Both of Idaho’s senators counseled President Donald Trump in his decision to leave the Paris Climate Accord. Senators Jim Risch and Mike Crapo both pushed for Trump to leave the international agreement.
Crapo and Risch were among 22 senators who wrote a letter to the Trump Administration ahead of yesterday’s decision urging the President to step away from the accord, which was ratified by 195 countries.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper says each of the lawmakers who signed the letter have received funds from fossil fuel industries. The article, titled “The Republicans who urged Trump to pull out of Paris Deal are big oil darlings,” lists how much each official collected from oil, coal and gas interests. Over the last three election cycles, the 22 lawmakers collectively received more than $10.5 million from fossil fuels.
Data collected from the Federal Elections Commission and analyzed by the Center for Responsive Politics finds Crapo received a total of $137,000 from fossil fuel interests, while Risch got over $149,500 in contributions from oil, gas and coal.
Following yesterday’s announcement by the President, both Risch and Crapo issued statements defending their recommendation to walk away from the climate accord. Both men called it a bad deal. Risch claims the accord violates a requirement that treaties be passed by a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Crapo asserts it would allow China to keep polluting for years while forcing the U.S. to hit ineffective and costly CO2 reduction targets.
The U.S. is bound to stay in the accord for three years after it went into effect last November, meaning with Trump's repudiation of the accord yesterday, the U.S. won't formally withdraw from the agreement until at least 2019.
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