Climate Politics
All Stories
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Obama is right to return most carbon revenue to taxpayers
As a climate change policy, President Obama’s carbon cap is a winner. It gets greenhouse reductions at the lowest possible cost and spurs the innovation and invention that will drive us to a clean-energy economy. But if folks are eyeing the carbon cap as a way to raise money to pay for clean energy programs, […]
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Healthcare yes, cap-and-trade no?
George Stephanopoulos says Dems can't possibly pass both healthcare reform and cap-and-trade, and they've effectively chosen healthcare. As much as he bugs me, I fear he's pretty much right about this.
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Los Angeles rejects solar plan, still likes solar power
Los Angeles citizens voted on a citywide solar energy plan on March 3, but the very narrow results didn’t become official until yesterday: It lost (by about 1 percent). That doesn’t mean the city’s electric utility won’t proceed with rapidly expanding its solar voltaic energy portfolio — it still has the authority to do so. […]
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First DOE loan guarantee goes to solar
Today the Department of Energy announced its first energy loan guarantee. It’s going to … Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels. What’s the phrase? Oh, right: elections have consequences.
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Let’s call a gas tax the ‘All-American Energy-Independence Assessment’
Whether they are called “revenue enhancements” or “user charges,” fear of the political consequences of taxes restricts debate on energy and environmental policy options in Washington. In a March 7 post on “green jobs,” in which I argued that it is not always best to try to address two challenges with a single policy instrument, […]
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U.S. groups desert precautionary principle, 53 to 6
After ducking the matter for a decade, U.S. environmental organizations finally pulled together a climate policy, but the National Call to Action on Global Warming issued by 53 organizations on March 5 is a mistake and should be reconsidered. The National Call contains key elements that have been startlingly absent from our efforts to date […]
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Michelle Obama to Oprah: There will be a White house veggie garden
It’s official, because it’s been etched in the pages of our most sacred national chronicle. No, not the Federal Register — I’m talking about O Magazine. Here’s the scoop: the Obamas will plant a veggie garden in the White House lawn. The First Lady of the United States told the Queen of the Universe as […]
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Grist board member appointed to Obama administration
On Wednesday, the Obama administration officially announced that Grist board member and Ford Foundation program officer Michelle DePass has been nominated to serve as the assistant administrator for international affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency. Michelle currently manages the Ford Foundation’s initiative on Environmental Justice and Healthy Communities, concentrating on the intersections of environmental and […]
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Salmon czar could coordinate better protection, rule over peasant salmon
Because nothing signals a democracy on the mend like a profusion of czars, salmon defenders are now calling for a federal salmon czar. According to Wikipedia my deep and nuanced understanding of Russian history, we can expect a salmon czar to quickly go drunk with power, lord over peasant salmon, and assassinate political rivals in […]
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Washington legislature gives green bills thumbs down
Looks like blue is the new green around here — blue as in sad, that is. In the last week or so, Washington state legislature failed to pass the Transit Oriented Communities bill, “mortally wounded” the cap-and-trade bill, and is seriously considering altering the voter-approved Initiative 937 that would require utilities to seek out more […]
