Climate Politics
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Obama pledges to use stimulus to make schools and public buildings more energy efficient
In his Democratic radio address today, President-elect Barack Obama laid out the first three steps of his economic recovery plan – the first of which, he said, will be making public buildings more efficient. “First, we will launch a massive effort to make public buildings more energy efficient. Our government now pays the highest energy […]
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Bush administration moves to allow guns in national parks and wildlife refuges
The Department of the Interior on Friday announced a final rule that will allow visitors to carry loaded and concealed firearms in national parks and wildlife refuges. The previous rules, put in place in the early ’80s under President Reagan, allowed firearms in parks as long as they were unloaded and stored somewhere that wasn’t […]
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Politico claims N.J. DEP commissioner Lisa Jackson in line to head EPA
For what it’s worth, Politico is reporting that Lisa Jackson is probably going to be Obama’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency. “It seems like it’s pretty close to a done deal. She’ll be a very strong candidate,” says an anonymous Democratic Senate aide. Jackson is currently serving on Obama’s transition team for the […]
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California’s Mary Nichols doubts reports that Obama has settled on EPA pick
Mary Nichols, head of California’s powerful Air Resources Board, says she doesn’t believe unattributed news reports that she or Lisa Jackson, former commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection, are (or are not) front-runners to be President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. “I don’t believe either of those things, and […]
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Conservation scientists push for Rep. Raúl Grijalva for Interior Secretary
A group of conservation scientists is pushing for Barack Obama to select Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) as secretary of the interior. The 58 scientists — who work for a variety of academic and conservation institutions — delivered a letter [PDF] advocating for Grijalva to Obama’s transition staff on Monday. “The position of Secretary of the […]
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Healthcare/energy parallels
Commenting on an article by MIT economist Jonathan Gruber, Jonathan Cohn says this: Reform, he notes, could eventually create a more rational health care system in which we don’t throw away so much money on administration, inefficient care, or unnecessary treatments. And less waste in health care means more money for other, more productive purposes. […]
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Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Cathy Zoi talks clean energy
Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Cathy Zoi was part of the massive energy panel that Third Way hosted on Tuesday, one of several folks representing the environmental community. After the event, Grist caught up with Zoi to talk more about the organization’s new Repower America campaign, which aims to shift the U.S. to 100 percent […]
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Christine Todd Whitman talks about greening the GOP and running the EPA
If Christine Todd Whitman had waited four years to publish her political memoir, she might have had this winter’s timeliest bestseller. The former Environmental Protection Agency administrator and New Jersey governor wrote It’s My Party Too: The Battle for the Heart of the GOP and the Future of America to urge moderate Republicans, environmentalists included, […]
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More misleading salvos in the great carbon tax debate
Professional lost-cause Ralph Nader has found another arena in which to unhelpfully intrude: carbon policy. On the Wall Street Journal op-ed page, no less, he argues for a carbon tax. I personally have no dog in the carbon tax vs. cap-and-trade fight. It seems pretty clear that either policy can effectively put a price on […]
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In Washington D.C., car drive you
“Did you drive or did you have a driver? Did you drive a little and ride a little? And secondly, I guess, are you going to drive back?” — Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), during Thursday’s Senate Banking Committee questioning of auto industry executives, suggesting that the decision to leave private jets in Detroit and drive […]
