Climate Politics
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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 […]
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Prez-elect urged to name progressive farm-policy chief
Rather than name a USDA chief, Obama keeps floating trial balloons. The names range from the deplorable, like Big Ag lobbyist Charles Stenholm, to the relatively innocuous, like Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Sebelius is a former chair of the Governors Ethanol Council. Predictable, given that she leads a big farm state; inevitable, almost. But still. […]
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U.S. Justice Dept says DoD can’t refuse to clean up toxic sites
In an unexpected move this week, the U.S. Justice Department sided with the EPA in its long-running dispute with the Defense Department over clean up of three ultra-contaminated Superfund sites in Florida, Maryland, and New Jersey. In a Dec. 1 letter to the DoD, the Justice Department argued that the agency has no legal grounds […]
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The governator pledges to pump iron and save the environment until he dies
“Everything I do is forever. I got into bodybuilding at an early age and I will be working out until I drop dead, and hopefully they will put dumbbells in my casket. I will continue promoting fitness forever and I will be an environmental leader forever.” — California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), in an interview […]
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BLM unveils rule change to undermine Congress’ veto of mining projects
The U.S. Bureau of Land Management on Thursday announced a rule change that attempts to eliminate Congress’ power to veto mining projects on public lands. A 1976 law currently allows Congress to intervene to stop mining projects when “an emergency situation exists and extraordinary measures must be taken to preserve values that would otherwise be […]
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Canadian Parliament suspended, PM Harper survives … for now
The situation in Ottawa has passed, for now. The Governor-General (representing Her Majesty Elizabeth II) has granted Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s request to prorogue (or suspend) Parliament, meaning that the confidence vote that had been scheduled for Monday will not happen for now. This is a day of firsts, as this is the shortest […]
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What will make Obama a great president? Part 2
Future historians will inevitably judge all 21st century presidents as failures if the world doesn’t stop catastrophic global warming. If global warming exceeds 5°C (or even 3°C), then we will head inexorably toward an ice free planet with widespread desertification, sea levels rising 6 to 12 inches a decade for centuries, the oceans turning into […]
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Bush policies cause U.S. GHG emissions to soar 1.4 percent in 2007
OK, this isn’t entirely news to readers (see here). But the Energy Information Administration’s just released final report [PDF] covers pretty much everything a climate junkie could possibly want to know about U.S. GHG emissions in 2007. The bottom line: Total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in 2007 were 1.4 percent above the 2006 total … […]
