Joel Stronberg Blogs

JOEL STRONBERG

MEMBER OF THE BOARD

Joel Stronberg, MA, JD, is a senior executive and attorney with over 35 years of experience in federal and state energy, environmental and sustainability issues. He is the founder and principal of The JBS Group a Washington, DC consulting firm advising and representing public and private sectors clients since 1981. Services provided by the Group include policy analysis and advocacy, strategic planning, draft legislation, written and oral communications, and management and business services to small trade and non-profit organizations in the clean energy and climate fields.

Stronberg is recognized as a thought leader in the fields of climate and clean energy. He has served as a Special Counsel at the US Department of Energy at the Under and Assistant Secretarial levels. Stronberg has lived in Nicaragua and Costa Rica working with business and educational organizations on sustainable agricultural practices, the use of on-site renewable energy sources, e.g., digesters, and policy development.

Stronberg is a featured voice on Resilience.org; a Top Climate Change Writer on Medium.com, and, a highlighted contributor on Energy Central. His writings are linked to Stanford University’s Millennial Alliance for Humanity and the Biosphere (MAHB) project.

Joel is also a regular contributor to other energy and environment publications like the Environmental Law Institute’s journal The Environmental Forum. His book, Earth v. Trump: A Failure to Protect, was released in November 2017. The second edition of the work is due to be released later in 2019.

Stronberg is currently working with clients in the development and implementation of strategic advocacy, and communications strategies focused on federal appropriations and proposed regulatory actions by the USEPA, e.g., rolling back Obama era climate-related regulations. He regularly reports and analyzes climate-related lawsuits for clients.

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The Two Joes and What They Mean for US Climate Policy

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/18/23

At least one-half of last year’s Washington power couple — Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) — has taken to holding hostage the other Joe’s climate plans and promises. Manchin has vowed to stonewall President Biden’s nominees for executive positions at the Environmental Protection Agency as well as…

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Red States and the Inflation Reduction Act: Environmental Hypocrisy or Just Good Politics?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/04/23

The budget battle brewing in Congress could see the US become a dead-beat debtor if the warring factions can’t come to some arrangement on raising the nation’s debt ceiling. In a proposed tit-for-tat deal, House Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) and members of the Freedom Caucus are looking to claw back the…

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Turning a Pain in the [Coal] Ash into an Asset (2)

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/01/23

For economic and environmental reasons, the reign of Old King Coal is coming to an end. The royal’s reign has crossed centuries. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), coal was first used to generate elec-tricity for homes and factories in the 1880s. By 1961, coal had become the major…

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Turning a Pain in the [Coal] Ash into an Asset

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 04/21/23

It appears that the reign of Old King Coal is finally ending because of its impact on the environment and its inability to compete economically with cleaner energy sources, including natural gas and renewables like solar and wind. Coal has powered industries for centuries. Without it, the industrial age was…

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I, ChatGPT: The Case for Climate Action?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 04/04/23

Talk amongst yourselves. I’ll give you a topic. You just woke up and realized the nation is running late in putting needed climate protections in place. Discuss. You’d have to have been hiding in a cave over the last 12 months not to have heard about the rapid rise of artificial…

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The Inflation Reduction Act is a New Lease on U.S. Climate Policy: Let’s Not Screw It Up

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 09/12/22

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA or Act) is the most comprehensive climate-related legislation in U.S. history. The Act invests $369 billion dollars for climate and clean energy measures. It also provides billions of dollars to expand low-income health care subsidies and limits drug costs for seniors. The bill rises to…

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West Virginia v. EPA: It’s Dé·jà Vu All Over Again

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/08/22

The decision in West Virginia v. EPA is as important for what it doesn’t say as for what it does. Although the Supreme Court left in tack many of EPA’s regulatory powers, it limited its regulatory reach on existing stationary sources of greenhouse gases. Without the need to win over “swing” justices,…

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The Greatest Crisis Facing the Nation May Not Be Climate Change

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 07/08/22

American democracy is broken. What good are answers if the system can’t implement them? Senate Minority Leader McConnell and Chief Justice Roberts are telling us something We the People need to consider as we vote in 2022 and 2024 Before climate change or any other issue of the day is adequately dealt…

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Ten Little Euphemisms: What Do They Portend for Climate Policy?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 06/22/22

It should come as no surprise that the oil and gas industry is attempting to use the current crises of energy security and inflationary prices to its advantage. To that end, the American Petroleum Institute (API) has released a ten-point plan they deem is responsive to these current events. The…

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Climate Policy in a Republican World

