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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Last chance to pick your top hero/villain of 2008
Just before the holidays, we put up a list of green heroes and green villains for 2008 and asked readers to vote for their favorite (or, um, unfavorite).
Readership is low around the holidays, so I just want to bring those lists to your attention one last time, because voting closes in 24 hours! At that point we will declare winners and start handing out prizes, as soon as we come up with some prizes.
Currently the top hero is Sierra Club's anti-coal activist Bruce Nilles, with 661 votes -- a healthy lead over the second place hero James Hansen at 437. (Guess it helps to have a very large club at your back.)
Third is Barack Obama with 399 and fourth is Michael Pollan with 258.
Dead last? Poor Jim Rogers, CEO of Duke Energy, with 6 votes.
Meanwhile, flaccid apparatchik Stephen Johnson, head of the EPA, is walking away with the top villain spot. He's got 397 votes, far outpacing second place Sarah Palin (240) and third place (and personal favorite) Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship (236).
Amusingly, Jim Rogers is losing this one too -- just 12 votes. Perhaps we should come up with a new category for this dude.
Anyway: Go vote now while you still can! We'll announce the final winners tomorrow.
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With Markey in place, the House is geared for ambition on climate and energy
As Kate reported earlier today, new House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) is reorganizing the committee, unifying oversight of climate, energy, air quality, and water issues under a single subcommittee: the Energy and Environment Subcommittee.
The Boston Globe just broke the news that Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will chair the new subcommittee.
This is a big deal, even if you don't particularly care about inside Congressional baseball.
Right now Markey chairs the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, and reportedly enjoys working on telecom policy. Due to his seniority, he had his choice of subcommittees this session -- which meant he could, if he wanted, take the reins of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee from coal lover and Dingell ally Rick Boucher (D-Va.). That alone would have been, as Joe noted the other day, "almost as big a deal as Waxman defeating Dingell for committee chair."
But now Waxman has consolidated environment and energy jurisdiction in one subcommittee. Gone is the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, chaired by Gene Green [D-Texas], another Dingell ally.
Apparently that sweetened the pot enough to make it irresistible to Markey.
Markey will remain chair of the Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming. Joe said the other day that he "can't see the point in keeping the Select committee if Markey switches positions," but I think that misses something important.
