JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. _ In Antarctica, ice is melting at three times the rate it was 10 years ago. Scientists have documented permafrost thawing in Alaska, which could send more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Storms are packing a bigger punch around the world, scientists say, with warming oceans and air creating ideal conditions for devastating downpours.
In Missouri, the EPA has predicted more flooding and more extremely hot days this century because of climate change.
But in the state's U.S. Senate race, neither incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Democrat, nor her Republican challenger, state Attorney General Josh Hawley, has emphasized combating climate change. Polling indicates that the issue is not top of mind with voters, either.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch asked McCaskill and Hawley on Thursday, Sept. 20, how they would address climate change if given a six-year term. The newspaper gave both campaigns until Monday, Sept. 24, to respond.
Hawley's campaign sent a three-sentence statement at 7:25 p.m. on Sept. 24 that does not include the words "climate change" and pivots to attacking McCaskill after the first sentence.
"Yes, we need to be good stewards of the environment without killing jobs for working families in our state," Hawley said, adding that McCaskill sides with "radical environmentalists every time." He said McCaskill supported President Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan and Waters of the U.S. regulation, though, in fact, McCaskill voted to scrap the clean water rule in 2015.
McCaskill also called for adjustments to the Clean Power Plan in 2014 to "protect consumers," but also said last year that Trump's criticism of the regulation was misguided.
"She represents the environmentalist left-wing and Chuck Schumer, and not the people of Missouri," Hawley said.
McCaskill's campaign sent a longer statement at 5:24 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 22. McCaskill has earned a lifetime score of 74 percent with the League of Conservation Voters. Environmental groups still criticized her positions on big-ticket items, such as her support for the Keystone XL pipeline and opposition to so-called cap and trade legislation.
"Climate Change is real, the science is overwhelming, and it poses a massive threat to our future. That is why I have fought for renewable fuels and clean energy alternatives," McCaskill said, adding she opposed cap and trade because she could not "saddle Missourians on fixed incomes with sky high utility bills." Missouri generates about 80 percent of its electricity from coal.
"At the same time, I oppose this administration's efforts to take a massive step backward with abandoning fuel efficiency standards and doing everything possible to help the profits of big oil companies," McCaskill added.
Indeed, President Donald Trump's administration has unwound numerous climate actions dating to Obama's administration.
In June 2017, Trump removed the United States from the Paris climate agreement, a landmark accord that seeks to limit global temperature rise to less than 2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels this century.
The Trump administration has announced plans to scrap planned fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, and in August announced a replacement to Obama's Clean Power Plan, which environmental advocates decried.
In attempting to undo fuel efficiency standards, the Trump administration said in an August environmental impact statement that the planet is predicted to warm 7 degrees Fahrenheit (about 4 degrees Celsius) above preindustrial levels by the end of the century assuming humans don't change course. Given that, the administration argued the new standards would do little to slow warming.
As attorney general, Hawley did not pull Missouri from a lawsuit challenging the Clean Power Plan. Hawley also dissolved the agriculture and environment division in the attorney general's office to "improve efficiency," his office told the Post-Dispatch.
Although Trump made waves with each attempt to roll back environmental protections, polling indicates that voters are focused on other issues.
According to a Sept. 19 nationwide Reuters/Ipsos poll, just 5 percent of likely voters surveyed said "the environment" was the most important issue the country faces; health care, immigration and the economy were the top three concerns.
A May Pew Research Center survey showed that the farther away respondents lived from coastal areas, the less likely they were to say climate change affected their communities. Even so, a May Gallup poll showed that a majority of all Americans worry a "great deal/fair amount" about climate change, with 70 percent of adults under 35 voicing concern, more than older age groups.
Hawley, in attempting to tie McCaskill to "radical environmentalists," may be on the right side of public opinion in Missouri, a conservative state. At the same time, McCaskill has positioned herself as a middle-of-the-road legislator on environmental issues, drawing criticism from environmentalists and policy wonks.
Still, John Hickey, president of the Missouri chapter of the Sierra Club, which supports more regulations to reign in greenhouse gas emissions, said he prefers McCaskill over Hawley.
"We have done our homework, and we do see that the candidates differ very strongly on the environment," Hickey said. "Josh Hawley is no friend to clean air and clean water."
The Sierra Club has so far not endorsed McCaskill, however. Hickey did praise McCaskill's "no" vote to confirm Scott Pruitt as EPA administrator. "When there's been this concerted attack on bedrock environmental laws, she's been there," he said.
McCaskill's 74 percent score with the League of Conservation Voters is higher than the score for Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who has a lifetime score of 5 percent. The group advocates for "sound environmental laws and policies," including "advancing the climate agenda launched by President Obama."
Maxine Lipeles, director of the Interdisciplinary Environmental Clinic at Washington University, took issue with McCaskill's opposition to cap and trade legislation, but acknowledged there would likely be a cost associated with a transition to renewable energy.
Lipeles said, however, that electricity rates for Ameren UE customers, for example, are artificially low because the utility's coal-fired power plants generally lack modern pollution controls.
"The public is paying a lot of cost in air pollution and water pollution and groundwater contamination from these activities," Lipeles said.
She said that renewable energy keeps getting cheaper, and that cap and trade encourages a more aggressive transition to renewable energy. In such a system, the government sets a pollution limit, or "cap," and companies sell, or "trade," emissions allowances to other companies that pollute more.
Kathleen Henry, president of the St. Louis-based Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, said McCaskill's record leaves a lot to be desired.
"I don't think she has (acknowledged climate change's severity) when she opposed cap and trade and supports Keystone. Both of those are actions that deny the reality of climate change," she said. "I wish both candidates would acknowledge the reality of climate change and the threat it poses to Missouri and all of humanity."
Lipeles said the issue of climate change has become politically charged, which isn't helpful, she said.
"When you talk about specific issues, I think there is pretty strong public support," Lipeles said. "But if you talk about regulations or environmental protection, then people start getting more polarized in a less productive way."
