fully capable of delivering this type of coverage,” he added. “Think about how it covers natural disasters and terror attacks. Think about how it covered the COVID-19 pandemic.”

I’ve made a similar case about climate change. The hard part is, what should reporters do when the crisis doesn’t end after a week, a month or even a year? Trump’s presidency is slated to last four years. The COVID-19 pandemic technically isn’t over, according to the World Health Organization. Climate change will be with us for a lifetime.

People have short attention spans. Words can stoke only so much outrage.

Which is why it’s so important for politicians to grab their bullhorns and make their words count.

As energy journalist David Roberts wrote on social media, “Either this is a lawless attack by fascists on the very foundations of constitutional government, or the GOP is a normal, legitimate party with which Dems have policy disagreements, but with which they will work in good faith to find areas of compromise. Can’t have both.”

I tend to agree.

There’s been a lot of talk about the Democratic Party having no coherent message. Seeking common ground with Trump and Musk as they attack democracy, suppress journalism and wreck the climate is a terrible place to start.

On that note, here’s what else is happening around the West:

FOSSIL FUELS ARE BAD FOR YOU

A pumpjack at the Inglewood Oil Field on Sept. 25.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

There continues to be a lot of news coverage of the Moss Landing battery fire along the Central California coast, and I understand why. Lithium-ion battery fires are a new, scary and significant problem. The latest details:

• Alarmingly high concentrations of heavy metals were found at Elkhorn Slough, California’s second-largest estuary. It’s not far from Moss Landing and home to several endangered species. (Clara Harter, L.A. Times)
• Monterey County residents sued battery owner Vistra Energy (and Pacific Gas & Electric, which owns an adjacent battery facility). Famed activist Erin Brockovich is involved with the lawsuit. (Clara Harter, L.A. Times)
• The California Public Utilities Commission proposed new safety standards for large battery storage facilities. The not-yet-finalized proposal was in the works before the Moss Landing fire. (Brian Martucci, Utility Dive)

As policymakers and communities decide whether and how to allow construction of more lithium-ion batteries, I hope we don’t lose sight of how much more dangerous fossil fuels are by contrast — a key comparison, given the important role of energy storage technology in phasing out heat-trapping coal, oil and gas.

Even beyond air pollution that kills millions of people every year, and the progressively harsher consequences of a hotter planet, scientists are finding new harms from fossil fuels all the time. A couple of recent examples:

• New research finds that Californians living near the highest-producing oil and gas wells during the early days of the pandemic were more likely to die from COVID-19. (Liza Gross, Inside Climate News)
• Scientists are finding growing amounts of microplastics in human brain tissue, with potentially scary health implications. (Remember, plastics are typically made from oil and gas.) Meanwhile, President Trump plans to undo a Biden order phasing out plastic straws from government buildings. (Danny Nguyen, Politico)

L.A. County’s recent fires are only the latest reminder of how much more precarious the future of life on Earth will get if we keep burning fossil fuels indefinitely. A few recent stories about the fallout from the infernos:

• California is finally updating its fire hazard maps — although they still won’t be good enough to keep up with certain extreme weather conditions, such as intense climate-fueled dryness. (Noah Haggerty, L.A. Times)
• “The human impulse to rebuild, like the fires, is relentless.” For a century, developers built and rebuilt in hills and canyons primed to burn — even as climate change spurs bigger blazes. (Jenny Jarvie, L.A. Times)
• It’s awesome that biologists keep managing to save endangered fish from creeks in wildfire burn scars in the Santa Monica Mountains. It’s also not a sustainable long-term strategy. (Lila Seidman, L.A. Times)
• Government officials are planning to dump lots of hazardous wildfire debris into Southern California landfills that weren’t designed to handle it. Nearby residents are worried for their health. (Tony Briscoe, L.A. Times)

MORE ON TRUMP

Energy Secretary Chris Wright speaks at a Senate confirmation hearing on Jan. 15.

(Rod Lamkey / Associated Press)

Remember when Trump ordered a bunch of water released from two Central Valley dams, and claimed it would help L.A. County put out the fires? Well, if you were wondering where that water actually went, my colleague Ian James, Jessica Garrison and Sean Greene figured it out. (Spoiler alert: Los Angeles didn’t get a drop.)

In other California water news:

• Central Valley farmers voted for Trump, lured by the tenuous promise of more water. Now they’ll have to pay the price of Trump’s threats to deport their immigrant workers. (George Skelton, L.A. Times)
• Los Angeles had indicated it might take a lot less water from Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra this winter. But after many months of little rain, L.A. is on track to take the usual amount. (Alastair Bland, CalMatters)
• Sierra Nevada snowpack is just 65% of average, down from 108% in early January. (Ian James, L.A. Times)

Returning to Trump, his appointees are rolling back so many environmental policies that I can hardly keep up — defunding clean energy programs, making it hard to build solar and wind projects even on private land, shutting down the Environmental Protection Agency’s environmental justice office. A federal hiring freeze means national parks could be badly understaffed this summer, potentially leading to filthy bathrooms and medical emergencies.

Federal officials seem especially focused on promoting gasoline cars. The Department of Transportation halted billions of dollars in congressionally approved funds for electric vehicle chargers along highways. Climate-skeptic Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy is considering reducing or eliminating fuel efficiency standards for cars.

Speaking of Duffy, he plans to prioritize federal transportation grants to communities with higher marriage and birth rates. Super creepy, right? This feels like something out of a prequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale.”

In any case, California is forging ahead with its ambitious electric vehicle plans, despite Trump’s opposition. State subsidies for electric trucks are a key part of California’s strategy, as my colleague Russ Mitchell reports.

The state has its work cut out for it: Electric vehicle sales growth basically stalled out last year, Russ writes.

ONE MORE THING

Left to right: Bert, Oscar the Grouch and Grover.

If you need a pick-me-up, take a few minutes to watch three beloved “Sesame Street” characters — Bert, Grover and Oscar the Grouch — sit down with L.A. Times journalist Nicholas Ducassi. Emotional well-being is the theme of the show’s latest season, and all three have comforting words for Angelenos reeling from the recent fires.

“I cannot give you all a hug right now, even though I want to,” Grover says in one of the videos. “So I’m going to ask Nick here to stand in for all of L.A. and I’m going to give L.A. a big hug. I love you, L.A. You are going to be OK. Remember that you are strong and super and you can do hard things. Yes, you can.”

I wrote last year about the nonprofit that produces “Sesame Street” raising funds to tell more stories focused on climate resilience — basically, stories that would help kids and families learn to cope with climate-fueled extreme weather. The Los Angeles fires are an example of why that kind of programming is so badly needed.

This is the latest edition of Boiling Point, a newsletter about climate change and the environment in the American West. Sign up here to get it in your inbox. And listen to our Boiling Point podcast here.

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