Climate Politics
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From the Senate to the WV coalfields, a pivotal week for mountaintop removal
This post was co-written by Bruce Nilles and Mary Anne Hitt, director and deputy director, respectively, of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign. This has been a historic and game-changing week in the fight to end mountaintop removal. We will undoubtedly look back on the events of the past few days as a major turning point […]
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Historic Senate hearings on Clean Water Protection Act today
In memory of Jeremy Davidson “It hurled like a cannonball into Dennis and Cindy Davidson’s house, right through the wall of the bedroom and onto the bed where 3-year-old Jeremy was sleeping. The huge boulder continued its path, crashing through a closet before finally stopping at the foot of 8-year-old Zachary’s bed. Zachary would be […]
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Seeking a tougher climate bill, green groups set eyes on the Senate
Update: The House on Friday passed the Waxman-Markey bill, 219 to 212. The story below was written ahead of that vote, but its focus on how environmental groups hope to improve the bill in the Senate remains timely. Environmental groups are downplaying hopes that their allies in Congress will be able to strengthen the American […]
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Wanna strengthen the climate bill? Get this one passed.
As Mother Jones recently chronicled, the environment community is fractured on the House clean energy and climate protection bill, though the bigger pieces — Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Wildlife Federation, League of Conservation Voters — are squarely for it. Al Gore last night in a open invitation conference call sought to rally […]
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House swing votes stay mum on climate bill
Nine House Democrats who could determine the fate of the American Clean Energy & Security Act: (rear, from left) Baron Hill, Earl Pomeroy, Artur Davis, Rick Boucher; (front, from left) Mike Ross, Charlie Melancon, Jason Altmire, John Tanner, and Gene Taylor.Photo illustration by Tom Twigg / GristOf the 31 lawmakers who form the statistical center […]
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Activist groups rally support for climate bill
Photos of 1sky volunteers in South Carolina from their June 19 action day event. Find out how you can get involved with climate action groups.1sky.org via FlickrThis is an exciting week for environmental activist organizations. After all, they’re all about rounding up masses of grassroots supporters for just such an occasion as the expected House […]
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Coal is here to stay, says Obama’s chief environmental adviser
In an exclusive interview with Grist, Nancy Sutley, chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, says coal isn’t going away anytime soon. She also says the administration can’t promise a slowdown in mountaintop-removal mining. Here are highlights in video and text. (For more, read the full Q & A.) On coal: [C]learly coal […]
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Scant evidence for charge that EPA ‘suppressed’ dissent [Updated]
UPDATE 6/26: The Competitive Enterprise Institute released a draft of the “suppressed” report, which confirms the EPA’s explanation: The agency didn’t think much of the report because it’s authored by an economist claiming to be a climatologist. “We have become increasingly concerned that EPA and many other agencies and countries have paid too little attention […]
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How bad is the Peterson-Waxman deal on climate legislation?
Big Ag gets its way. [See update below.] Surprising no one–but disappointing many–House energy chief Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) has caved in to the demands of the the agribusiness industry over the climate bill. In reality, he had little choice if he wanted his legislation to get through the House. For more than a month, House […]
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How Waxman-Markey tackles climate change by saving forests
One of the little-known ingredients of the deal that allowed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, H.R. 2454, to pass the Energy and Commerce committee was a breakthrough on protections for the world’s vanishing tropical forests. The bill’s authors, Representatives Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA), used this agreement to achieve the bill’s […]
