Dupage Policy Journal

Sean Casten, who has been referred to as Congress’ fiercest climate hawk, is Mayor Keith Pekau's Democratic opponent for the IL-06 congressional seat. The climate-crisis advocate is receiving criticism for his luxurious 6,000-mile trip to Iceland, which was not only costly but also not environmentally friendly, as a flight that far would have emitted major amounts of carbon dioxide.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Sean Casten traveled to Iceland in late August through early September alongside the Aspen Institute on the think tank's congressional trip. The Democrat's travel disclosures reveal that Casten flew business class from Chicago to Reykjavík, Iceland, and back—a roundtrip flight that totals 5,888 miles and emits more than 313,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, given that on average, planes produce 53.3 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile traveled. Casten's lodging took place at a luxury European hotel complete with private meals and a $5,000 total price tag.

This summer, redgreenandblue.org referred to Casten as "Congress’ fiercest climate hawk" and noted he's a member of the House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis.

The Beacon points out Casten did not actually need to travel thousands of miles on a gas-guzzling flight to meet with many of the climate "leaders" the Aspen Institute assembled, as a majority of the scholars he met with are based in the states. For example, the trip's schedule reveals a pair of roundtable discussions on day one of the trip featured Polar Institute senior fellow Sherri Goodman, Harvard University's Meghan O'Sullivan, and Rockefeller Foundation president Rajiv Shah, all of whom are based in the United States.

The Democrat has a history of successfully pushing for hundreds of billions of dollars in green energy spending while also holding a stake of up to $500,000 in Greenleaf Power, a Sacramento-based green energy company that will likely benefit from the spending, the Beacon says.

“Sean Casten is disingenuous and hypocritical on climate change," Pekau said in a press release. "The only impact he has had in Congress has been on his own bottom line. The combination of Casten’s insolent self-dealing and Biden’s distressing incompetence has been a disaster. I am running for Congress to restore common sense leadership to Washington DC.” 

According to Ballotpedia, Keith Pekau (R) and Sean Casten (D) are running in the general election for Illinois' 6th Congressional District on Nov. 8.

Congress voting data from FiveThirtyEight shows Casten has voted with Biden 99% of the time since first joining Congress in 2019.