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  • CBO: Household costs under Waxman-Markey likely much lower than report reflects

    Last Friday, the Congressional Budget Office answered some questions from Sen. John Kerry about its much-discussed report (PDF) on the costs of cap-and-trade. You’ll recall the report’s principle conclusion: a cap-and-trade program would reduce the deficit over the next decade. Despite that positive outcome, the report contained some scary numbers, like the fact that the […]

    David Roberts Politics

  • What does the CBO report on Waxman-Markey actually tell us? (Not much).

    The Congressional Budget Office recently issued its report on the Waxman-Markey bill. The Washington Times soon trumpeted: “CBO puts hefty price tag on emissions plan: Obama’s cap-and-trade system seen costing $846 billion.” This is quite misleading. Actually, the CBO report tells us virtually nothing about the economic costs of the bill or how much consumers […]

    Daniel Farber Politics

  • Enviros cringe as Senate committee approves energy bill

    The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee approved an energy bill on Wednesday that has the environmental community up in arms. The plan, enviros say, relies too heavily on fossil fuels and doesn’t do enough to advance renewable energy. The American Clean Energy Leadership Act was approved by a vote of 15-8. The bill passed […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • House ag chief Peterson: what, me worry about a warming planet?

    Peterson, right, with combine rep: With climate change and big diesel-guzzling combines, we can grow lots of corn!After researching my story last week about the ag lobby’s attempt to turn Waxman-Markey into a cash cow for the agrichem and ethanol industries, I assumed that Waxman would quietly make some unspeakable deal with House ag chief […]

    Tom Philpott Politics

  • It’s time to act “after many years of dithering and delay”

    The Administration has put together a terrific new website, globalchange.gov, on its landmark 13-agency report, Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.  Every possible summary and graphic you could want is there – heck, they even have the embed codes for their slideshow: GlobalChange.Gov-US Impacts Summary [vodpod id=Video.16092247&w=425&h=350&fv=] If you didn’t catch the live […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • Who, really, is inciting Americans to violence today?

    NYT columnist Frank Rich has a terrific column on the hate-mongering being pushed by the some of the right-wing media these days, “The Obama Haters’ Silent Enablers“: WHEN a Fox News anchor, reacting to his own network’s surging e-mail traffic, warns urgently on-camera of a rise in hate-filled, “amped up” Americans who are “taking the […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • Week of Aug. 3 planned for cap-and-trade markup, given “50-50 or better odds”

    Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) plans to wait until the week of Aug. 3 to mark up climate change legislation in order to have a series of hearings on the issue and the bill first, she said today. This timetable, reported late last week in E&E News PM (subs. req’d), is […]

    Joseph Romm Politics

  • White House hopes new climate report is a ‘game-changer’

    Hey, remember the Florida Keys? You might have to, considering they won’t be there much longer if we continue pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere at current rates. Have plans to check out the Lone Star State? Well, you might want to get there soon, as Texas can expect up to 100 days of temperatures […]

    Kate Sheppard Politics

  • Obama’s voice absent from release of big climate report

    The podium awaits you, sir.Courtesy JoshBerglund19 via FlickrOn a day when the executive branch released a major report on the effects of climate change already underway in the United States, where was President Obama? Not at the official release of “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States.” Two of his top science officials, John […]

    Jonathan Hiskes Politics

  • Congress is the problem

    Felix Salmon blogs at Reuters about the seeming exhaustion of Obama’s political capital — on both climate change and financial regulations, he just can’t seem to get what he wants out of Congress. I think Matt Yglesias and Ryan Avent both have the appropriate response: the problem here is not Obama, but Congress. Indeed, the […]

    David Roberts Politics