Climate Politics
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Why does the much-touted climate bill look like it was stolen from the Republican playbook?
“Command and control” is a military term the Republicans long ago appropriated to caricature and condemn Democratic programs. Republicans like to contrast the Democrats’ embrace of a command and control, regulation-based you-will-do-as-I-say-or-else strategy with their own, presumably, more effective market-based we-will-make-it-worthwhile-for-you-to-do-what-we-want approach. Nowhere is the phrase “command and control” used more often and with more […]
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Big Meat says, “Keep the FDA away from our CAFOs!”
National Cattlemen: butt out of our business, you … regulators!Roll Call is reporting that Big Meat is less than pleased with the food safety bill currently moving through Congress. While on its face, this might be surprising, what’s been notable to this point, as Jill Richardson recently pointed out, is the overwhelming support the bill […]
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Climate envoy Todd Stern on U.S. climate action and the possibility of deal with China
Todd Stern.U.S. Climate Envoy and former Center for American Progress Senior Fellow Todd Stern spoke at CAP Tuesday. If you want to know where US-China negotiations are headed on climate, I highly recommend watching the video of his talk here (a PDF of his prepared remarks are here). He is a blunt guy for someone […]
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Industry defends federal loophole for drilling before packed Congressional hearing
Abrahm Lustgarten / ProPublica ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten reports: In a packed and sometimes contentious hearing on Capitol Hill Thursday, representatives of the oil and gas industry and their state regulators vigorously defended the practice of injecting toxic fluids underground without federal regulatory oversight. The House Energy and Minerals subcommittee called the hearing to explore the […]
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Philly’s universal school lunch program lives on — for now
Sometimes sanity prevails. Philly’s Universal Feeding school lunch program–whose announced cancellation caused an uproar the other week–just got a reprieve, at least until 2010. The Philly Inquirer has the story: The U.S. Department of Agriculture has decided not to discontinue a Philadelphia school breakfast and lunch program that provides free meals to poor students, members […]
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Obama on climate action: “Tough decisions and… concrete actions”
President Obama was asked a question today on global warming at his press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel: Q: And another political issue, if I may. Madam Chancellor, climate change. Germany, Europe are putting concrete targets on the agenda, concrete reduction targets. Will America in the post-Kyoto process be willing to commit itself to […]
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Powerful injustice at the Bonn climate talks
It’s the fourth day of climate negotiations here in Bonn, and at 4:30 in the afternoon, there is a lull in the action before the start of early evening “contact groups” – official meetings of negotiators that are sometimes open to observers. Looking for a quiet place to sit down with my laptop, I have […]
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Pelosi won’t commit to deadline for passing climate bill
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has set a soft deadline of June 19 for committee leaders to finish their review of the climate and energy bill that passed out of the Energy and Commerce Committee last month. But she hasn’t set a deadline for passing the bill out the full chamber. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, […]
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Inhofe’s plan: Stall climate action until the next president
The Heartland Institute, an outpost for climate change skeptics, is holding its Third International Conference on Climate Change here in Washington, D.C., this week (just three months after its second one). Yesterday the meeting played host to the Senate’s top climate-change denier, Oklahoma Republican James Inhofe. Inhofe, best known for calling global warming “the greatest […]
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West Virginia celebrates the blessings of a coal-based economy
West Virginia gets more of its electricity from coal than any other state. To celebrate that fact, yesterday WV Gov. Joe Manchin (D) declared coal the official state rock. Yes, really. Coal is now the state rock of West Virginia. But why should Manchin stop there? Having a coal-based economy has given his state so […]
