The message from the federal government is clear — to hell with the planet.

On Aug. 22, the Trump administration ordered a halt to construction on a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is 80% complete and has the capacity to produce enough clean energy to power 350,000 homes. The project also creates hundreds of well-paying union jobs (now hundreds of layoffs) and has the potential to control skyrocketing electric rates.

It’s further evidence that the current administration is determined to crush alternative energy.

The bully-in-chief is not going to halt his all-out attack on clean energy, so we need to step up our game on the state level. With this in mind, I urge you to turn away from the federal train wreck for a moment and focus on our own state legislature’s failure to address the climate crisis.

Earlier this year, 19 of the 20 climate bills championed by Rhode Island environmental groups died a silent death in the state legislature, most of them because leadership didn’t allow a vote. One of those 19 bills involved the purchase of clean energy from local offshore wind projects, which would have helped reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, save precious union jobs, and maintain Rhode Island’s position at the leading edge of renewable energy.

Instead, our state leaders exiled the bill to the Siberia of “further study,” where it died a silent death.

If the leadership in this state — the speaker of the House, the president of the Senate, and the governor — gave two hoots about the environment, they would have allowed legislators to vote on those 19 bills. They would have backed the proposal to buy additional energy from Revolution Wind.

It’s important to note that Rhode Island has several fine legislators who have fought hard for the environment. But rank-and-file legislators have virtually no power in this state because the power is concentrated in the hands of the House speaker and Senate president.

How can this be? How can two legislators be allowed to run the whole show while stripping the people you elect of the opportunity to cast a vote?

Welcome to the profoundly undemocratic world of the Rhode Island legislature. Here’s how it works.

Your legislator files a bill and it’s assigned to committee.

The committee holds a hearing but no vote is taken.

Instead, all bills are automatically referred to “further study.” Most are never heard from again. They just disappear – no public debate, no vote, and no public explanation of what happened to them. Just silence.

The only person with the authority to bring a bill out of the purgatory of “further study” and call a vote is either the Senate president or the House speaker. The committee chair can’t call a vote, nor can a majority of committee members.

The result?

Ordinary legislators — the people you elect to represent your interests — have virtually no power.

There is no public accountability because votes are rare and are always successful because they don’t take place until back-room negotiations have ensured victory.

If this sounds like a good system, you can go back to watching the federal trainwreck and crying out in horror at each day’s travesty.

But if you’re like me, and believe that the role played by state government is more important than ever, you can take action right here in Rhode Island. Your vote still has some influence here, so please, contact your legislators and tell them that 1) you want the state to take meaningful action on the environment and, 2) that you want changes to the rules that will return democracy to the state legislature.

Bill Ibelle is a freelance journalist and author of “Into the Inferno.“