Climate Zombies SCHOOLED By Congress!

PRESENTED BY HE WHO SCAMPERS AMONG US

I could talk about any number of terrible things, but instead let’s just have fun making fun of the Trump lackeys Lee Zeldin and Neil Jacobs, two middle-aged mediocrities who wish they had the wit and charisma of Russ Vought or JD Vance.

Lee Zeldin, the toxic smarmeister running the EPA into the ground, testified about the the proposal to further gut and pollute the EPA’s budget yesterday afternoon before House appropriators and this morning before Energy and Commerce members.

“Section 202 of the Clean Air Act, where does this say anything about fighting global climate change?” Zeldin asked top Democratic appropriator Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.).

He should have looked at Section 302:

This morning, Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.) got Zeldin to admit that he supports the Chemical Safety Board’s investigation of deadly chemical accidents but also supports Trump’s plan to eliminate the agency.

Then Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) put Zeldin on his back foot with a series of questions on PFAS, after praising Zeldin’s staff for meeting with him on the issue:

Meanwhile, NOAA Neil “Sharpiegate” Jacobs halfheartedly sold the Russ Vought plan to kill off NOAA science to the House Science Committee. In a good sign for continued bipartisan support for the Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research, subcommittee chair Rep. Will Hurd (R-Colo.) refused to accept Jacobs’ obfuscations on the risks of the proposed elimination. Jacobs finally admitted: "Probably more risk would be largely be accepted on the basic research side."

Rep. George Whitesides (D-Calif.) exposed Jacobs as an intellectually mediocre bullshitter ¹ , with informed lines of questioning on wildfire detection, weather satellites, and the proposed terminatation of the National Integrated Drought Information System.

At midday, Senate Republicans moved 49 Trump nominees towards final confirmation on Thursday, with a procedural vote on S. Res. 690, an en-bloc consideration of nominees including several virulent climate deniers for key climate positions:

• the notorious Steve Pearce to be Director of the Bureau of Land Management, who will immediately launch a firesale of federal lands

• Project 2025 contributor David LaCerte to a full five-year term on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

• Kyle Haustveit, a petroleum engineer and fracking executive, to be Under Secretary of Energy

• Republican operative and anti-climate scientist Wesley Brooks to be Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs

Other nominees of interest include:

• auctioneer and cartoonish IRS commissioner Billy Long to be ambassador to Iceland

• self-driving car executive Seval Oz, Mehmet’s sister, to be Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Research and Technology

• corporate Space Force lobbyist Matt Anderson to be Deputy Administrator of NASA

• Purdue engineering dean Arvind Raman, an Indian immigrant, to head NIST, which is barring foreign scientists from working there

• Doug Weaver for a full five-year term to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

• January 6 participant Darin Smith to be US Attorney for the District of Wyoming

The full list of nominees is available after the paywall…

Wait a second, that’s not a paywall, that’s a Nashville Warbler! There’s no paywall at Hill Heat! Everything is free free free!

But I will make you click ONE MORE TIME for the full list.

Hearings on the Hill:

• 9 AM: House Science, Space, and Technology Committee
     Environment Subcommittee
  A Review of the President's Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

• 10 AM: House Appropriations Committee
  Full Committee Markup of FY27 National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Bill

• 10 AM: House Energy and Commerce Committee
     Environment Subcommittee
  The Fiscal Year 2027 Environmental Protection Agency Budget

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. If you’ve got job listings, event listings, or other hot news, I want to hear it. Connect with me—@[email protected], @climatebrad on Threads, and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky.

1  This exchange makes Whitesides’ fawning towards climate denier billionaire, Musk fanboy, and NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman all the more unforgivable. Whitesides is choosing to fluff Isaacman as he chainsaws NASA science.