Climate Politics
All Stories
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Money for Nothin’
Bush’s 2007 budget includes Arctic Refuge drilling, cuts EPA funding Unsurprisingly, greens will find little to love in President Bush’s proposed $2.77 trillion budget for fiscal year 2007. It calls for oil development in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, estimating $7 billion in revenue by 2008 from leasing drilling rights — nearly triple the $2.4 […]
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Should bicycling drunk be illegal?
Some important bicycle-related debate has been going on in South Dakota for the last few weeks. That's right, South Dakota.
Should cyclists and horseback riders be able to ride while intoxicated -- since it's usually a much safer alternative than drunken driving? The state Supreme Court just ruled that the current law says No: Bicycling can be considered "driving" because it qualifies as operating a vehicle. So cyclists still can be, and sometimes are, cited for DUIs in South Dakota.
While this comes as bad news for imbibing anti-car velorutionaries (who needs a DD when you have your trusty cruiser? I mean, really?), from a legal standpoint it could provide a solid basis for enforcing cyclists' rights on the road. After all, as any Critical Mass rider will tell you, cyclists don't block traffic, we are traffic.
Meanwhile, South Dakota's legislature, concerned about drunk driving but much less so about drunken cycling and horseback riding (and rightfully so, as I see it) have introduced a bill that would effectively make the court ruling moot and allow drunken cycling once again. The bill has already passed the state House, with a Senate vote expected soon.
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Wait, We Thought He Was a C Student
Bush, Congress get D+ on ocean protection efforts Ocean advocates are urging the Bush administration to wake up and smell the marine decay. The Joint Ocean Commission — a collaboration of two expert panels — has given the U.S. a D+ for efforts to reverse the deterioration of the world’s oceans, and warned that this […]
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The Revolution Will Be Prefaced With a White Paper
New Mexico senators lay groundwork for federal global-warming bill Could the somnolent federal Leviathan finally be waking to the danger heralded so long by state and local Lilliputians? Could that metaphor be more baroque? New Mexico’s senators say they will introduce a bill this spring in the Senate that would mandate action on global warming. […]
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SOTU: Coal execs confused, but pleased
The lede for this Wall Street Journal story is hilarious:
Power-industry executives reacted with mild puzzlement to President Bush's proclamation that the nation needs to "invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants" to wean itself off foreign oil. That's because oil isn't used much to make power and no one has yet developed a way to burn coal that produces no emissions.
They go on to say, of course, that they're delighted to be the recipient of a whole new bundle of subsidies. And who wouldn't be?
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Feds Say the Darnedest Things
Bush’s quasi-bold pronouncements on oil prompt criticism, backpedaling In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, President Bush declared that “America is addicted to oil” and that he would “make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.” Within 24 hours, fiasco ensued. Saudi Arabia’s ambassador said he would ask Bush, […]
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Might as Well Face It, You’re Addicted to Oil
In SOTU speech, Bush decries oil addiction, promises half-measures Those expecting bold, groundbreaking environmental policy from President Bush’s fifth State of the Union address were, uh, deluded. The big “news” is Bush’s stark declaration that “America is addicted to oil.” Though he’s made remarks about dependence on “foreign oil” in every SOTU he’s delivered, this […]
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The cat is out of the bag
Despite the modesty -- not to say wimpiness -- the Bush's proposed energy initiative, the real news of the night will be this line:
America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.
I don't know if this is Nixon-goes-to-China territory, but it's every bit as significant as Clinton acknowledging that "the era of big government is over." This kind of cat cannot be put back in the bag.
Humorously, Bush tried to put it back in the bag with his very next line:
The best way to break this addiction is through technology.
Those who know how to parse Bushese will understand this sentiment immediately. Translation: "The best way to respond to this problem is to hand out some public money to corporate interests." This is, here as so many other places, terrible public policy. Matt Yglesias concisely captures why:
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Billy-Come-Lately
Bill Clinton calls climate change public enemy No. 1 In a Saturday speech to the assembled corporate bigwigs and governmental muckety-mucks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, former President Bill Clinton called global warming the single most pressing problem facing the world. “It’s the only thing that I believe has the power to […]
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Take a Drink Every Time He Says “Nucular”
Bush will talk up nuclear, hydrogen, and ethanol in State of the Union “We’ve got to wean ourselves off hydrocarbons, oil,” said President Bush on Friday. Yup, you read that right. In an interview aired on CBS, the president said he would use this Tuesday’s State of the Union address to decry “foreign oil” and […]