Climate Politics
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In landmark vote, House committee approves climate bill
After months of grueling hearings and deliberations, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill by a vote of 33-25 on Thursday evening. It’s a landmark occasion, the first time a serious climate bill has made it this far in the House. The bill would cut greenhouse-gas emissions about 17 […]
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Defending coal in climate legislation
We saw how years of accumulated habit, chummy political relationships, and a regulatory model that all-but mandates big central power plants have left coal utilities betting their futures almost entirely on “clean coal.” They’ve told their legislators that it’s the only way to go low-carbon in the South and Midwest. Their legislators, who have long […]
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The Climate Post: The House at the center of the world
Lately, every week is the most consequential in the history of climate change. This week was no exception. A House of Representatives committee slogged through its potentially game-changing climate bill. The White House struck a deal with auto manufacturers and California to raise fuel efficiency – and consequently reduce carbon emissions. Uneven signals from China […]
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Waxman-Markey bill would do more for climate without cap-and-trade provision
Waxman-Markey is a big split personality of a bill. Its efficiency and renewable requirements would make a dent in greenhouse gas emissions, even if not a very big one. But the cap-and-trade at the heart of the legislation is another story. Why do we need cap-and-trade or a carbon tax or something similar? If we […]
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‘Regular people’ cheer on climate action at Seattle rally
Climate organizer K.C. Golden stood with his back to a sparkling Elliott Bay in Seattle today, hushed the elementary-school students crowding a stage with him, and pointed to the glass wall of the convention center next door. “Here’s what’s transformational,” said Golden, of Climate Solutions. “The Environmental Protection Agency is in there working to be […]
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Climate Central takes on Georgia, coal, and carbon
This week brought a new piece of journalism from the crack staff of scientists and reporters at Climate Central. It’s called “Georgia: Coal and Carbon.” Watch: As always with CC, the piece is accompanied by an annotated transcript that documents virtually every word with links to scientific sources. Fine work, as usual. I have only […]
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Citizens in Seattle, fossils in D.C.
A crowd gathered in Seattle on May 21 to call for action on climate change. The rally occurred as the EPA held a public hearing in the city on its CO2 endangerment finding.Tom Twigg / Grist Today is an interesting day in the climate/energy world. In Seattle, where I am right now (Twittering like crazy!), […]
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Climate protesters arrested at sit-in outside Rick Boucher’s office
Capitol Police arrested 15 protesters outside the office of Rep. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) on Thursday as the debate over the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill continued. The protesters, from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, held a sit-in outside Boucher’s office to protest his role in getting more support into the bill for coal. Boucher, who […]
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Gore mobilizes his “army” to fight for climate action and take on gravest U.S. security
As the House Energy and Commerce Committee completes its work on the Waxman-Markey climate bill, Al Gore’s army is mobilizing to support it. Gore hosted a North American Summit late last week in Nashville, convening 500 of the 2,600 volunteers he’s trained to deliver his “Inconvenient Truth” presentation. Five hundred was the maximum number that […]
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Waxman-Markey: ‘80% less by 2050’ is too hard, let’s do 46%
I’ve read humongous books in my time, most memorably Cloudsplitter, Russell Banks’ magisterial cinderblock-sized novel of John Brown, the anti-slavery warrior whose “Bloody Kansas” campaign in the 1850s helped provoke the Civil War. The similarly supersized Waxman-Markey bill couldn’t be more different – not just in genre, but in attitude. Where Brown gave his life […]
