Climate change mitigation

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Chris Coons, in office since 2010, is running for a fourth term in Delaware's 2026 Senate race after winning his primary with nearly 80% of the vote. He faces Republican Mike Katz, a physician and former one-term Delaware state senator who won his primary with more than 77% and previously made a brief 2020 presidential bid. Coons' platform emphasizes legislative reform, economic innovation, healthcare expansion and climate action, while Katz backs completing the U.S.-Mexico border wall, lowering energy and housing costs, and preserving women's sports. The two met in an October 22 Wilmington forum, clashing over foreign policy, healthcare costs and immigration. No Republican has won a Delaware Senate seat since 1966.

California's carbon market, the cap-and-invest program created under AB 32, underwent major changes this year. A contentious reauthorization is projected to roughly halve annual auction revenue while opening billions in free permits for polluters investing in decarbonization. Gov. Gavin Newsom also announced plans to link the state's market with Washington's and eventually Quebec's, expected to raise credit prices and take effect next year. Critics say the changes push California's 2030 and 2045 emissions targets further out of reach, while regulators and some economists call the program still functional. The next governor will appoint air board members, oversee linkage rulemaking, and shape climate policy; neither gubernatorial candidate has made it a campaign focus.

The Oregon Government Ethics Commission voted 8-0 to open a full investigation into state Rep. Lamar Wise, D-Portland, after a complaint alleged he failed to disclose $25,000 in stipend income from Seeding Justice, a Portland-based social justice nonprofit, on his 2026 statement of economic interest.

Seeding Justice has administered state funds, including a $15 million fund to protect abortion access and a climate protection allocation it later withdrew from. A commission investigator said Wise's omission likely did not cross the 10% household-income disclosure threshold, but he appears to have violated a separate requirement to list organizations with potential legislative or administrative interest in his role.

Wise said he has amended his disclosure form and is cooperating with investigators, who he said recommended only a letter of education to close the case. He was appointed to the legislature in November 2025, succeeding the late Rep. Hòa Nguyễn, and faces Republican Andrew Morrison in next month's election for the seat.

More than two dozen states and cities, including Colorado, have sued the Trump administration over the EPA's repeal of a Biden-era rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants. The coalition, led by New York and including Colorado, Arizona, California, Illinois, and others, along with Denver, Chicago, New York City, and Washington, D.C., is petitioning the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to strike down the repeal, arguing the EPA unlawfully abandoned the limits without properly weighing alternatives or the health and climate costs of increased pollution.

New York Attorney General Letitia James and Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser both criticized the move, framing it as prioritizing industry profits over public health. The EPA, which does not comment on pending litigation, has said the repeal will save industry over $300 billion and give utilities more flexibility on plant operations. The coalition also plans to sue separately over EPA's failure to regulate emissions from many gas-fired plants, as the agency pursues a related rule that could bar future administrations from regulating power plant greenhouse gases.

Democratic attorneys general in California and New York filed separate lawsuits against the Trump administration over deals to buy back offshore wind leases, part of a broader push to curb wind energy development in favor of fossil fuels. California's suit, led by Attorney General Rob Bonta, challenges the cancellation of an Invenergy project off the state's coast. New York Attorney General Letitia James is leading a seven-state coalition — including Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont — against the same Invenergy deal and a separate agreement ending Bluepoint Wind's project off New York and New Jersey.

The disputed deals would pay energy companies roughly $1.4 billion in taxpayer funds to cancel projects, part of nearly $4 billion pledged nationwide since the Interior Department began buybacks in March after courts blocked Trump's earlier executive actions against offshore wind. In exchange, companies are redirecting investment toward fossil fuel and geothermal projects, which Interior Secretary Doug Burgum framed as a shift toward "dependable" energy. James called the arrangements illegal and warned they would raise electricity costs by limiting states' ability to expand power supply; Bonta echoed the concern at a Climate Week event, calling the legal fights "avoidable" distractions from climate action. The lawsuits add to a growing string of legal battles between Democratic-led states and the administration over energy and climate policy.