then, a look at the first one hundred days of the trump administration. we will talk to nicholas -- and karenhe from the league ♪ host: good morning. , december 28.sday we've been focusing on issues facing the incoming trump administration. today, a focus on energy and the environment credit we are taking a deep dive into the president-elect's nominees for the epa, interior and energy departments. we begin today with donald trump 's campaign promise to put america first by promoting his america first energy plan. you through the details of that plan, we are

asking our viewers, what do you think should be included? what should america's energy priorities be in the next four years? republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. you can also catch up with us on social media come on twitter and facebook. a good wednesday morning to you. we are focusing on energy and environmental policy. we want to hear from you about your energy priorities in the next four years. donald trump has called it an america first energy plan. he talked about it on the campaign trail. here are the priorities he laid out in his speeches on the campaign trail. oil,nts to promote shale natural gas and clean coal production. he wants to lift moratoriums on

energy production and federal areas, both onshore and offshore. he supports the development of the keystone xl pipeline and wants to provide regulatory the energyor industry and lift regulations that hamper the development of new drilling technologies and resend the obama administration 's climate action plan and cancel last year's paris climate agreement. here is donald trump in his own words talking about it just this past september at a shale insight conference in pittsburgh. [video clip] donald trump: every energy dollar that is not harvested in our america is harvested instead in a foreign country. foreign countries that are not very friendly to us. that not only means-- [applause] donald trump: so true.

that not only means we are sending jobs to those countries, but energy is being produced in foreign countries that lack our high environmental and conservation standards. that is one more reason why we should pursue the safe and responsible production of america's vast energy resources and reserves. we need an america first energy plan. it will be america first from now on. [applause] donald trump: this means opening federal lands for oil and gas production, opening offshore areas and revoking policies that are imposing unnecessary restrictions on innovative, new exploration technologies. president-elect donald trump talking about his america first energy plan. we are asking you, what should that plan include?

our viewers responding on facebook this morning. here's a few of those responses. blake says -- joe says -- ryan says -- and linda says -- those are some of the comments on facebook.

you can join the conversation there or on twitter or call in this morning. republicans, it's 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. .ndependents, 202-748-8002 we will be talking about energy and environment issues all morning. dave is up first, independent. in morning. that's good morning. caller: donald trump is a walking impeachment and this is what the democrats better do. they need to push back against him and all these appointments. the secretary of state is from exxon mobil. , donald trumple -- they what he said voted for donald trump, they had to jobs, the unemployment rate for white people in the night states is 4%. because theyr him

want him to do other things -- if the democrats don't push back , they all are going to lose. be talking about donald trump's appointments to his key energy in key environmental departments. a deep diveaking with two reporters, one from politico and one from environment energy news, coming up in the 8:00 hour. bill is in washington. a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i would like to say that we are going in the wrong direction as far as wind and solar. water wastes 800 times more than air. you can get out of wind, you are starting out making 800 times more out of water. we could harness our rivers and have so much energy, it is

unimaginable. imagine being able to multiply it because you can harness a lot differently. we would be a lot better off going that way. we can make 1650 times the energy of wind or solar with the same amount of investment. today,n today's usa is the president of environment will progress, a research and policy organization , he is advocating for nuclear power to be included in the america first energy plan. in nuclear america can be great. this should give special attention to an export sector of american -- that america has been putting last.

new reactor components can increasingly be mass manufactured and shipped around the world. he says the problem is not that nuclear plants are uneconomical. are punished by discriminatory policies that treat 10 carbon energy option more favorably than another. zero carbont one energy option more favorably than another.

a vote for spending more time on nuclear energy. that is in today's "usa today." craig in oklahoma. a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. future ofsay for the the united states, definitely we need to have more coal. we definitely need to have more oil. as far as wind, that has been a failure. the obama administration has done high in the sky stuff. we need to do what works. drilling on federal lands, to make. too.deral lands, the government was able to drill for oil, it creates prosperity for the states.

the epa is necessary as long as energy sources are safe. they have overstepped and overregulated and it takes away jobs. the economy -- we need to lift that yoke off our businesses, especially energy businesses, free of the country to go forward. nasa works on solar panels for propulsion. we could have solar that works. host: give me an example of that overstepped that you are talking about by the epa. something you have seen in oklahoma. mixes of gasoline and refining -- some of the restrictions are so high that it drives up the price for the consumer. it is unnecessary.

we could do a better job and refining and help the economy by giving the people lower gas prices. host: if you want to join the conversation, republicans, 202-748-8001. emma kratz, 202-748-8000 -- democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. a republican. caller: i'm from leadership for environmental design. we have been current device that generates electricity that is zero co2 emission. first calling that made america great with slavery. the second was putting up refining.

keri in clinton, maine. independent. caller: good morning. i think what should be brought is i am a homeowner that almost lost her home due to eminent domain when the state of maine was tried to figure out wh how they were going to create a nuclear waste dump. people should think about this when they agree to dirty energy. it could happen to anyone of you. property for your the disposal of dirty waste. host: we are talking about donald trump's america first energy plan. what should be included in an america first energy plan? donald trump talking about this at several points along the campaign trail. here's more from that speech in september in pittsburgh were

donald trump talks about american energy development and his view on what is epa would look like. [video clip] >> our energy policy will make full use of our domestic energy sources, including traditional and renewable energy sources. we want everything. that means we will end the war on coal and the war on our minors. i will resend the coal mining lease moratorium, which is a horrible moratorium and so unfair. the excessive interior department stream role and conduct a top-down review of all anti-coal regulations issued by the obama administration. [applause] trump: we will eliminate the highly invasive waters of the u.s. rule and scrap the $5

trillion obama clinton climate action plan and the clean power plan. will unilateral plans increase monthly electric bills by double digits without any measurable improvement in climate whatsoever. very unfair to our people and our workers. epa on itscus the core mission of ensuring clean and clean, safe drinking water for all americans. that is what we want. i believe firmly in conserving our wonderful natural resources and beautiful natural habitats. my environmental agenda will be guided by true specialists and conservation, not those with radical political agendas that are putting our country behind

the eight ball. [applause] host: that was donald trump this past september. we are talking about his america first energy plan. we want to hear from you on what you think should be included in that plan. donald trump talked about electricity production in the u.s. some of the sources he is sectors-- some of the he is looking to to help facilitate american energy and electricity production. as a reference, the energy information administration puts of electricity generation in the unites states each year. -- united states each year. they look at the major energy percentage of share of u.s. electricity generation. coal accounted for 33% of u.s. electricity generation in 2015. natural gas, 33%. nuclear, 20%. hydropower, 6%.

other renewables, a total of 7%. we will be talking more about that this morning with some of our panelists on "washington journal." we want to hear from you. john is waiting in florida. good morning. independent. caller: good morning, c-span. what about nuclear fusion? why isn't there any talk of research on thermonuclear fusion? we have the best scientists. why aren't they using them? host: why does this interest you? caller: it is a limitless supply of energy. we've already made some progress on it in this country and other countries.

it we would back it like we did the apollo moon program, we could have it in a couple years. why isn't there a single word about this anywhere? host: charles in new york. also an independent. good morning. caller: i'm concerned about the energy committee bank. nuclear energy is the key. -- i'm concerned about the energy, too. when donald trump screws up, we crisis.e nuclear energy everything will be irradiated for miles after he starts a nuclear war. this is the energy we will inherit from him. the people who voted for donald trump, if you messes up so bad, i suggest that party suffer the consequences instead of the party that voted against him. today's "washington

times," marlo lewis has a column. marlo lewis writes that while president trump will need legislative approval by congress to accomplish part of his economic policy agenda, he will implement several initiatives on his sole authority sg executive. -- as the chief executive. he writes

we will talk more about both of those today as well. we want to hear from you on what your energy priorities are. donald in florida. a democrat. good morning. caller: i would like to talk about energy with respect to the engines that use that energy. that is the critical matter. revolutionstrial using a tremendous amount of energy to drive engines. the engines of mankind, the largest ones are steam driven power plants which use huge cycle.urbines, the steam if you really look at what is happening in the world, you

realize that you've got too many engines that are required to support the standard of living in the world. thee engines are creating greenhouse gases that we cannot stop because humanity requires the electricity, required for our survival. i recommend that c-span would start educating the american public by simply showing a film that the canadians put together two years ago called humanity from space that puts in technical terms are demand for energy and how you cannot stop progress unless you essentially look at what the real problem is. we have too many engines that require energy and it's the

engines, stupid, not the energy that will drive our future. host: how do you make those engines more efficient? ?s it a clean power plan i'm not going to get into the details. i am 90 years old. i started out my career in the -- i've beence studying this problem my entire life. it is energy and the engine. if you really look at the problem, you have to decide on what kind of engines are less polluting. the reformer people talk about nuclear action. has nuclear reactors working in hundreds and hundreds

of ships. our freedom 41 summaries in operation for 41 years were standardized water reactor theear plants and they have capability of driving our power system in america. we have plenty of nuclear plants all over the world that are working just fine. if you look at the energy and france, they've embraced the nuclear power plant. they haven't had any incidents. noblerned a lot from her -- chernobyl about how not to run it. let's standardize on something that works, make it simple and put into operation. we can solve the problem on our nuclear waste. that is being worked on very well at --

host: thank you for the call. lewis is up next. george appeared a republican. good morning. caller: i think we need to go to biofuels. produce algae to burn in jet engines, which is a power plant. like tree mass, pine tank forburn in a agricultural applications such as using steam to run a press. -- produceses high-value products like wines and olive oil. these would be new jobs for the country. i assume you mean for

electricity production as well. our chart we should be viewers, biomass made up 1.6% of electricity production in the united states. how do you scale it up? how long does it take to scale up? you can use shipping containers and design and build modular pellet plants. your to has the largest pellet plant in the world for biomass. -- georgia has the largest pellet plant. we will have to start thinking about fertilizer cost and food. we are getting on the verge of we will have to start looking at different proteins. people are not thinking about it, but the price of fertilizer is going to drive us to change.

trees, certain types of trees, one is called a small -- it producesee huge acres, it is a protein that can be fed to hogs and chickens and the leaf litter can be used for biomass. host: annie in tennessee. a democrat. caller: thank you for c-span. , iing in tennessee right now see where they are tried to get slave labor back with people in jail, jail labor, same thing. i'm from the youngstown area. they want coal, nuclear and steel, which they still have paid i'm 69 years old. i was raised in this area with the coal and the nuclear and the steel. dost of those men have pts

from working in there. was dirty fromo steel and coal. these men have to go under the , killed, state underground, some of them never get found because the mines crash. i've also been to jackson, tennessee where they are using some power. -- solar power. n that weod-given su can use, waterpower we can use. something that would not endanger our lives. i am a cancer patient of 20 years. i'm sure it came from living around the environment. do we all want to die of cancer and putting no money into real cancer? theywe travel to europe,

will not take our meat because we believe in cloning and giving our meat -- host: do you think people would be willing to pay more for their electricity to ensure that it comes from cleaner sources? those cleaner sources are cheaper. i don't understand why you think we will have to pay more. coal,re much cheaper than nuclear. after that plant, nuclear plant blew up, my husband and i traveled to japan. they still masks -- have not straightened that out. they are still in dangerous territory with the water, the land from everything like that. why would you want to endanger our children? we need to start thinking about our children. we don't grow food anymore.

