Climate Politics
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Note to progressives: Your guy won!
The following is a guest essay from Hal Clifford, executive editor of Orion Magazine. —– In the wake of Barack Obama’s victory, the relief was palpable, the excitement unprecedented. For a while. And then the nitpicking started. Not from Fox “News” or the Arizona country club where John McCain conceded. From the left: He’s just […]
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The Big Three offer their restructuring plans to Congress
The CEOs of the Big Three automakers are back in the Capitol today (this time, they drove in hybrids rather than taking private jets), prepared to offer their revamped plans for restructuring to lawmakers. Their latest proposals contain considerably more promises to use a government bailout to make more efficient automobiles. Under pressure to prove […]
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Judge orders Duke Energy coal plant to comply with Clean Air Act
In what environmentalists are calling a precedent-setting case that closes a perceived loophole in the Clean Air Act, a federal judge has ordered utility Duke Energy to conduct a formal assessment of its under-construction Cliffside Stream coal-fired power plant to make sure it will be using the best-available technology to curb its mercury emissions.
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Dear media,
Obama did not drop his oil windfall profits tax or reverse his pledge to implement one. The tax was supposed to kick in when oil went above $80/barrel. It’s now below that. I know everyone is desperate to get the first told you Obama was just another lying politician!!1! story, but please, try to wait […]
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Greens psyched by Richardson pick for Commerce Dept.
Several big environmental groups have issued statements praising Barack Obama’s nomination of Bill Richardson today to serve as secretary of commerce. The pick, they said, will help spur green business. National Wildlife Federation President and CEO Larry Schweiger: If there’s anyone who understands that a green shovel can help dig us out of our economic […]
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A roundup of greenish news from around the Capitol
• Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) says he is considering running to fill the Senate seat that Republican Mel Martinez is planning to vacate in 2010. • Incumbent Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss prevailed in yesterday’s run-off election in Georgia. He beat out Democratic challenger Jim Martin, who was endorsed by Sierra Club and the […]
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Obama nominates N.M. Gov. Bill Richardson to head Commerce Department
Barack Obama officially announced today that he is nominating New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D) to be his secretary of commerce. (See our reporting on Richardson’s green record from last week.) In his announcement, Obama cited Richardson’s work on energy as an important factor. “As a former secretary of energy, Bill understands the steps we […]
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Island nations call for steep emission cuts to curb rising seas
At the United Nations climate conference in Poland this week, a coalition of over 40 island nations called for extremely ambitious reductions in world greenhouse-gas emissions, fearing the effects of rising seas. The nations proposed that industrialized countries slash their emissions more than 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2020 and more than 95 percent […]
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Roadless rule limited to 10 Western states, judge rules
A federal judge on Tuesday limited the scope of President Clinton’s popular “roadless rule” to federal lands in 10 Western states instead of the whole country, leaving some 13.6 million acres of roadless forests largely unprotected from road-building and other development. Tuesday’s ruling is a compromise between throwing the rule out and keeping protections in […]
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EPA approves rule change making mountaintop-removal mining easier
The U.S. EPA on Tuesday approved a controversial rule change that the Bush administration has been trying to make for years which eases restrictions on burying streams under piles of mining waste, making mountaintop-removal mining easier. “By signing off on a rule to eliminate a critical safeguard for streams, the EPA has abdicated its responsibility […]
