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  • Why I introduced the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act

    The tragic oil spill in the Gulf has led me to look at the Oil Pollution Act, which Congress passed in 1990 in the wake of the Exxon Valdez spill. It’s apparent that the liability limit set in that legislation, $75 million, is laughably small. With estimates that the oil spill off the Gulf Coast […]

    Rep. Rush Holt Politics

  • Thoughts on journalism in an age of ecological calamity

    “…sitting on marble floors, waiting for somebody to come out and lie to me.” — Russell Baker, describing his early ’60s stint as a Washington political correspondent for The New York Times, in his memoir The Good Times. Journalists Mike Allen, Sy Hersh, and I.F. StoneThis post doesn’t touch directly on the environment, or even […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • Oil Disaster Doesn't Mean We Should Switch to Other Dirty Fuels

    This post was co-written by Kate Colarulli of the Sierra Club Dirty Fuels Campaign. As we’ve watched the Gulf Coast clean up from the massive BP oil disaster, besides BP picking up its own PR mission to improve its image, we’ve also noticed another disturbing PR campaign: the coal industry and the tar sands industry […]

    Bruce Nilles Politics

  • A first look at the details of the Kerry-Lieberman American Power Act

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Last night, the Wonk Room published a summary of the provisions of the American Power Act, the comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation being introduced today by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.). This post delves deeper into the legislation’s specific provisions. The following table compares key […]

    Brad Johnson Politics

  • Introducing the American Power Act: On strategy and substance

    Busy day here — started early with some curtain-raising morning television to kick off the discussion a bit about the American Power Act that Joe Lieberman [I-Conn.] and a unique coalition are talking about later today. But sometimes those morning-show interviews are a bit of a reminder of how much detailed discussion we lose when […]

    John Kerry Politics

  • Bingaman rebukes Lieberman’s oil disaster excuse that ‘accidents happen’

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Last week, Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) defended the inclusion of expanded offshore drilling in the climate bill he will unveil tomorrow, brushing off the deadly Gulf disaster by saying that “accidents happen:” There were good reasons for us to put in offshore drilling, and this terrible accident is very rare […]

    Brad Johnson Politics

  • White flight and the urban-suburban switcheroo

    Suburban ChicagoCourtesy Scorpians and Centaurs via FlickrThe idea of racially diverse American cities ringed by mostly white suburbs is essentially flip-flopping, according to the Brookings Institution’s big new demographic report, “The State of Metropolitan America.” The report draws on 2002-2008 census data to find that young, educated whites are moving into cities in record numbers. […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • The Yes Men send an intern to the Bolivia Climate Summit

    Yes Man Andy Bichlbaum was in no shape for a trip to Bolivia, so a new guy made the trip.ScreengrabPrankster duo the The Yes Men sent an intern to the “people’s” climate summit in Bolivia last month, and he made a pretty entertaining video. The alternative conference, led by Bolivian President Evo Morales, skewed toward […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • Political fallout from the Gulf oil spill: Hill hearings, climate-bill questions, MMS reorg

    Now it’s really starting to get ugly.  Not in the Gulf of Mexico — that’s already borderline hideous — but in Washington.  The top execs of the three partners in the toppled, leaking oil rig — BP, Transocean, and Halliburton — made their first public appearances before Congress today, and while they haven’t reached screaming-cats-in-a-bag […]

    Randy Rieland Politics

  • Where things stand on the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill

    The Kerry-Lieberman (nee Kerry-Graham-Lieberman) climate and clean-energy bill is set to be introduced on Wednesday. Given all the chaos that’s surrounded it for the last few weeks, it’s worth taking a step back and taking a broad look at the current political dynamic and the chances for a successful outcome. Here’s the one-sentence summary: Chances […]

    David Roberts Politics