Climate Politics
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Report finds widespread meddling with species decisions
Officials at the U.S. Interior Department improperly meddled in a number of decisions affecting imperiled species under the Endangered Species Act, a report [PDF] from the agency’s inspector general has found. The Bush administration agreed last year to reexamine a number of decisions made by Julie MacDonald, an ex-official accused of orchestrating much of the […]
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Not-so-deep thought
Between Salazar, Vilsack, LaHood, and Warren, Obama really peed in the ol’ cornflakes today.
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Obama taps Republican Rep. Ray LaHood to head the Department of Transportation
Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) has apparently accepted Obama’s offer to be his Secretary of Transportation. LaHood, 63, has served in the House since 1995, and is retiring after his year. For more on his (not very lengthy) transit record, see Adam Doster at Progress Illinois: So what can we glean about LaHood’s record on this […]
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Chu on the enemy of the human race
“Coal is my worst nightmare.” — Steven Chu, Obama’s nominee for energy secretary, a Nobel laureate, and director of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, in a speech earlier this year on his lab’s renewable energy projects
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Thoughts on Obama’s USDA pick
"Tom understands that the solution to our energy crisis will be found not in oil fields abroad but in our farm fields here at home," Barack Obama declared Wednesday, hailing his pick for USDA chief, former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack. "That’s the kind of leader I want in my Cabinet." Great. Rather than an advocate […]
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You haven’t heard the last of me, you meddling kids!
“What they don’t know is, I’m going to go back and kick their ass.” — Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), on his plan for revenge against his colleagues on the Natural Resources Committee, who just forced him out with the threat of a no-confidence vote
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Green groups divided over choice of Salazar to head Interior
Ken Salazar. Ken Salazar, Obama’s choice to head the Department of the Interior, is provoking controversy in the environmental community. Many activists, particularly among grassroots conservation groups in the West, are criticizing the pick, while some industry interests and big, mainstream green groups are praising Salazar. The opponents have been the most outspoken so far. […]
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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 […]
