Climate Politics
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Food safety reform is a mess
My considered analysis regarding food safety in the U.S. is this: It’s an unmitigated disaster. Salmonella in peanut butter made by a single manufacturer causes deaths, sickness and the recall of thousands of different products from store shelves. Over 10 million pounds of beef have been recalled since President Obama took office. Indeed, the ongoing […]
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With a climate bill still stalled in the Senate, leaders need to get leading
The Senate is delaying on climate and energy again. How can so much inaction feel so exhausting? The most frustrating part is the feeling that our political system is hurting us more than it is helping. We have solutions. We have some really smart ideas about how to wean ourselves off dirty energy and create […]
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Rebutting CBO's climate policy and jobs paper
The Congressional Budget Office issued a briefing paper yesterday concluding that climate pricing will slightly reduce employment overall in the United States, because green jobs gains won’t quite offset other job losses. Unfortunately, this paper will likely be misquoted and misunderstood repeatedly. It’s not what it seems.
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Can the Gulf oil spill be environmentalists’ Arizona moment?
A May Day protest against Arizona’s immigration law.Photo courtesy th.omas via FlickrWithin a week of Arizona’s new racial-profiling bill becoming law, the “1 MILLION Strong AGAINST the Arizona Immigration Law SB1070” group on Facebook climbed to nearly 1.3 million people. Via Facebook and emails and phone calls, I’ve been asked to attend vigils and marches, […]
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With Gulf-spill facts in short supply, spin takes center stage
You spin me right round …Photo: Pip WilsonFor all the fire-hose coverage of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, it’s a story with startlingly few known facts. We don’t know how much oil has actually spilled out. We don’t know where or when it will hit land. We don’t know exactly what’s in the chemical […]
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Has coal’s strongest defender had a change of heart?
The elders of the U.S. Senate usually aren’t good people to look to for signs of hope and change. But Robert Byrd, the 92-year-old senator from West Virginia, is making some surprising statements lately. After a career as a loyal coal-industry defender, Byrd made headlines last year by calling on the industry to “embrace the […]
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Oil spill update: Interior Dept. negligence, Obama’s BP cash, & greenwashing
The time has come to start peeling the onion on the big, oily Gulf Coast mess. The Washington Post goes at one juicy layer with a story by Juliet Eilperin revealing that the Interior Department gave BP a pass on doing a detailed environmental impact analysis last year because a massive oil spill seemed unlikely. […]
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EPA proposes two options for coal ash oversight
EPA Administrator Lisa JacksonThe Environmental Protection Agency released not one, but two proposals yesterday for regulating the coal ash waste from power plants. The stricter rule of the two would empower the federal government to oversee coal ash like other hazardous waste; the less stringent rule would treat it like ordinary trash and leave oversight […]
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Soda lobbyists say the funniest things
iStockphotoFor sheer shark-jumping, fridge-nuking outrageousness, you just can’t beat the American Beverage Association. In a must-read/listen NPR report, the ABA’s senior vice president for science policy, Maureen Storey, made the claim that soda should play a crucial role in children’s hydration needs: …Children who have been exercising may not drink enough water to get back […]
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ComEd offers Illinois $500M in exchange for guaranteed profits
The gaul of this is hard to put to words. Commonwealth Edison, one of Illinois’ regulated utilities is seeking to take advantage of the state’s budget crisis by offering the state $500 million in exchange for a guarantee of the utility’s future profits. If there’s a better case to be made that a regulated utility […]