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 06/16/22

In recent days Republicans in the US House of Representatives released the first of what will be a six-part policy platform on energy, climate, and conservation. The strategy was the work of the Energy, Climate, and Conservation Task Force (ECC). The Task Force was established by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy…

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Climate Policy – It’s Not About the Science

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/18/22

This is the third in a casual series of discussions on today’s politics and what it means for US climate policy. The new series flows from a conversation I had with a colleague in preparation for a podcast in which she would be interviewing me. Politicians have politicised the science…

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Will Putin’s War Be the Last Fought Over Fossil Fuels or Just the Next In Line?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 04/19/22

Could you ever imagine the allied nations buying wheat, fertilizer, or fuel oil from Nazi Germany once battle lines had been crossed? I couldn’t either. So let me ask you this. What’s the difference between purchasing some critical resource from Nazi Germany and the buying of Russian oil and gas…

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Climate Policy in the Biden Era: Georgia on My Mind

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 01/25/22

Hoagy Carmichael / Stuart Gorell We, the people, fired the nation’s chief executive long about a month ago. The order is scheduled to be confirmed by a vote of the Electoral College on December 14, 2020. It will then come due on January 20, 2021, when Joe Biden is sworn…

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Has Build Back Better Become Build Back Never? What Does It Mean for US Climate Policy?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 01/11/22

Joe Manchin is a lying liar who lies.- Jennifer Taub, law professor and author of “Big Dirty Money.” I dislike making predictions in January about what to expect in October. Although I have my suspicions about what’s lurking out there and getting ready to pounce, the value of year-ahead prognostication…

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Is President Biden’s Climate Agenda Toast? Say It Isn’t So, Joe

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 12/22/21

There’s a jolly old soul in West Virginia who’s laughing his a** off today. Who is this laugh-master? Why it’s Old King Coal, of course; and, he just got off the phone with Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV). On the call, West Virginia’s senior Senator told the old man he would…

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Blah, Blah, Blah, the Climate Blame Game

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 11/13/21

Cassius For the first Earth Day in 1970, the famed illustrator Walt Kelly paraphrased Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry when his Pogo character looked across a field of debris and uttered the now iconic phrase. We have met the enemy, and he is us. Pogo’s words ring as true today as they did…

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Negotiating Climate Policy: My “Eureka” Moment

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 11/08/21

Don’t you just love it when the solution to a problem hits you—suddenly the fog lifts, the trumpets blare, you’re bathed in uplifting light, and your inner voices yell in unison—well, duh? I had just such a moment the other morning when through sleep encrusted eyes, it came clear to…

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Joe Manchin’s “Strategic” Paws: Will They Choke Biden’s Climate Plans?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 09/22/21

Franklin Roosevelt is remembered for the New Deal and Lyndon B. Johnson the Great Society. What will Joe Biden be remembered for? It likely depends on the fate of two pieces of legislation that encompass nearly the entirety of his once-in-a-generation agenda, including infrastructure, climate, voter rights, higher taxes for the wealthy,…

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Juliana v. the US, the Climate Case of the Century: When Reality Bites

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 07/28/21

The 21 young plaintiffs in Juliana v. United States will mark their six-year anniversary just days from now. They first petitioned the federal District Court for the District of Oregon on August 12, 2015. Over the past six years, the Juliana plaintiffs have grown in age, understanding, and stature. The lead plaintiff,…

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No Climate, No Deal: Biden Needs to Sing the Blu’s

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 06/28/21

Saturday saw both President Biden and former-President Trump making news lines. The day foreshadowed the slide into the 2022 midterm congressional elections and possibly the 2024 presidential. It’s a present that bodes badly for the president’s climate and society agendas and a future I had hoped would remain in the…

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The Truth Be Damned and What It Means for the Future of US Climate Policy

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 06/02/21

On their way out of town for the Memorial Day recess Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and all but six Republican senators killed legislation[i] that would have established an independent investigative commission on the January 6th insurrection. The attack on Congress was intended to stop the Senate from certifying Biden’s 2020 election…

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Climate Policy in a Binary World: Uttering and Other High Crimes and Misdemeanors

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/12/21

The new Republican line in Congress is they accept climate change as real and are on board with efforts to curb harmful emissions and combat Earth’s warming. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s a lie. I take no pleasure in saying congressional Republicans–for the most part—are guilty of utter-ing untruths.…

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A Very Uncivil Notion: Climate Activism and the Party of Trump

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 05/04/21

It may sound strange to suggest the fate of President Biden’s climate agenda will parallel that of Liz Cheney, Wyoming’s at-large Republican congressional representative, but hear me out. Cheney was first elected in 2017 and is currently the House Republican Conference Chair. The Chair is considered the Number 3 position…

