State Department intelligence analyst Dr. Rod Schoonover has resigned after the White House blocked him from providing written testimony on climate change, the Wall Street Journal first reported Wednesday.
The big picture: Schoonover testified last month before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence on climate change's effects on national security. But the White House refused to approve his written testimony for entry into the permanent Congressional record, according to the New York Times, which reviewed a June 4 email stating the testimony did not correspond with Trump administration views.
E&E News reports, "The proposed White House panel that would conduct an 'adversarial' review of climate science is dead for now, as President Trump grapples with negative perceptions of his environmental record at the outset of his reelection campaign."
Why it matters: The move suggests the White House isn't interested in a head-on attack on mainstream climate science before the election — even as the administration's dismantling of Obama-era emissions rules continues apace.
The conversation about climate change picked up steam in the 2020 election when billionaire Democratic activist and environmentalist Tom Steyer launched his White House run yesterday with an emphasis on climate change.
What he's saying: "Steyer's campaign will focus on solving two major crises — reforming our broken political system and saving our planet from the ravages of climate change," the announcement stated.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are floating a nonbinding resolution Tuesday to declare a "climate emergency" that demands a sweeping mobilization in response.
Why it matters: They're two of the highest-profile figures on the left. The resolution is also the first written product on climate that anyone has seen from White House hopeful Sanders in a while.
The big picture: Texas, North Dakota and New Mexico — which also includes some of the prolific Permian Basin formation that's largely in Texas — form the center of the surge in production from onshore shale formations.
A new International Energy Agency analysis provides a useful look at a tricky problem: tracking the energy consumed by digital Bitcoin "mining" to process transactions.
Why it matters: Growing use of cryptocurrencies is spurring fears that power-sucking hardware and data centers (and associated cooling and lighting) will make it even harder to fight global warming. The IEA primer is a helpful comparison of the conflicting estimates piling up and offers some big takeaways on Bitcoin energy use: Yes, it's a substantial amount and, no, it's not the apocalypse at all.
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