The Trump administration's efforts to thwart renewable energy development could be a focus of the incoming chair of the US Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island) says he wants to use the committee's jurisdiction over the US Department of Justice and federal courts as tool for looking at how the administration has worked "against climate and against the environment", he said on Friday at the UN Cop 31 climate summit in Antalya, Turkey.
In addition, the committee could use its role in approving judicial nominees, namely its ability to slow or block confirmation votes, to secure certain concessions from the administration
"It gives us leverage", he said.
Whitehouse currently serves as the ranking minority member on the Environment and Public Works Committee but is set to take the reins of the Judiciary Committee when Democrats take control of the Senate in January. Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) on Thursday said he wants to be chair of the environment panel.
Whitehouse declined to say which actions will be the focus of the committee, but he also suggested there could be a limit to how the new Democratic majority conducts oversight of Trump and his policies in light of the recent elections.
"I think part of our job in the next Congress should be to figure out where the smart places are to do investigations and not allow that to detract from the work we need to do on the cost and affordability issues that were so important", he said. "We have really got to produce in those areas."
More broadly, Democrats as they take control of Congress need to tell the story of how Trump's support of oil and natural gas hurt ratepayers, citing in particular its efforts to curb both onshore and offshore wind, according to Whitehouse
"One of the strongest arguments that we have is that the administration stopped clean power deliberately, knowing that it would raise electric rates" and provide more revenue to utilities "and the fossil fuel industry", he said.
Democrats will also be able to use other means to affect administration actions.
"Bear in mind that as we begin to be able to appropriate, we also have the ability to condition spending, so we can drive agency behavior", he said.
