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Nuclear plans hurting power companies’ credit ratings

Power companies pursuing construction of new nuclear plants may find it harder to get credit — meaning ratepayers could end up shouldering a greater financial burden for the costly and environmentally harmful projects. Moody’s Investors Service, a leading independent credit rating firm, recently released a report that says it’s considering taking a “more negative view” […]

With House food-safety bill a done deal, questions remain [UPDATED]

Healthy appetizer — or public-health menace.[The House Food Safety Bill passed overwhelmingly Thursday afternoon. See more at bottom of post.] ————- The House will vote today on a momentous, controversial plan to overhaul a large swath of the nation’s food-safety system. The vote comes amid yet another round of recalls. On Tuesday, the FDA announced […]

Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)

Judd Gregg Sen. Judd Gregg has a record of backing action on climate change, even though his overall environmental record gets low scores from enviros. He voted in support of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act in 2003 and 2005. He wasn’t present for the Senate vote on the Lieberman-Warner climate bill last year, but suggested […]

Gideon Rachman: Inability to prevent mass suffering and death a “dilemma for climate activists”

This column from Gideon Rachman in the Financial Times really pushes my buttons. There’s something beneath the surface that is downright pathological, and not at all unique to Rachman. It besets most political pundits on this issue. I’ll try to dig it out. The premise of Rachman’s column is that while everyone accuses climate change […]

Olympia Snowe (R-Maine)

Olympia Snowe Sen. Olympia Snowe is considered a likely “yes” vote on climate legislation this year. She is a co-chair of the International Climate Change Taskforce, and has been reliably supportive of climate action. Snowe voted in favor of the McCain-Lieberman Climate Stewardship Act in 2003 and 2005, and she cosponsored the 2007 version of […]

Citizens want their leaders to make climate a higher priority, new poll finds

Here’s one thing citizens of the United States, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories have in common: According to a new 19-country public opinion poll on climate change, they’re the least likely to want more action on the issue from their governments. American citizens showed the least interest of all the countries in response to this […]

Is this a green home?

I’m thinking about reporting on this house as an example of sensible environmental design reproducible for the masses. Can anyone help me decide? This is a press release (emphasis mine): We handle parenting author, environmentalist, and “The Crafty Mom” Mary Lyon who recently built her 6,700 square foot spectacular “green” home in Brentwood, California. Below […]

Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)

Lamar Alexander Sen. Lamar Alexander realizes that we need to do something about climate change and has tried to distance himself from the skeptics in his party. “I am one senator who thinks climate change is a problem, humans are causing it, and we need to deal with it,” he said at a recent hearing […]

US can easily meet 2020 emissions target while lowering the nation’s energy bill $700 billion

More than perhaps any other company, McKinsey has documented how an aggressive energy efficiency strategy sharply lowers the cost of climate action (see “McKinsey 2008 Research in Review: Stabilizing at 450 ppm has a net cost near zero“). Today they released their most comprehensive analysis to date of this country’s energy efficiency opportunity, “Unlocking energy […]

The Germans’ heralded carbon capture plan? Pumping it directly into the atmosphere.

NIMBY, meet NUMBY: Not under my backyard. The Guardian reports today: It was meant to be the world’s first demonstration of a technology that could help save the planet from global warming — a project intended to capture emissions from a coal-fired power station and bury them safely underground. But the German carbon capture plan […]