Climate Politics

Point, shoot, go to jail

Say you live in a neighborhood where there is a power or waste-treatment plant nearby. You notice some toxic nastiness spewing out, so you decide to document said spewage by recording it with photos or video. If lawmakers in New Jersey get their way, you've just committed a crime that could put you in jail for 18 months:

The state Senate Law and Public Safety Committee is expected to discuss a bill today which would make it a crime -- punishable by up to 18 months in jail -- to photograph, videotape or otherwise record for an extended period of time a power generation, waste treatment, public sewage, water treatment, public water, nuclear or flammable liquid storage facility, as well as any airport in the state.

At the very least, it will allow law enforcement officials across the state to detain the individual or confiscate any recorded materials to further their investigation, according to state Sen. Fred Madden, D-4 of Turnersville, who is the bill's sponsor.

Opponents of the bill said it "makes no sense" and is "awful."

Indeed.

(Via BB)

A Hard Sell

Bush admin land sell-off plan may be DOA The future looks dim for the Bush administration’s unpopular proposal to sell off 300,000 acres of public land to fund rural schools. A House subcommittee has excluded the proposal from a spending bill; it will be considered by other committees, but has no enthusiastic backers in Congress. […]

Push to raise fuel-economy standards gaining new support

Cringe as we might over record-high gasoline prices, they could be the best thing to happen to automobile fuel economy since the Arab oil embargo. Nowhere to go but up. The soaring cost of oil in recent weeks has sent Washington lawmakers into an election-year frenzy. Some of their proposals — like one from Senate […]

Wake Up and Smell the Carbon

Al Gore launches new climate campaign Launched with profits from Al Gore’s new movie and book, a new group called Alliance for Climate Protection plans to spend big bucks on advertising and grassroots organizing in an attempt to impart the dangers of climate chaos to the American public. Focusing particularly on conservatives and labor groups […]

Curses, Fideled Again

U.S. lawmakers see offshore drilling near Cuba and feel left out The U.S. has a years-old ban against offshore drilling in the Florida Straits, but it looks like the area might get drilled anyway — by Cuba. The island country has rights to resources in half of the straits under a 1977 agreement, which President […]

Cape of Good Hope

Cape Wind outlook better after Bush administration voices support The controversial Cape Wind project planned for Nantucket Sound has found new allies in a strange place: the Bush administration. On Thursday, Undersecretary of Energy David Garman sent a letter urging Congress to drop a measure that would allow the Massachusetts governor (currently Mitt Romney, a […]

Dirk du Soleil

Interior nominee Kempthorne backs away from plan to sell U.S. forests Senate confirmation hearings began yesterday for Interior Secretary nominee Dirk Kempthorne, and oh, the fun that was had. One hot topic was the Bush administration’s proposal to fund rural schools by selling thousands of acres of public land; the Dirkster, who supported sale of […]

Another Flail in the Coffin

House flails about wildly and ineffectually over higher gas prices House Republicans, who face a bruising battle to retain their majority status this November, are growing increasingly desperate over high gas prices. Since there’s nothing they can actually do to reduce them, this translates into furious political maneuvering. With two fast-tracked bills this week, they […]

An interview with jailed “eco-terrorist” Jeffrey Luers

In 2000, 21-year-old Jeff Luers and an accomplice set fire to three pickup trucks at a dealership in Eugene, Ore., to bring attention to gas-guzzlers’ contribution to global warming. They were promptly arrested. Luers, who refused to plea bargain, was sentenced to 22 years, eight months in prison. It is the longest term ever handed […]

The paper burden

Oh, this is just too good. The leader of the UK conservative party, David Cameron, has been bragging about his green credentials lately (remember, they're sane in the UK, so they demand that all their leaders have green cred), and urging other MPs to change their personal behavior to demonstrate green values.

Oops:

David Cameron was forced to backtrack on his personal green credentials yesterday by admitting that he traveled to work by bicycle not to cut carbon emissions, but because he found it enjoyable.

The Conservative leader had to switch tack after it emerged that his car followed him carrying briefing papers and his shoes on the days that he cycled from his Notting Hill home to Westminster.

Hee hee. But it gets better: