Articles by David Roberts

Libertarians seek good arguments in favor of alternative fuel subsidies.

Here's an odd thing for you:

Hippies still roam free, on this one day, in this one place.

I spent a lot of time with hippies with I was a young(er!) man, in many parts of the American West, primarily Missoula, Mont. I was even a bit of a hair farmer myself in those days. But these were modern hippies, who mimic the affectations of hippiedom -- pot smoking and earnest sanctimony -- without really feeling it in their bones.

Yesterday, though, I went to see what is one of the last vestiges of true dirty hippiedom in this nation of ours: The Fremont Solstice Parade, an annual bacchanalia in the Fremont district of Seattle.

Politicians protect the industry from ‘burdens’ at the expense of the public.

The news yesterday that the lawsuits by Clinton against coal-fired power plants hit a legal roadblock is bad. Very bad. Nothing as exciting as the Michael Jackson verdict, mind you, but bad. If you want an extremely vivid picture of just how bad, go read this post on Sprol. It contains this tidbit:

Pollution from coal-burning power plants causes an estimated 30,000 deaths a year in the United States - more than drunken driving, AIDS, or homicides, according to one analysis. That analysis was done by Abt Associates ... Abt has been used by the EPA to quantify the health effects of federal policies.

See also this edition of BushGreenwatch about maximum achievable control technologies (MACT). The Bush administration has been scrambling to weaken the regs on MACT in the Clean Air Act ever since it took office. Just in regard to its change in the rules on industrial boilers and plywood manufacturing plants:

Delay sure appears to have a conflict of interest on MTBE, but we’re sure it’s nothing.

The energy bill currently being hashed over in the Senate, if passed there, will go to a House-Senate conference committee. It may well die there. The most likely culprit is the issue of a legal liability shield for manufacturers of gas additive MTBE.

Who's the most stubborn champion of the measure, the one willing to kill his own party's bill by defending it? Tom Delay.

But oh, look at this:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay owns stock worth more than $50,000 in ExxonMobil, according to financial disclosure reports, while at the same time he is one of the driving forces behind legislation that would shield that company and other manufacturers of the gasoline additive MTBE from lawsuits that could cost them millions.

Already under fire for alleged ethical lapses, DeLay, a Texas Republican, has hired the Houston law firm Bracewell and Giuliani to defend against those charges. But the firm, in which former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani is a partner, also represents a host of MTBE manufacturers in court and in Congress.

But hold on, now, before you go jumping to conclusions ...

Dan Allen, DeLay's spokesman, scoffed at the suggestion the second highest-ranking House Republican has done anything untoward.

"First of all, everyone knows Congressman Tom DeLay bases his votes on the merits of legislation before him and only the merits of the legislation," Allen said.

Oh, right, right, I knew that! I just forgot for a moment.

(Via Carpetbagger via WM)