we can clone and get people cloned meat, which is not good. in tennessee, we are growing chickens so they can live in a smaller space, smaller environment. they are growing them to be blind. host: we will talk more about the cost of developing some of these different electricity sources. another article, front page of "the new york times." at the forefront of the climate fight, california plans and off offensive. donald trump has packed his cabinet with nominees who dispute the signs of global warming. but california is about to step into the breach. and othererry brown

leaders said they would work directly with other nations and states to strengthen the most aggressive policies to fight climate change in the nation. if you want to read more about that fight in california's plans, that is in today's "new york times." amy in texas. independent. caller: good morning. what i would like to see is more research done into any proposal that is eventually accepted and used. see corn biomass used for fuel. without any research. it is hard for me to believe that monsanto was allowed to go through with this, the military

had crammed down their throat, come to find out it was worse than using regular guest -- regular gas. it's not that we don't believe in climate change, it's that we have seen this happen before. there has to be more accountability. a lot of people lost their farms things of pesticides and more research needs to be done into this stuff before it is put into production and before our tax dollars are spent when we have to start using this. host: when it comes to energy policy, what are you talking about? using biomass for energy? are you talking about solar development? , they: anything they use

needed to have enough research into it so they know it is actually a benefit. at,harms have been looked it's been researched, we know this is how it is. there was so much money spent, so much taxpayer money and it turned out to be bad. we need to do stuff but we need to be careful about it as we go along and not just run headlong into the first thing that looks promising. do it, but do it carefully. host: chris is in columbia, kentucky. republican. caller: how are you doing today? host: doing well. energy we can make from water using gravity -- it will turn electric motors and

clean the water as it goes out and it can be used in a step system so it fills up one system after the other. -- it doesn'tt use any solar power. it can to get the engine started. i have plans drawn up, i've been working with the pa since i was that'm 37 -- it's a system will produce energy and also clean the water after it goes through this system. which are water is always 30. host: what have you been doing with the pa? caller: i've been working in landfills all over the u.s. cell this eqa of

construction that i was in charge of all the epa regulations starting from the substructure to the first liner on the landfill all the way up to the top and it had to be all done within epa regulations. there was a book written about the whole site. host: when people complain that epa overregulation is killing , do you think the regulations, that there's too many regulations? did you find it worthwhile? where regulation could be cut to help business grow? caller: anytime you are cutting jobs, you are hurting people. anytime you're hurting the environment, you are hurting

everyone's health and well-being. host: is it worth it -- caller: most definitely. we need to have a clean world. if we don't, we will all die from disease, from cancer, from something in the water. point? it comes to that have beengulations past. from years long they are not there to hurt someone that they are there to help the environment out. it is the air we breathe, the water we drink. next inbert is up corning, new york. republican. i was just calling -- the energy plan is a good idea. it is a crisis we have suffered

for a long time since humankind began. one of the things i was looking at today was the possibility of extracting hydrogen from water using electrolysis. hydrogen is a cleanburning fuel. in california, they have used it to run cars. it's a possibility that we could use. tesla had a lot of great ideas for trying to harness in the ac generator. he used that to generate electricity wirelessly. there's a lot of technologies that we have not looked at. biofuels were developed in the 1920's and we don't utilize them. host: how did you get into the electricity generation development topic? why does this interest you? crisis is theergy

biggest thing that human space. having sustainable energy. -- that humans face. it is the way the world turns right now. it is how the oil companies make their money. that is why we still use oil. you are calling in on our line for republicans. do you think the republican party recognizes the concerns you have? caller: yes, i do. mr. trump is trying to tackle some very tough things that have not been faced in a long time. host: donald trump has talked about energy development on the campaign trail. he gave a speech in gettysburg just days before the electorate ion. he talked about the issues he wanted to tackle in his first 100 days. [video clip]

donald trump: i will lift the restrictions on the production of $50 trillion worth of job producing american energy reserves. shale, oil, natural gas and clean coal. we will put our miners back to work. i will lift the obama clinton roadblocks that allow for this vital energy infrastructure -- file energy infrastructure projects to go forward. we have environmental blocks, structural blocks -- we will allow keystone pipeline and so many other things to move forward. tremendous numbers of jobs and good for our country. we will cancel billions in payments to the united nations climate change programs and use

the money to fix america's water and environmental infrastructure. we are paying billions and billions of dollars that we will fix our own environment. host: that was donald trump just days before the election. two months after the election, we are asking our viewers what you think should be included in donald trump's america first energy plan. 20 minutes left in this segment to get your comments on it. republicans can call 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. a couple comments from those following us on twitter. matthew writes -- says --

peg in morgantown, west virginia. independent. good morning. caller: good morning. , i do0% of the scientists believe in climate change. i think it is happening. interesting topic, i love the comments from your allers -- some of the best energy we can use is improving the energy efficiencies of our homes and businesses and factories even. if we could to train people and do some tax breaks for improving the efficiencies, i think we e would have more jobs in the u.s., we would need less fossil fuels, which would

because we health would not have the fine particulates that are hard on people with asthma. it is a win-win for everyone. host: what are the ways you've found to increase energy efficiency in your home or at work or in morgantown, west virginia? caller: one thing that homeowners can do is a simple thing of caulking their windows. making sure they are closing any gaps. you can put more insulation in your homes. so that you are not having energy wasted through your roof. host: have you ever taken advantage of those tax incentives? caller: i actually have. when my furnace broke, i got an

improved furnace that is more efficient and i used a tax break for that. host: thank you for the call. daniel in maryland. democrat. oncer: my main point is the mountaintops go, they are not coming back. you will see a direct result of cold jobs and the effect on the economy and the local environments by going to china and sing the air quality. -- seeing the air quality. they cannot breathe outside for three days. their quality of air reached 500 thesethe normal limit -- republicans want to talk about jobs but they are not talking about the health aspect, they are not talking about not being able to breathe -- what are the jobs here?

he's dying early worth a job to you -- is dying early worth a job to you? the corporations make the most money -- that's what they are about. host: do you think the debate has come down to that black and white? it is jobs and profitability for companies versus health? ken both of those goals be achieved? caller: considering trump's comments on how he feels about china and thinking global warming is a myth, some of the things he says and the people he is actually putting in place like the exxon mobil person for i don't think -- they care about people's individual health. they care about lining their own pockets with more money while sacrificing people's lives.

that's all these people care about. host: antonio in houston, texas. line for democrats. go ahead. caller: how are you doing? thank you so much. i agree with the last caller. i usually agree with everything you say. i'm a democrat. i'm proud to be a democrat. -- youto say one thing have a beautiful program and everone has an opinion. i say this before and i say it that should have a plan

when people come to this country -- [indiscernible] this person we have right now is very -- he has a lot of problems. donald trump will try to reduce the world people that -- i think people calling you guys need to realize that we are in trouble. america is going to be in if you're not paying

attention to what he says. host: antonio in houston, texas. i want to point out other things happening today in washington and around the world. , secretary of state kerry is going to be outlining his vision of israeli-palestinian accord. a last chance effort to shape the outcome of the middle east peace deal. the secretary of state will outline the obama administration's vision of a bitterccord based on lessons learned from the efforts that collapsed in 2014. will be out of office in three weeks, will use his remarks to address the misleading critiques directed at the obama administration. benjamina reference to

israel.u of the united states abstained from the resolution. we will be carrying that speech live on c-span at 11:00 today. you can see it here on c-span. ,ne other story from yesterday president obama was in pearl harbor with the prime minister of japan for a historic visit. primeent obama and shin abe laid aenzhehinzo wreath at the wall of the uss arizona memorial. marking the first appearance of a sitting japanese prime

at the uss arizona. c-span was there. we carried of those remarks by the president and the prime minister. here is a bit from president obama's remarks yesterday. [video clip] theident obama: that character of nations is tested in war but is defined by piece. after one of the most horrific chapters in human history, one thousandsnot tens of but tens of millions of lives, with ferocious fighting across , the united states and japan chose friendship and they chose peace. over the decades, our alliances made both of our nation's more

successful, it has helped underwrite an international order that has prevented another world war and has lifted more than one billion people out of extreme poverty. , the alliance between the united states and japan bound not only by shared interests but also rooted in common values stands as the cornerstone of peace and stability in the asia-pacific and a force for progress around the globe. our alliance has never been stronger. in good times and in bad, we are there for each other. you can view the leaders remarks in their entirety. host: we have 10 minutes left in this segment of "washington journal." getting your thoughts on what should be included in donald

trump's america first energy plan. george in north carolina. independent. are you with us? in cincinnati, ohio. independent. caller: good morning. i find it kind of interesting -- i'm 60 years old. i remember 1974 sitting in fuel , coal energy plans were developed, we were going to work on solar and sustainable energy. are onlyts shortsighted goals. our politics changes every four years. the matter what energy plan we develop today, four years from now, it will change again. we need to develop a fifty-year plan and stick to it. what should be the cornerstones of a fifty-year plan? caller: we know we can count on

coal and oil. we know that is going to work. we know solar works also. wind works. but the investment structure for it is such that everybody wants their money tomorrow. they don't want their money 50 years down the road. it has to be gradually brought in but consistently done. do you think the federal government should be involved in trying to help develop these new resources like solar and wind? caller: i almost think it has to. i believe in capitalist society and free society. but when it comes to energy, you are taking resources that were here in the ground, free in the sun, free in the air and

individuals are capitalizing on that and getting wealthy as all get out. therefore, the government has to take control. host: steve in misery. -- missouri. independent. caller: i will tell you all couple secrets here. i bought these infrared heaters for five years ago. i save 30% on my heating bill every month for the last four or five years. world. in a supernatural you have to understand that god is working and the reason trump has been put in the office is because jerusalem has to be the capital of israel before the second coming of jesus christ. we cannot depend on the natural. int: jamie is waiting florida. line for democrats. good morning. caller,the previous

just a few numbers i want to release from a bloomberg post about wind and solar a few days ago. renewables are beating fossil fuels since 2008. host: in what way? the gentleman said that it costs a lot over time -- 50 years or so. if you look from the 1970's, the prices and the costs of solar have fallen -- the cumulative installations, 115,000 sold. as time goes on, the economics are there for something like that. industry doubling in size since 2000. the numbers are there. mr. trump is saying it is costing us billions of dollars.

deceptive.is when you can see that he is feeling his cabinet with people that have conflict of interest about the oil and gas industry. we do not need to be coerced by our leaders that the economics are not sustainable -- the economics show that is not true. host: when you talk about the solar industry doubling in size, it is still .6% of u.s. energy production in 2015 compared to 33% coming from coal. how do you fill that gap? caller: i'm a chemical engineer. i understand the efficiency is the real problem with oil and gas. , it is an oil and gas very rich energy source.

