In this newsletter: August Council Meeting in Austin
🏆 Win: Arizona Utility Board | Act to Stop Line 5 by 6/30
📆 On Tap: Texas Convention | 🌏 Biggest Earth Month Mobilization
🚙 Council on the Air & on the Road | DNC Organizing | More!
Hello Climate Activist,
Happy Summer! For many, this is a quieter time of year. But not for us at the Council.
As you’ll see in the newsletter below, we are traveling the country and speaking at online events, reaching people from coast to coast and beyond. In red states and in blue states. In communities where the fight against data centers is front and center. And in places already experiencing the devastating impacts of extreme heat.
And 2026 is only getting started. This summer, we're doubling down: on events, on organizing, and on the work of taking back Congress in November.
I hope you'll join us. You'll find upcoming events and calls to action below, and more ways to get involved on our website and social channels. You know what is at stake this November. We have defeated MAGA before, and we will do it again. But only if we put in the work, starting now.
I look forward to seeing all of you at events soon.
In solidarity and service,
Michelle Deatrick
Chair, DNC Council on the Environment and Climate Crisis
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💙 YOU’RE INVITED: DNC Climate Council Summer Meeting, Austin. August 14 Join us for the Council’s in-person meeting on Friday August 14th at 4PM, an official event of the DNC Summer Convention. We’re planning another engaging and interactive gathering, and all are welcome to attend. Panels and guest speakers will discuss Texas’ climate and environmental justice challenges, as well as the growing importance of climate as a winning political issue. Members of the environmental community and Democrats from across the country are encouraged to join us. Attendees are also invited to participate in additional events taking place throughout the DNC Summer Convention, including other caucus and council meetings. The full DNC Summer Convention is August 13–16. Register for the Council’s meeting, where you’ll also find information about Convention registration. The full Convention agenda is here.
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🏆 VICTORY: Council Helps Flip Arizona Salt River Project Board to Renewable Majority The Council co-hosted three livestreamed phone banks with Lead Locally, JanePAC, and Third Act to elect climate-focused champions to Arizona's Salt River Project Board, one of the largest publicly owned utilities in the country. The results were historic. The newly elected board majority is committed to keeping energy affordable, expanding renewable resources, protecting our climate, and ensuring accountability for data centers. This is what the Council's organizing strategy looks like in action: we partner with allies, mobilize volunteers, and elect leaders who will use their power for climate, affordability, and accountability.
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🚨 CALL TO ACTION: Tell EGLE to Reject Enbridge's Line 5 Tunnel Pollution Permit — Deadline June 30 The Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) is accepting public comments through June 30, 2026 on a water discharge permit for Enbridge's proposed Line 5 oil tunnel through the Straits of Mackinac, one of the most environmentally sensitive stretches of freshwater on the planet. The proposed permit is horrific. It would authorize Enbridge to dump up 5 to 6 million gallons a day of industrial construction wastewater into the Great Lakes, plus an unlimited volume of stormwater runoff carrying oil and undisclosed construction chemicals. This is the water that 40 million people across 8 states and Canada depend on for drinking, fishing, and recreation. This tunnel is a solution looking for a problem. The U.S. doesn't need the fuel. It threatens the Great Lakes. And it locks us into fossil fuel infrastructure for decades at exactly the moment renewables have become the cheapest energy on the market. Add your voice before June 30: use our step-by-step guide to tell EGLE to reject the permit, with a ready-to-send letter and every way to submit in one place.
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📆 ON TAP: Chair Deatrick at the Texas Democratic Convention. June 25–27 This month, Chair Deatrick heads to Corpus Christi for the 2026 Texas Democratic Party State Convention, joining thousands of Texas Democrats organizing for the midterms. Texas is on the front lines of the climate crisis, from grid failures to extreme heat to the petrochemical buildout along the Gulf Coast, and Texas Democrats are organizing to win, and to fight for people and planet. On Friday, June 26, Chair Deatrick will speak at the Environmental Democrats Caucus alongside Mayor Elida Castillo, Program Director of CHISPA Texas and the first Latina elected mayor of Taft, TX. Mayor Castillo is a fighter for environmental justice and for holding big polluters accountable. The caucus brings together Texas Democrats focused on building a climate-forward party from the ground up.
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Chair Deatrick will also join the Texas Young Democrats' TDP After Dark event, the Lady Bird Breakfast with keynote speaker Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, and will meet with local and state environmental leaders throughout the convention.
