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What might Sen. Evan Bayh’s retirement mean for the clean-energy bill?
Sen. Evan Bayh Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh will not seek re-election this year, a decision that hands Republicans a prime pickup opportunity in the middle of the country. “After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so by serving in Congress has waned,” Bayh […]
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Policy fixes to unleash clean energy, part 5
Now we come to the fun part. If you could build a dream spouse, what would he or she look like? Describe their personality, sense of humor, and relative similarity to Kelly LeBrock. It’s fun to think about, and utterly unrealistic. So too with the question we now build to. If you were king, had […]
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Cantwell’s climate bill gathers steam
There’s an interesting insurgency that may give lie to recent predictions of federal failure on cap and trade. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) has a modified “cap and dividend” bill, called the CLEAR Act, that’s slowly but surely picking up momentum. On Wednesday, the Washington Post gave it a nod: Is there no alternative between simple do-nothingism […]
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We’re kicking butt on coal
Bummed out about Copenhagen, the U.S. Senate, that expensive-sounding kggrstch emanating from somewhere in your transmission? Well, here’s some good news to sip and enjoy: the amazing success of the fight to stop new coal plants. Consider the situation in early 2007. At that time the Energy Department released a survey showing 151 new coal […]
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Utah solves climate change by voting it down
This post is reprinted from Climate Progress. Utah: still the right wing placeWhen you drive into Utah from Colorado, there’s a sign that says: “Utah: Still the Right Place.” For years, the sign has been edited with red spray paint to read: “Utah, Still the Right Wing.” New word from the Beehive State suggests the […]
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Obama administration celebrates clean energy investments, reaffirms support for cap-and-trade
On Thursday the Obama administration released its annual Economic Report of the President, which assesses the nation’s economic progress, the challenges ahead, and the administration’s domestic and international priorities. There is a meaty chapter on “Transforming the Energy Sector and Addressing Climate Change” (PDF). Its most striking feature is that it doesn’t back off, at […]
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Show solar some love
My colleagues at Vote Solar thought that making a viral valentine (two words, by the way, that really shouldn’t go together) would be a great idea. Something campy, something funny, something that also makes the point that a relationship with solar — like one with a special Valentine — can have a lot of benefits. […]
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The Climate Post: Snow is unequivocal
First things first: Attention turned this week to the Mid-Atlantic snowstorms and how to understand (and misunderstand) them, and also to how the climate science community-namely the IPCC-might prevent mistakes in process and print that have harmed its reputation in recent months. Three feet of snow have disabled the capital region. The federal government has […]
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Policy fixes to unleash clean energy, part 4
Thus far, we’ve reviewed the five questions that ought to be answered before addressing any energy policy, identified the key regulatory barriers to clean energy deployment, and reviewed the political obstacles to good energy policy. Let’s now move on to the simplest — but potentially most controversial — question. What principles ought to guide good […]
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Conservatives say stupid things about snow; media dutifully reports that they say them
As anyone with a Twitter account is sick of hearing by now, Washington, D.C., is being battered by a “snowpocalypse.” Conservatives are using the occasion to mock Al Gore because, you see, snow disproves climate change. This is obviously something that only extremely ill-informed (or stupid) people would say. No matter what you think about […]
