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The Murkowski Resolution: A step backward for American clean energy
This post originally appeared on The Huffington Post. In the last 18 months, the United States has taken major steps forward in the transition to a clean energy economy. With historic investments in solar, wind, and other innovative renewable energy sources, we are positioned to compete for the clean energy jobs of today and tomorrow, […]
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Will Obama stand up to Big Energy in deeds as well as words?
Will the real President Obama please stand up?Photo: Mr. Wright via FlickrThis essay was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom’s kind permission. —– Here’s the president on March 31, announcing his plan to lift a longstanding moratorium on offshore drilling: “Given our energy needs, in order to sustain economic growth and produce jobs, and […]
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Schumer says the climate bill is toast [UPDATED]
Update below. This morning I identified five things that could affect the ultimate fate of the climate/energy bill in Congress. Some comments from Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) this morning add a bit of a twist to the proceedings. On MSNBC this morning, Schumer said that Reid is likely to advance an energy bill modeled on […]
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Is the climate bill going to pass? Top five things to watch
People are constantly asking me, “Is the climate bill going to pass?” The answer is: I don’t know. No one knows. Confident predictions either way are mostly posing. The situation, like so much in politics right now, is incredibly fluid. There are five things to watch in coming months that will give us a better […]
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Who’s to blame for the Gulf oil gusher? We break it down
We all know there’s a lot of blame to go around for the ongoing disaster in the gulf. In the weeks since the Horizon rig first came unglued, all the principals in this mess have taken turns pointing fingers at one another. Now, it’s our turn. We applied Grist’s scientific, who’s-fault-is-it-really, assessment method. The results […]
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Why BP’s really glad this week is over
1. Saturday, May 29: The Kill is gone: After a week of raising hopes that maybe, just maybe, it had found a way to plug the hole, BP calls off its top kill/junk shot gambit. At first, the process of shooting “mud” and pieces of golf balls, tires, and perhaps kitchen sinks, seems to the […]
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Strengthening clean energy competitiveness through the America COMPETES reauthorization
This post was co-authored by Mark Muro and Rob Atkinson, and originally appeared at The New Republic. Having passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 28, the America COMPETES Act, America’s flagship competitiveness legislation, will soon be debated in the U.S. Senate. The Act was originally passed in 2007 in response to mounting concern […]
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A closer look at the Clean Air Act provisions preempted by the Senate climate bill
I’ve argued that the Senate climate bill takes away some EPA powers under the Clean Air Act but overall gives the agency more power, and specifically that the bill preserves EPA authority to regulate both new and old coal plants, which is the power it most needs. Now let’s take a closer look at the […]
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‘Green’ California utility PG&E attacks local renewables
California’s largest electricity provider — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. — has gotten some understandable love from the environmental world recently. It’s part of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, an enviro/business alliance calling for a national climate plan. It told off (and quit) the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for hating all over clean energy and […]
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The battle for comprehensive energy and climate legislation has just begun
It has been almost a year since the House passed comprehensive energy and climate legislation. It has been 7 months since the Senate Environment Committee passed comprehensive energy and climate legislation. Many supporters are frustrated by the slow pace of progress and the obstacles that remain in the way. But it has only been one […]
