Climate Climate & Energy
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The hidden costs and benefits of things we take for granted
Raj Patel has an interesting list of “things that aren’t as cheap as you think,” with an always-welcome reminder that many industries and social practices have costs that don’t appear in the sticker price. These “externalities” are offloaded to the public; they represent, in effect, enormous subsidies. Free marketeers hate market-distorting subsidies, right? For the […]
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Are utilities’ plans for shoring up hazardous coal ash dams good enough?
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has released action plans submitted by 22 coal-fired power plants to improve the safety of the massive dammed surface impoundments where they store toxic coal ash, but environmental advocates question whether the plans do enough to protect the public from disaster. That’s because in the absence of federal regulations treating […]
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The little solar that could
I spotted a rare critter on the streets of San Francisco this week — a smiling, optimistic businessperson. Then again, Ron Kenedi is in the solar panel business. “The big news as I see it is the demand — demand keeps growing everywhere,” says Kenedi, vice president of Sharp Solar, the renewable energy arm of […]
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Hottest January in UAH satellite record
Yes, the mid-Atlantic region appears headed toward an epic snow storm as “amazing moisture feeds into what is already a gigantic system,” according to the Capital Weather Gang. But while the anti-science crowd will no doubt tout that as evidence we aren’t warming — just as they did with the “cold snap” in early January […]
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American Spectator has nice things to say about me!
I don’t normally agree with the uber-conservative American Spectator — and vice versa (see here). But there is, as they say, a first time for everything. In a piece titled, “Norm Coleman’s Right-Wing CAP,” their assistant managing editor writes about the Center for American Progress (CAP), where I work: Another feature that sets CAP apart […]
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Penn State inquiry finds no evidence for allegations against Michael Mann
An academic inquiry into the so-called “climategate” email scandal has concluded that a well-known U.S. scientist did not directly or indirectly falsify data in his research. The review, by a panel of senior administrators at Pennsylvania State University, found no evidence that climatologist Michael Mann had manipulated research that indicates humans are causing global warming. […]
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Yes, Obama is still pursuing clean air, clean energy jobs bill that puts a price on carbon pollution
Today, in an extended set of remarks at a town hall meeting in Nashua New Hampshire, the President once again strongly endorsed a comprehensive bill that combines energy and climate policy — and sets a price on carbon: The concept of incentivizing clean energy so that it’s the cheaper, more effective kind of energy is […]
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Groundhog Decade: We’re stuck in a bad movie, where it’s always the hottest decade on re
0 Somewhere on a Hollywood movie set for Groundhog Day, Part 2: Bill Murray wakes up to find he’s just lived through the hottest decade on record, just as he did in the 1990s, just as he did in the 1980s. And he keeps waking up in the hottest decade on record, until he gains […]
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The people speak out in favor of stronger smog standards
I’ve been hospitalized many times with asthma attacks. It’s scary when you can’t catch your breath. When I was young, going to the hospital with asthma was a monthly thing. Now I’m on an adult dose of asthma medicine and the only other way to manage the asthma is to limit my outdoor activities. That’s […]
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Bring back Van Jones
I miss Van Jones. A lot of us miss President Obama’s former green jobs visionary. That includes coal miners and residents on Coal River Mountain. If President Obama’s brilliant green jobs administrator hadn’t been hounded out of office in a bizarre witch hunt last fall, we would be engaged in an exciting discussion about pursuing […]
