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Politico
2 days ago
- Business
- Politico
How to win friends and influence climate policy
With help from Josh Siegel MAKING LIMONADE: Senate Democrats elevated one of their most progressive environmental champions when they picked Sen. Monique Limón as their next chamber leader Monday — showing it's still very possible to win friends and influence climate policy even in an era when the zeitgeist seems to have moved on to basic cost-of-living concerns. The Santa Barbara Democrat, elected to the state Assembly in 2016 and state Senate in 2020, will take on her new role in early 2026 before being termed out in 2028. Her path to the top has gone straight through the upper chamber's negotiations on the biggest climate bills of recent years, where she's gained a reputation as a detail-oriented policymaker who seeks wide input while remaining a staunch environmental justice ally. In a brief interview Tuesday, Limón signaled a willingness to follow the larger body's consensus even if it strays from her progressive leanings, bringing up her vote for a bill last year that sought to regulate warehouses despite opposition from community and environmental justice groups who saw it as greenwashing. 'I felt that moving something forward, even if it wasn't to the liking of those that I typically side with, was much more important for the state than waiting another year to be able to do it,' she said. 'There's these big things I've done, but at the end of the day, the leader of the house is really the vehicle to try to get to where the state wants, and that I think is important.' Her balancing of her environmental bona fides with wider political demands will perhaps most be put to the test on housing, which the Senate has remained divided on despite a push by the Assembly to waive environmental rules to spur more building. Limón has declined to support several measures aimed at boosting housing in recent years, in contrast to other lawmakers seen as pro tem contenders, Sens. Lena Gonzalez and Angelique Ashby — leaving YIMBY groups quiet or openly skeptical of her new role Monday. Most immediately, she'll have to exercise her newfound influence in the upper chamber's deliberations on the extension of the state's cap-and-trade program. She's seen as one of the most likely to push for reforms to the program, having been one of the sole Democrat votes against a 2017 deal on cap and trade in line with criticism from environmental justice groups. But her new role supercharges already-delicate negotiations with her counterparts in the Assembly and the governor's office. She has a track record of bringing together broad climate coalitions: Last year, she co-authored Prop 4, last year's $10 billion climate bond, which had the support of dozens of water, agriculture, energy and environment groups. But she's also not afraid of rocking the boat, including by authoring a bill to rein in the voluntary carbon offset market that drew opposition from everyone from the California Air Resources Board to the California Chamber of Commerce. She also has a track record of making enemies of oil and gas groups, including an early-career bill to ban new offshore oil drilling in state waters and pending legislation this year to slow a Texas-based oil company's restart of offshore oil drilling. She co-authored a bill to phase out neighborhood oil drilling in 2022, which became final in 2024 after oil groups agreed to pull a referendum on the bill from the ballot. Limón's new reach came through Tuesday morning, when she presided over her first Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee meeting since the vote. From her position as chair, she got farming and tribal groups to promise to negotiate over a bill to regulate flows on the Scott and Shasta rivers — and got called out by Republican Sen. Shannon Grove, who asked her to use her newfound influence to pressure the State Water Resources Control Board to act more quickly on the rivers. — CvK Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here! DAYS NUMBERED: President Donald Trump is about to kill California's electric vehicle rules. Trump plans to sign a trio of resolutions Thursday to revoke the state's zero-emission sales mandates for cars and heavy-duty trucks, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito ( and Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) confirmed. The signings will finalize his administration's months-long effort to thwart California's nation-leading vehicle emissions standards through an unprecedented congressional maneuver that triggered pushback from the Senate parliamentarian. We know what's going to happen next: California Attorney General Rob Bonta has already vowed to sue once Trump signs the resolutions. Daniel Villaseñor, a spokesperson for California Gov. Gavin Newsom, said the state is ready. 'If it's a day ending in 'y,' it's another day of Trump's war on California. We're fighting back,' Villaseñor said in a statement. — AN WHAT'S THAT SMELL?: The fight over a purple San Diego congressional seat could come down to raw sewage. Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor, has become a regular on Fox News and other conservative outlets about sewage flowing from Mexico through the Tijuana River and into California — just as he's mounting a campaign to replace Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, Timothy Cama reports for POLITICO's E&E News. Desmond has framed Levin's efforts to raise funds for infrastructure upgrades to a major sewage treatment plant that straddles the border as letting Mexican officials off the hook. 