The Planet Is Screwed If Democrats Don’t Win the Senate, Warns Paul Krugman

Climate change could become an even greater catastrophe if Donald Trump wins.

Paul Krugman on Thursday warned of dire environmental consequences if Democrats fail to gain a majority of seats in the Senate.

During an appearance on Bloomberg TV, the Nobel Prize-winning economist said that, even if Hillary Clinton wins on Nov. 8, President Barack Obama’s signature piece of climate policy, the Clean Power Plan, could be derailed if a Republican Senate majority blocks every Supreme Court justice she nominates.

The plan has been stalled since February, when the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision, granted a stay to 29 states and a slew of industry groups who appealed the rule.  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit held a marathon session in September to weigh the plan’s future and a decision is due in the coming months.  If the Supreme Court continues without a ninth justice, any appeal of that ruling would likely split the country’s top court 4-4, which would affirm the lower court’s decision.

“If the Democrats take the Senate, we probably save the planet,” said Krugman, who recently bemoaned the absence of climate-related questions during the president debates.  “Climate change has turned out to be an easier issue economically, and an easier issue politically than we thought.”

Read more at The Planet Is Screwed If Democrats Don’t Win the Senate, Warns Paul Krugman