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The Week in Climate Hearings: The Good, The Bad, The Undecided
Results of last week's climate primaries; drought politics and more anti-climate Trump nominees
Brad Johnson
March 09, 2026
Rev. Rodney Sadler, Rep. Rodney Pierce, Patricia Smith, and Veleria Levy, who defeated right-wing Democrats in key North Carolina state house races last week
As Trump sets the Middle East on fire, Congress is quiet. The House is not in session, and the Senate committees have a light schedule. Before we preview this week’s climate hearings, let’s review last week’s climate primary results in the redrawn North Carolina and Texas Congressional districts. First, we have the good, the bad, and the undecided:
The Good (TX-30): Green New Dealer Frederick Haynes III won the primary to succeed Rep. Jasmine Crockett (who lost the Senate primary to James Talarico).
The Bad (NC-04): Green New Dealer Nida Allam conceded to the AIPAC-AI PAC incumbent Valerie Foushee after losing by about 1200 votes; Allam was backed by $2 million in outside spending, while Foushee benefited from $2.3 million.
The Undecided (TX-18): Newly elected Green New Dealer Christian Menefee is headed to a runoff with veteran Rep. Al Green in this new Houston district.
Hill Heat is also monitoring the races which may determine whether Democrats take control of the House, although they don’t involve climate hawks. So it’s undecided whether the result will be good or bad. These include:
NC-11: DCCC pick Jamie Ager will challenge the vulnerable GOP incumbent Chuck Edwards.
TX-15: Unofficial DCCC favorite Bobby Pulido will take on vulnerable GOP incumbent Monica De La Cruz.
TX-33: Former Rep. Colin Allred and Rep. Julie Johnson are going to a runoff in this solidly Democratic district.
And now for a pure shot of good. At the local level, Lead Locally and Climate Cabinet backed several climate hawks for the North Carolina state house who defeated Democrats who vote with Republicans.
Congratulations to Patricia Smith, who defeated the right-wing incumbent in HD-23, Rep. Rodney Pierce, who beat back a right-wing opponent in HD-27, Veleria Levy, who beat the right-wing incumbent in HD-99, and Rev. Rodney Sadler who defeated the corrupt incumbent in HD-106. Levy and Sadler’s opponents cast the key votes to overturn the governor’s veto of a bill that killed Duke Energy’s climate targets.
Climate Cabinet is also supporting several Democratic incumbents who ran unopposed in the primary: Rep. Lindsay Prather (HD-115), who represents a Helene-ravaged district, and state senators Lisa Grafstein (SD-13), Terence Everitt (SD-18), and Woodson Bradley (SD-42).
Mississippi’s primaries are tomorrow, and Illinois’s many competitive races are on March 17th.
Help Hill Heat’s U.S. Climate Politics Almanac continue its comprehensive coverage of the 2026 elections by upgrading to a paid subscription:
There’s not much good in the GOP-controlled Senate this week.
Tuesday, March 10
After a record-hot and dangerously dry winter, much of the nation is in moderate to severe drought, and Trump’s tariff war has hit agricultural producers hard, as export markets have collapsed. At 3 pm, the Senate agriculture committee hosts farm-industry lobbyists to discuss increasing domestic consumption of United States-grown agricultural products. In addition to American Farm Bureau president Zippy Duvall, the soybean, corn, cotton, wheat, and produce lobbies are represented.
Wednesday, March 11
At 10 am, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee holds a hearing on S. 3135, the Cold Weather Diesel Reliability Act, which would require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to authorize manufacturers of diesel-powered vehicles to suspend engine derate or shutdown functions in prolonged cold weather conditions. NRDC’s John Walke will be testifying against two Alaska Department of Transportation officials.
Dr. Wesley Brooks testifies at his nomination hearing, February 12, 2026.
At 10:30 am, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds votes on several Trump nominees, most notably Dr. Wesley Brooks, the partisan Republican nominated to be Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. Trained as an ecologist, Brooks turned a Shell-sponsored congressional fellowship into a career as a Florida Republican policy staffer, rising to work under Sen. Marco Rubio and then Gov. Ron DeSantis. He is now a Trump EPA official.
Although the Trump regime is officially boycotting international climate talks, it is still actively engaged in blocking an international plastics treaty and expanding deep-sea mining in violation of the international Law of the Sea compact, which the U.S. Senate has failed to ratify for over 40 years. Brooks is the nominee to lead those campaigns of destruction.
At his nomination hearing, Brooks faced only one question, asked by Foreign Relations chair Jim Risch his take on the plastics treaty. Brooks said a global treaty to limit plastics would be a “really bad approach,” because “we need to hold on to as much of that industry as possible, and America has shown we can manage plastic waste well.” Perhaps he believes that because of all the microplastics in his brain.
Brooks did not face any questions from Democrats, who directed their questions to the buffoonish Billy Long, Trump’s bumbling pick to be ambassador to Iceland after flaming out at the IRS, and to the Hoover Institute white supremacist Jeremy Carl, Trump's pick to be Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations. For years, Carl fashioned himself as an “energy-policy expert who is less skeptical of climate science than are many other conservative Republicans” to play climate concern troll. But as Trump rose to power, he became comfortable airing his virulently anti-immigrant, racist, and antisemitic beliefs. Carl’s nomination is now stalled by bipartisan opposition to his overt white supremacism.
Banker, clean-energy enthusiast, and mining investor Robert Sweeney is Trump’s pick to be United States Director of the Asian Development Bank, and is currently expected to be supported by the committee and easily confirmed.
The water politics of the Colorado River basin, as fossil-fueled drought collides with ever-growing industrial demand from agriculture, fossil-fuel extraction, mining, and data centers, are increasingly intractable. At 2:30 pm, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee takes another look at a major component of the Colorado River water-rights equation, the quarter that is allocated to the region’s tribes. The committee will discuss S. 953, Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025. The $5 billion package to “secure water rights for Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribal members in northeastern Arizona and to give the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe a reservation” is a re-introduction of the same bill from 2024, which died at the end of that year after a furious last-ditch effort.
Thursday, March 12
At 11:30 am, Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) attempts yet again to wrangle votes for several Trump nominees, most of whom were nominated months ago. The long-stalled nominees are Space Force lobbyist Matt Anderson to be NASA Deputy Administrator; Mike Graham for a new term on the National Transportation Safety Board; rail executive Richard Kloster to STB; and autonomous-car executive Seval Oz to be Assistant Secretary of Transportation for Research and Development. Oz is the sister of the notorious quack Mehmet Oz, Trump’s Medicare administrator.
Also on the agenda is Dr. Arvind Raman to be the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology. As the dean of Purdue Engineering, Raman has been actively involved in CHIPS Act investments in Indiana and new collaborations with the Silicon Valley industry. NIST is currently roiled by new Trump rules barring hundreds of foreign scientists from working at the federal institute. Raman immigrated from India to attend Purdue for his graduate studies.
Life has its little ironies.
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