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Climate-news poem: OMG They’re Voting! edition

This week’s poem features dubious meter and indubitable passion. Fritter some time away by checking out a few previous climate poems. All eyes are on Waxman-Markey this week.From the orbs of ObamaTo the peepers of the meek. I’m just beside myself!Will it pass, is it lame, should we love it anyway?Did the Ag folks make […]

Update: Pass! Climate bill advances with 219-212 vote

News, rumors, and outright malarkey on the American Clean Energy Security Act‘s big day in the U.S. House. Will be updated throughout the day. —Analysis from Nate Silver at Fivethirtyeight: I don’t think there are 41 solid ‘no’s in the Senate — not yet. There might be 37 or 38 or 39, but not 41. […]

Waxman incorporates a score of amendments into final version of his clean economy legislation

Cross-posted from Wonk Room. After long negotiations, House leadership has unveiled the final version of the American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454), to be voted on by the full House today. The bill’s author, Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA), introduced an amendment in the form of a substitute (H.R. 2998), which incorporates a score […]

USDA food-desert report points to need for a soda tax

Obesity machine? The USDA released a new report on food deserts yesterday and the blogosphere lit up like a Christmas tree. Which, honestly, saves me a lot of trouble. Jill Richardson pulls out some excellent data nuggets here. To summarize: Food deserts are areas where residents lack access to supermarkets and other outlets selling a […]

ACES will help create more jobs and opportunities for low-income families — see map

The American Clean Energy and Security Act will help spur $150 billion in clean energy investments, which will create 1.7 million good-paying jobs throughout the United States. Clean energy jobs are labor intensive, and clean energy investments create more jobs across all skill and education levels than comparable investments in fossil-fuel energy sources. Clean energy […]

Mark Sanford’s “world wind” tour

Tour de Sanf.governor.sc.gov I’m not saying Mark Sanford is happy that Michael Jackson died. But … he is. Still, some brains have room for more than one scandalous news story at a time. And so even as I mourn Jacko’s passing, I find I can’t stop thinking about Mark Sanford’s juicy, tan line-admiring emails. Specifically, […]

Americans save on fuel bills under ACES — see map

The American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act allocates funding to produce the next generation of clean, fuel-efficient vehicles in the United States, and when combined with clean vehicle performance standards adopted by the Obama administration, the American on-road fleet will become about 25% more fuel efficient over the next decade. As a result, by […]

Waxman-Markey vote watch

Below is Grist’s best guess on who the undecided representatives are at this point, as well as the lawmakers who look likely to break partisan ranks. If you see or hear anything from these members that might indicate otherwise, please let us know and we will update. Likely fence-sitters — Democrats: Neil Abercrombie (Hawaii) — […]

A reading from the book of Jackson

I never cared for Michael Jackson. I’m just going to get that out of the way right now. He entered my fourth-grade consciousness as a zipper-sporting pop star burnt by Pepsi, and it just got weirder from there. The face heard round the world.murilo campos via flickrBut now I find I can’t stop thinking about […]

Pelosi cracks the whips to get climate bill passed

Are there 218 votes in the House of Representatives for clean energy and a healthier climate? Rep. Mike Doyle is one of nine lawmakers “whipping” up votes for the Waxman-Markey bill. Above, Doyle at a June 24 rally on Capitol Hill.Kate Sheppard / GristWith a vote on the American Clean Energy and Security Act expected […]