Climate Politics
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Obama Supreme Court pick has small but solid record on environmental rulings
President Obama today selected Sonia Sotomayor as his first nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court. If confirmed, she would become the first Latin American and only the third woman to sit on the highest court in the land. The hot topic of conversation surrounding her nomination is affirmative action, but over in Gristland, we’re wondering, […]
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Judge Sonia Sotomayor on energy & environment
President Obama has chosen federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor for the Supreme Court. The African American Environmentalist Association has an extended discussion of her energy and environmental views, reprinted below: Judge Sonia Sotomayor [above] wrote an opinion in Riverkeeper v. EPA, 475 F.3d 83 (2d Cir. 2007), that the EPA was not permitted to engage […]
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Deforestation in Waxman-Markey
I really like Title VII Part E of the Waxman-Markey bill, which puts aside some pollution permit value to reduce international deforestation. (It’s separate from Part D, Offsets.) There are plenty of set-asides in the bill for energy producers, industrials, refineries, all sorts of private interests. VII-E is one of the few set-asides for public […]
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Toles on GOP global warming denial
And a shout out to Toles for his shout out to Dust-Bowlification (see “NOAA stunner: SW faces permanent Dust Bowls” and “Climate change drives SW Dust Bowl sooner than expected“).
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Congress reconsiders regulatory exemption for gas drilling
This story was written by ProPublica’s Abrahm Lustgarten. From left, former Vice President Dick Cheney, Rep. John Salazar, Rep. Dianna DeGette and Sen. Bob Casey are all trying to leave their mark on how natural gas is drilled in the U.S. Abrahm Lustgarten / ProPublicaFour years after Vice President Dick Cheney spearheaded a massive energy […]
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House Majority Leader says climate bill will see fast action
Enjoy the Memorial Day holiday, readers, because when members come back from their week-long break, the pace of action on climate and clean energy legislation is going to accelerate. The House leadership wants to vote on Waxman-Markey before the August recess. I certainly hope they can stay on that schedule since the ideal time to […]
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Obama’s new CAFE standards keep the pressure on Congress to act
It’s an annual rite as familiar as April showers; Americans again jumped in their cars in droves this past weekend to celebrate the unofficial start of summer. It was fitting that last week President Obama took a major step, announcing regulations that will increase fuel efficiency within a few years. With this move, Obama ensured […]
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Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein gets climate bill wrong
In a laudable attempt to draw more elite media attention to the Waxman-Markey bill — which, like all things “environmental,” has not exactly been a preoccupation of the political cable/blog/op-ed axis — Washington Post business writer Steven Pearlstein makes a hash of a few important facts. Pearlstein says the Waxman-Markey bill will create “create dozens of […]
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Operation Appalachian Spring grows
In three separate direct actions in the West Virginia coalfields yesterday, nonviolent protestors launched the new phase of Operation Appalachian Spring, a growing national campaign to stop mountaintop removal mining and raise awareness of the catastrophic potential of government regulated blasting near a coal sludge impoundment. “The toxic lake at Brushy Fork dam sits atop […]
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Mainstream environmentalists’ enthusiasm for Waxman-Markey ensures it will get worse
Mainstream environmentalists who take the position that the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade bill “could be worse” help ensure that it will be. Publicly proclaiming willingness to live with the bill in its current firm gives nobody any leverage to strengthen it. It is the same mistake first time buyers make in car lots when they accept an […]
