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Johnson Scores

Senate confirms Johnson to head EPA Scientist and career agency veteran Stephen Johnson is the new head of the U.S. EPA. After a confirmation process that was oddly turbulent given the mild-mannered bureaucrat’s generally warm reception on both sides of the aisle, the Senate voted 61-37 just after midnight last night to approve a cloture […]

There Is a Lord God

Woodpecker thought extinct rediscovered; birders weep like babies It was spotted several times — once even filmed — over the past year and a half. Now, ornithologists writing in the journal Science have officially confirmed the existence of at least one ivory-billed woodpecker, a miraculously tangible token of a species long thought extinct. The discovery […]

More on Bush’s energy policy speech

Matt points to an interesting analysis of Bush's energy speech from last night, by Michael O'Hare. I'm not sure I agree with every detail, but it's hard to argue with the conclusion:

The energy policy of the Bush administration is to assure that its political base, namely the firms who know how to make money selling the fossil fuels we mostly use now, can go on doing so as long as possible. The political policy of the administration is to spend just enough nickels and dimes on real and fake alternatives to oil and coal to hide the policy. The implementation of these politics is an insult to citizens. And both the politics and the policy constitute an injury to future generations.

Readers talk back about art, our climate quiz, and how much they adore us

  Re: Imagine That Dear Editor: “Where are the books? The poems? The plays? The goddamn operas?” Bill McKibben is asking the right question, but looking in all the wrong places. The concern for subjects such as global warming and peak oil is not reflected in the corporate media or in corporate-funded arts institutions. McKibben […]

Cloture invoked.

Early today, the Senate voted 61-37 for cloture and confirmed Stephen Johnson as head of the U.S. EPA.

Environmental regulations are a tiny sliver of oil refinery costs.

As expected, one of Bush's complaints in last night's speech was that there haven't been new refineries coming online, thus creating a "bottleneck" in the system. There's some truth to that, but note that he contradicted himself when he said that jawboning other countries to boost supplies would lower the price of gas at the pump. [I should add: high gas prices are generally OK with me because they reduce long-run demand, though I'd prefer that extra money go to the U.S. government in the form of gas taxes rather than, say, into the opaque coffers of Ayatollah Khamenei, Hugo Chavez, or Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.]

Oh, and cry me a river about the refinery issue and the oh-so-costly regulations. The oil companies are doing just fine, according to the subscriber-only Wall Street Journal:

Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell Group both reported huge increases in first-quarter income, benefiting from the industrywide bonanza also swelling the coffers of their peers: high prices for the oil they pump and high margins for refining it. Both companies reported that their oil production declined, however.

Here's how the NRDC explains the matter:

Even Jimmy Carter was braver on energy issues.

This from an estranged Republican blogger:

Conservatives love to ridicule Jimmy Carter for wearing a sweater, telling Americans to turn down their thermostats in the winter, and urging them to drive smaller cars. But can anyone imagine President Bush going out on that kind of a limb to set an example? That lack of leadership will be his legacy on this issue.

Yeah. Shameful.

It's worth noting that Jimmy Carter was absolutely right on the merits, even though his political approach was (metaphorically) suicidal. For all of his bragging about being willing to take on "tough challenges," Bush has been deeply afraid to address energy issues with even a modicum of probity. Last night he did elevate the role of energy conservation to the level of national policy (rather than mere personal virtue), and that's a step forward rhetorically. But he's been in office for over four years now, and his vaunted energy bill does almost nothing on that front. Talk is cheap, cowboy.

More on Bush’s energy stuff

Alan pretty much covered the bases, but if you want more commentary on Bush's just-announced energy initiatives, Jeff has a roundup pointing to Ezra Klein and Mike Millikin. I'd also draw attention to John Carey and -- with delight -- James Wolcott. (I don't often get to link to Wolcott here, but trust me, you may find better insight other places, but you'll never find better prose.)

Meanwhile, professional smirker Jonah Goldberg floats the idea of a gas tax on NRO's blog, is immediately pilloried by his arch-conservative readers, backs off, and then basks in the glory of the whole episode. Oy.

It’s as bad as it looks.

Approaching the summer "driving season" when gas prices often spike, President Bush has pumped up a new set of energy proposals. Even the mainstream media regard them as window dressing. (Witness the Washington Post.) But I'll take the proposals as serious and comment.

1. The Bush administration proposes to allow oil refineries on abandoned military bases, claiming that limited refinery capacity is driving up gas prices and that it's hard to get permission to build new refineries. Military bases, as federal property, are exempt from most local regulations.

GOP to force Dems to release hold on Johnson?

Looks like the Senate GOPers may be looking to force a vote on Stephen Johnson's nomination to head the EPA.

As all the hip bloggers say:

Developing...