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The Affairs of States: In the Greening of America (Part 2)

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 04/21/21

In a more perfect union, the federal government would be a better partner with state and local governments in the effort to slow, forestall, and adapt to Earth’s changing climate. As it has for most of the 21st century, the burden of response to the climate crisis rests heavily on…

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The Affairs of States: In the Greening of America

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 04/13/21

Hyper-partisanship is not just Washington’s affliction. We remain a nation of red states and blue states. President Biden has put forward an aggressive plan with which to combat Earth’s warm-ing. If the immediate past is prologue, there will be little permanence to anything his administration manages to accomplish absent Congressional…

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Climate Policy in the Biden Era: A House Divided

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 12/16/20

After an election in which the country opted for a reset, not a revolution, moderate Democrats hold the power in the party. Sullivan and Bade The momentum of the 2018 Congressional midterm elections in which the Democrats gained 42 seats and regained their majority status in the House of Representatives…

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Climate Policy in the End Days of the Trump Administration

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 10/27/20

Do not go gentle into that good night, … burn and rage at close of day; Rage, rage against the dying of the light. Dylan Thomas Anyone who thinks the climate community will not have Donald J. Trump to kick around anymore after the votes are tallied in November is…

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Lawyers Wanted to Help Decarbonize the US Economy

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/26/20

Seventy days from now, the likely future of US climate policy for at least the next decade will be determined. Moreover, what happens in the US won’t stay in the US. Should Trump retain the presidency and the Republicans their Senate majority a rollback of US environmental protections to a…

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I Pledge…with Environmental and Climate Justice for All?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/16/20

Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America. — Congressman John Lewis The crises of 2020—the COVID-19 contagion, systemic racism, and a depressive economic downturn—are testing the mettle of American society. Curiously, they are also expediting efforts to address racial injustice and economic, energy, and…

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The Trump-ettes Have Blown: What It Means for President Biden’s Climate Strategy

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 07/14/20

Should Joe Biden win in November, he will be returning to reign over a federal government he may not recognize. A government that could be hard-pressed to put his climate policies and programs into operation. For that–he’ll have Donald Trump to thank. Trump has never hidden his disdain for the…

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Courting Solutions to the Climate Crisis — In All the Wrong Places?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 01/29/20

The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case[i]. If ever there was a case that called out for judicial intervention and a court to answer the call, it is Juliana v. US and the Ninth Circuit Court of…

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Climate Politics/Capitol Light

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 09/09/19

Climate, Politics/Capitol Light©, is a service of The JBS Group and Civil Notion Volume 1 | September 9, 2019 | Issue 26 The month ahead: Congress is back from its August recess. It appears the break did nothing to cool tensions—either between Congressional Republicans and Democrats or…

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911, What’s Your Climate Emergency?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/26/19

Our next President should declare a national emergency on day 1 to address the existential threat to all life on the planet posed by Climate Change. Representative Ilhan Omar (D-MN) By declaring a national emergency concerning the southern border of the US, Trump may have unwittingly given the next Democratic president an additional weapon with which…

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One Word—Plastics: Why the World Will be Slow to Abandon Natural Gas

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/21/19

Petrochemicals are the 800-pound gorilla that many fail to account for in their climate defense plans. Termed a blind spot of the global energy system by the International Energy Agency (IEA) petrochemicals are a driving force behind the increasing demand for fossil fuels. Petrochemicals also appear to be one of the driving…

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“V” Is for Vitriol Towards Climate Deniers, Can It Lead to Victory?

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/12/19

Dan Levitan argues in the New Republic that Republican deniers of climate change, who are now on the side of the “angels,” don’t deserve redemption by Democrats unless they own-up to the harms they’ve caused by their earlier denials. Prompting Levitan to write his article was the testimony of Republican pollster Frank Luntz before…

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Trump’s Environmental Legacy Will Take Time to Erase

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 08/08/19

I have an Article 2 where I have the right to do whatever I want as president — Donald Trump Time is the dearest resource we have in the fight to combat Earth’s warming. Whether there is time enough to avoid the harsh economic and environmental consequences waiting beyond…

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There Auto Be a Law– California and Automakers Agree to Limit Emissions

By Joel Stronberg, Esq. and 07/26/19

Major automakers and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have reached an agreement to increase fleet fuel efficiencies to nearly 50 miles per gallon on average by 2026. The companies–Ford, Honda, Volkswagen and BMW of North America—along with California regulators took matters into their own hands, after the Trump administration…