Latest Articles

Friday music blogging: Gigi

I grew up listening to my dad’s vinyl. (Kids, point your iThingies here to learn more!) He was a fan of late ’50s and early ’60s Brill Building-style pop — early Beatles, Little Richard, The Coasters, The Everly Brothers, The Shangri-Las, Frankie Avalon, and compilations with names like “At the Hop.” (Kids, a “sock hop” […]

What the John Paul Stevens retirement means for energy progress

Stevens (center) with President Obama and Justice Anthony Kennedy last September.Collection of the Supreme Court of the United StatesSupreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens announced his long-expected retirement Friday, meaning we can expect another testy/goofy/”contentious” confirmation process in the Senate this summer. Stevens’ retirement means a few other things too: 1. The court loses an […]

Offshore drilling most popular among Republicans, elderly, white, and wealthy

When President Obama announced recently that he’d open new coastal areas to offshore drilling, there was considerable speculation as to what the political fallout might be. Most progressive pundits were baffled by the decision, and the general consensus seemed to be that it was a political move designed to influence key decision makers. The immediate […]

Before the Massey mine disaster, there was Crandall Canyon

I’m reposting an essay I wrote in 2007 about another mine disaster. It’s relevant to what’s happening now in West Virginia. In March 2007, I testified before a House subcommittee on energy and mineral resources about the impact of climate change on public lands. There were seven witnesses, and one was Robert Murray, founder of […]

Grist: hating on Don Blankenship before hating on Don Blankenship was cool

Rachel Maddow absolutely nailed the Massey mine story, with some help from Jeff Goodell: The tragedy at the Upper Big Branch Mine has prompted lots of folks in the national media to take a close look at Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship for the first time, but I wrote my first post on Blankenship (“Massey […]

Bizarre ag policy, ethanol cage match, and more

When my info-larder gets too packed, it’s time to serve up some choice nuggets from around the Web. —————- Get ’em while they’re hot.  • Time’s Michael Grunwald on a truly absurd twist in U.S. farm/trade policy: in order to maintain subsidies to U.S. cotton farmers and avoid a trade war with Brazil, the U.S. […]

Carbon cap would deny Iran precious petrodollars: Over $100 million a day

Cross-posted from Wonk Room. A strong cap on carbon would significantly cut the flow of petrodollars to Iran’s hostile regime, a Wonk Room analysis shows. The economic and political strength of Iran’s dictatorship is a threat to the national security of the United States and the world, and its nuclear ambitions threaten to destabilize the […]

Bike love in unlikely places—Detroit, Dallas, Abu Dhabi

Courtesy Moriza via FlickrI’m hard pressed to think of three places less likely to invest in bicycle infrastructure than Detroit, Dallas, and Abu Dhabi. But they are. Motor City will add 30 miles of bike lanes, focused in its southwest quadrant, with hopes to add hundreds of miles more in coming years. Dallas citizens, planners, […]

Coal barons to (finally) testify before Congress

Well now isn’t this interesting. Throughout the seemingly endless battle over climate-change legislation, not once have the folks behind the biggest source of climate pollution — coal executives — been asked to publicly account for their industry’s role. Now it looks like they will. On Wed. April 14 at 9:30am, the House Select Committee on […]

Massey coal miner suspected safety problems might prove fatal

At least one miner killed in this week’s tragic disaster in West Virginia seemed to sense that safety problems in the mine might prove fatal.  Josh Napper left a note for his girlfriend and toddler daughter the weekend before he died.  As his mom, Pam Napper, tells CNN, it said, “If anything happens to me, […]