CONVENTION WISDOM — Republicans gathered in Milwaukee this week are increasingly confident about their chances of a sweeping victory in November’s elections — and correspondingly eager to take a sledgehammer to President Joe Biden’s climate policies. While the GOP platform released last week leans in heavily on Biden’s economic record, blaming him for soaring inflation that has left many Americans struggling financially, there is also ample slamming of the Democrat's regulatory efforts aimed at fighting climate change. Sen. J.D. Vance, who former President Donald Trump selected as his running mate on Monday, is going all in on that message. A former Trump critic-turned-loyal-ally, Vance brings to the ticket a populist economic and energy approach that Republicans hope will resonate with voters in key states. “If you are in Wisconsin, Michigan, or Pennsylvania, you are not being empowered or enriched by Joe Biden’s green energy agenda,” he has previously said. That theme is poised to trickle throughout Republican circles at all levels should the GOP gain more power in November. Conservatives are mobilizing around key legislative efforts. A right-wing nonprofit has launched a campaign aimed at persuading lawmakers to strike climate-friendly provisions from the farm bill, focusing on electrification and fuel efficiency standards for agricultural equipment. Republican state financial officers will meet this week on the sidelines of the RNC to discuss ways to push back against environmental, social and governance policies. A Trump win could lead to a rollback of U.S. Department of Labor ESG measures adopted under Biden, which have survived a Congressional Review Act challenge and are now facing legal tests in one of the first high-profile cases to be impacted by the Supreme Court decision revoking the Chevron doctrine. “What we’re seeing here is a microcosm of what we’ll see elsewhere,” said Craig Leen, a K&L Gates partner and former director of Labor’s federal contract compliance programs office, who said the department's ESG rule is “certainly” in jeopardy after the Chevron ruling. And Melissa Holyoak, a Republican member of the Federal Trade Commission, said last week that the agency should be reviewing industry net-zero groups for potential antitrust violations, arguing that they “could be very problematic.” The potential for a whole-of-government rethinking of Biden’s climate agenda that could come with a GOP election sweep would likely have taken place regardless of Trump’s VP pick. But the fact that it’s Vance sitting on the ticket only furthers that point. “J.D. will bring western Pennsylvania with him and all that that implies for the coal, fracking and permitting chemical manufacturing taking place there,” said Stephen Brown, consultant at energy advisory firm RBJ Strategies. More on Vance: There are striking differences between public stances the vice presidential nominee has taken since entering politics and investments revealed by his financial disclosure forms. While running for and serving in Congress, Vance has accepted large sums of fossil fuel campaign money and attacked electric vehicles and renewable energy sources, POLITICO'S E&E News reports. But that’s not entirely in line with Vance’s green-tinted personal portfolio, which features plenty of shades of ESG, including investments in an EV charging company, an energy storage developer and a company that sells organic gardening kits, Scott Waldman and Corbin Hiar also report for E&E.
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