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Some international findings from EPA analysis of the American Power Act
The Obama administration has just released the U.S. EPA analysis of the American Power Act and it shows that U.S. action coupled with reasonable actions by other countries will put us on a path to preventing the worst impacts of global warming.
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The administration’s lame lame-duck climate strategy
Mike Allen, Marc Ambinder, and Juliet Eilperin all report that the Obama administration has adopted a “lame-duck climate strategy.” The idea is to get a slimmed-down energy-only bill through the Senate the week of July 12, drag out conference committee, and send the bill back to both houses in a post-election lame-duck session, “when victorious […]
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Where Obama’s climate leadership is really lacking
If you ever want to know what the inside-the-beltway conventional wisdom is, look for Politico’s screaming headline. “Deadly silence on carbon caps,” is today’s tea-leaf reading article, which asserts that Obama “may have put the dagger into his long-sought plans for a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions by opening the door for alternatives.” Speeches, while important, […]
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Daily terror: We’re learning nothing from Gulf spill
The New Republic‘s Bradford Plumer has a post today — Why our reaction to the oil spill absolutely terrifies me — that’s, well, sorta terrifying. It’s about how the body politic seems just plain unable to deal with the Gulf oil leak in any sane way: What’s especially unnerving, though, is that the recklessness that […]
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EPA: Without American Power Act, one percent chance of avoiding catastrophe
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. The American Power Act may be President Obama’s last chance to pass comprehensive climate legislation and prevent catastrophe this year. The legislation, drafted by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) — before Graham dumped his commitment to a cap on carbon pollution — is in […]
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The climate bill would cost you up to $146 extra a year; what does that mean?
Can we wipe out the worst of global warming?Yesterday, EPA released its long-awaited analysis of the American Power Act, Kerry and Lieberman’s Senate climate bill. What most journalists and pundits have seized on is this finding: between 2010 to 2050, the legislation would cost the average American household between $79 to $146 extra a year. […]
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Plan B
Oil spill got you down? Worried that Congress seems utterly incapable of rising to the challenge of climate change? Does the steady stream of big problems and limpid solutions have you seriously worried about the future viability of life on Earth? Well, good news, my friend: scientists have discovered Plan B.
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Obama’s Oval Office address on the BP oil spill
Grist gives you choice excerpts from Obama’s Oval Office address, which took place yesterday night. On the immediate crisis: Already, this oil spill is the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced. And unlike an earthquake or a hurricane, it’s not a single event that does its damage in a matter of minutes or days. […]
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Tennessee fines TVA $11.5 million for coal ash spill, but is it enough?
The state of Tennessee has assessed an $11.5 million penalty against the Tennessee Valley Authority for the December 2008 coal ash spill from a holding pond at its Kingston power plant in Roane County. The fine is the largest ever imposed by the state’s environmental regulators — but some affected residents say it’s not enough. […]
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Obama signals need for new energy agenda
The biggest news from President Obama’s Oval Office address is that cap-and-trade legislation is probably dead for the foreseeable future, and the administration is seeking new ideas. Instead of using last night’s prime-time opportunity to push cap-and-trade in the form of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act — as many climate advocates saw as their last […]
