Climate Politics

L.A. ballot initiative on solar energy faces questions about cost and feasibility

An ambitious solar energy plan for the smoggiest city in America might sound like a hands-down winner, but the Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles ballot initiative has stumbled over some unsettled questions about its likely costs, transparency, and timing. Angelenos will vote on the plan March 3. If passed, it would add […]

Bernie Sanders to head new green jobs panel in Senate

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has been named chair of the newly formed Green Jobs and New Economy Subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the senator announced on Thursday. “Today we face the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression. There is no better moment to move forward aggressively on energy efficiency and […]

Obama should make like Lincoln and abolish fossil fuels

As the economy tailspins, President Franklin D. Roosevelt has replaced Abraham Lincoln as the favored Great President of commentators, against whom Obama is most often measured (or illuminated).

President Obama still expresses his "affinity" with Lincoln and, as we are learning about this smart and subtle man, he makes the point with small, deft gestures. Seafood stew was served for lunch on Inauguration Day, just as it was for President Lincoln.

So which is he, another Lincoln or an FDR? And which crisis -- the looming secession of the southern states in 1862 or the Great Depression of 1932 -- is the better model for our own terrible straits?

The game plan: The mother of all energy bills

(hat tip to Joe Romm for the title) The next big green priority after stimulus will be energy. It is possible that some of what I describe below will be broken out into separate bills — for instance, Markey and Platts in the House and Bingaman in the Senate have put forward freestanding Renewable Energy […]

The economic-recovery bill includes green funding and drops nuclear and coal subsidies

The $789 billion economic-recovery bill looks good in terms of green spending, according to preliminary analysis from the Center for American Progress. The House and Senate reached agreement on the bill on Wednesday and are expected to approve it by the end of the week; President Obama hopes to sign it into law by Presidents’ […]

South Carolina governor joins Wisconsin's and Michigan's in pushing back against coal

Yesterday the governor of South Carolina -- yes, South Carolina -- announced that he is opposing construction of a new coal plant in his state.

Why? Because a weak economy has demand down, the cost of coal has nearly tripled, and the prospect of tougher mercury and CO2 regulations from the Obama administration threaten to as much as double the cost of the project.

Because it's an economic turkey, in other words.

The head of the S.C. Department of Natural Resources also came out in opposition, citing worries about mercury pollution in fish and increased CO2 emissions.

This comes a few days after Wisconsin governor Jim Doyle announced that the UW power plant would eliminate coal (replacing it with biomass) by 2012.

And that was about a week after Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm's state of the state address, wherein she outlined a plan to free her state from coal. (Technically, reduce reliance on coal electricity by 45% by 2020.)

Governors in South Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan, all working to free their states from the grip of the enemy of the human race.

Dirty friggin' hippies!

The game plan: starting with a bang

In the last few posts, I focused on the lay of the land — the groups and institutions that will shape efforts to tackle climate/energy problems in the early years of the Obama era. Given that landscape, how will it all play out? What’s the Obama/Democrat strategy? What’s the green roadmap? Obviously, circumstances and unanticipated […]

Rep. Nick Rahall kicks off series of hearings on offshore drilling

House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) on Wednesday kicked off a series of hearings on offshore drilling, an effort, he says, to determine the best way to proceed after the congressional moratorium on development of the outer continental shelf (OCS) was allowed to expire last October. Wednesday’s hearing came just a day after […]

Senate and House reportedly reach deal on stimulus with $70 billion in green spending

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Wednesday afternoon announced that congressional negotiators had finalized a deal on the economic stimulus package. The $789 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act contains an estimated $70 billion in funding for clean energy, energy efficiency, and public transportation, according to reports from the Hill. Well, maybe. There still […]

Poll: How likely is it that global warming will destroy human civilization within the next century?

I'd be interested in hearing your answer to this question in the comments.

How desperate is the conservative pollster Rasmussen to glom onto the climate issue and both trivialize and confuse the debate with hyperbole, unscientific polls, and inane, vaguely worded questions? Pretty damn desperate, to judge by their headline poll last Thursday:

23% Fear Global Warming Will End World -- Soon

Nearly one-out-of-four voters (23%) say it is at least somewhat likely that global warming will destroy human civilization within the next century. Five percent (5%) say it's very likely.

Uhh, what does this polling question mean anyway: