GOVERNMENT
Between 1970 and 1980 the U.S. government produced the Environmental Protection Agency (1970),
the Clean Water Act (1972), the Endangered Species Act (1973), and the Superfund Law (1980).
I assumed similar legislative progress would continue over the next 45 years. I was wrong.
What happened?
Progress is sometimes stymied by government regulations:
“Permitting is an expensive, tedious, and time-consuming process, sometimes stretching decades.
Developers often find there’s a lack of accountability between the local, state, and federal authorities.”
"Local governments are banning new utility-scale wind and solar power faster than they’re building it."
"Construction isn’t happening fast enough."
Popular opinion has also slowed advances. In the late 1970’s, President Jimmy Carter wrote,
“Oil and gas industry [influence] is unbelievable, and it [seems] impossible to arouse the public.”
In 1986, President Reagan removed solar panels that Carter put on the White House roof.
In 1993, President Clinton (and others) tried for a tax on pollution (a Btu tax).
“The tax's defeat … revealed [our] political animosity … towards pollution taxes.”
In 1994, 34 Democrats lost re-election. Several blamed the unpopularity of the Btu tax for their loss.
In 2000, Al Gore (Inconvenient Truth) got more votes, but ex-oilman G. W. Bush became our president.
In 2010, Pres. Obama (and others) tried to reduce “global warming pollutants,” but mega-polluters
won the day. Lobbyists were criticized: they “get paid ... money to say things that aren’t true.”
In Washington State (2016 & 2018) two pollution-tax electoral referendums were defeated by voters.
In 2022, President Biden (and others) passed the I.R.A.! In 2025, Republicans defunded it.
In 2023, the S.E.C. proposed requiring big polluters to "disclose" how much they pollute.
Pressure from lobbyists caused the S.E.C. administration to back off.
A similar “disclose” law (2024) was passed in California, but implemention has been delayed.
Frustratingly, as before, Democrats paid "lip service … while refusing to take ... bold action."
Pollution-related government decisions also come from the judiciary, such as these two 2024 rulings:
The Court ruled in favor of Chevron regarding government regulations.
Corporations will have a
“greater freedom to pollute."
It puts "lives in jeopardy” said a Republican ex-director of the E.P.A.
Separately, the Supreme Court voided a law preventing government officials from getting tips!
The Supremes said it’s ok for officials to accept “gratuities,” “as a token of appreciation.”
BUT it’s only ok if the “gratuity” is delivered
after the “official act”! True story.
What about other nations? Like here, voters and money play key roles in government decision-making.
Some democratic countries profit from selling fossil-fuels. Norway “continues to invest heavily in oil.”
First-world governments have pledged billions to third-world nations
for renewable infrastructure, and to help respond to weather calamities.
Some of the promised money hasn’t come through, while some has been delivered - to corrupt officials.
It takes money to quit pollution. “Governments worldwide are trying to figure out how to foot” the bill.
Regarding non-democratic nations, visit the Human Rights page.
If the renewable transition goes too quickly, what happens to those who depend on dirty fuels?
Sincere efforts are encountering difficulties. An "eco-backlash" has become worldwide:
- In Ecuador, if gas prices rise, voters worry about fueling their cars, heating homes, & cooking food.
- "I am angry", said a mother in Nigeria, when petrol price supports were rescinded in her country.
- In Brazil, there's been much "criticism of [the] administration’s ... environmental stewardship.”
- The government in "China called for increased coal production ... during a blistering heat wave."
- "Resistance to green policies has broken out across Europe."
- To read about the eco-backlash in each nation of Europe, click this link.
Former President of the EU Jean Claude Juncker:
"'We know the right thing to do, but we don’t know how to get re-elected if we’ve done it'.”
European voters have multiple concerns: Pollution is "still a concern, but it's not the top concern.”
While people “want action to be taken ... they do not want to bear significant costs.”
The two strongest anti-pollution government actions of the 21st century involved voluntary behavior:
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International -- the 2015 Paris C.O.P. accords; (voluntary, by country) brokered by the United Nations
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Domestic/USA -- the 2022 I.R.A.; (voluntary, but no longer valid) partially reimbursed private spending