OVERNIGHT ENERGY: Down ballot races carry environmental implications | US officially exits Paris climate accord

by Rachel Frazin - 11/04/20 6:32 PM ET

IT’S WEDNESDAY! Welcome to Overnight Energy, The Hill’s roundup of the latest energy and environment news. Please send tips and comments to Rebecca Beitsch at rbeitsch@digital-staging.thehill.com. Follow her on Twitter: @rebeccabeitsch. Reach Rachel Frazin at rfrazin@digital-staging.thehill.com or follow her on Twitter: @RachelFrazin.

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KEY RACES: While the results of the presidential race remain unclear, several races have been decided that have been rooted in, and have major implications for energy and environment issues

In the Senate: While it’s also not totally clear which party will control the Senate yet, this chamber had several notable environment races. For one, the results for the Republican sponsors of the Great American Outdoors Act, a major conservation bill, were mixed. Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) managed to fend off a challenge from Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D). Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) didn’t fare quite as well, losing his seat to ex-Gov. John Hickenlooper (D). Also notable was a victory for Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), a vocal advocate for biofuels whose races was considered a “toss-up” by the Cook Political Report.

In the House: Democrats are poised to retain the House, albeit by a smaller margin as they lost several swing-district seats to Republicans .

Wins for the GOP:

Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) lost his seat to Republican Michelle Fischbach.
Democrat Kendra Horn (Okla.) lost her seat in the oil-heavy district to Republican Stephanie Bice.
South Carolina Rep. Joe Cunningham (D), who campaigned on banning offshore drilling, lost to Republican Nancy Mace.
Republican Rep. Michael McCaul (Texas) fended off a challenge from Sunrise Movement-backed Mike Siegel.
Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), who supports a carbon tax and co-chairs the congressional PFAS Task Force, defeated Democratic challenger Christina Finello.
Freshman Xochitl Torres Small (D-N.M.), who criticized Biden for his comments about transitioning away from the fossil fuel industry, lost to Republican Yvette Herrell.

Wins for the Dems:

Transportation Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) held onto his seat, fending off a challenge from Republican Alek Skarlatos.
Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) held onto her seat despite a challenge from Republican Wesley Hunt.

Around the states:

Republican Jim Wright beat out Democrat Chrysta Castañeda for a seat on the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates oil and gas in the state.

More of The Hill’s full coverage of the presidential contest here, the Senate races here and the House here.

UNITED STATES, PARTY OF ONE: The U.S. has officially left the Paris climate accord.

The withdrawal, set in motion by a letter from President Trump exactly one year ago, caps a long-promised move from the president and leaves the U.S. as the only country in the world to withdraw from the landmark climate agreement.

Trump campaigned on leaving the accord and announced that he was doing so far before the parameters of the agreement allowed.

“The Paris Climate Accord is simply the latest example of Washington entering into an agreement that disadvantages the United States to the exclusive benefit of other countries, leaving American workers — who I love — and taxpayers to absorb the cost in terms of lost jobs, lower wages, shuttered factories and vastly diminished economic production,” Trump said at a speech in the Rose Garden in June 2017.

The move was celebrated by many in Republican circles, even as Democrats and environmentalists lament the implications the U.S. exit will have for the climate and the American economy.

“The decision to exit the Paris Agreement leaves the United States globally isolated in its defiance of scientific realities, and causes real harm to people, the planet and the economy. However, the nearly 200 other nations of the world will continue moving full steam ahead toward realizing the goals of the agreement,” the Union of Concerned Scientists said in a statement.

“The United States is the second largest emitter of carbon emissions from fossil fuels annually and the largest source of cumulative emissions to date,” it continued. “It’s well past time for our nation to pivot away from being part of the problem and toward contributing to a leading share of the solutions.”

Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, however, said the deal “would have disadvantaged the U.S. economy and compromised American competitiveness.”

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has pledged to rejoin the Paris agreement on Day 1 in office if elected, a move that would leave the U.S. out of the deal for a little more than three months.

“I will bring us back into the Paris Agreement. I will put us back in the business of leading the world on climate change. And I will challenge everyone to up the ante on their climate commitments,” Biden said in a September speech on climate change as wildfires ravaged California.

Biden has already laid out some goals in his own climate plan. The electricity sector would go to net-zero emissions by 2035 — a timeline ahead of many of the efforts already underway in climate-conscious states.

More broadly, he said he is committed to net-zero emissions by 2050, a plan that would require mostly transitioning away from fossil fuels while promoting carbon capture technology that could store excess pollution.