Climate Politics
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Retrofitting 75,000 houses would save as much energy as in the Gulf spill
Here’s a visceral way to represent potential energy savings in the built environment: Source: EnergySavvy That’s via the folks at Energy Savvy. If only the Senate had some sort of legislative strategy that could put this information to use … oh, wait, it does! Home Star legislation will spur the retrofit of 3.3 million homes, […]
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Oil, jobs, and the environment — a New Deal solution to the spill?
Cross-posted from New Deal 2.0. Franklin D. RooseveltPhoto: uncgspecial via FlickrIn the wake of recent revelations that far more oil is spilling out into the Gulf than was originally estimated, and as it now appears more and more likely that BP will not be able to completely shut off the flow of oil until perhaps […]
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Van Jones on Obama’s ‘megaphone moment’: ‘People want to be called to service’
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room Center for American Progress senior fellow Van Jones believes that the American public want to be “called to service” by President Barack Obama to respond to the Gulf oil disaster. Appearing on TV One’s Washington Watch with Roland Martin, Van Jones described the challenge the president faces in moving from […]
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Obama’s oil reform opportunity
President Barack Obama has made four trips to visit gulf state communities affected by the BP disaster and now plans to give his first-ever Oval Office speech to the nation this Tuesday evening to address the issue. This manmade calamity threatens the nation’s economy, health, and environment. This is also a crucial moment in the […]
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Got a clever solar slogan? Tell us!
The New York State Legislature has been debating a big solar program — the New York Solar Industry Development and Jobs Act would add 5 GW of solar to the state’s energy mix — but we’re getting to the homestretch on the legislative calendar, and it’s do-or-die time in Albany. We’d like to send them […]
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Un-democracy and the U.S. Senate, undercutting EPA edition
Last week, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) sponsored a measure to ban the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from large industrial facilities under the Clean Air Act, as ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Senate voted 53 to 47 against Murkowski and in favor of EPA’s authority to regulate carbon […]
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Oil execs lined up for Washington grilling
The Deepwater Horizon rig, pre-explosion and pre-tipping.Photo: TransoceanBig Banking, Big Auto, and Big Coal have all been to the woodshed in the last little while. Tomorrow it’s Big Oil’s turn. Capitol Hill Summer Theater kicks off in style when the top execs of the world’s five largest oil companies report for their very own congressional […]
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Energy politics in the Senate: why Merkley’s oil plan matters
This morning Sen. Jeff Merkley will introduce “America Over a Barrel: Solving Our Oil Vulnerability” (PDF) [UPDATE: video below], a policy plan devoted to reducing oil use, at an event at the Center for American Progress. I think it could make a big difference in the debate. To understand why, let’s back up and have […]
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Rumor watch: Obama has a ‘secret’ plan to redirect the Mississippi River
Photo credit: the White House/Peter Souza Annie Lowery of the Washington Independent picked up this exchange between Anderson Cooper and historian Doug Brinkley: [W]hen President Obama comes to Florida and Alabama and Mississippi … that is holding BP responsible for the Natural Resource Damage Act, for the Oil Spill Response Act. And, by that, I […]
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Brits mad, and worried, about BP bashing
The cover of Great Britain’s Daily Express — “His rants against BP are a disgrace.”Photo courtesy of the Daily Express While it’s definitely not a diplomatic incident, and of course Americans don’t just think of BP as a British company, the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has the British media transfixed. The Daily […]