Key events and challenges: a computational text analysis of the 115th house of representatives on Twitter.

To determine to what extent politicians publicly discuss environmental issues in line with public opinion and economic characteristics of their constituents, we conducted a computational text analysis of the 115th House of Representatives' tweets about environmental issues. In polarized U.S. environmental politics, many Republicans attack the authority of scientists and regulators but some signal a desire for bipartisan policy compromises. Analyzing district characteristics and environmental communication on Twitter reveals that nominally pro-environment Republicans representing more moderate constituents fail to oppose their partisan colleagues, particularly during the Trump administration's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. At the same time, very few openly attacked climate science; instead, House Republicans primarily focused attention on fossil fuels, the Environmental Protection Agency and the right of the federal government to regulate economic activity. The 'Waters of the United States' served as a rallying cry for opposition to environmental regulation in the 115th House of Representatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]