When all else fails: Protest

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Jul 26, 2022 View in browser   By Arianna Skibell Presented by ExxonMobil Progressive congressional staffers occupy Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office. | @saaaauuull/Twitter Congressional staffers took a striking step Monday: They protested their own bosses, occupying Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's office to demand Democrats continue negotiations on climate legislation. Six House staffers were arrested, out of the 17 aides involved in the sit-in. While that's a small protest by D.C. standards, where marches or actions can draw tens of thousands, it's a rather large move for congressional employees who have never done anything like it before. The demonstration underscores the frustration within the Democratic Party at the lack of action to tackle the climate crisis. "We organized the sit-in because we are in an absolute emergency and we have exhausted our usual options," said Saul Levin, a Democratic aide who is a member of the Congressional Progressive Staff Association. Levin, who was arrested Monday, coordinates the association's Climate Working Group. "Dem[ocratic] leaders have exhausted their usual options too, but we are imploring them to continue negotiations with more vigor than ever, as if they were going to live through the climate crisis the way we will," Levin said in a Twitter direct message. Despite their front-row seat to the legislative process, congressional staffers tend to keep their critiques out of the public eye. But earlier this month, when West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin tanked a sweeping spending bill to slash planet-warming pollution, that discretion flew out the window for some aides. "We hope that doing something unusual on an emergency basis will inspire [lawmakers] to do the same," Levin said. Two hundred staffers also signed their initials to a letter sent earlier this month to Democratic leadership demanding clean energy and climate legislation. While uncommon, it's not unheard of for congressional staffers to use their positions to express themselves. One hundred congressional employees gathered on the House steps in 2014 to silently protest police brutality after officers killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York. Still, Daniel Holt, an assistant historian of the U.S. Senate Historical Office, said he was unable to find other examples of staffers engaged in protests in the Capitol or adjacent office buildings. The legislative inertia comes as the reality of the climate crisis is sweeping across the country and world in the form of brutal heat waves, wildfires, glacial melts and floods. More than 100 million Americans were under heat advisories or warnings this past weekend, and a record-breaking amount of rain sparked flash flooding in the greater St. Louis area today. Climate scientists agree that unless the world can significantly cut its carbon pollution, these natural disasters will only grow in frequency and intensity.   It's Tuesday — thank you for tuning in to POLITICO's Power Switch. I'm your host,  Arianna Skibell.  Power Switch is brought to you by the journalists behind E&E News and POLITICO Energy. Send your tips, comments, questions to  askibell@eenews.net. This Is Climate Change Heat.gov The Biden administration today launched a new website — Heat.gov — to assist decision-makers and the public in reducing heat-related risks. Large swaths of the country continue to experience brutal temperatures this summer made worst by climate change. "Extreme heat is a silent killer, yet it affects more Americans than any other weather emergency — particularly our nation's most vulnerable," Gina McCarthy, the White House national climate adviser, said in a statement announcing the new website. Last July was the hottest month ever recorded , and summers continue to get hotter and deadlier. Heat kills at least 700 people per year in the United States.   A message from ExxonMobil: Producing for today. Investing in tomorrow. We're doing both. At ExxonMobil, we're investing to increase supplies of oil and gas to help meet today's demand. We're producing more oil and gas than any other American company and adding capacity to refine U.S. crude oil by 250,000 barrels per day. We're also investing over $15 billion in lower-emission initiatives through 2027 to support society's net-zero future. Learn more at ExxonMobil.com/supply   Power Centers Traders working the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. |  Spencer Platt/Getty Images ESG history lesson Early proponents of environmental, social and governance investing were not interested in "woke capitalism," writes Avery Ellfeldt. They were being practical. If a company is too heavily invested in coal, for example, it's unlikely to do well in a coal-less future. Of course, ESG investing now is much, much more than that. Here's the story . All about that grid The Midwest grid operator has approved a massive renewable power expansion, which climate advocates are hailing as a national model, writes Miranda Willson.   Expected to come online in 2028, the new power lines will help replace aging coal-fired power plants that are retiring. Read more here . Slashing gas EU energy ministers today agreed on a blocwide winter alert system to trigger mandatory cuts in natural gas consumption, writes American Hernandez. "This was not a mission impossible," said the European Council's Czech presidency. "Ministers have reached a political agreement on gas demand reduction ahead of the upcoming winter." Here's the story . In Other News Money talks: Behind a billion-dollar bid to save lower Manhattan. Generational divides: A new poll shows that younger Republicans are significantly more concerned about the environment and extreme weather than older ones. Today in POLITICO Energy's podcast: Alex Guillén explains how a recent federal court's decision could affect future rulemakings and put progressives in the unusual position of agreeing with former President Donald Trump's regulation czar. Question Corner The science, policy and politics driving the energy transition can feel miles away. But we're all affected on an individual and communal level — from hotter days and higher gas prices to home insurance rates and food supply. Want to know more? Send me your questions and I'll get you answers.   A message from ExxonMobil:   Subscriber Zone A showcase of some of our best subscriber content. People try to cool off during a heat wave in Spain. | Zowy Voeten/Getty Images Zoe, the world's first named heat wave , hit Seville, Spain, this week, pushing temperatures past 110 degrees Fahrenheit, the most severe tier in the city's new ranking system. Clean energy deployment slowed sharply in the U.S. in the second quarter, hurt by rising costs, supply chain disruptions and Congress' failure to extend tax incentives. Researchers have created a perovskite solar cell that lasts a record-breaking 30 years, bringing it one step closer to the commercial stage . That's it for today, folks! Thanks for reading.   A message from ExxonMobil: Investing in energy and the world. At ExxonMobil, we're working to supply the reliable energy the world needs. We're investing and producing, more than any other American company, to increase supplies of oil and gas today. In fact, we are adding capacity to refine U.S. crude oil by 250,000 barrels per day—the equivalent of adding a new, medium-sized refinery. And we are investing more than $15 billion in lower greenhouse gas emissions initiatives through 2027. Increasing supplies of reliable energy and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions is not an "either/or" proposition. We can strengthen energy security and help advance the energy transition. Producing for today. Investing in tomorrow. We're doing both. Learn more about what we are doing to strengthen energy security at ExxonMobil.com/supply     Follow us on Twitter Arianna Skibell @ariannaskibell   Follow us

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