Opinion Conversation The climate, and the world, are changing. But, to quote from “ Only Murders in the Building,” Hutchinson’s testimony “sends the investigation in a whole new direction.” Am I being too cynical?īret: Until last week, no. And I just don’t think there’s an appetite for trying to prosecute a former president for stuff he did while he was still in office.

But I’ve sadly gotten used to the idea that he can do almost anything and still keep his very, very large fan club of voters.īret: Truest words ever spoken by Trump: “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” Gail: Well, we certainly had some “Holy cow - did you hear what Donald Trump did?” moments. Did we just have a “this changes everything” moment? Trying to put coal out of business is just a big fat political gift to Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.Īside from the court, Gail, last week’s big news enchilada was Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the House committee investigating Jan. But Democrats need to figure out a set of climate-change policies that don’t threaten people’s wallets, jobs or businesses. I hold no particular brief for the coal industry per se. 1 priority, they should do so openly rather than sneak regulatory actions that they can’t get through Congress through the E.P.A.

In case you ever wonder about my worship of the works of Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, Gary Becker and Ronald Coase.īret: If congressional Democrats - whose majority happens to hinge on a certain senator from West Virginia - want to make a case that global warming is the country’s No. I have sympathy for the folks in the middle here, but not so much for the barons.īret: I grew up listening to my father’s complaints about the way the Mexican government did business with the private sector. Gail: I think I told you that my father worked for a utility company, and I remember the agony he went through trying to deal with both the government regulators and the folks we called “the coal barons” in West Virginia. That hasn’t happened because - gee, I guess the congressional majority feels global warming is a big deal.īret: The case hinges on an interpretation of the word “system.” The Clean Air Act requires power plants to adopt “the best system of emission reductions.” The court’s conservatives took “system” to mean emission-controlling technologies at the plants themselves, not a vast regulatory mechanism that puts the entire American coal industry on a swift path to extinction. is going too far, it has the power to override said regulations at any time.

Danielle gee