what you need is you need innovation. mr. trump should be talking about investment in education. the next great innovator in this country that changes that could be the person in this country -- we could be first in the world. if you don't invest in that and stifle that, someone else will helm.that come go host: a couple more calls. we are 23 days away from inauguration day. the inauguration will be taking place on the west front of the capital. a story in today's "new york times" noting the waves of protests and security challenges facing those who are planning the inauguration. ,n top of this daunting threat three dozen agencies are responsible for security at the festivities.

they are preparing for the possibility of large numbers of protesters flooding the capital. worried aboutre the possibility of confrontations between groups of americans still deeply divided over the election. the story noting some of the comparisons of the estimates of the crowd size. , a crowd of 2 million .c.ple in washington, d the first day of congress will be happening well before that. one thing they will be doing on their first day, putting a new rules package for the upcoming two years. story from nbc news notes that house or publicans are proposing new rules to punish broadcasting photography from

the chamber floor. it change in the rules seen as a direct response to a dramatic sit in in june by house democrats demanding a vote on gun control legislation that was streamed live online. we picked up some of those extremes. -- those streams. these changes will help ensure that order and a quorum are preserved in the house of representatives so lawmakers can do the people's work, said a spokeswoman for house speaker paul ryan. she said that in a statement. the full article is on nbc news and several other outlets. nancy pelosi's office put out a statement from the minority leader yesterday stating that the first action the new

a passage of ae rules change targeting democratic members who participated in the 24-hour said in following the horrific pulse shooting in orlando that killed 49 and wounded 50 more. house republicans continue to act as the handmaidens of the gun lobby. house democrats will never stop speaking out against the daily tragedy of gun violence. that statement was put out by nancy pelosi's office. rich in pennsylvania. m accredited good morning. -- a democrat. good morning. caller: good morning. there is no such thing as clean coal. the scranton will bury area.

-- wilkes-barre area. you see people in the who died from carbon monoxide. after site is cleaner than -- anthracite is cleaner. what people in west virginia need is solar collector plants that they can go and start working in factories building solar energy for this country. -- peoplebelieves believe the oil industry is going to solve all our problems. they are the cause of the problems. they stifle all these other industries because they want to keep their money coming in through the stoxx. if anybody has had a chance, go online or watch the news --

china is smothering. they are walking down the streets with respirators on their faces because they cannot even breathe. they are smart. they are going into solar panels. they will have more solar panels and china than the rest of the world in a few years. host: when you talk about stifling industries, what are you saying to those folks in west virginia who say there's been a war on coal? the obama administration is trying to stifle their industry, the jobs they've done for years and decades? caller: they are resistant to change. they don't want to learn a new industry. a guy that goes down in the coal mine every day gets black l -- a mine doesgoes into the not want to learn the new job. why would they want to? it seems like there is a mental

roadblock there. they do not want to learn something new. they can work in a brand-new factory instead of risking their lives everyday. i do not know why they want to do that. host: jim, good morning. on the independent line. go ahead. caller: as far as the energy plan, i think it should be a three-pronged attack. the three areas we use are for the cars, home, and basic grade itself. -- grid itself. host: explain a little more, go ahead. caller: cars, basically with electric cars like tesla were there are several from nissan and the chevy volt, where for the most part people can get to work and back home on a charge overnight from parking the car in the garage.

70-80% of the energy that we use for our homes, that is used on the electric bill and gas bill is used for just eating your home. -- heating your home. we could eliminate a big chunk of everybody's energy cost for their home. is whene energy pumps you drill a well and go straight down, using a heat exchange, something like antifreeze, then a normal heat pump. ipe you've a pipe -- lay p deep enough into the ground where you get the natural ground temperature around a constant 55. if you have ever gone into a the, you experience coolness that is there all the time. so you are taking advantage of the earth's natural cooling to

be able to run the heat from your house, like your heat pumps do, taking the difference in heat between the two sources to heat and cool your house. at the very least, you can get a minimum of 55 degrees, that is the normal temperature. cooling in55 degrees the summertime or heating during the winter. up indo you have this set your home? caller: no. i have been investigating that for a new house. host: how much does it cost? caller: i'm interested in energy. host: how much does it cost to put in a system like that? what would you estimate, looking at homes for that? caller: the ground source heast

pump is a little more expensive than the pumps now. i replaced 110 years ago and it was,2000 for a system that i believe it was a senior -- ser 16, 90% efficient. host: we appreciate the call. one more call from north dakota before we end the segment. who is it. caller: i want to mention that my uncle used to drill oil in colorado, ok? he said back in the 1980's when the oil shortage started coming either -- started, you there? host: yes. caller: you said they were hitting gushers of oil, but making us pay more in oil

prices, because they were looking for radium instead. either way, the oil companies do not even -- it makes me mad. we are sitting back here with all of these high-priced gas prices, when we have reserves sitting around the united states. it is not funny. do you think -- host: do you think donald trump is somebody that would open the reserves? do you think prices will come down during a donald trump administration? caller: i do not think. i did not vote for donald trump. i do not think he is a smart man. he inherited all about money, so no, i do not think so. host: one more tweet. "an america first energy plan would keep the water clean come along investing in the future."

that will do it for the first segment of the "washington journal." deep dive 80 -- a into his picks for the energy department and the department of the interior. our guests include elana schor and emily holden. into them looking ahead at the future of energy and environment of policy for the first 100 days of the donald trump administration and beyond. that is coming up next on me "washington journal." ♪

night on q & a. >> when people were starving, van buren was having parties in the white house. inre was this rich man washington sneering at the poor people. harrison had thousands of acres, said he was actually very wealthy, but he was portrayed as the champion of the poor. andn came to the parade some of them gave speeches, some of them wrote pamphlets. they were criticized by the democrats that said that women should be home. , this book,haffer

sunday night on 8:00 p.m. eastern on c-span's q and a. inthis week on c-span primetime, tonight at 8:00, a review of house and the senate hearings from 2016 on topics including the flint, michigan water crisis and the wells fargo account scandal. >> seriously, you found out one of your divisions created 2 million fake accounts, had fired thousands of employees for improper behavior, and cheated thousands of your own customers and you did not once consider firing her ahead of her retirement? >> thursday at 8:00, we remember political figures that passed away in 2016, including nancy reagan, and antonin scalia. and our program continues with

mohammed ali and astronaut john glenn. this week in primetime on c-span. >> washington journal continues. host: we are now joined by elana schor from politico news and emily holden. we are looking at donald trump and his running of the department of the interior and energy program. scott pruitt has been picked to run the epa, probably the least familiar to viewers. how was he picked to run the epa? >> one thing that president trump has said he wants to do is get rid of the claim power plan, -- plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and scott pruitt has been leading the charge.

pursuing the epa over that role now the supreme court saying that they do not have to implement it. host: how does it work with pedebody being tacked -- tap to run the agency come assuming the agency -- suing the agency? >> what remains to be seen is his style. elana: they believe he will dismantle it from within. he believes on a cooperative federalism model, so instead of prescriptions, and i know this is letting the states decide, scott pruitt will go more in the direction of the state deciding what to do. host: we should explain what the clean power plan is in its history. emily: essentially it lays out individual goals that each state

must meet to reduce carbon emissions and it lets states decide how to do that. the epa was looking at the power sector moving away from coal and toward lower carbon fuels, natural gas and renewable power and said they want to see them do any little bit faster. but they let the states decide how much of a shift to make and what to do to get there. host: scott pruitt in his own words, 2015 at the conservative political action conference that took place. he was asked about the clean power plan before he was made the head of the epa. >> for the affordable care act was for health care, what dodd frank was for the finance system, the clean power plan is for the power grid in this country. the generation of electricity, when you combine oil and natural gas and coal, that equates almost 70% of electricity generation in the country. 2008 andident ran in

he has carried this outside the administration, declared a war on particularly and since 2010, we have seen facilities shut down in this country. this plan that the president is advancing, it is all about an anti-fossil fuel strategy to shut down coal generation and the fossil fuel generation and you should be concerned about that. because, if it goes away, if l making up 40% of electricity in the country, what will it be replaced with? the cost of renewables will be insurmountable for the country. this is very much a policy that is being carried out during his last term, the last year of his administration, to push these things through on the regulatory front. that is the last thing i wasn't sure. the clean power plan monopoly

about picking winners and losers, it is executive power to bypass congress. host: that was the epa nominee scott pruitt. what kind of reception has a gun on capitol hill -- adopted on capitol hill? elana: they are eager to make this a referendum on climate change. scott pruitt believes human activity is the leading cause of climate change. so the democrats see this as a golden opportunity, they want to humor home that the president elect does not believe in a science and this is wrong and against public opinion and the majority of americans who want action, right? the filibuster for these nominees makes it easy to tonfirm scott pruitt, so i is likely it will go through. join theyou want to conversation, republicans at

(202) 748-8001, democrats at (202) 748-8000, and independents at (202) 748-8002. we are answering the question of what donald trump's department of the interior and energy will look like in his first 100 days. and like him a talk about what you believe on science. you wrote about this recently. emily: the main thing we have a record from him is an op-ed that he wrote saying, this is basically in area that is still open for debate and is something that must be discussed in public policy. a lot of the lawsuit against the epa and scott pruitt has had at least eight of them as attorney general in oklahoma, have focused on states rights and more on whether the federal government is exceeding authority in regulating things that are traditionally meant for the states to be working on. host: we want to show viewers

what he said to that column you are talking about. he wrote, along with another healthy debatet is the lifeblood of the american democracy and global warming has inspired one of the major policy debate of all time. it is far from settled. they continue to disagree about it and -- the extent of global warming and the debate should be encouraged in public forums and the halls of congress." what kind of response has that got in from the science -- gotten from the scientific community? elana: a big backlash, people say this is a settled issue. emily: this is a debate. scientists say this is happening and it is a big threat and action must have been right now to prevent the immediate problems from occurring from more droughts, to the sea level

route -- level rising. achy isngressman ryan's the nominee from president-elect donald trump in his background is a navy seal, how did he come to this nomination? emily: montana is -- elana: montana is in outdoor state and he is a relative newbie on the hill. he goes against the emerging conservative election for selling off federal land in the west. this is something the president elect and his sons have repeatedly of the sized, but is not something that the entire right agrees with. a lot of conservative voices from his home state want to see more private control, not federal, but he disagrees, so it will make him an interesting pick. host: he has received praise from conservation groups about

not transferring land, correct? emily: he has had praise for wanting to keep federal control of the land for conservation, but on the other hand he is from montana and it is a cold of the state -- coal heavy state. host: in terms of him having the votes, what are the early readings? said on think as was other nominees, it would be difficult to filibuster them and keep them from moving forward. it is likely. elana: absolutely. a big factor is the congressman was considered a favorite to challenge custer in the election. the democrats are pretty happy. host: he is out of the way. not being off the democratic senator. taking your calls as we go to the nominees for the energy and environmental posts. again, democrats, (202) 748-8000

