Analysis

President-elect Joe Biden’s transition team is relying on the help of a top official who spearheaded a program financed by billionaire activist Michael Bloomberg to take environmental legal actions against the Trump administration and oil and natural gas companies by placing and paying the salaries of lawyers inside state attorneys general offices.

Former Vice President Joe Biden made waves in the final presidential debate last week when he declared that his climate plan would include a transition away from the oil industry in the United States.

In the backrooms of Washington’s corridors, it may not always be clear who has a seat at the table. But when major policy proposals are rolled out the evidence starts to emerge in the details–even the footnoted references.

The on-again, off-again, on-again battle over hydraulic fracturing regulations in Colorado is on again. For now. Just a day after the anti-fracking group Colorado Rising pulled their support for another go at the ballot box in 2020, two former employees, Anne Lee Foster and Suzanne Spiegel, announced they’d push forward with an effort to get one of the initiatives they filed earlier in the year on November’s ballot.

Joe Biden ascended to the position of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee last week after Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) suspended his campaign, shifting the focus to who he will pick as his vice presidential running mate and their positions on oil and natural gas development.

Democratic Presidential candidate, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), has gained notoriety on the campaign trail for using the common refrain, “I’ve got a plan for that.” While new policy proposals related to health care, student debt forgiveness, and increased taxes on the wealthiest Americans tend to get top billing, there’s another plan in Warren’s platform that could have significant impact on how our current government system works. And it could create fallout for former administration officials who have returned to the private sector.

This week, Western Wire Managing Editor Michael Sandoval joined the Kim Monson Show to talk about the current investigative series on the City of Denver’s 2019 climate tax debate.