Articles by Grist staff

Senate confirms Obama's picks to run Energy, USDA, and Interior

Just hours after President Obama took the oath of office, the U.S. Senate confirmed three Cabinet members who will play a role in shaping energy and environmental policy, National Journal reported. By voice vote, senators approved Steven Chu as Energy Secretary, Ken Salazar as Interior Secretary, and Tom Vilsack as Agriculture Secretary.

Interior's Web gurus were quick to note the official installation of their new boss. The department's site features a photo of Salazar front and center on the homepage, along with a press release with background on the new secretary. As of late Tuesday afternoon, Energy and Agriculture hadn't updated their sites to reflect their new bosses.

Check out Grist's profiles of these Cabinet members:

• Steven Chu
• Ken Salazar
• Tom Vilsack

The Senate adjourned Tuesday without taking action on Lisa Jackson's nomination to run EPA or Nancy Sutley's nomination to run the Council on Environmental Quality.

Energy and environment front and center on White House website

The White House website made an apparently smooth transition from George W. Bush to Barack Obama today, and energy and environment get a starring role on the new administration's homepage.

There's nothing really new here; the details of the new president's environment and energy agenda were announced long ago. But it's good to see these issues taking center stage on day one of the Obama administration. Lest anyone doubt the significance of the change, Obama's agenda declares: "The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn't just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment -- it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across America. President Obama and Vice President Biden have a comprehensive plan to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs."

Also included is the White House's intent to "Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050" and "Make the U.S. a Leader on Climate Change."

Finally, it appears blogging has finally made its way to 1600 Pennsylvania. The White House site now includes: www.whitehouse.gov/blog.

Obama references energy, climate challenges in inaugural address

President Barack Obama made a few points in his inaugural address that should bring smiles to the faces of environmental advocates.

Noting the goals he hopes to help achieve, Obama said: "We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories."

Later, he made a quick reference to climate change: "With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet."

In discussing international relations, he said: "To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow ... And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect."

Full text of the speech after the jump.

Fog's decline boosted Europe's warming trend

PARIS — Fog, mist and haze in Europe have declined over the last three decades, a trend that may have stoked regional warming and ironically could be linked to better air quality, a study published on Sunday says. From 1978-2006, temperatures in parts of Europe rose above the global land average, with prominent increases in […]