Climate Politics
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House Democrats introduce bill to defend PACE clean-energy program
Thirty House Democrats signed on to a new bill on Thursday that would save Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs, which have been under attack from mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. PACE is a finance tool that helps homeowners afford energy-efficiency retrofits and renewable-energy installations. The PACE Assessment Protection Act of 2010 would […]
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Bloomberg reporter misinterprets Bloomberg polling on offshore drilling moratorium
The beginning of this Bloomberg story is completely false: Most Americans oppose President Barack Obama’s ban on deepwater oil drilling in response to BP Plc’s Gulf of Mexico spill, even as they hold the company primarily responsible for the incident. Almost three-fourths, or 73 percent, say a ban is unnecessary, calling the worst oil spill […]
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The BP dirty dozen: 12 videos that make you almost miss Tony Hayward
While waiting, once again, to see if BP’s latest plan to plug its Gulf gusher will work, we decided to amuse ourselves by taking a look back at the lighter side of this environmental apocalypse. First (and last) stop: YouTube. Pass the popcorn. Here’s a BP dirty dozen: But I really hate when it gets […]
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Utilities are trying to pull off the scam of the decade
I’m technically on vacation, but there’s an extremely important fight going on in the background right now so I want to weigh in, even at the risk of irritating my long-suffering family. Here’s the deal: Right now, two things are happening in parallel. The first is getting all the attention, but the second is, in […]
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California attorney general sues Fannie & Freddie over PACE clean-energy programs
Jerry Brown wants to face Fannie and Freddie down.California Attorney General (and candidate for governor) Jerry Brown sued Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac today for blocking Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. There’s a good chance that Fannie and Freddie’s legal costs from defending this suit will add up to more than they ever stood […]
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Has Congress run out of time for school lunch and food safety?
The reauthorization of the Childhood Nutrition Act, which includes the National School Lunch Program, took a major step forward today. The House Education and Labor Committee “marked up” the bill, which means it considered a set of amendments with the intention of moving the bill out of committee and to the House floor for a […]
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Fear of job losses and oil-industry incompetence feed debate over drilling freeze
A stormy debate is brewing over the offshore drilling moratorium.On Monday, the Obama administration unveiled its do-over plan to temporarily stop deepwater drilling. On Tuesday, the heads of the commission created by President Obama to investigate the BP spill told reporters that maybe the moratorium should be lifted sooner rather than later. “What’s up with […]
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Against odds, Democrats will bring climate bill to Senate floor
The push for a climate bill in 2010 isn’t ending with a whimper after all. Senate Democratic leaders are going to take a bill to the floor and bet that they can find 60 votes to pass it, Darren Samuelsohn reports in Politico. And it could happen by the end of July: Senate Majority Leader […]
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Historian: It’s too soon to expect large-scale responses to the Gulf leak
Penn State historian Adam Rome studies the American environmental movement and is working on a book about the first Earth Day, which was prompted in part by an offshore drilling disaster in Santa Barbara. Yesterday, he told the Washington Post that it could take another year before we can tell if the Gulf oil leak […]
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Response to the population doomsayers and Robert Walker
Thanks for all of the responses over the past two days to my queries about proposed solutions to the population problem and the "optimum" global population. So here are some observations followed by my response to the questions Robert Walker posed in his piece claiming that population is still a major issue.