Climate Politics
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Where is the left?
Glenn Greenwald notes the rapid, bipartisan erosion of basic civil liberties, which didn’t even hit a speed bump with the transition to the Obama administration: A bipartisan group from Congress sponsors legislation to strip Americans of their citizenship based on Terrorism accusations. Barack Obama claims the right to assassinate Americans far from any battlefield and […]
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Now is a very good time to impose a severance tax on oil production in California
California is in the midst of a historic budget crisis threatening public services from Calexico to Yreka. California, alone amongst major oil-producing states, charges no severance tax on oil production. This is fair why? Discuss.
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Obama to establish presidential commission to investigate Gulf oil spill
As hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil continue to gush from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico four weeks after the tragic BP disaster, AP reports that: President Barack Obama will establish the commission by executive order. It will be similar to panels created to investigate the space shuttle Challenger disaster and the […]
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The real trouble from the oil spill is brewing deep under the sea
It’s been almost a month since the Deepwater Horizon exploded and began spewing oil into the Gulf of Mexico. But it’s not your typical oil spill; because of its depth and distance from shore, it has so far brought no images of fouled beaches or blackened, dead sea birds. Whatever damage is being done by […]
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MMS goes under the spotlight
Last week, execs from BP, Transocean, and Halliburton took their Capitol Hill beatdown. This week, federal regulators will be led into the ring. With Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar at the front of the line, they’ll appear before three Senate committees tomorrow and then a House committee on Wednesday, at which members of Congress […]
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What the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill means for farmers
Thus far the majority of analysis of the Kerry-Lieberman climate bill has focused on the energy components of the bill, including an extension of nuclear power, “clean coal” from carbon storage and sequestration, and offshore drilling expansion. The bill also provides unprecedented programs for agriculture and food systems in the U.S. and internationally. Unfortunately, while […]
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Climate change: Four futures
As the debate over the climate bill heats up, there’s one rule of thumb that may help you keep your bearings as the rhetoric becomes more gaseous and the weeds grow ever higher around the facts. It’s this: There are, in the end, only four possible futures here. Future 1: Continuation More business as usual. […]
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New Conservative British government agrees on more feed-in tariffs
Cross-posted from Wind-Works. Less than two months after Britain’s Labor Party launched its highly regarded feed-in tariff program, the newly elected Conservative government has announced the program will be expanded. The announcement is included in the coalition government’s agreement published as the new government took office. Britain’s new government is a coalition of the Conservative […]
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What to expect from Britain’s new coalition government
Prime Minister David Cameron and Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne heading out to announce that the government will cut its greenhouse-gas emissions by 10 percent over the next 12 months.Photo: Prime Minister’s OfficeEnvironment policy didn’t break the surface during the U.K. election campaign. How will it fare in a coalition of parties at […]
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Obama’s unconvincing ‘anger’ at BP and lax regulators
Obama giving his “angry” speechPresident Obama has so far declined to give voice to the connection between the massive, stomach-churning fossil-fuel disaster in the Gulf of Mexico and the massive, stomach-turning damage that fossil fuels wreak every day. He hasn’t used his bully pulpit to highlight the opportunities to use energy more intelligently and gather […]
