Climate Politics
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The Climate Post: Defining moment still seeks definition
First things first: Sens. John Kerry and Joe Lieberman last week unveiled their draft energy and climate legislation, called the American Power Act, in a Senate committee room overstuffed with lobbyists, policy wonks, journalists, and other observers. The bill’s authors must steer it through the “usual” complexity intrinsic to the climate debates, and now too […]
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BP cover-up begins to unravel
UPDATE: BP finally admits its 5,000 barrels per day estimate lowballs the spill. If BP America’s president can’t say for sure the BP oil spill isn’t gushing 70,000 barrels per day, how can we trust BP’s official estimate that it’s actually spilling 5,000 barrels per day? After testifying before the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee […]
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Why the American Power Act is not a corporate give-away
In his insightful post, Rob Stavins makes two key points regarding the allocation of emission allowances under climate legislation like that introduced last week by Sens. Kerry and Lieberman. First, Stavins addresses head-on the concerns that some progressives have toward the allocation provisions in the bill, asking, “Is the Kerry-Lieberman allowance allocation a corporate give-away?” […]
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BP disaster investigation must be free, clear, and complete
President Obama is likely to sign an executive order sometime during the next several days that would create an independent commission to investigate the causes behind the tragic BP oil disaster. A thorough independent investigation is essential to understand what caused the explosion that cost 11 workers their lives, and what led to the failure […]
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Oil companies fund initiative to repeal California’s landmark climate law
Texas oil companies are funding an attack on Gov. Schwarzenegger’s signature environmental accomplishment, the 2006 Global Warming Solutions Act.Gov. Schwarzenegger’s OfficeBig Oil is nothing if not brazen, so while BP works to protect its tattered reputation in the Gulf, two Texas oil companies are on the attack in California. Their target is Assembly Bill 32, […]
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Outcomes, not mechanisms: the effects of the American Power Act
The top-notch climate/energy team at the Peterson Institute for International Economics has just released a comprehensive assessment of “the economic, employment, energy security, and environmental impact of the American Power Act” (by Trevor Houser, Shashank Mohan, and Ian Hoffman). I’ll post their main conclusions below, but first a quick point. PIIE’s analysis focuses on the […]
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Kerry-Lieberman has zero chance of passing
I recently posted that Kerry-Lieberman is not worth fighting for. It also won’t pass. This proposal is dead on arrival. I’ve heard supporters describe two paths to passage, though they sound more like wishes upon stars. One is that Obama suddenly prioritizes climate, and makes a large scale push to support the bill. I’ll let […]
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American Power Act — Climate Solutions’ initial reactions
This piece was co-authored by Ross Macfarlane. Sens. Kerry (D-Mass) and Lieberman (I-Conn) finally released the American Power Act (APA) on Wednesday, May 11, after months of internal negotiations, and nearly a year after the House passed its comprehensive climate and energy bill, (the American Clean Energy and Security Act or ACES). Climate Solutions is […]
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Rand Paul’s Copenhagen rant and other election notes
Climate and energy issues barely registered in this month’s primary coverage, but Rand Paul (son of Ron) saw fit to take on the Copenhagen climate talks after becoming the Republican Senate candidate in Kentucky last night. “We have a president who went to Copenhagen and appeared with Robert Mugabe, Hugo Chávez and others — Evo […]
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Kerry-Lieberman is worse than nothing, no matter how loudly supporters clap.
The main argument for supporting Kerry-Lieberman seems to be “it’s a crappy bill, but once it passes it will get better”. KL proponents often point out that social security was loophole ridden in a way that excluded most African-Americans when it first passed. But a combination of demographic shifts, and changes to law extended social […]
