How Tom Carper made his mark as a Biden-era climate leader

Advocates hailed the environmental legacy of Senate Environment and Public Works Chair Tom Carper (D-Del.) Monday after the four-term senator announced he will retire in 2025.

Carper has served on the environmental panel since his first term in 2001, becoming chair in 2021. He has had a generally moderate record in the chamber, fending off a progressive primary challenger in 2018. However, he took particular interest in environmental issues during his time in the Senate. He was one of the most vocal advocates of the Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol, an international treaty aimed at drawing down the use of hydrofluorocarbons.

As committee chairman, Carper also spearheaded legislation to impose federal taxes on methane emissions in 2021, and ensured those provisions as well as other features relating to air quality and clean energy were part of the final version of the Inflation Reduction Act. In his announcement speech, the Delaware Democrat pledged to “continue working 60-hour weeks” to see those provisions enacted.

Earlier this month, Carper also unveiled legislation aimed at overhauling the energy permitting process specifically for green energy and climate resilience projects. Energy Committee Chair Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has championed separate permitting reform that would apply to all energy projects. Congressional leaders have suggested an all-of-the-above permitting reform could be part of a deal to raise the federal debt limit.

Environmental and conservation advocacy organizations hailed Carper’s record in response to his announcement Monday.

“He has championed the life-saving benefits of the Clean Air Act and led the charge against congressional and administrative attacks on our bedrock environment laws and climate progress, including playing a pivotal role in the passage of the most significant climate legislation in history, the Inflation Reduction Act, and Senate ratification of the Kigali Amendment to phase down hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),” Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for Government Affairs at the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.

“He has held countless polluters and their allies accountable, perhaps none more notorious than Scott Pruitt, whom Carper put the spotlight on when Pruitt served as EPA administrator during the Trump administration,” Sittenfeld added. Carper holds a lifetime score of 86 percent and a 2022 score of 96 percent from the group for his environmental record.

“Sen. Carper has been a voice of reason and a champion for progress. He was a leader in ushering in the strongest climate action ever – the Inflation Reduction Act. He recognized, early on, the need to cut leaks of methane – a powerful climate-wrecking pollutant – from industrial oil and gas operations,” said Christy Goldfuss, chief policy impact officer for the Natural Resources Defense Council.