Climate of Capitulation: An Insider's Account of State Power in a Coal Nation

Who wields power--and how--in environmental policy making at the state level, and how to fight ingrained favoritism toward coal and electric utilities. A rare insider's story.

Dr. Michael Mann, 2019 winner of the prestigious Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, calls Climate of Capitulation a "no-holds-barred exposé" and a "must-read."
2018 book award, PROSE competition (Honorable Mention, Government and Politics), a much-coveted recognition for "the very best in professional and scholarly publishing."

In Climate of Capitulation, Vivian Thomson offers an insider's account of how power is wielded at the state level when coal air pollution threatens people and ecosystems. Professor Thomson, a former member of Virginia's State Air Pollution Control Board, identifies a "climate of capitulation" in state government -- a deeply rooted favoritism toward coal and electric utilities in states' air pollution policies.

Thomson illuminates overt and covert power struggles that involved a host of players, including Governor Tim Kaine, and she exposes the root causes of Virginia's climate of capitulation. Extending her analysis to fifteen other coal-dependent states, Thomson offers policy reforms aimed at mitigating ingrained biases toward coal and electric utilities in states' air pollution policy making.