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All Awkward Pauses Considered

I was on the radio, doing a humorless slow-drone thing when I think maybe they wanted some zest and wit and, um, brevity.

New EPA fuel economy regs

The EPA's long-awaited and more accurate fuel-economy calculations will debut next week.

Poor safety enforcement led to the tragedy

The Sago mine disaster was first and foremost an incredible tragedy. (I challenge you to read this story and not get a tear in your eye.) I haven't said anything about it because in my experience most initial reports around accidents like this are exaggerated or plain wrong -- and that was certainly the case in Sago.

But now that the dust is clearing a little bit, there seems to be a growing consensus that the accident was, if not the direct result, at least indirectly related to a woeful lack of enforcement on the part of the Mine Safety and Health Administration. And that, of course, has to do with the coal industry's extraordinary friendliness with the Bush administration (though previous administrations, including Clinton's and Bush I's, share plenty of responsibility).

Start with today's NYT editorial, but for details and background, check out the guest posts from Ellen Smith, the editor of Mine Safety and Health News, over on Washington Monthly: here, here, and here. ThinkProgress also has some good stuff here, here, and here.

Update [2006-1-6 14:28:57 by David Roberts]: More from Jordan Barab.

Trawl of Tears

Deepwater fish being pushed to the edge of extinction Key species of deep-sea fish are nearing extinction, having declined by up to 98 percent in the past few decades. In a new study in the journal Nature, three researchers analyzed catches of five deepwater species from the northwest Atlantic, off the Canadian coast — each […]

Diss Diss Bang Bang

Feds hand management of Idaho gray wolves over to the state Uh oh, there’s gonna be some shootin’! The Bush administration has transferred management of the gray wolf population in Idaho to the state government — even though the animal is still listed under the federal Endangered Species Act. The deal was sealed at a […]

The Mustache of Understanding speaks truth

Woah. Tom Friedman is on fire. Of course you can't read it unless you pay for Times $elect, so here are the relevant bits:

Sorry, but being green, focusing the nation on greater energy efficiency and conservation, is not some girlie-man issue. It is actually the most tough-minded, geostrategic, pro-growth and patriotic thing we can do. ...

...

The biggest threat to America and its values today is not communism, authoritarianism or Islamism. It's petrolism. Petrolism is my term for the corrupting, antidemocratic governing practices - in oil states from Russia to Nigeria and Iran - that result from a long run of $60-a-barrel oil. Petrolism is the politics of using oil income to buy off one's citizens with subsidies and government jobs, using oil and gas exports to intimidate or buy off one's enemies, and using oil profits to build up one's internal security forces and army to keep oneself ensconced in power, without any transparency or checks and balances.

...

No matter what happens in Iraq, we cannot dry up the swamps of authoritarianism and violent Islamism in the Middle East without also drying up our consumption of oil - thereby bringing down the price of crude. A democratization policy in the Middle East without a different energy policy at home is a waste of time, money and, most important, the lives of our young people.

...

We need a president and a Congress with the guts not just to invade Iraq, but to also impose a gasoline tax and inspire conservation at home. That takes a real energy policy with long-term incentives for renewable energy - wind, solar, biofuels - rather than the welfare-for-oil-companies-and-special-interests that masqueraded last year as an energy bill.

...

Green is the new red, white and blue.

Amen, brother!

Update [2006-1-6 11:11:0 by David Roberts]: Just as a tangential side-note: I know how (conservative populism) and why (9/11) it happened, but nonetheless I find it utterly galling how completely our national dialogue has come to be dominated by arguments about who is more macho and who is a "sissy." (Note to Friedman: "sissy" is not a word that genuinely macho people use.) What about intelligence? Pragmatism? Anyone?

Lists and very alternative energy

Among the nifty things to read about in L.A. Weekly's List Issue is this:

"8 New Very Alternative Energy Ideas"

I particularly like the bit with the hamsters.

Who’s fired up about energy?

New York governor George Pataki (R) is delusional if he thinks he's going to win the Republican nomination for president. McCain might have a teeny tiny eensy beensy sliver of a chance. Giuliani, even eensier. But Pataki, no. The very things he's done to appeal to moderates in his home state will damn him irredeemably in the eyes of today's Republican base.

That said, he does seem set to run, and as peakguy on Oil Drum NYC says, his final State of the State speech may well be setting up one of the central planks of his strategy: independence from "foreign oil."

Not just here in New York, but across the nation, our reliance on foreign oil is hampering the financial freedom of our working families and their employers; it is hurting our economy, damaging our environment and enriching regimes that support, harbor and encourage the terrorists who threaten our national security.

You'll be hearing this kind of stuff from members of both parties. It will be pitched to sound tough on national security and bullish on the economy. Environmental messages will be muted at best.

I must say I'm skeptical about the electoral efficacy of energy independence, at least at present. While it is carefully calibrated to appeal across a number of demographics, I don't think anybody but environmentalists really feel fired up about it. Like most environmental issues, its appeal is broad but shallow.

We've had high gas prices this year, and that put oil on everybody's radar. And of course there's, you know, the Iraq war, which according to a new study may run this country up to $2 trillion. But most folks still don't connect that to oil.

Most people have not have their lives directly affected by our dependence on oil -- at least in ways they perceive as such. Most people are still living their comfortable, driving, suburban, middle-class lives just fine. It will take a huge, sustained price spike, I think, before "energy independence" gets any real traction as a campaign slogan.

It’s over

Well, damn. Kevin Drum stole my thunder.

I wanted to draw special attention to a post by John Quiggin, which announces:

More significantly, perhaps, 2005 saw the final nail hammered into the arguments climate change contrarians have been pushing for years. The few remaining legitimate sceptics, along with some of the smarter ideological contrarians, have looked at the evidence and conceded the reality of human-caused global warming.

He also makes this crucial point:

The science of cute

Ever wonder what makes some things (babies, puppies, the smiley-face emoticon) cute and other things (cockroaches, dinosaurs, Richard Pombo) not-so-cute? This New York Times article examines "The Cute Factor" -- science behind the characteristics such as roundness (think VW Beetle) and fuzziness that make an object worthy of the lovable, squeezable, I-want-to-eat-it-right-up-able adjective.

And cuteness is certainly not a concept lost on environmentalists. (See any plea from the World Wildlife Fund ever.) Listed in the article as ranking high on the cuteness scale are panda cubs, the stars of "March of the Penguins," and even the Prius. Now if only we could make carbon trading round and fuzzy.