Climate Politics
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Down the bureaucratic rabbit hole with the Corps of Engineers
In a post last week on the bureaucratic inflighting over Louisiana’s coastal restoration efforts, I took a “the system’s broken” point of view. Chris Macaluso, a spokesman for the state’s coastal restoration efforts, sent me an email that elaborates on some of the ways the system is broken. The state government — which ought to […]
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Why taxes can’t get us where we need to go on transportation
As of Monday, the average price of gasoline in the U.S. was down to $2.22 a gallon, brushing up against $1.50 in some places. The price of oil was under $60/bbl. When gas and oil prices fall, there are always two reactions: first, great lamentations that alternative and renewable energy investments no longer make economic […]
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Will Obama create a new energy council, as recommended by the Center for American Progress?
A year ago, the policy wonks at the Center for American Progress laid out a plan for what they’d like to see the next president do on a variety of issues, including energy and climate change [PDF]. The plan includes a proposal to create a National Energy Council, headed by a national energy adviser at […]
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Major mass-transit initiatives did well in U.S. election
Overall, more than 70 percent of the major public-transit projects that appeared on ballots in the United States on Nov. 4 were approved, according to the mass-transit group Center for Transportation Excellence. Some of the more notable projects approved by voters were a high-speed rail network in California and $18 billion in public-transit improvements in […]
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The president-elect on greening the auto industry
Since President-elect Barack Obama is talking about economic support for the flailing auto-industry, here’s a flashback (via Ezra Klein) to nearly three years ago, when he was merely Sen. Obama: Already, hundreds of fueling stations use a blend of ethanol and gasoline known as E85, and there are millions of cars on the road with […]
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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 […]
