Climate Politics
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Report: Forest conservation can be as reliable as other ways of reducing pollution
Photo: Mongabay A combination of dramatic technological advances, experience, and application of a little common sense has markedly increased scientists’ confidence in their ability to monitor forest conservation projects for their climate impact. As The Eliasch Review [PDF], the U.K. Government’s authoritative recent report on forest-climate science and policy, put it, “Using appropriate techniques, forest […]
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Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) [UPDATED]
Lisa Murkowski Sen. Lisa Murkowski is open to voting for a cap-and-trade climate bill if it would aggressively boost nuclear power and domestic oil and gas drilling, she said in a C-SPAN interview aired on Oct. 18. “Count me as one of those who will keep my mind open as we move forward,” she said. […]
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If the grass looks greener, it’s important to understand the nature of the fence
Cross-posted from The Bellows. One of the things about politics is that solutions always seem easier to implement and more promising before they stand a real chance of being implemented. People who have for one reason or another fallen in love with the idea of a carbon tax watch the difficulty Congress is having negotiating […]
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Is anyone in charge of food safety?
The fact that there remains no one in charge of food safety at the USDA has become a sick sort of joke among food policy types. It’s true that there is a second in command, Jerold Mande — but he’s a cancer doctor with no food safety background and, at best, a caretaker. He has […]
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Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer
As an activist who has been arrested for civil disobedience, organized national climate mobilizations, protested outside of coal plants, and worked for Greenpeace, I am calling on my friends and colleagues to fight for the Kerry-Boxer “Clean Energy Jobs Act” and a strong global treaty in Copenhagen. On Monday Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Energy […]
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Is the Congressional Budget Office trying to kill humanity?
Cross-posted from Wonk Room. Yesterday, Doug Elmendorf, the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), testified before the Senate energy committee about the “comparatively modest” cost of a cap-and-trade system to limit carbon pollution. The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal blared “Congressional Budget Chief Says Climate Bill Would Cost Jobs” and “Cap-and-Trade Would Slow […]
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Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) [UPDATED]
Chuck Grassley Sen. Chuck Grassley has dodged and weaved when asked whether climate change is a human-caused problem that needs to be taken seriously, as David Roberts points out. Grassley exhibited that same tendency in an email he sent recently to constituent (and Grist reader) Ben Thompson, who had asked the senator about his views […]
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The American Farm Bureau goes all in
Check out the pitch on agribiz lobbying group American Farm Bureau’s (AFB) new anti-climate bill website: Activists claim there will be droughts, floods, loss of species, and more, if the Senate does not pass the Climate Change bill. But their bill wouldn’t even help the climate … The fact is politics is driving the need […]
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How CBO budget scoring devalues efficiency … WITH PUPPIES!
The Congressional Budget Office is back in the news, after director Doug Elmendorf testified before Congress about the economic impacts of clean energy legislation. Opponents of that legislation rushed to hype a few of his comments out of context, and succeeded, as usual, in getting their voices amplified in the Washington Post. Elmendorf didn’t say […]
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Entergy CEO warns of humanity’s extinction if climate legislation not passed
Cross-posted from Wonk Room. Last week, over a hundred CEOs of American companies broke with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to lobby Congress to “pass comprehensive climate change and energy policy legislation this year.” The U.S. Senate is now considering the Kerry-Boxer Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, which would set a market-based limit […]
