Climate Politics

Touch and Goshute

Feds approve nuclear-waste dump on Utah tribe’s land On Friday, the Bush administration approved a controversial $3.1 billion plan for a massive temporary radioactive-waste dump on a Utah Indian reservation — a win for nuclear-power interests. A private firm and the sovereign Skull Valley Band of Goshute Indians struck up the agreement for the repository, […]

Clang of Four

Senators challenge Bush rewrite of mercury-emissions rule A cross-party coalition of senators aims to use an obscure legislative tactic in an attempt to block implementation of the Bush administration’s proposed regulation on power-plant mercury emissions. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Jim Jeffords (I-Vt.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) say the Bush rule rewrite endangers public […]

Slow Katrina evacuation fits pattern of injustice during crises

Much of the world — including white America — has been shocked by the devastation in New Orleans, and by the ongoing failures it has exposed at every possible level of government. Even normally unflappable TV news anchors and politicians have been moved to outrage, asking why those left behind were mostly black, poor, disabled, […]

A Detox on Both Your Houses

EPA releasing new, stricter rules on human testing of pesticides Researchers would be prohibited from intentionally exposing children and pregnant women to pesticides in order to study the chemicals’ effects, under new regulations being proposed today by the U.S. EPA. The agency formulated the rules — its first-ever on human testing of pesticides — after […]

White House to greens: We should totally do this again some time

Say anything. Uncle Sam wants you … to cooperate on conservation. Not only that, he’s willing to listen. At least that’s what he says. Earlier this week, St. Louis hosted the White House Conference on Cooperative Conservation. The invitation-only event was modeled after Teddy Roosevelt’s 1908 Governors’ Conference, which brought all the country’s governors, Supreme […]

That’s Why We Have to Assassinate Them

Foreign officials offer policy critiques — and aid — in Katrina’s wake International politicians and pundits are pointing to possible links between global warming and Hurricane Katrina and criticizing the environmental policies of the Bush administration. German Environment Minister Juergen Trittin caught heat from colleagues for the Tuesday timing — but not the substance — […]

On the Roadless Again

State leaders sue feds to bring back “roadless rule” Top officials from three Western states are suing the Bush administration in hopes of bringing back a rule banning road building on 58.5 million acres of national forests. The attorneys general of California and New Mexico, along with Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski (D), filed suit this […]

Rays and Confused

Partisan divide stalls California’s solar-roofs bill As its initial bipartisan support devolves into a partisan food fight, California’s Million Solar Roofs legislation may die on the vine. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) withdrew his formerly enthusiastic backing for the bill — which could put $2 billion toward solar-energy generation by 2019 — after Assembly Democrats inserted […]

A Hop and a Prayer

Eco-activists team with prayer network to save hapless toad This summer’s It amphibian — the endangered arroyo toad of California, famously dismissed as “hapless” by Supreme Court nominee John G. Roberts — is in the news again. The Center for Biological Diversity has teamed up with Christians Caring for Creation to sue the Bush administration […]

Are fuel-efficiency standards a smart way to reduce oil consumption?

Fareed Zakaria has a nice rundown of the many ways our hunger for oil distorts our foreign policy and makes a mockery of our efforts to fight terrorism and spread democracy. At the end, he briefly mentions solutions:

It's true that there is no silver bullet that will entirely solve America's energy problem, but there is one that goes a long way: more-efficient cars. If American cars averaged 40 miles per gallon, we would soon reduce consumption by 2 million to 3 million barrels of oil a day. That could translate into a sustained price drop of more than $20 a barrel. ... I would start by raising fuel-efficiency standards, providing incentives for hybrids and making gasoline somewhat more expensive (yes, that means raising taxes).

Matt Yglesias thinks that fuel-efficiency (CAFE) standards -- however beloved by greens and progressives -- are a bit of a red herring: