Climate Politics
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More speculation, and real news from the Obama transition team
The Obama team has tapped a former high-level Clinton appointee to run the transition efforts for EPA, Interior, Energy, and Agriculture, Greenwire reports. The person picked for the job is David Hayes, who served as deputy secretary at Interior during the Clinton years. Reporting to Hayes will be Robert Sussman, who served as deputy administrator […]
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Obama’s inner circle
This isn’t really eco-related, but it strikes me as an amazing historical artifact so I’m sharing it. This is an interview with Obama’s close circle of advisers, conducted less than two hours after the election results were announced, 04 Nov 2008: Their obvious affection, for one another and for their candidate, is astonishing to anyone […]
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The Obama administration’s coal-related appointments: worth watching
Nobody reports on coal and Appalachia better than Ken Ward Jr. down at the Charleston Gazette. He’s got a good article up on what the coal industry should expect from an Obama administration, namely that he will "reverse Bush administration rule changes, beef up enforcement, and put the nation’s first ever limits on carbon dioxide […]
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Will new prez toe the agribiz line on food policy?
Where does President-elect Obama stand on food policy — with the interests of Big Food and its Congressional water-carriers, or with the budding sustainable-food/food-justice movement? I guess the first substantial indicator will come when he names his secretary of agriculture. Until that time, we’ve got some data points to consider. • On the scary side, […]
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Dems willing to keep Lieberman so he can work on energy issues
Senate Democrats are trying to figure out what to do with Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), after the former Democrat (who still caucuses with the party) campaigned aggressively for Republican John McCain. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid doesn’t seem to be pushing Lieberman out of the party. Obama’s spokesfolk say the president-elect isn’t going to “hold any […]
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Who should be next head of the EPA?
There’s been a flurry of speculation about Obama’s choice to run EPA. Kate links to some background for all the candidates here. I believe every name that has been mentioned as a possible candidate appears in the poll below. Vote! Who should Barack Obama appoint as head of the U.S. EPA? ( surveys)
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Al Gore discusses energy and Obama
Here’s a Current video interview with Al Gore, with questions selected via Digg, in which he discusses — among other things — “clean coal,” Obama’s energy plan, and whether he’d accept top slot at EPA: (thanks LL!)
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Hawaii switches to digital TV early to help endangered petrel
Hawaii’s television broadcast signals are going digital a month earlier than the rest of the country in an attempt to avoid disturbing the endangered petrel‘s nesting season with the destruction of the old transmission towers, which are near the birds’ nesting sites.
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Nick Kristoff praises Obama’s ability to ‘exult in complexity’
Nicholas Kristof’s terrific Sunday NYT column, “Obama and the war on brains,” opens: Barack Obama’s election is a milestone in more than his pigmentation. The second most remarkable thing about his election is that American voters have just picked a president who is an open, out-of-the-closet, practicing intellectual. Maybe, just maybe, the result will be […]
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House Dems taking sides in Dingell/Waxman battle over
Fighting words are being exchanged in the brewing battle over the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. In an interview on Detroit’s WJR Radio last week, current Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) called challenger Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) an “anti-manufacturing left-wing Democrat” who has a “serious lack of understanding of people in the auto industry […]
