Climate Politics
All Stories
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The infrastructure tightrope Obama will have to walk
As I noted the other day, there’s something of a tension between the infrastructure investments that can be circulated into the economy quickly and those that are green — particularly when it comes to public transit. A Washington Post piece on Sunday addressed the issue: Most of the infrastructure spending being proposed for the massive […]
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Obama officially announces Vilsack for USDA and Salazar for Interior
At a press conference Wednesday morning, Barack Obama officially announced that he will nominate former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack (D) to be secretary of agriculture and Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar (D) to be secretary of the interior, calling them “as accomplished a pair of public servants as we have in America.” “Together, they will serve […]
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Will Ray LaHood be our next transportation secretary?
People are saying that Ray LaHood, a downstate Illinois Republican representative, may get the nod for DOT. So far, the things mentioned as being in his favor are — friendship with the president-elect and his chief of staff, some pro-Amtrak votes, experience managing big projects as a member of the Appropriations committee (?), and his […]
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Green groups propose nominees for lower-level admin posts
With Obama’s environment-oriented Cabinet posts now filled, some in the green community are floating the names of individuals they’d like to see in lower-level positions in the administration. The “Green Plum Book” [PDF], put out by the Arabella Legacy Fund on behalf of “several of the nation’s most significant conservation leaders,” lists the names and […]
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2030 Challenge Stimulus Plan: Emission reductions, jobs, and economic benefits across the country
President-elect Obama has committed to economic recovery, energy independence, carbon-neutral buildings by 2030, and an 80 percent reduction in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Architecture 2030 has developed a groundbreaking economic stimulus plan [PDF] that simultaneously addresses all of these issues, with a single investment. Kristina Kershner and I presented the 2030 Challenge Stimulus […]
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Brushing aside pressure, Obama taps a big-ag man as USDA chief
"Tom Vilsack was one of the first governors to see the promise of biotechnology. He has a very balanced view of agriculture and understands its potential." — Ted Crosbie, vice president of global plant breeding and director of Monsanto’s Iowa operations "Governor Vilsack would be an outstanding choice for Secretary of Agriculture. He would bring […]
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Carter to Obama: Don’t chip a tooth!
“It was like gnawing on a rock.” — Former president Jimmy Carter, on his efforts to change America’s energy habits
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Post-Kyoto international climate negotiations will depend on China’s cooperation
[Given the importance of China to the fate of the climate, I am happy to introduce a new guest blogger, Robert Collier [PDF]. He is a visiting scholar at U.C. Berkeley, writing a book about China and global warming. He is a former senior foreign-affairs correspondent for the San Francisco Chronicle who reported “from a […]
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Where does Interior pick Salazar stand on key environmental issues?
What does Colorado Sen. Ken Salazar’s likely appointment to head the Department of Interior mean for environmental and energy policy? A few episodes from his congressional career may shed some light. Salazar has only been in the Senate since 2005, so he hasn’t racked up a lengthy voting record. His lifetime score from the League […]
