Climate Politics

Toward a community-owned, decentralized biofuel future

President Bush visits the Virginia Biodiesel Refinery in 2005. Photo: whitehouse.gov Biofuels won’t single-handedly solve the climate crisis, nor will they deliver energy independence. But a base of widely dispersed, farmer- and citizen-owned biofuel plants can displace significant amounts of fossil fuels — while also building local economies. What follows is a strategy for tweaking […]

To fulfill its environmental promises, biofuel policy needs a kick in the pants

As war simmers in the Middle East and oil prices rise along with global temperatures, Midwestern farmers and politicians aren’t the only ones banging the drums for biofuels. Now big-time investors, security hawks, environmentalists, and even George W. Bush have joined their ranks. But is environmentally responsible bioenergy a real possibility, or are we bio-fooling […]

Barbara Boxer is sweet talking us

Man oh man, I sure do like what I'm hearing from incoming Senate EPW Committee chair Barbara Boxer.

There's this:

Selecting Dion

Environmental advocate elected leader of Canada’s Liberal Party We bring you news from a faraway land called “Canada” (pronounced Can-uh-duh). Reports translated from Canadian reveal that the country’s out-of-power Liberal Party has elected as its new leader the greener-than-green Stephane Dion, an academic-turned-politician who served most recently as Canada’s Environment Minister. Dion’s victory was what […]

One Last Stab

U.S. House of Representatives will vote on offshore-drilling bill today The U.S. House will vote today on a measure to open 8.3 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling, as Republican leaders try to get in as much mischief as they can before being demoted. The bill is being pushed through under […]

The numbers behind ethanol, cellulosic ethanol, and biodiesel in the U.S.

America devours oil like no other country in the world. Representing 5 percent of the global population, the country consumes fully a quarter of the world’s oil. Every year, to move ourselves and our goods around, we burn 140 billion gallons of gasoline and 40 billion gallons of diesel — enough to propel the average […]

The drum beat is bringing the public around

When discussing the recent Supreme Court case, those opposed to action on climate change often use the argument that the court should rule against Mass. et al. because these kinds of legal challenges are end runs around the legislative process. Rather, they argue, it is the president and Congress that should be taking up this issue.

Duh.

Dingell and other Democrats plan oversight hearings on environmental issues

“There has been literally no oversight in the last six years,” Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), incoming chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Muckraker yesterday. “It’s been nothing more than Kabuki theater.” That’s why Dingell says he’s gearing up to hold oversight hearings investigating the Bush administration’s energy and environmental policies, as are […]

Letting the Cataclysm Out of the Bag

Supreme Court hears opening arguments in landmark climate-change case Climate change made its Supreme debut yesterday, as the high court began considering whether the U.S. EPA must regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Much of the opening session concerned whether the plaintiffs, including several green groups and a dozen states, had suffered enough […]

Mass Appeal

Supremes to decide whether EPA can or must regulate greenhouse-gas emissions Tomorrow, the U.S. Supreme Court will begin hearing arguments in Massachusetts v. EPA, a humdinger of a case looking at whether the federal government can or must regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. The case centers on a Clean Air Act provision that requires regulation of air […]