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Critical List: EPA delays rules on carbon emissions; Bachmann hates the EPA

The EPA is delaying until September rules that would regulate power plants' greenhouse gas emissions. Michele Bachmann has a great plan for the agency, should she become president: Rename it "the job-killing organization of America." That will solve everything! Fukushima clean-up has been a comedy of errors when it comes to safety protections. Many aren’t […]

American Electric Power threatens firings to stop pollution controls

The Kammer Power Plant, which spewed 364 pounds of mercury in 2009, is one of the AEP’s plants slated to be closed. Photo: OZinOHCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. This post was coauthored by Valeri Vasquez, special assistant for energy policy at the Center for American Progress. On June 9, American Electric Power (AEP), […]

A fight over the future of farming: U.N. ag group vs. Big Ag

Small-ag mindset vs. Big Ag muscle.“The present paradigm of intensive crop production cannot meet the challenges of the new millennium,” says a new report from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). In other words: Big Ag, step aside. It’s not as if the world is being fed particularly well at the moment — […]

Rage of a dying dinosaur: Why is AEP really shutting down five coal plants?

American Electric Power's shutting down five of its coal plants because they aren't profitable. But rather than admit that, it's putting out press releases blaming the "job-killing EPA."

Climate hawk Jay Inslee poised to enter Washington governor’s race

Jay Inslee, gubernatorial wannabe. Cross-posted from ThinkProgress Green. With Gov. Chris Gregoire’s (D) announcement that she will not seek reelection in 2012, Rep. Jay Inslee (D) has emerged as the frontrunner to get the Democratic nomination for the Washington governorship. Inslee is one of the fiercest climate hawks in the nation, leading Congress in the fights against climate pollution […]

Cities can lead on climate-change solutions — here’s how

Rapid transit buses, like these in Los Angeles, reduce emissions and are cheaper than light rail.Photo: ChrisCross-posted from the World Resources Institute. The post was written by Manish Bapna, WRI’s executive vice president and managing director. On June 2, I had the pleasure of speaking at the C40 Summit in São Paulo, Brazil. The C40 […]

Supporting mom-and-pop stores in food deserts

The Obama administration’s initiative to fight food deserts will help, not harm, mom-and-pop stores.Photo: arbyreedGary Nabhan and Kelly Watters are right that it will take a diversity of new and expanded fresh food stores to truly solve the crisis of inadequate access to healthy food in many low-income areas. Small grocery stores, farmers markets, and […]

Don’t you dare blow up this mountain: Defending a historic spot against Big Coal [VIDEO]

Hundreds of activists from around the country joined local unionized coal miners in standing up to the coal industry last week, marching for five days and 50 miles through West Virginia. Their protest culminated on Saturday at Blair Mountain, the site of a violent clash in 1921 between 15,000 striking coal miners and a hired […]

Getting their fair share: The rise of the barter market [VIDEO]

Barter markets — where people bring stuff they don’t want and exchange it for stuff that other people don’t want — are like urban sustainability Swiss Army knives. It’s amazing how many things they can do. They reduce the amount of expensive new crap people buy. They help folks clean out unwanted junk from their […]

Defending EPA: Sen. Ben Cardin, Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, and me at Netroots Nation

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), defender of the EPA.Photo: Edward KimmelThe EPA is under full-scale assault. Republicans are working furiously to defund the agency and block or weaken its upcoming regulations on greenhouse gases, toxic hazardous emissions, sulfur dioxide, coal ash, and mountaintop-removal mining. (For more on those rules, see my series “Power Struggle.”) And they […]