. republicans, (202) 748-8001. and independents, (202) 748-8002 . bill, good morning. caller: i voted for donald trump, but i do not like his energy policies. know,pruitt, he would not he does not like climate change. he would not know what would happen if he fell into a whole -- hole caused by the earthquake's from the oil companies in oklahoma. almosto, germany is getting to be all solar, and brazil, they do not use that much gas in the cars anymore and we are supposed to be in innovative nation, where we have had people like edison, like alexander graham bell, and 30 --

dirty coal is a thing of the past. and i guess this is a payoff by the republicans to the koch brothers and we need to move forward. and with climate change, you see people, the eskimos losing their houses in alaska. and also in louisiana. we cannot deny this anymore. it may even be too late. host: that was bill in connecticut. coal, one up dirty o earlier caller said there was no such thing as clean coal. donald trump says he wants to promote clean coal. what is it and how does he do it? elana: many have said it is an oxymoron, but what it means is when it is mined and burned, the carbon emissions are sequestered

and captured, the most common concept is injecting it underground. with clean coal, and with natural gas, the leading product in oklahoma, they are at odds. so donald trump is promising to promote the gas industry and the coal industry, when really they are in competition. that is the big factor here. host: ben is in california. good morning. caller: good morning, how are you? host: doing well. go ahead. caller: i wonder if those who are more progressive in wanting to add it just -- adjust to the new energy, much like the farm industries, we send a few billion dollars to the coal regions, do not know how many employees would be covered, but we pay them to stop producing coal, and then the minors -- miners can't afford their

lifestyle -- can afford it up lifestyle and we can bomb from coal. that could be one way to handle the situation and stop producing coal, by paying them to stop mining. host: you have studied emily the clean power plan quite a bit. somethingcommendation in the plan? emily: it is something discussed around the margins of congress, but it is difficult politically. i think what you would see push back on is the idea of giving money to shift away from coal, because states that are further ahead going toward natural gas would say, we already did that and we were able to bear the burden of it, so it is not fair for you to then get that assistance. it is a tricky political question, but i think certainly

even hillary clinton has ideas for the coal communities and helping the transition. it is difficult to get done. host: can you explain the moratorium a little bit more? how long it has been in place and where it came from? it has gotten criticism from the coal industry. emily: the three-year moratorium , while it was under review, looking at the environment the implications of the program, it is something that donald trump would like to reverse. host: can he do that in the first 100 days? isn't that something he can pull back or is it going through a process? likely to doms that, yes. host: we are talking about the nominees for energy and interior, taking your questions about donald trump and what you will be doing in his first 180 and beyond. -- 100 days and beyond.

good morning. caller: good morning. with respect to everybody in appalachia district who are obviously in peril for their jobs, which i am sympathetic to, the science is pretty clear and i would ask if the general public would go back to the captain joe hazelwood and one of the worst ecological disaster that has ever happened in america and then look at the people donald trump is putting in his cabinet. and look at the contrast. i guess my point is, there are many alternatives, i am initially a canadian and we are switching over to a greener form of energy and we have got to consider the collective good of the next generation into the green about these. host: that was ed in detroit.

anything you want to pick up on from that? elana: while we are talking about donald trump's nominees, we should include rex tillerson, the ceo of exxon mobil. he is the pick of -- for secretary of state. they have a role in climate change and certainly the exxon valdez, that will come back up in the confirmation hearings. host: let's explain the role a little bit more. the secretary of state playing a key role in the exxon pipeline debate. explain how that worked, that was the epa, the white house and department of state. elana: and the caller might notice because he said he was canadian. when we have the pipeline going from canada or from mexico, a complicated process was set up under george w. bush that leaves the state department in charge,

juggling the environmental considerations going into building a pipeline or transmission line that crosses borders. certainly, mr. trump wants to bring the keystone pipeline back and will be involved in other infrastructure projects, but mr. tillerson would more or less be in charge of that. host: justin trudeau said on wednesday last week that donald trump was "very supportive of the keys don't crude oil -- keystone crude oil pipeline in their first conversation after the election. he brought it up and is that he was supportive of it and the he said, i am -- confident the right decision will be taken. he has been covering the pipeline quite a bit. how much would it take to restart the process? elana: not a lot of work. transcanada is considering re-crafting the application.

essentially, when it was rejected in november, he canceled out keystone as we know it. it could change one or two aspects of this, call it something else, then resubmit it fairly easily. that will be harder, just as it was under obama, getting the late approval on the ground in the states. friendly, mr. trump is likely to face activism on the ground. so it is simple in concept, but not really in practice. host: for those opposed, what can they do? do they have much power or a place to look to to stop the process? emily: certainly, the courts. and you are certainly seeing that they are ramping up activity. the first week after the election around 7000 more donors monthly helping them to fund raise and the environmentalists

saying this is the only way to fight the anti-environment agenda, if we are giving money to organizations that will bring challenges to the issues. host: sheila, a republican, good morning. caller: thank you for taking my call. they talked about scott pruitt being dangerous. oklahoma has not disappeared, he is not a dangerous person. he has been helping people when he takes epa to court. you forget the main aspect, you put the environmental stuff on a different company, like og and e , or gas and electric, and they have had regulations, they have had to clean it up and make it cleaner. here comes epa, another one, that is costly. if you think pays for it? i do. the people do. our wages going up? no. i do not think these people,

they are supported by activists, and you forget about the people. i listened to that man say, they need to just pay the coal miners money so they can go to other jobs. who is going to pay for it? we are. i think we forget about the monetary side, the people do not have it, the rich people do. the middle class is going down. one more point, i have been to alaska and we got to go to the iceberg, the famous iceberg up there. it was melting before they even had gas and oil. it has been melting for years, ever since it was established. it is not global warming melting it, because they can tell you how far it had been, like in 1900 and before. host: thank you for that call from oklahoma. i am sure the economic argument she was making there on the sort

of energy decisions that we will be making in the future, that is an argument we are hearing from the donald trump administration and we have heard from scott pruitt. elana: arguably, the caller just described the appeal to the energy workers. the data shows donald trump has a point in that it is union jobs and the democrats have been talking about, let's just transfer it to green jobs and solar panel installations. it is not always that simple. the wages are not guaranteed to stay the same. so this is certainly a that workers care about and that is why they voted for donald trump. host: flint, michigan. a democrat. caller: yes, i am home of the bad water. we have a plant we put in 19 years ago. and under the 1968 rights -- civil rights law, it should not

have been allowed to be built. the epa allowed them to build it and i've spoken to 26 people who live in the apartment complex adjacent to it, low income apartments, 23 of them have asthma. you take people who walk around in china with the masks on going back and forth to work. the lady who called said, who wants to pay for the person in the coal towns not to have to come to work. they did this in the south with the farmers for years. do you want to pay in next are nickel in order to breathe clean air? you know, that is kind of a no-brainer. host: do you think a change in the administration, in leadership, at the epa will get the issue addressed? caller: you are referring to which issue? host: the power plant?

caller: the power plants, i have personally called the epa and i spoke to the director's assistant about the power plant, as well as about our water, and i was ignored. the hundreds of letters that went to the epa about it, the only way that we got anything done was the people from virginia tech came and they brought in 300 test kits to send out to the community. and we got back to hundred 70 kits that-- 270 test we know that. the water supply, the blood levels, the lead levels were high. the only thing that really brought the whole thing out was the hospital here in town that tested children's blood realized that there were elevated blood levels. host: thank you for the call.

and like, there has been a lot does thatn flint, focus continue in the next administration? is there concern it will be lost in the transition or what will the donald trump team say about flint? emily: what has always been challenging for epa is addressing the social issues and looking at specific communities with clean water and clean air and how the broader regulations could affect an individual community. what donald trump said about staff and funds, i think you can see the programs definitely being smaller and the issues being more difficult to address. host: david in georgia, good morning. caller: good morning. happy new year, c-span. host: thank you. caller: i have a lot of troubles with anything donald trump does. this guy just told a lie in the

clip, by saying it is impossible. that man is chicken little. y'all need to wake up. coal country has found a way to use it for something other than burning it. you can use it to make roof tiles that generate electricity. oh my god, that will put them out of work. that is what the problem is, these people are cronies that donald trump is installing and they will be worse than the woman that signed off on all that stuff for flint. so you need to wake up. of an american that is 175 million of us that did not vote for and neither of these cronies. you need to wake up. host: that was david from waynesboro, georgia. one nominee we have not talked

about is rick perry, called by nancy pelosi, and anti-science climate change denier. he has been tapped by donald trump to take over the department of energy. gas guy, is an oil and but with some people do not realize, he is also a wind power guy. texas is first in the nation on wind power generation and a lot of that compliment was happening under rick perry. he is in line with donald trump's basic plan to have less of a climate friendly and gender is notda, but he entirely anti-renewables. host: a statement was put out after the nomination became known, saying that rick perry will be the final energy secretary, that he would close that agency. is it possible to shut down in

agency and it does rick perry want to do that? emily: it seems unlikely. he has said before he would want to do that, but it is not what we are looking at right now. is the department of energy largely focused on nuclear activities and that is not something the u.s. can't stop looking at. they do a lot on clean energy research, most of what they do is handling the country's nuclear arsenals. times,rom the new york on rick perry as energy secretary, saying nuclear tests would be resumed. patrick is in florida, and independent. good morning. caller: good morning. good morning. i have a couple of comments. number one, america being divided as we are on this issue and every other issue, we need to stop being divided. we need to come together and understand as long as we are

pitted against one another, pro-gun, anti-gun, etc. pro-energy, clean energy -- nothing is going to get done. we will be talking about this issue six years from now, 16 years from now and it will keep going. we need to not be divided. host: how do we not be divided? what is your recommendation? caller: there is the way a look at it. it is a capitalistic country and when i worked in corporate america, we got a group of intelligent people together, and we formed a plan we thought would give us the best results. then we implement the plan and we have success. we got better. we hired more employees, etc. in this country, republicans will find the democrats, democrats will fight the republicans in because we do not get together and say, look -- i

am the minority on issues and i'm ok with being the 20%, 80% of the country says, this is the way we are going to do things and i am a 20%, i can say, ok, great, let's do the most efficient way possible. host: where are you willing to compromise on energy? energy, this is where i am not on energy -- am at on energy. i will ask but reporters, let's assume i am building a house, three-bedroom, two bath, middle-income family type of house. how much does it cost me when i am building it, to install solar panel, or wind power, or geothermal -- let's say solar. how much is the additional cost to build it were i can be energy-efficient, or even put it

