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  • Lindsey Graham rebukes fellow Republicans: ‘The green economy is coming’

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. While other Senate Republicans led by Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) boycott action on the climate crisis, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has chosen a leadership role. In a press conference today with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the author of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, and Sen. Joe Lieberman […]

  • Salazar cowboys-up to fight global warming

    With all eco-eyes focused on the action (or, more properly, inaction) on a climate bill, other critical components of a clean energy economy can be overlooked. That was the case on Monday as the dominant news story concerned speculation about whether Republican members of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works would show up […]

  • New allies in fight against Obama’s pesticide lobbyist nominee

    I’m sure many of you have seen the various petitions zipping around the Internet encouraging opposition to President Obama’s nomination of pesticide lobbyist Islam “Isi” Siddiqui to the Office of the United State’s Trade Representative. The argument against him goes something like this: The White House has nominated Mr. Siddiqui for the position of chief […]

  • One year after his election, Obama on verge of audaciously fulfilling his promise as the green FDR

    Future historians will inevitably judge all 21st-century presidents on just two issues: global warming and the clean energy transition. If the world doesn’t stop catastrophic climate change then all presidents, indeed, all of us, will be seen as failures and rightfully so. In that sense, what team Obama has accomplished in the year since he […]

  • Jon Tester (D-Mont.)

    Jon TesterThe junior senator from Montana, Jon Tester has stayed relatively quiet on climate legislation and thus remains in the “fence-sitter” category. In late October, Tester expressed interest in Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D-Wash.) climate bill, which thus far hasn’t gotten any traction in the Senate: “I’d like to see what Maria’s got. I’m not real […]

  • Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)

    Joe Lieberman“I’m trying to work with the group in the middle,” says Sen. Joe Lieberman, describing to National Journal his role in brokering a climate agreement.  He’s pushing particularly hard for more support for nuclear power in a climate bill, saying, “I think it’s one of the key bridges that I can help build to […]

  • I drink raw milk (sold illegally on the underground market)

    From Joel Salatin’s foreword to The Raw Milk Revolution: Behind America’s Emerging Battle Over Food Rights by David Gumpert. I drink raw milk, sold illegally on the underground black market. I grew up on raw milk from our own Guernsey cows that our family hand-milked twice a day. We made yogurt, ice cream, butter, and […]

  • Have Cap-and-Trade Programs Been

    I’ve got an emerging obsession: the risk of market manipulation in cap and trade programs. It’s something you hear about all the time, at least in carbon policy circles, but the details about “gaming” always seem to be in very short supply. Still, it’s something we should take a close look at because the alleged consequences are […]

  • Senators opposed to Clean Energy Jobs Act are ignoring bill’s benefits to Americans — Part 1

    On Nov. 3, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee is scheduled to begin debate and vote on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (CEJAPA), sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). At this writing it appears that the committee’s Republican members plan to boycott the debate and votes, thus […]

  • Africa walks out on climate talks in Barcelona, citing lack of commitment from West

    Negotiations among more than 190 countries meeting in Barcelona to address climate change continued today, but only on certain matters, as delegates from 50 African nations collectively shut down the talks about how to extend the Kyoto Protocol when the first phase of the agreement expires in 2012. Africa refuses to continue the negotiations until […]