'My opponent is proud of the strategy of throwing more money into the processing of the sewage,' Desmond said. Levin countered that Desmond has only recently started talking about the issue and has proposed a dam along the river that's criticized by air and water experts. 'What he's done since then is talk in the media and point fingers, and frankly, offer a ridiculous, counterproductive idea,' Levin said. — AN CASH PROBLEMS: Pacific Gas & Electric is among the growing chorus of utilities, consumer advocates and environmentalists pleading with the Trump administration to finalize $23 billion in loans for energy infrastructure projects. The funding awarded in the waning days of the Biden administration — much of which would go to Midwest states that voted for Trump — could help finance investments in transmission lines, batteries, renewable energy and natural gas infrastructure, Brian Dabbs and Jason Plautz report for POLITICO's E&E News. But they still need approval from Trump's Department of Energy. A DOE spokesperson said it's 'conducting a department-wide review to ensure all activities follow the law, comply with applicable court orders and align with the Trump administration's priorities.' The stakes are high for PG&E customers. Jennifer Robison, a spokesperson for the utility, said that leveraging a low-cost $15 billion loan guarantee could save ratepayers $1 billion in interest costs over the life of the loan. The utility cited 'uncertainty' around the loan alongside tariffs and wildfires in a recent filing among the reasons it was asking for a slight rate increase. — AN — Opponents of Sen. Josh Becker's SB 540, to set up a Westwide electric grid, are circulating this New York Times story on the unpopularity of the Northeast's grid manager. — Tech giants like Google and Meta are fighting to save renewable energy subsidies in the tax and spending bill winding its way through Congress. — Listen to our editor Debra Kahn discuss why carbon capture could survive the GOP megabill on the POLITICO energy podcast.
Yahoo
02-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Judge over gerrymandering case against Utah legislature asks for clarification over tossing maps
NOTE: A lawsuit represents one side of a story. SALT LAKE CITY () — The lower court judge presiding over a is asking for the parties to provide more arguments over tossing out Utah's current congressional maps — signaling that a resolution to the suit could be nearing. According to an order issued March 31, Third District Judge Dianna Gibson is asking for additional information from the lawyers representing the plaintiffs — who are the , , and seven Salt Lake residents. The group is suing the legislature, arguing that Utah's current congressional boundaries should be thrown out. The plaintiffs argue the legislature violated Utahns' rights when lawmakers overturned a citizen-backed independent commission and its anti-gerrymandering criteria, created by Proposition 4, to draw those lines. Utah House polls members about overrides on the six 2025 vetoes Specifically, Judge Gibson is asking for more arguments on whether she can just toss the maps because the legislature didn't comply with Prop 4's criteria, or if an evidentiary hearing would be needed to determine if the maps are indeed unlawful. 'Is that alone sufficient legal basis to grant a permanent injunction of SB 200?' Judge Gibson asked. Furthermore, the judge wants more arguments on why she should permanently toss the legislature's maps. 'The (plaintiffs) did not cite any legal or factual authority, but an injunction of SB200 was not before the court,' the order says. The groups argued that because said lawmakers do not have unlimited power to repeal ballot initiatives; rather, when an initiative 'alters or reforms' government, any changes must be 'narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest,' the same standard should apply to the permanant injunction. 'Please clarify the legal basis for Plaintiffs' position that a permanent injunction of SB 2004 is an appropriate remedy if the court grants Plaintiffs' Motion…' Judge Gibson writes. The order asks for the additional arguments by the end of the day on April 8, at which point the legislature would have about a week to file its response. The plaintiffs would be given another opportunity to reply if they choose to do so. It's unclear when a ruling in the case might be coming, and the order does not mean the ruling will toss out the maps. However, it does signal that the judge has gotten to the point where she's asking about what the remedy might be. This complex case started back in 2018, when a , was passed by voters, creating an independent redistricting commission to draw the new boundaries Utah uses today. In 2020, the Utah Legislature watered down Prop 4, — and the plaintiffs argue those maps are gerrymandered. In 2022, the plaintiffs sued, arguing the lines 'crack' Salt Lake into four districts to dilute minority votes in the Republican stronghold and that Utahns have a constitutionally protected right to 'alter and reform' their government — which they attempted to do via Prop 4. In 2024, the that top lawmakers called the worst decision they've ever seen. That ruling kicked the case back to the lower courts to determine its fate. In January of 2025, the parties argued the merits of the case before Gibson. Lt. Governor Deidre Henderson has asked that the case be finalized before November 1 so that if new lines need to be drawn, they can be drawn before the 2026 midterm elections. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
