Climate Politics
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Obama says good-bye to MMS chief
Obama To-Do List, May 27, 2010: Head of Minerals Management Services: Say good-bye Deepwater oil drilling permits: Freeze, six months Oil lease sales off Alaska coast: Cancel Oil lease sales in Western Gulf: Cancel Oil lease sales off coast of Virginia: Cancel Safety standards: Get tough Find out more. BP beatdown BP is medicore at […]
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When recycling goes bad
A coal ash fill under construction at the site of a former Coca-Cola plant in Weldon, N.C.Photo: N.C. Division of Waste ManagementA special Facing South investigation. After coal is burned at power plants, leaving massive heaps of ash, not all of the waste ends up in landfills and impoundments like the one that failed catastrophically […]
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Let’s Move needs to get real with the food industry
Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity initiative, Let’s Move, has kicked into high gear. The Presidential Task Force on Childhood Obesity released a landmark report documenting the scale of the problem, complete with a list of 70 recommendations and a set of benchmarks, including the goal of returning the childhood obesity rate to its 1972 level of 5% […]
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Obama’s finally connecting the Gulf spill and clean energy. Champagne time?
My request for President Obama is simple, really: Dust off the secret presidential SCUBA suit, invite the Senate’s biggest oil-industry shills on a “fact-finding mission” to the Gulf (promise shrimp cocktails if necessary), and use them to plug up BP’s hole. Failing that, Obama could start talking about the connection between the oil gusher, climate […]
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The federal government needs to take command of the disaster response
This post is co-authored by Tom Kenworthy. There are obvious limits to how much control the federal government can exert over the frantic and so far hapless effort to stem the catastrophic oil eruption that threatens the entire Gulf of Mexico with ecological devastation. As Coast Guard Commandant Thad Allen said Monday, the government does […]
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Big energy vs. coal ash regulation
A special Facing South investigation. At her January 2009 confirmation hearing, Lisa Jackson promised to take action on coal ash.Photo: Senate Enviroment and Public Works CommitteeWhen the catastrophic coal ash spill occurred at the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Kingston plant in 2008, a quiet debate over how to regulate coal ash had already been going on […]
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Oil rig workers missed ‘very large abnormality’ before explosion
The Deepwater Horizon after the explosion.Photo: U.S. Coast GuardHere’s something to fill you with confidence on the eve of BP’s risky “Top Kill” gambit: Workers on the Deepwater Horizon rig missed warnings that something was seriously wrong before the rig exploded. BP itself, in a memo to a House committee, reveals that crewmen failed to […]
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By the way, is anyone checking on nuclear-plant safety plans?
It gives me the willies to think about it, but it’s probably a good time for a hard look at our “backup” accident plans for nuclear power plants, now that we know how unbelievably unprepared the BP/Transocean/Halliburton Dream Team was for an accident on their Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig. I mean, BP’s worthless response […]
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Biochar – probably not going to save the world after all
Biochar is being promoted as a way to save the world. (I admit to being optimistic about this myself for a very brief time.) It certainly sounds good. Take agricultural or forestry waste that is pretty much pure carbon, with almost none of the other nutrients plants need. Burn it without oxygen, producing a bit […]
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Is the Gulf oil spill spinning out of control?
Top Hat, Top Kill, Junk Shot, Hail Mary. I don’t know about you but it sure feels like nobody’s going to stop this leak. Even BP CEO and chief spinmeister Tony Hayward is lowering expectations. This mess is officially out of control. “Plug the damn hole” Presidents don’t do impotence — usually. But while BP […]
