Interview: As Legislator Departs, He Reflects on Failure on Climate

One of the many Democratic casualties of the recent U.S. elections was Congressman Rick Boucher, who played a key role in the passage of cap-and-trade legislation by the House of Representatives. Representing a coal-producing region in southwestern Virginia, Boucher insisted on several pro-coal provisions in the bill, which attracted the support of leading utility companies and other coal-state legislators, ensuring narrow passage of the legislation. Yet Boucher’s opponent tarred him as an enemy of the coal industry, which contributed to his defeat in November after 28 years in Congress. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Boucher, who stepped down this week, talks about the role his support of climate legislation played in his unsuccessful re-election campaign, the bitter failure of the Senate to pass a climate bill, why the Environmental Protection Agency cannot do as good a job of regulating greenhouse gas emissions as Congress, and future prospects for tackling global warming.

Read the interview