Climate Politics
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The safest place in Japan right now might be inside a nuke plant
Just 75 miles from where workers try to stave off nuclear disaster at Fukushima, another nuke plant is doing double duty as a tsunami shelter. The nuclear facility at Onagawa is currently home to 240 people displaced from the local town, who are hanging around watching TV and making phone calls while they wait to […]
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How to get cleaner cars and use less foreign oil
This post was coauthored by Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope and League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski. It was cross-posted from the Center for American Progress. America is suffering from another oil price shock less than three years after prices hit a record of $147 per barrel in July 2008. Over the past month, […]
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Every 2012 GOP candidate was for climate action before they were against it, says Pawlenty
Former Minnesota governor and 2012 presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty was for cap-and-trade and emissions reduction before he was against it. Inconsistent? Hypocritical? An example of throwing away his principles to pander to an ever more right-leaning base? Hardly, says Pawlenty: It’s just what the cool Republicans do these days. Pawlenty: Everybody in the race, at […]
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Reactor 2 at Japan’s Fukushima plant in full meltdown, says expert
The radioactive core of the second reactor at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant appears to have melted through the its steel casing, and is now pooling on the concrete floor below, Richard Lahey tells The Guardian. (Lahey is former head of safety research for boiling-water nuclear reactors at General Electric, so he would probably know.)
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There’s an EPA showdown on the way
Playing in Congress this week: Gunfight at the EPA Corral. And the GOP has an itchy trigger finger. Age-old enemy of the planet Sen. James “global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people” Inhofe has introduced a bill to nullify the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. Sen. Mitch McConnell has […]
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Obama tells government to prepare for climate change, whether Congress likes it or not
Congress may dither and dig in their heels about whether global climate change is even a real thing, let alone an emergency that must be prepared for. But soon all Federal agencies — not to mention a lot of private businesses that deal with the government — will be implementing plans for adapting to climate […]
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Minn. state Rep. Mike Beard prepares to devastate Twin Cities transit, economy, residents
Rep. Mike Beard.Minnesota state Rep. Mike Beard (R) is famous among people who enjoy laughing at stupid things politicians say. A sampling: You may recall his argument against high-speed rail: “We already have highways.” His argument that coal mining hasn’t done any damage to the earth: “When we were done, we put it all back […]
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Forward-looking power utilities support EPA air toxics rule
As Grist readers know, EPA recently released its proposed Air Toxics Rule, which would regulate the emission of mercury and other brain-warping, lung-destroying nasties. We’re still in the public comment period, so the PR battle is in full swing. Republicans and dirty utilities have raised Cain over the rule, screeching that it will be too […]
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Michele Bachmann wants to kick the planet in the nuts, and she’s running for president
Michele Bachmann, the lunatic Minnesota representative who's come out against everything from minimum wage to evolution, is apparently planning to throw her hat in the ring for 2012. OMG OMG OMG I can't wait! You thought Sarah Palin was a goldmine for snark enthusiasts? Palin is downright complex by comparison. This will be like shooting […]
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Obama administration can’t wait to sell China all the coal it can burn
Here’s a recipe for climate catastrophe: First, authorize enough new coal production in Wyoming to yield 3.9 billion tons of heat-trapping greenhouse gases. Then authorize a new export terminal in northwest Washington to ship that black gold to Asia, where the other half of Chimerica will burn it to power the factories we shipped them […]