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🌎 EARTH MONTH MOBILIZATION: Our Biggest Yet This April, the Council organized our fifth and largest Earth Month Mobilization to date: more than 85 events across 21 states, powered by Democrats at home and abroad. Every event was different, and every one mattered. There were highway and river cleanups and voter engagement at county fairs. There were candidate forums and webinars on issues defining this election: data centers, energy affordability, and how Democrats win on climate. Council leaders spoke at rallies and on climate justice panels, the Young Democrats of America Environmental Caucus held a Youth Climate Summit, and Democrats Abroad carried the movement across borders with an online Earth Rocks concert.
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This was our strongest Earth Month yet, and it belongs to the organizers who built it: the state environmental caucuses, the local Democratic Party groups, and the national YDA and Democrats Abroad Environmental Caucuses. This is what growing the climate movement inside the Democratic Party looks like, and it is exactly the energy we carry into November.
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🎙️ COUNCIL ON THE AIR: Panels, Climate Candidate Forum, Webinars Panel Discussion: The White House Effect Chair Deatrick joined the Democrats Abroad Environmental and Climate Crisis Council and The White House Effect filmmakers Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk. The film revisits the pivotal years of George H.W. Bush's presidency, when the United States faced a defining moment on climate, and shows how political strategy and industry influence stalled progress for decades. The panel tied that history to the challenges Democrats face today, with Cohen and Shenk reflecting on their research and what those lessons suggest for the path forward, in a conversation you can watch in full on YouTube. Gratitude to Democrats Abroad ECCC Chair Dana Freling for hosting.
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Climate Candidates Forum: Sierra Club NY-17 Democratic Primary Chair Deatrick moderated the Democratic primary candidate forum for New York's 17th Congressional District, a key target in the 2026 midterms. Hosted by Sierra Club New York and organized by Co-Chairs Ed Berry and Paul Presendieu, who also serves as the DNC Climate Council's Youth Engagement Director, the forum drew candidates into a substantive exchange on data centers, nuclear energy, renewable power, environmental justice, and the path to clean energy. With the June 23 primary now decided, we congratulate the winner, Cait Conley, who will face two-term Rep. Mike Lawler in what’s expected to be one of the elections that could decide control of the House. You can watch the full forum on YouTube.
Florida DECF Webinars: Data Center Risks & Affordability Chair Deatrick gave the keynote at a Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida webinar on the national surge of data centers and the strain they put on Florida's water, utility bills, and rural lands. The conversation covered what is at stake for communities statewide, how to campaign effectively on the issue, and the concrete policies officials can adopt in office to protect residents. You can watch the full data center webinar on YouTube. A second Democratic Environmental Caucus of Florida webinar looked at the rising costs of the climate crisis, from groceries and utilities to protecting against extreme weather. Chair Deatrick spoke alongside Georgia Public Service Commissioner Dr. Alicia Johnson, DECF President Judy Freiberg, Duval County Environmental Caucus President Dr. Therese Wakefield-Gamble, and environmental advocate Kim Heise. Watch the affordability discussion on YouTube.
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🚙 COUNCIL ON THE ROAD: Spring Meeting & ASDC in Louisiana, Netroots in Pennsylvania, Nevada Extreme Heat Summit & More Louisiana: ASDC Panel & Council Meeting at the DNC Convening The Council hosted its Spring Meeting on April 9 as part of the DNC's Spring Convening in New Orleans, drawing DNC members and Democrats from across the country. Dr. Alicia Johnson, who made history flipping a statewide Public Service Commission seat in Georgia's 2025 election, delivered keynote remarks. Featured speakers included Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Davante Lewis, Angelle Bradford (Louisiana Sierra Club), Britt Gondolfi (Bioneers), Mekhi Reddix-Stennis (Tulane College Democrats), Whit Jones (Lead Locally), and Louisiana Democratic Party Vice Chair Katie Darling.
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- "This moment does not need spectators. It needs builders." — Dr. Alicia Johnson, Georgia Public Service Commissioner - "The movement to climate justice is through people." — Davante Lewis, Louisiana Public Service Commissioner - "We are not people protecting nature. We are nature protecting itself." — Britt Gondolfi, Bioneers
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The Council also hosted a Speakers and Allies Dinner, gathering guests from environmental organizations and state environmental caucus leaders who came to attend our meeting from across the U.S. And at the meeting of Democratic Party state leaders (Association of State Democratic Committees or ASDC meeting, Chair Deatrick joined the Building Strong Caucuses and Councils In States panel alongside DNC Women's Caucus Chair Alicia Andrews, DNC Hispanic Caucus Chair Luis Heredia, and DNC Labor Council Chair Stuart Appelbaum. Chair Deatrick made the case that building environmental caucuses and councils inside the Democratic Party, and connecting them through the Council's Democratic Environmental Network (DEN), is one of the most effective ways to win on affordable, renewable energy. Pennsylvania: Netroots Nation Panel At Netroots Nation in Philadelphia, Chair Deatrick joined the Climate Wins panel, moderated by Climate Hawks Vote President RL Miller, which challenged the narrative that climate isn't a winning issue. She was joined by Congresswoman Yassamin Ansari (AZ) and Data for Progress Executive Director Ryan O'Donnell. Chair Deatrick also co-moderated the Climate Caucus meeting with RL Miller. The Council closed out the weekend by co-hosting a Climate Happy Hour alongside national allies including Lead Locally, JanePAC, and Third Act, bringing together supporters, organizers, and Pennsylvania climate candidates.
