Renewables
Critical Analysis
Based on the visual above, in 2008 what type of energy was the largest source of electricity generation in the U.S.?
Based on the visual above, in 2022 what type of energy was the largest source of electricity generation in the U.S.?
Based on the visual above, describe the overall trend in sources of electrical generation in the U.S.
After 2008 the government began to tighten regulations around fossil fuels by limiting the emissions of toxic elements like mercury through the EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS). Explain how this regulation may have impacted the data from the visual above.
Since 2008 different presidential administrations have had different approaches to environmental regulation. Through the Environmental Protection Agency (E..P. A.), the Obama administration installed tough Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, which the Trump administration rolled back, only to have them reinstated by the Biden administration. Explain how these changes illustrates presidential power over the bureaucracy.
Who are some of the departments and organizations that assist all Presidents in formulating environmental policy?
The scientists and managers who work for the EPA are not political, the people who lead them (EPA administrator, for example) are political, picked by the president. Explain whether policy would be better served by removing politics from the process.
Describe how interest groups like the coal industry (who want less regulation of mercury and emissions) or the Sierra Club (who want more regulation of toxic emissions) can use the political process to pursue their policy goals.
Young people across the U.S. and the world have in recent years launched several lawsuits claiming governments are violating their constitutional and human rights through fossil fuel friendly policies that exacerbate the climate crisis. The case of HELD v. STATE OF MONTANA is the first of several in the U.S. to go to trial, and is currently scheduled for June. A group of 16 young people in that case claim Montana is violating its own constitution, which specifically guarantees a right to a "clean and healthful environment," by promoting fossil fuel industries such as coal. The suit was filed in 2020 and takes aim at two state laws that encourage fossil fuel energy development in the state and bar environmental reviews from considering how a project such as a power plant will contribute to climate change. Make a claim about whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees you the right to a clean and healthy environment.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in February 2021 declined to reconsider the flagship U.S. youth climate case Juliana v. United States after a three-judge panel of the circuit dismissed it in 2020—finding that the case raised questions for the “political branches” of government rather than the courts. Explain whether you agree with the 9th Circuit Appeals Court’s ruling.
Learning Extension
Listen to this NPR story: In Montana, young activists take fight against climate change to court.
Action Extension
Fill out this form if you are a young person interested in joining future climate crisis legal action with Our Children’s Trust.