Climate Politics
All Stories
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The Stephen Johnson story
Anyone interested in understanding not only Bush’s environmental legacy but the Bush Era simply must carve out the time to read "Smoke and Mirrors," a blockbuster series on the EPA put together by Philadelphia Inquirer. Go. Read it. There’s too much in it for a facile blog summary, but I do want to comment one […]
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The transportation story at the heart of a history-making crisis
There’s a remarkable graph that has starred in blog posts and news stories with some regularity over the past year. It shows vehicle miles traveled in America over the last quarter century or so. For most of the period, the line rockets upward, straight and true, preparing to blast off the page. But then the […]
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EPA unveils ‘most wanted’ list of environmental criminals
The U.S. EPA this week unveiled a new website listing its “most wanted” environmental criminals, people accused of everything from illegally disposing of hazardous waste to smuggling Freon and other ozone-depleting substances into the United States. Remarkably, no one employed by the Bush administration appears on it.
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Mexico pledges to cut greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2050
Mexico on Thursday pledged to cut its greenhouse-gas emissions 50 percent from 2002 levels by 2050, making it one of only a handful of developing nations to set a concrete emissions-reduction goal. Mexico aims to hit its climate target through big investments in solar, wind, and other clean technologies. A cap-and-trade system is also in […]
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EPA drops significant planned changes to two air-pollution rules
The U.S. EPA on Wednesday announced it’s giving up its effort to push through two unpopular changes to air-pollution rules before President-elect Barack Obama takes office. The changes, in the works for years, would have eased restrictions on power plants’ emissions near national parks and allowed some of the country’s dirtiest power plants to emit […]
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Obama to pick NJ DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson to head EPA
Lisa Jackson. Lisa Jackson is Obama’s pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, sources close to the transition confirm. Jackson, who’s been working on Obama’s transition team for the EPA, has served since 2006 as commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. In that position, she’s overseen implementation of the state’s climate […]
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Nancy Sutley, tapped to head CEQ, garners praise from fellow Californians
Nancy Sutley. Los Angeles Deputy Mayor Nancy Sutley is expected to be appointed to head President-elect Barack Obama’s White House Council on Environmental Quality, a transition team spokesperson said Wednesday. Combined with the expected nomination of Steven Chu from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory to be energy secretary, her appointment would give the Golden State two […]
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Obama’s energy and environment appointments unveiled
President-elect Barack Obama has not yet officially announced his choices to fill key environmental posts in his administration, but the word is now out on the street. Transition-team officials say that Lisa Jackson will head the U.S. EPA, Steven Chu will be secretary of energy, Nancy Sutley will head the White House Council on Environmental […]
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Browner to get the nod as Obama’s top energy and climate adviser
Carol Browner. It’s looking increasingly likely that Carol Browner will be tapped to serve as “energy czar” in the Obama administration. The Washington Post first reported it Tuesday night, and now other outlets have gotten similar word from inside sources. No official word from the transition staff, however. The position does not yet officially exist, […]
