Climate Politics

Strongarm of the Law

Supreme Court rules that pesticide makers are liable for damages The U.S. Supreme Court has acted to restore a measure of sanity to the world of pesticides and weed-killers. In the 1990s, lawyers for big chemical companies pushed a novel interpretation of the 1972 federal law governing pesticides: By submitting pesticides for approval by the […]

Louisiana environmental advocate forced out of job by state attorney general

After scoping out an ExxonMobil refinery in Baton Rouge last month, Willie Fontenot, a community liaison officer for the Louisiana attorney general’s office for 27 years, found himself faced with the option of forced retirement or getting the boot. A longtime environmental-justice advocate, Fontenot had been accompanying a group of master’s students from Antioch New […]

Moot Causes

Bush pushes refineries and nuke plants as solution to high energy prices Many analysts say high energy prices are the result of inefficient use of non-renewable resources. President Bush does not employ any of those analysts. In a speech today, he will propose to address the “root causes” of high energy prices by, um, increasing […]

Everything coal is new again

Congress seeks tax money to make defunct “clean coal” plant dirty again For aficionados of government pork, the energy bill that recently passed the House is the gift that keeps on giving. The latest gem uncovered is a provision that would offer $125 million in loan guarantees to a “clean coal” power plant in Alaska. […]

Allan Thornton, environmental investigator, answers questions

Allan Thornton. What work do you do? I run the Environmental Investigation Agency, a nonprofit environmental group with offices in Washington, D.C., and London. I generally oversee the strategic development of the organization, which includes targeting research, deploying investigative teams to obtain documentary evidence, and exposing environmental crimes; I work in close cooperation with our […]

Before Sunset

Language in budget bill could unravel federal environmental protections Buried deep in the 2,000-page budget bill President Bush recently sent to Congress is a three-sentence provision that threatens to eviscerate environmental and other protections. Authored by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the provision would, if passed unamended, subject any and all federal […]

Oh, Right, I Knew We Were Forgetting Something!

Bush climate-change research won’t research climate-change effects According to the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office, the “more research” President Bush is always touting as his response to climate change is overlooking an area some might consider important — namely, what effects global warming might have on people and the environment (oh, that!). In fact, the GAO […]

Souuuueeeee!

House passes pork-laden energy bill The House of Representatives approved broad energy legislation yesterday by a vote of 249 to 183. The 1,000-plus-page bill contains some $12 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for energy companies, less than 5 percent of which go to clean energy or energy conservation. It contains a provision that would […]

Earth Day goings-on don’t measure up to dark drama on Capitol Hill

Today, on the eve of the 35th anniversary of the first Earth Day, the House of Representatives is voting on, and widely expected to pass, a grossly porkified energy bill that would dole out billions in subsidies to fossil-fuel industries, shortchange alternative-energy and efficiency initiatives, and indemnify makers of the gasoline additive MTBE against liability […]

It’s a bloated, industry-friend piece of crony capitalism. And its breath stinks.

The House starts work on the monstrosity that is the Energy Bill today, and could vote on it as early as tomorrow.

It contains this hideous provision, a naked givaway to big industry that would "bypass Congress's normal spending process to funnel up to $2 billion over 10 years into research for recovering oil and gas from the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico."

And that's just the beginning. It's difficult to describe just how reprehensible this bill is -- an exquisite example of the crony capitalism and patronage network that have long since replaced responsible governance for the ruling party in this country.

Check out this Moving Ideas page on the bill, its specific provisions, and what you can do to stop it.

(And also check out this NYT editorial.)