Climate Politics
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Seven reasons for optimism about the Senate climate bill
Conventional wisdom says that the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill faces a long uphill slog against unlikely odds. Many Senators, especially those in the “center,” think it’s unpopular. They think it will raise prices during a recession. They think it will unfairly hurt their states. They see little political upside and lots of possible downside. Here’s […]
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The Spanish solar collapse
There has been a lot of talk in the U.S. about the collapse of the Spanish solar market this year, commonly held to have been a solar bubble. However, few U.S. commentators seem to understand the Spanish market enough to go beyond the standard quip that the Spanish were simply throwing too much money at […]
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Sen. Lindsey Graham crosses the climate rubicon
Last week, I struck a hopeful note after GOP Sen. Lindsey Graham expressed interest in a climate bill compromise that included a carbon cap in exchange for support for some nuclear power and coastal drilling. But my expectations it would really happen remained low. Today, Graham made a deal all but inevitable. Final compromise language […]
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Looking beyond Copenhagen, with no Plan B
MADISON, Wisc. — President Obama’s lieutenants put on their game faces as they fielded journalists’ questions Friday, but there was a palpable sense that they know the game is already over going into the global talks on climate change in December. I wish I could say something different, but that’s the sense I got as […]
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Obama’s Nobel: What it means for greens
Dip a toe into the Nobel Peace Prize news and next thing you’re drowning in commentary. Here’s an attempt to distill what it means for greens, by which I mean the types of people who rely on air, water, soil, and other naturey elements. Obama’s nuclear disarmament work won him the award. A member of […]
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The Climate Post: U.S. to Kyoto Protocol: just not that into you
First things first: The U.S. Senate is looking at new climate change legislation as the COP-15 global talks in Copenhagen approach this December. These two stories have fed off and driven each other all year. That they are happening together offers a clear view of just how stark differences are on what the U.S. should […]
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Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize
UN Photo/Marco Castro In a stunning announcement (full text below), “The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” Obama won, in part, for reversing the immoral efforts of the Cheney-Bush […]
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How Senate Dems should lure GOP to a climate bill
The greenosphere is all abuzz with the news that a few Republican Senators, led by Lindsey Graham (S.C.), have signaled that they’re open to coming around on the climate bill if certain conditions are met. In classic form, Senate Dems have responded by rushing to signal they they are willing — eager, even! — to […]
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Senate must block OSMRE nominee Pizarchik
As Consol Energy crews clean up another mysterious coal slurry spill in West Virginia today, the nation’s largest producer of high-Btu bituminous coal — and an aggressive operator of devastating mountaintop removal and longwall mines — will be closely watching the nomination hearing of their southwestern Pa. hometown mining bureaucrat Joseph Pizarchik to head the […]
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Are there GOP senators who will back the climate bill?
In July, I speculated that Sen. Lamar Alexander might lead some Republicans to back a climate protection bill if Democratic leaders made some concessions regarding nuclear power. The prospect was tantalizing, as I noted then: “The Democratic caucus is not solid enough on climate issues to presume GOP votes are unneeded. Anyone giving a positive […]