75% of all of my energy will be coming from solar? how much would it cost today? host: i'm not sure if you can give an exact price, but these installations on homes, are they affordable? elana: it depends where you live. solar is really the only option, scientists have not figured out how to have rooftop wind turbines. in washington dc, they offer pretty good packages for homeowners that want to put solar panels on their roof. then you are dealing with local utility politics and excess power going back into the grid and having the ability to do that. the basic point is correct, renewable power in the u.s. must be scaled appropriately to that size. emily: it is difficult to tell, it depends on which area of the country. it is affordable in some. another point patrick made by the division, i think overcoming the division, like americans

would like to see, requires being more upfront about the -- and one point we have not gotten to, it is pretty much impossible to bring back the coal jobs as president-elect trump says he wants to do, because he would unconvinced a power committee to convince au will not power company to build coal. we do not think president-elect -- you will not be bringing back the mining industry necessarily. host: even if you list -- lift the moratorium and the power plan is rescinded on day one? emily: they looked at the number if you had the plan or you do not, but without the clean power fromyou see coal dropping so you do not0%,

see a growing. and there are other things that president-elect trump can do around the margins to make the companies happy, but you already have most of the major coal companies in bankruptcy and they are not looking to bounce back from that. host: rather green put it this way, those who can afford clean energy champion the change, but the vast majority of the population cannot. we have gabe in connecticut. go ahead. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes, sir. caller: i want to talk about energy sources and conservation and investment in each of these. i am on twitter. the energy source, we need to think about, we need the energy and the only way to reduce the need for energy is efficiency and conservation. as long as we need energy, we will invest in where it is

coming from. if we want to invest in coal, we needed and about who benefits from that. probably the established infrastructure, just like oil, as we invest and conservation we will be creating new jobs to get people out of the mines and into the factories, just as we invest in technology through batteries. connecticut is leading the way in battery technology, holding the energy that we made through coal or solar. this is an important part. and that is what it is all about. trying to compose my thoughts because i've never called you guys before. host: we appreciate the call. elana: i'm not familiar with what the caller is stating about battery technology, but i am familiar with the power of states to pass their own laws

and i think we will see more of that under donald trump. a lot of it will not please conservation activists, but some of it may. we have seen northeast states ban together on greenhouse initiatives. progress can happen on either end at the state level. host: and from california, pledging to go beyond their the time ofets in the donald trump administration. talk about what the governor is trying to do. emily: you said if donald trump climateg to pull -- on change, they within their own into orbit. they are a leader in climate action. a little more on battery technology, something that is really important to transitioning the grid away from fossil fuels and it is growing rapidly. but not quite fast enough. so you see more and more

arguments on renewable power, not necessarily where we are right now. and it is technology that if it does not grow fast enough, we policiesa shift in under the donald trump administration. it is a way to lock us into fossil fuels for decades to come. so even if these states are moving ahead in ways that they can, forming compacts, like in the northeast, we may still be using a lot of fossil fuels into the future. natural gas has about half of the carbon footprint of coal. host: about 15 minutes left in this segment. we are taking questions with elana schor and emily holden. patricia is on the line. caller: good morning. we need to move full speed ahead, 2017 is coming and we need to get a solar panels in and let's get the robotics going

and let's just move forward, full speed ahead. host: ok. how about solar panel installation, a name that viewers will remember when it comes to solar power is cilendra , and the energy department's efforts to promote solar energy. explain if that sort of system can come back under rick perry and his energy department? elana: it is very unlikely. it was part of a loan guarantee program from the energy department that the republicans opposed before the scandal erupted and they continue to oppose to this day. i think we can expect under rick perry to stop issuing these guaranteed, but the final guarantee issued by the current energy secretary was actually the first advanced fossil fuel loan and it shows -- sends a signal that is can be used to

boost the gas and oil industry. so i would say the chances are great that it does go away. host: diana, good morning. caller: good morning. can you hear me? host: yes. caller: i am calling for a couple of things. i want to remind the people watching and listening that when they use the term epa, so many people are misinformed and they think it is strictly the federal government, like in their state even. that is not the case. in many states, what governors are doing is appointing their own people that they want to work for epa. in my state, which has been sued by the federal government so many times, they have dismantled d and r, he appoints everybody, like he is the god of the state. what i am trying to say is,

people should not be misled when they hear the term epa and think about the federal government. they are not even following their own rules. the rules are being made by the state. and by the people controlling the state. you look at snyder in michigan, look at all of the things happening in the water, in the sinkholes, and all that. wisconsin is next, they are like buddies, bosom buddies, our governor and snyder. i want people to be aware, when they say states rights, they need to be careful who is running the state. host: perhaps you can pick up on the interaction between the federal epa and some of the state agencies. emily: when we have been saying epa on the show, we've been talking about the federal agency for things we are about, like the clean power plan. and if agencies at the state

level that focus on the state issues. the federal epa is looking at things that would impact -- state epa is looking at things that would impact state issues. maybe you have pollutants going into another state, that is something they would be regulating. yes, states rights, it depends on what your state wants to do, maybe something you want to support. you might be more aligned with what the federal government wants to do. or what the state wants to do. dependent on your political leanings. host: al, good morning. caller: thank you. a couple of questions, a gentleman just flew a solar powered airplane around the world. why hasn't anybody talked about that at all? the second is, the scientists at the university of sheffield

discovered 18 they can make -- change they can make in solar panel that would drastically reduce the cost and the never heard anybody talking about that, why is it that being discussed -- isn't that being discussed? elana: i have not heard about the solar powered airplane either. it sounds interesting. renewable cost issues will be front and center next year. mr. trump won the election that renewables are too expensive to implement along the lines of what the previous caller was talking about with rooftop solar. i think the caller will be excited to find debate about that starting next year. emily: so actually, from the past couple of years since the epa put out their plan, we have seen wind and solar decline far more than expected. it recently came out from the

university of texas that if you take out all the subsidies and all of the additional cost, that natural gas and wind power would usehe least expensive to around the country in different areas. host: what are the main cost drivers of solar? people think that sunshine is free, what is the main cost when somebody's trying to get energy from solar? emily: the technology and how quickly it is developing and connecting it to the grid, power lines from solar panels to the homes. it depends on the state you are in and who is developing the regulations, whether you are looking at a wind farm, or rooftop solar panels, it varies throughout the country. an, a democrat, good morning. caller: good morning. host: ok, we will go to michael. in independent -- an

independent, go ahead. michael, are you with us? caller: yes, sorry. a few years ago, it was said 55% of our driving is for five miles or less and -- can easily help with energy expended. that thenstitute says bicycle is the most efficient known tol conveyance man, so why are we not promoting bicycles? host: are there members of congress who are promoting bicycles? or pathways to get more bicycles? caucus, whichs a

is bipartisan, many members of the congress do bicycle to work. i am not sure of the tiger program, which is the initiative more started to promote bicycles in the cities. bike trails and things like that. it is popular with both republicans and democrats. host: speaking of the obama administration, one thing they pride themselves on is expanding the national park system and the protected lands through the national park service. what have we heard from the cap administration -- trump administration, is that something that the interior secretary supports? hasy: i think because he looked at the conservation fund and wanting to protect that, that is something he has gotten credit on.

looking at national parks in particular, i'm not sure how much we've heard from the president-elect on that. host: go ahead. elana: he actually has indicated that he would be supportive of antiquities authority, the big issue here, the more than 100 year old law that allows the president to set aside land as national parks. preserveid he wants to that, but i think you will face pressure from the right to roll back decisions that president obama has made, like the decision recently to take the arctic waters and atlantic waters out of consideration for drilling, so we think of this power as creating national parks, but there are more options to set aside land and mr. trump may pull back. host: an interesting exchange from earlier, the budget hearing for the department of the interior, the current secretary appearing before the natural resources committee in the house, of which conversation --

of which he is a member of, and he was questioning her on the priorities of the park? >> i'm sure we all agree on the importance of the parts, but looking at the budget, we know you are behind and i just finished talking to the superintendent of yellowstone and i know how important it is -- you and i have both toured the parks. it does not seem in the budget are you prioritize the intersection. infrastructure is so important on road maintenance and why isn't it at the top of the budget for the national parks? >> infrastructure and dealing with the backlog is high priority in the budget, it is in their not only in the discretionary budget, but also for the centennial initiative which would clear up the backlog over 10 years. >> what you say it is a top

priority? there are a lot of other programs in there, but it should be infrastructure first before the other education programs, these want that are less on the list. >> visitors experience is also important. host: that was the exchange at a natural resources hearing, if you want to watch the whole hearing, it is available on c-span.org. he often talks about the parks he visits, the ones in his backyard. it's easy and as a champion of national parks? emily: i am not sure about a champion. i know the outdoors is something he appreciates. if you look at the league of conservation voters, about a 3% lifetime score from them goes to him, so they might disagree on how much he is looking at protecting the environment. host: in the next panel coming up at 9:00 on the washington journal, we will look more at

that. and ronald, good morning. caller: good morning. how are you doing? host: doing well. caller: i am an electrician in west virginia. comments all day that us coal miners do not want to move away from mining. we have no problem with gas. our problem is, our president shut us down, and we are having trouble feeding our families. we have to go to food banks to feed our children. and we are using electricity to power our houses. and people say we do not want change, we have no problem with change. our problem is, is almost 50 years ago the u.s. landed a man on the moon and now they say they cannot burn coal clean. we do not agree with that at all.

they can, they do not want to. that is my comments. host: donald trump has said he wants clean coal. elana: absolutely. i believe he will try to make it possible. but importantly, the idea of replicatedhas to be bowl and cheap enough to get loans to implement it. that is where they could fail. just not on the economics, but on the science, the size of the facilities that would take carbon out of the system. host: we will go to don, golden valley, arizona. good morning. caller: yeah, i was watching pbs news hour last night and there was a physicist, i believe he was from greece or somewhere over there, he had this hydrogen evidently you and

can power your own house off of water right there, without theological grid and everything -- electrical grid and everything. he has been offered millions of dollars for the invention. they showed it on the tv last you we willbet never hear anything more about it. somebody will buy him up and that will be it. host: have either of you covered hydrogen as a possible fuel source? emily: i cannot say i have. i think there is an important point about policies and different fuels in competition with one another. that is something you need to remember, you cannot assume all fossil fuels, and he cannot

incentivize all renewable power, because they will all be competing against each other. if you do incentivize, there is a concern about picking winners and losers, what we heard about before. elana: absolutely. it is arguable that oil and gas received the most subsidies of any fuel out there and i think we are about to see a big debate about what that means, to pick the winners and losers, whether we should will that all subsidies. host: we will go to tim in new york. good morning. caller: yes, the cost of solar panels to be installed on a about $20,000. ok? for solars quite high panels.

when you install them on your house. an extra $20,000 that people do not have. elana, one more time on solar panels and the cost of doing it in the last minute we have. elana: clearly, callers are interested in the topic and i would encourage them to reach out to local governments and find out about the tax incentives, because that could cut the $20,000 bill with reductions he could take at the end of the year, particularly if you are a first-time homeowner. emily: i would say they will continue to drive down the cost. the federal tax credit, which it seems is safer now, there are conservative lawmakers that create that for wind energy club but we will have to see, because they are looking at a big overall tax reform and we are not sure what it will include. is with e&eholden

news reporte. and elana schor. we will have a roundtable looking at the future of energy and environment policy in the first 100 days of the donald trump administration and beyond. last month, gina mccarthy appearing at the press of to talk about the legacy of the obama administration's environmental efforts. here is part of that speech and you can view the whole speech at c-span.org. >> science tells us that there is no bigger threat to american progress and prosperity than the threat of global climate change. if you take absolutely nothing else from my speech today, take to a globaltrain clean energy future has already left the station.

