Block and resist Kavanaugh's anti-environmental agenda

The petition to the Senate reads: "Block and resist Brett Kavanaugh's anti-environmental agenda."

Trump's dangerous policy decisions have set us back years in the fight against climate change – years that scientists tell us we cannot afford. But if Trump's Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh is confirmed to the Supreme Court, he may block federal climate action far longer – decades after Trump leaves office. Tell the Senate: Block and resist Kavanaugh's anti-environmental agenda. Click here to sign the petition. Brett Kavanaugh's long judicial record offers plenty of evidence of his extreme right-wing views, from his hostility to gun control and women's rights to his coziness with corporations to his frightening willingness to cede authority to the president.1 Kavanaugh's opposition to environmental protections, however, is especially well-documented. He is deeply opposed to the EPA's authority to protect our environment and health. In a number of high-profile cases, he has voted to limit or reverse EPA rules. Kavanaugh does not believe that the EPA even has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases without explicit approval from Congress.2 Given how Republicans in Congress have consistently prevented climate legislation, hobbling the EPA could mean blocking federal climate action entirely. Although Justice Kennedy's environmental record was mixed, he cast the deciding vote in the landmark 2007 case that found the EPA has the authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause global warming.3 As a judge with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, Kavanaugh questioned that ruling in 2012 as part of his dissent against Obama-era greenhouse gas regulations.4 That vote is just one of many examples of Kavanaugh's long-running crusade against the EPA:5 In 2014, Kavanaugh opposed the EPA's mercury and air toxics rule for power plants. In 2015, he wrote a majority opinion tossing out the EPA's cross-state air pollution rule. In 2016, he ruled against the EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gases. In 2017, he wrote the majority opinion against the EPA's authority to eliminated some uses of hydrofluorocarbons, which are potent greenhouse gases. When a future president tries to bring back the Clean Power Plan or directs the EPA to take any other action to address our rapidly warming climate, Kavanaugh could be the deciding vote on the Supreme Court to block it. We already know Kavanaugh's views. Any senator who gives him the power to act on them is supporting that future – one in which today's wildfires, floods, droughts and supercharged storms are far deadlier and more common. Tell the Senate: Block and resist Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation. Click the link below to sign the petition: https://act.credoaction.com/sign/kavanaugh-environment?t=7&akid=29498%2E3130208%2Ef9wNrK - Brandy Doyle, CREDO Action Add your name: Photo: Mike Kline/Getty Images References: Charlie Savage, "Brett Kavanaugh on the Issues: Abortion, Guns, Climate and More," The New York Times, July 10, 2018. Brad Plumer, "How Brett Kavanaugh Could Reshape Environmental Law From the Supreme Court," The New York Times, July 10, 2018. Ibid. Ibid. Amanda Reilly, "Kavanaugh has deep record of questioning EPA authority," E&E News, July 10, 2018.