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Supreme Court rules against coal company accused of buying a West Virginia judge

After the Massey Energy coal mining company lost a $50 million verdict to a competitor, CEO Don Blankenship spent $3 million electing a friendly judge to West Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals who went on to cast the deciding vote in a case that overturned the verdict. But yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court handed a setback to Massey, a company notorious for its reliance on destructive mountaintop removal mining throughout Central Appalachia, with a ruling that elected judges must recuse themselves from cases involving big campaign contributors.

Environmental groups urge Pelosi to toughen bill

Twenty major environmental groups sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi a letter (here) urging that she make three key improvements in the Waxman-Markey bill and reject attempts to weaken it. The groups, which include the Sierra Club, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Audubon Society, Environment America, the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resource Defense […]

WSJ front-page shocker: U.S. Foresees a Thinner Cushion of Coal"

Okay, it isn’t a shock to long-time readers that the US Geological Survey sharply scaled back projections of economically-recoverable US coal (see “Are we approaching peak coal? Part 1” and “Part 2“). As I reported in January, the USGS concluded: The coal reserves estimate for the Gillette coalfield is 10.1 billion short tons of coal […]

Washington Post launches attack on clean energy and climate bill for promoting building efficiency

Memo to Washington Post: Please, please trade editor Fred Hiatt to the Wall Street Journal editorial page where his penchant for allowing unfact-checked crap into the paper – and for writing it himself – would no longer hurt the reputation of a (once) great newspaper. There are lots of reasons for progressives and the progressive […]

Will health care eclipse climate in Congress this year?

Halfway through the second debate of last fall’s presidential campaign, moderator Tom Brokaw asked the candidates what their top priority would be if elected. McCain hemmed and hawed, but Obama answered in plain language: energy is “priority No. 1” and health care “priority No. 2.” Fast forward. In an NYT Magazine piece this weekend on […]

At Bonn climate talks, it’s a dialogue of the deaf

Climate protesters march in Bonn on June 6.Courtesy Oxfam Germany via Flickr BONN, Germany — Beethoven’s birthplace stands just a few stops down one of Bonn’s speedy tramlines from the conference center hosting the latest session of the international climate negotiations. A modest yellow-painted house with dark green wooden shutters, it is now a museum […]

A closer look at problems with the sectoral approach to carbon offsets

Last month I went home to Barcelona to attend Carbon Expo, one of the major annual gatherings for professionals involved in the global carbon market. There were many interesting conversations and panel discussions over the course of the three-day conference, but one in particular focused on sectoral mechanisms as a way of sourcing international offsets […]

Climate bill would be a net gain for federal budget, says CBO

Were it to become law, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) would be a net gain for the federal Treasury, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office. The report finds that the bill, sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), would raise roughly $845.6 billion in federal […]

The good, the bad, and the ugly at Bonn

Apparently, neither rain or large groups of NGOs descending on them to discuss climate change negotiations serves to deter people in Bonn from enjoying their orchestra in the park. That’s how the Climate Action Network meeting (an umbrella group of NGO actors) was serenaded today by traditional band music. It was all very innocuous until, […]

Some heated exchanges from Bonn on “binding commitments” for Copenhagen

Photo: Ellas DadPhoto: Ella’s DadIn the climate negotiations occurring in Bonn, Germany there is an emerging debate on the form of “commitment or action” developing countries will undertake (as the Economic Times in India points out).  This has been a long running debate in the international global warming negotiations, but it has gained more focus […]