so we have a choice. ,e can choose to get on board or we can choose to be left behind and standstill. president obama chose leadership. nation. the facts today paint a very clear picture. is among the most health, nt public economic, and security challenges that we have ever a world.a nation or as and under his administration, the an economic recession, likes of which we have never had the e 1930s, he

foresight to invest in solar and clean energy and clean auto manufacturing, to set a for strong, domestic action, positioning the u.s. to securing a to historic international agreement. he was right. was aris agreement negotiated and it is now in full force. e.p.a. will continue to be cutting carbon pollution in the united states n making good on our global leadership. set green house gas standards cars and trucks, carbon pollution, guess what? ave money for people at the pump, while it boosted the nearby auto industry from bankruptcy to increases in both the and jobs here in united states. we set methane standard for

landfill and we are gathering set ata necessary to standards on existing ones. historic, two r historic international agreements, to lower carbon from aircraft and something else that i am we've led proud of, the united states delegation that successfully amended the protocol and international agreement to floro-carbons, they highly potent greenhouse gases. one agreement, in and of itself will avoid up to 80 billion of greenhouse gas emissions. folks, that is equivalent to 10 u.s. emissions. in the businesses like it. they were there pushing for it, they celebrated in the end when we got it over the finish line of course we took historic ction to set sensible carbon

pollution limits at our largest sources, our power plants, which we call the clean power plant. >> "washington journal" continues. the league of conservation voters and nicolas loris of heritage foundation back at the ofk as we discuss the future energy and environmental policy in the trump administration and icolas loris, there is recent article in scientific america that took a look at this topic and the headline talked about trump's first 100 days and said the incoming administration u.s. fromkly withdraw climate change agreement, but likely be ange would slower. what do you expect in the first 100 days? with that?e guest: some sense, yes, it will take time to roll back regulation in force, go through formal rulemaking process. there is opportunity to stop hings that were going down the pathway, clean power plan, regulations on the waters of the

united states. there is a lot of regulations where e in limbo, or congress and the trump administration could use congressional review act to unto of last-minute regulation that the obama administration has finalized. there is an opportunity to undo both, but withdraw from united nations on climate change can be done within a year. process is to t go after domestic regulations ecause getting out of the u.n.s.c.c u.n.s.c.c.c. -- u.n. explain what that agreement does. guest: snet place in 1992, leads that climate negotiations we've had. the most recent one being paris, administration signed sole executive agreement to reduce greenhouse gas 26-28% below 20 to 25 evels and while there is no

repercussion if we don't meet is goals, what his plan is to put in place clean power lan, regulations on new power plants, all of domestic regulations to achieve those targets. trump administration has been critical of the paris deal, of international agreements broadly and i think in this case, for good reason. they inflict a lot of harm, energy cost for american families and businesses and do little to mitigate global warming even if you are concerned about climate change. guest: your expectation for the first 100 days of the trump administration. guest: for starters, i hope dosident-elect trump doesn't -- protects dical the air energy cost for that we breathe, the businesses

water that we drink, public air we want to protect for future generations. it is hard to predict what president-elect trump will be volatile.s eradic and he said some outrageous things on the campaign trail about many energy and uding climate change. he tried to back away from actions speak louder than the words. if you look at people nominated, talking about in the previous people like climate denier and really radical nominee for scott pruit, who sued e.p.a. on multiple hilerson, or rex eriously, the c.e.o. of exxon mobil to be secretary of state. outrageous. will try.they we know there is extreme members of congress next week we expect he house to take up a lot of extreme anti-regulatory regulation. host: you say donald trump is hard to predict, it is easier to congress and what they will introduce in the legislation you expect to see next week?

guest: the house made clear it intends to move on bill that ould bundle together something called congressional review act, used radical tool successfully one time to verturn clinton administration osha rule. it is extreme because it not only congress overturn that will prevent it any future administration from issuing substantial, similar future.the these are protections for our air, our water, they are what us make so much progress in the clean air economy and the rains act, which people continuing is about process or regulation. no, it is about food safety, keeping things like meat safe. host: the regulation in need of act, if i remember my acronym correctly. guest: very good, thank you. essentially says that both chambers of congress, u.s. house nd u.s. senate need to affirmatively approve major regulation before it can take

effect. administration, future administration can propose a rule that the congress final decision. host: why is that a threat to environment? guest: we have seen president obama with people like e.p.a. mccarthy, the energy secretary, use executive to great effect to protect public health, they have relied on the law, science and things like clean power plan, single largest thing e've done to cut carbon pollution and reduce global warming in this country. ive states flexibility to make those reductions and carbon emissions as they see fit. embraced by businesses and had more public support, eight million comments, rule in history. these are the things that unfortunately, as nick was president-elect has threatened to undo, along with canceling tariffs. will go to the mat to defend these protections that are so our economy, for

creating jobs, for protecting the planet, improving national security and more. nicolas loris, staying on congress for a minute, what would you like to see them pass quickly when they convene next week? guest: i think some sort of regulatory check is necessary. congress seated too much power to the agencys and simply ignore cost benefit analyses when regulation and the clean power act is a great the cost that, where will ripple across the country, will energy costs increase, disproportionately ffect low income families who spend their budget on energy costs and even the e.p.a. won't reduce emissions in any meaningful way combat global warming. that is the whole basket of across ons, the story the board. it is economic pain and no real environmental benefit. regulatory sort of

check for the agencies who have of senses overstepped these oundaries and used regulations like the clean air act and the clean water act to promulgate regulation for diminishing marginal return. necessary. i think some tax reform is necessary, as well. government stops using the tax code to pick winners and losers among energy that, and technologies is for all energy sources and technology. subsidize natural gas or renewable, let the market ompete and the most economically viable source should meet our energy needs. regulatory reform and tax reform should be two of the biggest cruxes for broader form. host: nicolas loris study research fellow at heritage foundation. tiernan sittenfeld with the league of conservation voters, they are e president,

with us for the next 50 minutes or so as we discuss energy, and the ntal policy incoming trump administration. taking your calls. are a republican, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. independents, 202-748-8002. up first is dan on the line for independents. lewisville, kentucky. go ahead. caller: hi. yes. i would like to say that i'm pleased with the nomination of pruitt.y general voted for. change i what he said in the article you scientists don't agree on the degree and extent f what adding co2 to the atmosphere will do. that is 100% true. estimates g of co2, vary from one celsius degree to degrees.sius they don't agree. another point, about half reference health

concerns. it is true that for kilo watt produced coal and especially chinese coal, kills hour eople for kilo watt produced. however, i think your viewers might be surprised what the is in terms of deaths and that is nuclear. in particular, i wonder what nicolas loris knows about where administration will take us as far as adding more nuclear getr, instead of 20%, maybe 70% host: we'll start that. pruitt doesn't want wants to wild west, he give to the state. been d water have largely cleaned by clean air exact clean water exact a lot of echnological innovation that helped improve the environment, too. it is about having smart, ensible environmental

regulations, largely empowering the states to do so. comes to nuclear, there is potential here and the people are writing off nuclear because of cheap natural gas, it doesn't need to be that way. we need regulatory reform that allows power reactors and nuclear technology to compete in marketplace. we have a large antiquated regulatory process largely toward large light water reactors we have in the united neat, today there is innovative technologies trying nuclear e in the regulatory commission is turning them away. we need to have really reform allow smaller advabsed modular reactor to nuclear see the renaissance folks have been talking about. host: i know you want to respond to dan's question, he mentioned on t pruitt's comment climate change from national review column that he wrote. et me read those for the

viewers. healthy debate is the life blood democracy and global warming has inspired a major policy debate of our time, the from settled. scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of warming special its connection to the action of mankind that, debate should be ncouraged in classroom, public forum and halls of congress, he said. guest: vito say, so much about absolutely is absurd. it is almost 2017, 15 of the of the 16 hottest years on record have been this 2015 was the hottest year on record, 2016 we had were the nths that hottest record-setting months ever.ly the hottest month so 97% of scientists at least there, is no debate about science and climate change is real and for someone ike scott pruitt, attorney general of oklahoma, to turn his back on basic science and that being climate change is

he tip of the iceberg, we have seen him take oil and gas industry letters and almost erbatim put them on his letterhead and submit them to this administration, he's sued he administration over the clean power plan and water and taken hundreds of thousands from gas companies, this is the person who would be running the agency charged with health and theic environment, it is beyond the ail n. terms of nuclear, this industry received so many government handouts and tax handouts for decades there is really no suitable solution for with the waste and it is an expensive source of energy league of the conservation voters believe we need to embrace the clean energy f the future, wind energy, solar energy, these are the industries growing so fast. are ieve in 2015, there more jobs in those industries than in oil and gas industry. focused, ere we're

about the opportunity in the american ingenuity of the future. changing climate, you first appearod this program 10 years ago and you said at the that segment, it was 2006, you said, 2005 will go the year when any lingering debate about whether global warming was real went away. still feel that way? guest: for most rationale settled.he science is unfortunately, too many climate and somen the congress president-elect trump nominated administration. those are out of touch with incredible progress over the last eight years. how do you s loris, eel about the claim climate denier? guest: i don't necessarily agree. i agree with the caller, the 97% number is often thrown out there and that number is real, but it needs to be put in context. yes, we know man-made emissions contribute to warming and

reenhouse gas and we have had warming and experienced it over the past especially 50 years warming has been man-made cause. where the disagreement is on warming, what a doubling of co2 will actually do to the earth's temperature and there is lot of disagreement among the climate model even inter-governmental policy have a lot of disparity and more recent peer-reviewed literature showing less warming than initially projected. of room here is a lot for debate to say how much uture warming are we going to see from man-made greenhouse gas emissions and most importantly, policy to reduce gre epicion, even if you thought we were heading toward catastrophic warming tomorrow, that is where i have most concern, the policies that will stifle energy production, drive up cost for and can families businesses, won't do anything to mitigate global temperatures whatsoever.

