Skip to content
Grist home
Grist home
Grist home

Climate Politics

All Stories

  • Gore on CNN

    Embedded video from CNN Video  

  • Obama praises breakthrough on climate legislation in weekly address

    In his weekly address on Saturday, President Barack Obama praised Democratic Congressional leaders for their breakthrough on climate and energy legislation as a “promising sign of progress” on a top issue for his administration.” “Chairman Henry Waxman and members of the Energy and Commerce Committee brought together stakeholders from all corners of the country – […]

  • Cap-and-trade permit giveaway hurt Waxman-Markey effectiveness

    The new Waxman-Markey bill gives away 80% of permits for the first five years. Because I’m confident others will write about climate justice issues in this bill, I thought I’d discuss how giving away large numbers of permits weakens cap-and-trade effectiveness. Cap-and-trade, to the extent that it works, drives behavior through price.  Polluters decide on […]

  • Al Gore rallies his grassroots supporters to help pass House climate bill

    The climate dream team? Rep. Henry Waxman, former VP Al Gore and Rep. Ed Markey are set on getting a cap-and-trade climate bill passed ASAP.AP photos / composite by Tom Twigg NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Al Gore on Thursday kicked off a new phase of his campaign against climate change, calling on his volunteers across the […]

  • Some enviro groups not happy with Waxman-Markey bill

    Reps. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released the much-anticipated full text (PDF) of their climate legislation on Friday, prompting several big-name green groups to take sides on whether or not the House Democrats’ bill is strong enough. Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Public Citizen released a joint statement on Wednesday as reports […]

  • EPA to hold public hearings on ‘climate endangerment’ in DC, Seattle

    Photo: Corey McKrillThe U.S. EPA is holding two public hearings next week on the “climate endangerment” finding — one near Washington, D.C., on Monday and one in the other Washington, out here in Seattle on Thursday. About a month ago, the EPA announced they had “determined that planet-warming greenhouse gases pose a danger to public […]

  • Waxman-Markey permit allocation plan: could be worse

    As Grist readers know, the House Energy Committee has been behind closed doors hashing out a compromise version of the Waxman-Markey climate and energy bill. Some details of the compromise were announced earlier this week. Today saw the release of the proposal for allocating pollution permits under the compromise bill (reprinted in full at the […]

  • EPA clears waterboarding for Appalachia

    As American citizens in Mingo County and other areas of the flood-stricken Kentucky and West Virginia coalfields continue to dig themselves out of the muck, indefatigable Charleston Gazette reporter Ken Ward is reporting on his Coal Tattoo blog that the EPA has “signed off on almost all (87.5 percent, to be exact) of the mountaintop […]

  • Waxman and Markey divvy up the goods — I wish my parents had given me allowances like this!

    Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ed Markey (D-MA) have circulated a draft proposal of allowance allocations for their landmark energy and climate legislation (see here and below). They explain: Emission allowances will be allocated to accomplish three primary goals: (1) to protect consumers from energy price increases; (2) to assist industry in the transition to a […]

  • EPA administrator Lisa Jackson on The Daily Show

    Jon Stewart had two green-related segments last night. First was an interview with EPA administrator Lisa Jackson: [vodpod id=Video.1622577&w=425&h=350&fv=autoPlay%3Dfalse] The second was a hilarious Samantha Bee bit on Michelle Obama’s organic garden and Big Ag’s opposition to it: [vodpod id=Video.1622682&w=425&h=350&fv=autoPlay%3Dfalse]