Articles by David Roberts

David Roberts was a staff writer for Grist. You can follow him on Twitter, if you're into that sort of thing.

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  • What to do with the utility handouts in the climate bill?

    Passage of the Waxman-Markey bill through the House was a shock to the Beltway. Rahm Emanuel himself called its architects after the floor vote to express his surprise and admiration — and if anyone knows how to count votes, it’s Rahm Emanuel. One compromise more than any other enabled the bill to navigate the sticky […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • What do we mean when we talk about the cost of climate legislation?

    As the Senate takes up climate change legislation, there’s going to be a great deal of talk about its costs, its benefits, and how they stack up against each other. These are vexed conversations, plagued with technical complexity and hidden political agendas. We’ll get to to some of those complexities and agendas in a future […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • CEJAPA is Kerry’s bill

    Here’s how the first line of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act [PDF] begins: “Mr. KERRY (for himself and Mrs. BOXER) introduced the following bill …” See whose name is first there? It’s not “Mr. Kerry and Mrs. Boxer introduced” either. He’s introducing it. This is John Kerry’s bill. Boxer has signed on […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • What the EPA announcement did (and did not) say

    The EPA made an announcement today that lots of folks seem to be misinterpreting as “proposed regulations on power plants.” That’s not what they are. What was announced today is the “tailoring” rule; it establishes that when the EPA regulates stationary sources, it will only regulate those that emit more than 25,000 tons. This is […]

    David Roberts Climate & Energy