taking your calls in this segment as we have that discussion this morning. republicans, 202-748-8001. democrats, 202-748-8000. 202-748-8002. let's head to puerto rico, anthony, good morning. caller: good morning. merry christmas. host: thank you, anthony. caller: to the lady's comment, she says donald trump speaks erratic. let me remind you that eight obama, crisis in flint and other -- you haven't let's head to puerto rico, anthony, good morning. caller: good morning. merry christmas. okay. about that, you sit here and say donald you tos erratic, who are say if donald trump is irrattic or not. voted for donald trump, we will see what happens, okay. his cabinet together and we'll see what happens. here and ing to sit say his speech is erratic. re you -- who are you to say

that? host: all right. guest: thanks for the question, anthony. thank you for bringing up the of flint, michigan, this tragedy did not need to happen. the people of flint, michigan treated so poorly, had to drink polluted water, too many this across the country and we have been working so hard with champions in michigan ike the congressional delegation led by killdee, to bring relief and funding they need and nsure a crisis like this never happens again. president obama wbt to flint, ichigan, the e.p.a. focused on bringing relief to the people of michigan. too many republican obstructionist stood in the way funding for far too long. it didn't get threw until the final days of this congress, given and there is far more to be done in flint n. president-elect trump's comments i am concerned about any things he said, not just

climate change and clean energy tis unfortunate the elections were not at all substantive. largely thanks to some behavior and actions of the president-elect. did try to e who talk about climate change and clean energy and there are examples across the country climate change and clean energy champions won up and down the ballot, that is very encouraging, but i think to say that people cannot have opinions comments is pretty misguided. host: the caller said, let cabinet ump get his together. run through them real quick. do you think the nomination blocked in congress? guest: we feel strongly scott pruitt's nomination should be blocked. i would be shock federal we on't score that as a negative vote. gospel do you think ryan dickie's nomination should be mroked? we are concerned about his record, we had 3% on the scorecard, meaning 97 times out of 100, voted land, wildlife,

clean energy protection charged with overseeing. rick perry for energy department. fweekt the nominee who forgot, to that posed nomination. host: nicolas loris does the heritage foundation do scoring endorsement of nominees. guest: our lobbying arm does, we don't, but that said, we're encouraged by the direction of picks for nt-elect's these cabinets, especially rick understands e who the market can drive energy success and so here is an reform an agency and eliminate the taxpayer commercialize technologies, again, not just for renewables, but also for nuclear, one of the largest subsidies out there, commercialize technology, that is not the role of the federal government, they hould focus on the

environmental clean up on science and basic fundamental meets national objectives and the national nuclear security administration, related aspects of the department of energy, that will focus in the right trekz. host: sharon in long creek, oregon, line for republicans, good morning. morning.ood i am a faithful washer of c-span. watched the director of times. testify many agreement tely in with president-elect trump and is an excellent choice. it is time to reign in the e.p.a. e.p.a. has gone far out from they're supposed to be toing. the country in can't drive electric cars. the wind ched

situation, don't think those people haven't been subsidized government because they have. certainly getwill any from me. i know that my two senators they are democrats and they are ruled by the west people my state, but where i live are very much e.p.a. has hat the been doing and it is time to reign them in and get back to hat they really should be doing, not destroying jobs, not that are industries very important to the people with.i work host: i'll let you respond. guest: appreciate your comments and unfortunately, the historically has not been part of the issue, you mention democratic senators are in agreement. i think nick even mentioned the clean air act and clean water act, these are bed tlt rocks passed by bipartisan

majorities in the early '70s, many by republican president nixon. historically the case the environmental have enjoyed public support there is a number of polls, including recent poll from morning consult and group that show strong majority of trump voters support like u.s.tion, things continuing to stay in the paris agreement and meeting commitment support clean power plan, support invest nment protecting clean air and clean water. encouraged and i think unfortunate a lot of what the tion like clean power act to. informationmpelling about the billions of dollars in avings from public health impact, from climate change, extreme weather that would be the clean power plan, which dwarf the economic cost of it and we haven't talked about the impact on regular people and their lives, whether he hundreds of thousands, i

believe 140,000 tax that could because of y 2030 clean power plan. even many premature deaths could avoided. this is a commonsense, using law approach that gives states flexibility. host: the caller touched on this point, isn't the only caller to this today. those who can afford the alternative t of energy are happy to champion it, but for most americans, it is affordable. what do you say in response to that? thing i think one great about the clean power plant tis going to be putting money back n the pockets of everyday americans, but again, in 2030, year ans should save $7 a in health benefits. actually is significant that adds up, but also, i think the avoided trips to the hospital for things like attacks, avoided health impacts, we also think about

impacts that people in colorado from the forest fires, people who have lost their people who are experiencing sea level rise in florida or virginia, the drought are, lifornia, where you these are having a significant impact, both economically and on quality of everyday life. host: nick, give you a chance, as well. payingi think people are ratepayers and taxpayers. subsidizing the rich to buy $100,000 electric vehicles and they are fed up with it. they are seeing policies that drive out coal and drive up energy costs and so they're sick and tired of it. it is not they don't want clean water, of inkable course they do, they just have seen an agency that has run far and not e too seeing environmental benefit from regulations that are towns.ng their host: hamburg, new york. democrat.

morning. caller: good morning. good morning. my question is to the man from the american enterprise nstitute, specifically -- host: the heritage foundation. aller: the requirement for using ethanol in gasoline, the is a 25% ivalent of ethanol andse i'd like to hear his response to to eliminate that equirement in our fuel, that everyone in the country uses. take care. host: nicolas loris. this is a policy that needs to be done away with, something put in place during administration and expanded during the bush administration, blend 36 billion biofuel into the fuel supply by the year 2022 and it was done combat climate change, reduce dependence on foreign oil and things.done any of those it has been an economic and environmental disaster, where you have a lot of environmental

groups like friends of earth opposed to the policy, a lot of nti-hunger organizations opposed to the policy, because it is diverting food to fuel and fiscal groups,of like the heritage foundation and the american enterprise opposed to the policy because it distorts markets. the problem is, you have interests who benefit from the policy and you disburse the cost amongst the rest of us, one of those policies that even though it's a lot of people is difficult it to remove. that said, congress should standard whole how poorly it's designed and just not the function of the federal government to be determining what is in our fuel supply. host: i saw you writing down notes, did you want to respond, tiernan sittenfeld? guest: we have concerns, too. tepends what kind of ethanol we're talking about. it gives us a lot of concern. host: richard in springdale, arkansas, an independent.

good morning. caller: good morning. just give me a quick moment here, i'm going to have from the national auto baun society. recessionthing called from second century bc. polaris, north star is 000 years ago it was durbin, has long-term consequences for the seasons. persession affects what time of year closest and furthest from the sun, this could trigger ice ages and global warming. nobody mentions it. you are not living in the garden eden, the earth changes. it has a consequences for the seasons. persession affects what26,000 y on a cable. seasons andects the

the climate. ost: do you want to talk about procession? guest: i think what we're experiencing right now is weather and climate change events like we have not seen before. to think k we need what this means for regular people. i mention, for the people in who lost homes to forest fires. the people in california experiencedought or bizarrely warm temperatures in right now. impact in regular people's lives everyday are taking economic i believe nal toll, we have had in as of september a dozen ear, at least weather and climate events that had an economic impact of more a billion dollars each, more than 68 people lost their events.cause of these these are cataclysmic events and e need to build on the progress, the common sense science-based progress that has

fantastic that president obama and administrator mccarthy and munoz, have led the charge congress whoons in wake up think whatting they can do to combat the climate crisis. about the mistic future, even though we know we are in for a huge fight as to the the president and administration may try to do. it is underway and progress will countries, at er the state level, we haven't talked about prot aggress being municipal level and incredible public support from country.ross the can you olas loris, focus on california regulatory structure. taxed and regulated carbon, yet our economy is booming, that is from twitter. guest: in some senses, you could argue it is booming, other contexts, it is probably not. are leaving nesses california because of strong again, iy policies and

would ask what they are getting for the policies, not getting a change in the earth's temperature that you could even measure. if california wants to go that route, that's fine. i someoning states are invest clean energy and using axpayer dollars to do so, not all states want to go that direction. laboratories in the market. critical of california of renewable power regulations of traditional resources, but i don't think you should force states to go down the same path. host: clear water, kansas, art is a democrat. good morning. you.r: republican, excuse host: sorry about that. caller: two questions, actually, one question ought to administrati he administration, shouldn't people involved with the idea of be in a hange example, if you know what i mean? gore flies around in jet

planes, the president has taken 30% more trips around the world that burns an awful fossil fuel with his ent raj of the planes that go along see any of i don't this leading by example. the other question i have is who in the e.p.a. has been taken the on the r that spill animus river? not seen a conclusion on that. to hear an answer to both of these. thank you. by example?g guest: absolutely. i think one incredible thing we've seen over the last eight years, the united states and president obama, in particular lead by example 6789 the last had and a half, we've probably the best year and a half ever in a fight against finalization on on clean power plan to reduction f the dirty and dangerous pipeline, to historic international agreement in more, to the protection of

coast lands and waters from drilling, including exciting, week about ast protecting the arctic ocean and atlantic from drilling. we are absolutely thrilled to see progress. think that united states leading by example is what has brought so many other countries round the world to the table and that is just what we need, combating climate crisis is something that must be done the globe. host: i don't know if you can done bout what e.p.a. has on the spill in colorado that the caller was referring to? guest: i know they were concerned about it and have taken a lot of steps, i specifically who has been -- host: nicolas loris. guest: it speaks to need of the issues.form for there are nonprofit organizations in colorado, for to help out. want they are not trying to clean up, if something else happens, liable for it. i think there needs to be some sort of legislative reform that

nonprofit organizations and state groups to help protect the mine up some of sites that have been a legacy issue and problematic. lot of companies don't exist anymore. host: head to rich field, wisconsin, greg is a democrat. good morning. good morning. thank you for c-span. proponent of developing safe energy for all forms of energy, including clean coal and oil, as well as i'm confused with the wind, how we can do that safely without killing and endangering a lot of birds and my comment really for is, you need nfeld to learn how to be a bit more not being so aggressive because you are now not in power and if we're going succeed with energy policy, we have to learn how to negotiate, which you don't sound are doing at all. thanks. host: let you respond. i st: thank you, greg, appreciate your comment. host: what do you do at league

of conservation voters? government affairs senior vice president do there? for the last eight years, working closely with the obama administration, the white house e.p.a., d the department of interior, the state department, department of nergy and many others to advance a lot of administrative progress we've been talking about. i work closely with members of congress and i mentioned this a little bit, one that is encouraging, there are growing number of members of ongress who are absolutely committed to doing everything they can, both to defend recent rogress we've ahead and to defend our bedrock environmental protection and also to even we can't in this time, legislate or pass strong doironment legislation, they have the senate floor, the house floor. hey have a bully pulpit using to great effect. a couple years ago, the senator rom hawaii, great champion in congress, got 32 colleagues to stay up all night talking on the to te floor about the need

act on climate change. whitehouse when congress has been in session, has gone on the senate floor to call on on climate act change. eople like the senator from massachusetts, grateful for the lookingfrom california, forward to working with her successor harris. day-to-day sely on a basis. day-to-day basis. host: that all-night session where congressman whitehouse going to the floor every week to talk about the issue, is it having an effect? guest: i continuing is absolutely having an effect. and bringing issue it to the public consciousness. the elections were not as we would have liked, many people made choices weren't necessarily based on the impact on their air or ater or the lands they want to cherish today and for children and grandchildren. i think it is incumbent upon us league of conservation voters

and members of congress and elected officials up and down levels of government to make clear, crystal clear, what is at science n it comes to and the environment and public health that, is what we intend do. line for independents, clark, go ahead. caller: hi. don't know y that i if anyone remembers, it is in the 1980sidence it wasin the east coast, smog and getting worse and worse and worse. t was beginning to get like london. and what happened was they add to gasoline and that the ed it up, that is answer, that is the answer f. every car in the united states fuel standard combination of ethanol, meth gasoline, then the world would get on the standard because they would want to sell

here. we get off oil and the oil spill before, talking about if that was ethanol, that would days leared up in three and nobody would have known it was there because it is alcohol-based. there is a solution book called "energy victory," by robert zubrin. if you read this book, the man is brilliant, has a brilliant idea to get people on ethanol track. nicolas loris, i imagine that fuel mandate is not support. you would guest: not so much. if people want to drive flex or natural powered vehicles, that is fine, it should be dictated by market and by vidual choice, not mandates. he's right, ethanol is an reducest oxygenate that smog, if we got rid of renewable standard, you wouldn't see ethanol reduced to zero, the

compete and still be economically viable. when we predict what is the and y source of the future invest taxpayer dollars and arek with bad policies that both economically concerning, but have unintended environmental effects like the had.te has host: go to wisconsin, mike is a republican, good morning. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span. two quick things. change the we should conversation of the topic to one of stewardship? this goes for all of us, i'd like both guests to comment because i think and ask the question and teach our kids to ask the question and ask ourselves, would you want to breathe what is coming out of that smoke stack or the tail a car? the second point is, i think a story to point to is the work that's been done ith the department of energy and the e.p.a. concerning diesel truck emissions.

