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  • The energy tax credits in the bailout bill, part 1

    The bailout legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Friday has a $17 billion energy tax package. This post will focus on the clean energy credits. Part 2 will focus on the dirty ones. The biggest winner is certainly solar. As Scott Sklar, former head of the Solar Energy Industries […]

  • Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has been lax on industrial pollution

    Though Alaska has a birth-defect rate twice the national average, and though exposure to industrial toxins has been strongly linked to birth defects, Gov. Sarah Palin has made little effort to keep industrial pollution at bay. To the contrary: Thanks to Palin’s nod, Alaska is home to the only coastal fishery in the U.S. where […]

  • Obama adviser Heather Zichal talks to Grist about energy and climate

    Heather Zichal. Barack Obama’s campaign has a deep bench when it comes to climate and energy policy, one that includes scientists, policy wonks, and economists. On July 20, Obama added Heather Zichal to the team as policy director for energy, environment, and agriculture. Before coming to the Obama campaign’s Chicago headquarters, Zichal served as the […]

  • Rice debates Inhofe tomorrow

    For those who can’t get enough of political debates, here’s another of note. Andrew Rice is the Democratic nominee challenging Sen. James Inhofe (R) of Oklahoma for his Senate seat. They are holding their first — and only — debate on Tuesday, 5:15 CDT, in Tulsa. KJRH will televise and stream online for those who […]

  • Fey is Palin, again

    Watch about five minutes in for Palin to address “this climate change whosiwhatsit.”

  • National Wildlife Federation Action Fund endorses congressional candidates for the first time

    The National Wildlife Federation Action Fund is endorsing six congressional candidates in the November election — a first for the group. “We wanted to be able to, at election time, let voters know who are really going to be champions on [conservation and wildlife] issues in Congress, and do what we can to spread the […]

  • Author and physicist Richard A. Muller chats with Grist about getting science back in the White House

    E = MC2 may be the best-known principle of physics, but close behind is the rule that physicists must, like Albert Einstein, have a mustache — and Richard A. Muller is no exception. Richard A. Muller. Facial hair earns no mention in his new book, Physics for Future Presidents, but it’s an illuminating read nonetheless. […]

  • Why more government now means less in the future

    “Socialism!” the House Republicans cried when the financial bailout was proposed — and they were right, if you define socialism as the takeover of part of the economy by the government. We’ll be in for much more of this sort of thing if the House Republicans and the rest of the federal government keeps worshiping […]

  • Enviro news from the presidential campaign trail

      • The New Republic looks at Sarah Palin’s record as governor of Alaska, focusing on toxic waste and the health of the state’s residents. The state has a rate of birth-defects twice the national average, and many believe it’s because of the “toxic stew” from the byproducts of mining and energy development like arsenic, […]

  • EPA declines to set standard for perchlorate in drinking water

    As predicted last month, the U.S. EPA said on Friday it would not issue national standards limiting the amount of perchlorate allowed in drinking water. In making its decision, which critics charge was heavily influenced by the U.S. Defense Department, EPA said that even though perchlorate has contaminated over 150 public water systems in the […]