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Religious leaders call for end to mountaintop removal

As the brilliant lights of the White House shine across Pennsylvania Avenue Monday evening, generated by a coal-fired plant that uses coal stripmined from devastating mountaintop removal operations in Appalachia, religious leaders and organizations representing over 45 million Americans from across the country will hold a special candlelight prayer vigil at 7pm in Lafayette Park. […]

Foreign disbelief of topless America

Spoleto, Umbria — When President Barack Obama trundled into the bel paese of Italy for the G8 gathering last month, some of my neighbors in the verdant hills of Umbria were surprised to learn about their country’s small (12 percent roughly) but lingering dependence on coal-fired plants. Draping banners down four coal-fired towers of carbon […]

Bob Corker (R-Tenn.)

Bob Corker Sen. Bob Corker came out swinging against the climate bill that the House passed in June. “I didn’t think it was possible, but the Waxman-Markey climate bill appears to be even more problematic than the climate bill that tanked in the Senate last spring,” he said, referring to the Lieberman-Warner bill that he […]

Friday music blogging: Regina Spektor

Regina Spektor was born to a Jewish family in Moscow. After emigrating to the states, she studied classical piano at the Manhattan School of Music and began recording pop songs when she was 18, with the “anti-folk” crowd in the East Village. When it comes to solo singer-songwriters, it’s very easy for whimsical to tip […]

Can climate legislation survive the Senate Ag Committee’s embrace?

Real climate action–or agribusiness as usual?Photo: mike138After the House narrowly passed the Waxman-Markey climate legislation, there was some talk that the bill might be “strengthened” in the Senate. The bill’s sponsors had faced a serious slog in getting it through the House, and were forced into making large compromises with the energy and agribusiness industries. […]

Mike Crapo (R-Idaho)

Mike Crapo Sen. Mike Crapo is probably going to oppose a climate bill this year, but he’s shown signs that he could be convinced to vote yes. Crapo would want a bill to provide substantial support for nuclear power, which he emphasized during an exchange with Energy Secretary Steven Chu at a recent hearing of […]

Why CO2 regulation will lead to lower electricity prices

An observation on the greenhouse gas policy debate: Excluding those who question whether we need a GHG policy at all, the debate is fundamentally one about where certainty is most important.  Some think the most important thing is price certainty and argue for a tax.  Others think the most important thing is emissions certainty and […]

EEStor CEO says game-changing energy storage device coming by 2010

If the Texas company EEStor is running a scam, it’s a frakking brilliant one. For years the otherwise tight-lipped outfit has been promising a capacitor that can quickly charge, quickly discharge, and hold enormous amounts of energy — on all accounts, performance far beyond any battery on the market, or even contemplated. If it performs […]

Lobby firm forges anti-climate-bill letters from Hispanic group and NAACP

Updated reactions below The Charlottesville, Va., Daily Progress broke the story of a D.C. lobbying firm forging letters in opposition to the House climate bill: As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from […]

Climate-news poem: Forgery edition

There once was a firm known as BonnerWhose tactics were lacking in honor.“Can’t get white letters read?We’ll forge brown ones instead!”Oh Bonner, you should be a goner. Whose words these are I think I know.AFLCIO2008 via flickr