these diesel engines vastly mproved, where they were 15 years ago. i remember 20 years ago, this was talked about, that industry oh, you're going to kill us. it is not, it is a huge success comment.ease host: i'll let you start. guest: thank you for your points, mike. the first one, we at lcv and i, of two young boys, think about stewardship and what orld we want to leave to our own children and grand tlt children and future generations across the country and globe. we've been talking about energy and climate, in particular, but have made progress when it comes to protecting public land and open space in this country. president obama and secretary of interior designated many national monuments. we have a couple more to come in the closing weeks of this administration and i think that thinkingy we should be about the personal choices we make and also about whom we vote and the we elect

choices they make to be stewards for the planet. we head into t as the hearings and the votes the for nominees ote that all senators think seriously about their esponsibilities and what the nominees would to and would they diesel rds n. terms of trucks, one thing is we see when progress, there can be pushback or resistance from particular industries, what inevitably see, industries thrive and succeed and it becomes a great success story. talked about increases in fuel efficiency for cars during the last several win, that has been win, win, save consumers money at the good for it is climate, good for national security, yet another reason for optimism. would say, one on environmental stewardship, this is an opportunity to have some type of reform. the department of interior is gency bitten off more than it

can chew and has tens of billions in maintenance backlog that led to economic opportunity terms of energy production and recreation, grazing, fishing but also g, environmental degradation, so having right stewardship where and local citizens are more involved, private involved, s are more private property owners ncentivized to protect their own backyards, those regulations make sense when you reduce that have adverse health and human impact with the additional regulations like the efficiency regulation, the trucking industry is an industry root down to tenth of a mile, they are so concerned bout saving money on transportation fuel. i don't think this agency needs to determine how much fuel they actually use. they can do that on their own. on the stewardship issue, ongressman ryan, in his

statement after his nomination was made public, touched on this issue. what he had to say. someone who grew up in loging nd rail town and hike nothing glacier national park, honored to serve montana and america as interior. of enscribed in the stone at yellowstone national park in i shall thankfully uphold the belief that land are benefit of the people and work tirelessly to nsure public lands are managed is preserved in way that benefits everyone for generations to come. happens in the upcoming nomination hearings. about 15 minutes left in today's "washington journal," getting your comments, taking your questions as we look ahead to he future of energy and environmental policy and the trump administration. bill is in pennsylvania, a democrat. good morning. caller: hi, good morning. just want to comment on the fact that with all the co2 we're putting in the atmosphere, i'm sure which numbers are right

as how much the temperature will say that like the come true, any studyos how long it will take levels back to time and maybe erring on the side of caution idea?not be a bad thank you. i'll take your comments. host: what are the best numbers off of?d go guest: we certainly agree erring on the side of caution is the way to go. if we continue with business as usual, we're headed for an absolute global disaster that is why we're focused on common-sense science-based plan on like clean power and the paris agreement. guest: yes, when you have china es like india and and brazil, rapidly developing, their have a lot of population allow access to affordable, reliable lectricity, they will continue

to build coal firepower plants and have more pressing environmental issues they need address from burning coal, ut look at china's problems, not caused by co2. focus is about getting their populations a better tandard of living and protecting air and water quality. they are going to get co2 result of s a reducing criterion emissions, where priority shoulds lie. host: china lake, california is next. good morning. caller: good morning. i want to know what mrs. tiernan do about obama's carte blanche on killing all the condors and i live next to the wind mills, they are very inefficient and on wind days, most of them don't even turn. have videotape on a window day, none of them were turning. anyway, i want to know what

she was going to do about the eagles. thank you. guest: i think actually the resident has done a lot to protect wildlife in this country. certainly that is an issue the wind industry continues to work on, we feel strongly that we need to really focus in on the lean renewable energy of the future, like wind and like solar, which are putting people are clean k, which and which are good for addressing climate change. host: staying in california, lan california, tom, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i'd like to talk about nuclear plants like fukishi let on the coast salmon, the luting ea, what about the warm water discharge coming out of every one of them. about global warming, you think that is warming up our

globe? big toxic poisonous electric,e have hydro we could use our water, we have we have pipelines and are fighting le for their very existence over pipeline put a toxic that you can reroute right their water, i'm native my ican, i am worry body son's future. time.ls in all the it's sickening with big business it is so wrong, eagles, like crest, i r from ridge live out here around the wind lot ofthere used to be a eagles that flew by. now

now -- host: thanks for the call. i'll let you start. guest: the bird issue, it speaks hypocrisy of a lot of the environmental left f. this was would er industry, they be screaming with their heads cut off theird to industry, rather than taking to actually solve the problem. private energy froze our energy rather than have big businesses corrupt politicians plants can build power or wind farms in the district and receive hand outs that are taxpayer, i the think that is the real problem, the government cronyism that losers among and

energy markets. guest: go back to the comment about standing rock. tv has been proud to stand in solidarity with standing rock against the dakota access pipeline. we were pleased to see president obama and the army corps of denied the permit and andnd to make this priority a fight going forward. we need to stand with the tanding rock and ability to defend sacred places and their water. bet: permit denial, can that reversed in the new administration? anticipate the trump administration will try to reverse it. flippant, ny outrageous things on the campaign trail or since, it is of these,y to do some not a stroke of a pen or something he can do on day 1. we move forward --

-- the protest there. guest: i think the army corps administration army corps who has not been that energy production on federal lands offshore denied excel and wouldn't contribute to global warming.

trump's army corps saying this pipeline was ready to go. his was the obama administration, the only reason they pulled back the permit was these protests that i think are misguided and again, based on scientific or sound technical analysis. kay, a o missouri, democrat. good morning. caller: hi, hello. must apologize for my voice, it was damaged in surgery, i'm sick. words, industrial hemp and passenger trains. getting rong with people out of cars? cities have been small towns have train p when passenger service was withdrawn and taken from the mid-19 60s on to

sell cars. according to mr. smith, head of g.m., who is recorded on a local in st. louis, louis passenger system.ar had 354 miles in st. louis up until 1965. host: thanks for the call from missouri. tiernan assenger rail, sittenfeld. guest: thanks for the question. increased public transportation, i ride d.c. we ay system and i think hope if there is infrastructure package that moves forward, it s a climate smart infrastructure package that focuses on things like mass transit and public rather than n, locking in decades of dirty and dangerous infrastructure like

pipeline, for example. guest: i think it gets back to d.c. mic environment, streetcar is smz that has been here in washington, d.c. and so think there is concern that public transit spending nitiatives, whether by the state or federal government are going to cost a lot of money or overruns and not amount to significant ridership people prefer nd cars. that is not to say we can't have investments in public infrastructure, but it needs to be done sensibly, it can be done sector, and the private not huge federal government infrastructure plans we should reducing union labor requirements, environmental regulations that unnecessarily stall permitting process, sensible reforms that private investment infrastructure for both public

well as private transit. host: tiernan sittenfeld talked movingnfrastructure bill forward, i know at the end of the last congress, they are passing the firsttransit. you talked about infrastructure bill moving forward. at the end of the last congress, they were close to passing the first energy bill in more than a decade. do you expect another push at a major energy bill? guest: i do, although it will look different. this one was concerned on energy efficiency mandates, efficiencies for hydro, a lot of workforce training programs. this is not the way to grow the energy sector. legislationany should be focused on three fundamental reforms. there are a lot of renewable energy projects that have been

unnecessarily held up by red tape. subsidies,l energy energy is the last sector that needs help. fortunately, the chair of the -- the ranking member of the energy , we have leaders like chuck schumer, the incoming minority leader in the senate. these are real champions who are leading democrats. they will absolutely insist any energy policy that moves forward is a clean, forward-looking, positive development. vonnie in martinsburg, west virginia. go ahead. have her would like to

answer a question for me. she did not answer the gentleman who called earlier about leading by example. about how we run around the country in jet planes , and how much that impacts the environment. you went right over that like he didn't even say it. i would like you to talk about how much it is the amount of spits that we do by jet it out, and how much you all right around in just all the time and you don't want to talk about it. guest: thank you for following up. actually, i think the white house has done a great job leading by example, whether it is putting solar panels on the garden,use roof, or the those are great examples of how we can make personal choices. as i mentioned, it's important what we do as a country.

what we do as a country is critically important but there are also times when world leaders need to travel and it is unfortunate that uses gas. --t is my we are constantly whether it is the cars we drive or the planes that we fly -- more efficient and cleaner. if you want to check out their work, lcv.org. also, heritage.org. that will do it for today's washington journal but we will focus on policy issues for the incoming trumpet ministration. tomorrow, we are focusing on immigration policy. on friday, health care policy in the trunk administration. back with you tomorrow at 7:00 eastern, 4:00 pacific. greatthen, have a wednesday. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2016]

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] palmlook at donald trump's beach estate, where the president-elect is spending the holiday, continuing his transition planning. he announced his to head the homeland security council, which he is splitting apart from the national security council. former bush administration heicial tom bossert will that counsel. last night while in palm beach, president-elect trump tweeted about the economy saying u.s. consumer confidence index for december searched nearly four the highest in,

more than 15 years. thanks donald. ♪ the presidential inauguration of donald trump is friday, january 20. c-span will have live coverage of all the days events and ceremonies. watch live on c-span and c-span.org, and listen live on -- free c-span review app radio app. 11:00, secretary of state john kerry outlines the obama administration's vision of how to achieve an israeli-palestinian peace agreement. we expect the secretary of state to address allegations from israeli prime minister benjamin