Climate Politics

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  • Pro: Japan’s terrible disaster is no reason to stop building nuclear power

    Japan is now facing a worst-case scenario for its Daiichi nuclear power plant. But that’s no reason to stop building new nuclear power plants, say a bevy of pundits. Their reasons are myriad. Some, like one Wall Street Journal editor, make the economic argument that all human endeavors are fraught with risk, so this one […]

    Christopher Mims Energy

  • John Kerry takes infrastructure to the bank

    John Kerry is willing to bank on infrastructure building. He and Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (Texas) are introducing a bipartisan bill to create a bank for funding infrastructure projects — which includes roads (good way to get Republicans and John Cassidy on board) but also rail. The bank would issue loans to help finance […]

    Jess Zimmerman Cities

  • What will the Japan disaster mean for U.S. nuclear power?

    The Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant is several miles from a seismic fault.Photo: MaryaCNN just published an opinion piece that I wrote with Richard Caperton, a policy analyst at the Center for American Progress Action Fund. Here it is: The recent history of the U.S. nuclear industry suggests that nuclear power can be a safe […]

    Joseph Romm Energy

  • Why doesn’t Congress give a damn about climate? Hint: it’s not the messaging

    The Greenpeace airship spreads the word.Photo: Gus Ruelas/GreenpeaceAmong other truths made completely clear by the showdown in Wisconsin: the outsized role of the Koch brothers in American politics. Charles and David, the third and fourth richest men in America, first gained notoriety this past fall, when a remarkable exposé by Jane Mayer in The New […]

    Bill McKibben Politics

  • Good news: New EPA boiler regs include output-based standards

    Finally the day you’ve all been waiting for has arrived: EPA has released its new boiler emissions rules for hazardous pollutants! (The cool kids call it “the boiler MACT.”) Most review and discussion of these rules so far has been silent on the most significant aspect: they introduce output-based emissions standards. As Grist readers know, […]

    Sean Casten Energy

  • Mistakes economists make, climate/energy edition

    Economist Tyler Cowen has a list of mistakes made by liberal and conservative economists. They are largely of the intellectual, “you’re doing economics wrong” sort. I’m more interested in Ezra Klein’s subsequent list of mistakes economists make in their interactions with journalists and the political class. These are the ones that really grind my gears […]

    David Roberts Energy

  • Japan is not a nuclear conflagration right now. Would we be so lucky?

    Japan has declared a state of emergency at the Fukushima nuclear reactor -- but thanks to good engineering, there's been no radiation leak and there's no risk of one. With more than 50 nuclear plants in the earthquake-vulnerable country, things would have been way worse without earthquake precautions in place. Does U.S. infrastructure have that kind of protection?

    Jess Zimmerman Energy

  • ‘Mad Men’ star Vincent Kartheiser wants to sell the country on high-speed rail [VIDEO]

    Mad Men‘s Vincent Kartheiser is really, really excited about high-speed rail. “I’m just amped up about it, you can tell,” he told me yesterday. “I’m going a million miles an hour. I’m going as fast as high-speed rail.” Kartheiser was on the phone with me to talk about the new video he and fellow Mad […]

    Sarah Goodyear Cities

  • Oil prices soar in spite of sharp increase in U.S. production under Obama

    U.S. oil production last year rose to its highest level in almost a decade … As a result, analysts believe the U.S. was the largest contributor to the increase in global oil supplies last year over 2009, and is on track to increase domestic production by 25 percent by the second half of the decade. […]

    Joseph Romm Energy

  • More drilling won’t help

    We have a problem we can’t drill our way out of.Photo: arbyreedCross-posted from the Center for American Progress. Unrest in Libya and Egypt is driving up oil prices, stirring concerns that gasoline could hit $5 a gallon by summer. Like a smoker’s persistent cough, it’s another warning to change our ways. America sends nearly $1 billion […]

    Daniel J. Weiss Energy