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House swing votes stay mum on climate bill

Nine House Democrats who could determine the fate of the American Clean Energy & Security Act: (rear, from left) Baron Hill, Earl Pomeroy, Artur Davis, Rick Boucher; (front, from left) Mike Ross, Charlie Melancon, Jason Altmire, John Tanner, and Gene Taylor.Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / GristOf the 31 lawmakers who form the statistical center […]

Activist groups rally support for climate bill

Photos of 1sky volunteers in South Carolina from their June 19 action day event. Find out how you can get involved with climate action groups.1sky.org via FlickrThis is an exciting week for environmental activist organizations. After all, they’re all about rounding up masses of grassroots supporters for just such an occasion as the expected House […]

Coal is here to stay, says Obama’s chief environmental adviser

In an exclusive interview with Grist, Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, says coal isn’t going away anytime soon.  She also says the administration can’t promise a slowdown in mountaintop-removal mining.  Here are highlights in video and text. (For more, read the full Q & A.) On coal: [C]learly coal […]

Scant evidence for charge that EPA ‘suppressed’ dissent [Updated]

UPDATE 6/26: The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a draft of the “suppressed” report, which confirms the EPA’s explanation: The agency didn’t think much of the report because it’s authored by an economist claiming to be a climatologist. “We have become increasingly concerned that EPA and many other agencies and countries have paid too little attention […]

Britain coughs up a coal-powered climate policy

“Give me coal,” Ernest Bevin, Britain’s immediate post-war foreign secretary told the nation’s miners 53 years ago, “and I’ll give you a foreign policy.” UK climate change secretary Ed MilibandWikimedia CommonsExhausted, and almost bankrupt after defeating Hitler’s Reich, but still insisting on maintaining a huge army and air force to remain a world power, Britain […]

How bad is the Peterson-Waxman deal on climate legislation?

Big Ag gets its way. [See update below.] Surprising no one–but disappointing many–House energy chief Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has caved in to the demands of the the agribusiness industry over the climate bill. In reality, he had little choice if he wanted his legislation to get through the House. For more than a month, House […]

How Waxman-Markey tackles climate change by saving forests

One of the little-known ingredients of the deal that allowed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, H.R. 2454, to pass the Energy and Commerce committee was a breakthrough on protections for the world’s vanishing tropical forests. The bill’s authors, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), used this agreement to achieve the bill’s […]

Climate bill puts Americans in the green (SEE MAP)

There’s a lot of talk about the costs of the proposed climate bill for American consumers. As we’ve documented repeatedly, opponents of climate policy have cranked out lots of “studies” to prove the bill will crater the economy. The latest garbage to come out of the opposition team was the map that suddenly popped up […]

Getting to know the neighborhood — through its trash

Left behind.coldcolours via flickrIt’s Sunday on Bourne Street. I am weeding at the JP Green House, furious at the reappearance of the Dog Strangling Vine that we battled hard last summer. A pernicious creeping vine, it takes over any neglected area around here: East Coast kudzu. An abandoned house is not really vacant, but inhabited […]

Big biomass, bigger opposition

Electric cars powered by the burning of biomass would “average 81% more transportation kilometers and 108% more emissions offsets per unit area cropland than cellulosic ethanol” according to a recent study, and climate science guru James Hansen has declared implementation of biomass crucial to combating climate change, but those endorsements won’t make a bit of […]