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Nevada: Southern Nevada Extreme Heat Summit Chair Deatrick delivered the keynote at the inaugural Southern Nevada Extreme Heat Summit, joined by Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom and convened by Southern Nevada Strong. The summit, which drew coverage from the Las Vegas Sun, unveiled a new regional strategy to protect Southern Nevadans from rising temperatures that have already made Reno and Las Vegas the fastest-warming cities in the country. Extreme heat is now the leading cause of weather-related deaths in Nevada, and it disproportionately harms outdoor workers, the unhoused, Black and Brown communities, and elders.
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"Extreme heat kills more people each year than hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes. Combined." — Chair Deatrick, at the Nevada Extreme Heat Summit
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Wisconsin: State Democratic Convention
Wisconsin is one of the country's tightest battlegrounds, and Chair Deatrick was in Madison for the State Party Convention where she connected with delegates, candidates, and organizers. Speaking to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Environmental Caucus, chaired by Vik Verma, she tied the climate crisis directly to the affordability crisis families are feeling at the pump, the grocery store, and on their electric bills.
At the convention's Politics of Place: How Climate Candidates Win on Water, Energy & Conservation in Wisconsin training, her remarks focused on the issues she is hearing about on her national listening tour, including hyperscale data centers, rising costs for energy, housing, and health care, and on why Democrats should lead in holding billion-dollar corporations accountable for pollution and climate harms.
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Michigan: MDP Environmental Caucus, AAUW Banquet, Buck Dinner At the Michigan Democratic Party Convention, Chair Deatrick joined MDP Environmental Caucus Chair Wesley Watson to lead a packed meeting of nearly 200 caucus members. Christy McGillivray of Voters Not Politicians spoke about the Michiganders for Money Out of Politics ballot initiative, which would bar regulated utilities and major state contractors from donating to officials and parties. Tina Catron of EDF Action shared updates on Michigan clean energy legislation. At the American Association of University Women Spring Banquet in Ann Arbor, Chair Deatrick spoke on the intersection of gender equity and climate justice, and the role of women's leadership in building a livable future. She also attended the 97th annual Buck Dinner, held in Detroit since 1929 and one of Michigan's longest-running progressive traditions, joined by guest Christy McGillivray.
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Washington, D.C.: LCV Capitol Dinner & WNDC Luncheon In DC, Chair Deatrick spent a day focused on climate and democracy. At a Women's National Democratic Club (WNDC) luncheon, speakers from the Brennan Center, the 1.5 Climate Strategy Group, and WNDC drew direct lines between protecting democracy and advancing climate action. That evening, at the League of Conservation Voters' annual Capitol Dinner Gala, she reconnected with DNC Chair Ken Martin and allies from across the environmental movement.
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California: Bioneers Convention
At the 37th annual Bioneers Convention in Berkeley, Chair Deatrick led a workshop on activating youth and emerging leaders in the climate movement. She also attended sessions on Indigenous water protection and met with longtime Council ally Berkeley City Councilmember Igor Tregub and other environmental leaders from across the country.
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📊 DNC ORGANIZING: Stuff Costs Too Much Weekend of Action Affordability is a climate issue, and Democrats are organizing around it. The DNC's Stuff Costs Too Much Weekend of Action, June 26–29, mobilizes Democrats nationwide to talk to voters about the rising cost of energy, groceries, housing, and insurance — costs being driven up in no small part by the climate crisis and the Trump administration's rollbacks of consumer and environmental protections. Get involved with the Weekend of Action and check the DNC's organizing platform for upcoming summer calls to action.
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🔉CELEBRATING: Caribbean American Heritage Month & Pride Month
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June is Caribbean American Heritage Month, and we're proud to celebrate our dynamic Youth Engagement Director Paul Presendieu, who is also the President of the Young Democrats of America’s Environmental Caucus. Paul’s smart, steady, on-the-ground work for climate and his community shows what real activism looks like.
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The climate crisis hits LGBTQ+ communities harder. And trans people of color and those who are unhoused often have the fewest resources and the most fragile safety net when extreme weather strikes. This Pride Month and every month, we celebrate these communities, recognize that the climate and environmental crises have disproportionate impacts, and honor the leadership of the LGBTQ+ community in building a livable, just future.
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