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  • WWLD: What Would Lincoln Do?

    Dear President Obama, cc: Sen. Kerry, Rep. Markey Our nation faces the gravest threat to our security and well being and the most profound moral challenge since the great struggle to end slavery. We were blessed, then, to be led by another tall, slim politician from Illinois. However, the terrible prospect of climate cataclysm, though […]

    Ken Ward Politics

  • The big stories out of Tuesday’s Senate hearing on Kerry-Boxer

    Today’s hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee — the first of three days of hearings on the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill — didn’t contain any big surprises. As Keith Johnson notes, Senators generally played their appointed roles. There are four stories out of today that seem notable. 1. Republicans are completely out […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Who’s who on the EPW: Senate committee begins landmark climate hearings

    Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. John Kerry testifying.This week, hearings begin in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works on the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act (S. 1733). This comprehensive climate and clean energy legislation, co-sponsored by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and committee chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), will establish a mandatory global […]

    Brad Johnson Politics

  • Scientists claim junk food is as addictive as heroin

    With the rumors swirling that Michelle Obama is a big fan of former FDA Commissioner David Kessler’s new book The End of Overeating, it seems reasonable to check in on the science behind an “addiction model” for salty, sweet, and fatty processed food (an assertion at the core of the book). As it happens, a […]

    Tom Laskawy Politics

  • Obama’s attempt to tap an agrichemical-industry flack runs into trouble

    While in charge of governmental affairs at Croplife America, Isi Siddiqui, second from left, talks global patent law with U.S. Trade Office officials on April 22, 2009. But don’t use the “L” word! Photo: U.S. State Department “[Croplife America] was relentless in its pursuit of monitoring and actively engaging with key influencers in its attempts […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • President Obama announces $3.4 billion investment to spur transition to smart energy grid

    As the Senate debated the Kerry-Boxer climate bill in Washington, President Obama travelled to Arcadia, Florida to announce a $3.4 billion investment in to modernize the U.S. energy grid. Have a look at this official White House press release on the president’s new smart grid proposal: Speaking at Florida Power and Light’s (FPL) DeSoto Next […]

    Grist staff Politics

  • Kerry smacks down Inhofe’s lies about the cost of climate policy

    At today’s hearing on the Kerry-Boxer bill, Sen. Inhofe (R-Okla.) was spouting the usual lies about the high cost of the policy. Kerry responded: That’s good, but he could have said so much more. Even with those shortcomings of economic models, the costs turn out to be “modest,” in CBO chief Doug Elmendorf’s words. For […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • Evan Bayh (D-Ind.) [UPDATED]

    Evan Bayh Sen. Evan Bayh is widely considered to be a fence-sitter on climate legislation.  He has a generally respectable environmental record, but his home state of Indiana is reliant on manufacturing and coal, so he worries that a climate bill could raise energy costs for his constituents and their employers.   In August, Bayh […]

    Grist staff Politics

  • Why it’s better to invest in efficiency than to hold electricity rates down

    Joe Romm draws attention to some extremely interesting thoughts from Glenn English, head of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association. NRECA represents 900-plus small, not-for-profit, typically coal-based utilities in the Midwest. We tend to think all coal utilities are after more free allowance allocations under a cap-and-trade system, but as Climate Wire (sub req) reports, […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • U.N. chief will pressure senators on climate bill

    UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at a press conference in Seattle (Oct. 26, 2009).Jon Hiskes / GristAs the U.S. Senate begins work on a climate and energy bill this week, senators shouldn’t be surprised if they get a phone call from the guy who counts every person on Earth as a member of his constituency. Ban […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics