Climate Politics
All Stories
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CEPR compares pre- and post-Bush economic indicators
In the final 1980 presidential debate, Ronald Reagan famously ended with a question to the American public: are you better off now than you were four years ago? The folks at the Center for Economic and Policy research wondered, what would our answer be today? So they pulled together a whole range of economic indicators […]
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U.K. eco-watchdog: No more coal without CCS
The U.K.’s environmental watchdog agency, aptly called the Environment Agency, has called for the government to prevent the construction of any further coal plants without carbon capture and sequestration. This has always struck me as the issue that every green group and smart politician should rally around. Nobody, literally nobody, openly defends building dirty coal […]
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Debate is a go
The McCain campaign says he’ll debate tonight after all. After that he’ll fly back to D.C. to continue his oh-so-helpful role in the negotiations over the financial bailout. Meanwhile, this morning Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said: “A few days ago, I called on Sen. McCain to take a stand — let us know where […]
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Danish P.M. urges United States to reengage in climate talks
Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen is in the United States this week to encourage engagement in the negotiations over a new global climate pact between now and the United Nations Climate Change Conference scheduled to take place in Copenhagen in late 2009. In a speech before a meeting of the Environmental Grant Makers Association […]
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McCain gambles with the U.S. economy; House Republicans hold the bailout hostage; chaos reigns
Yes, yes, I know the financial crisis is not strictly a green issue — except insofar as it dries up capital desperately needed for green investments — but I just have to put some kind of note on record here. This is the most bizarre political season in memory, and the last few days have […]
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Senate Democrats propose a new economic stimulus package
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) have unveiled a $56.2 billion “economic recovery package” that includes funding for things like public transit, home weatherization, and environmental cleanup. With time running out on this Congress, they may try to attach the measure to a continuing resolution. “We must […]
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Regulation-loathing Cheney aide nominated for key Energy Dept. post
With the nation’s attention turned to the financial crisis, the White House today announced that the president intends to nominate F. Chase Hutto III, a senior aide to Vice President Dick Cheney, as assistant secretary for policy and international affairs within the Energy Department. Hutto, who has been a leading opponent of environmental regulations within […]
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House approves $25 billion in direct loans for auto industry
The House of Representatives yesterday approved $25 billion in direct loans to help the auto industry comply with stricter gas mileage standards. The loans will assist automakers in meeting fuel-efficiency standards set in last year’s energy bill that push fleet standards up to at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020. The funds can […]
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Obama/Biden campaign releases science and innovation plan
The Obama campaign released a policy outline [PDF] today on science and innovation, pledging to double federal funding for research over 10 years. An Obama-Biden administration, they say on their website, would change “the posture of our federal government from being one of the most anti-science administrations in American history to one that embraces […]
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A car in every garage
Everyone in the world has already linked to this story about McCain’s 13 cars (Obama has one — a hybrid Ford Escape), but I just can’t get over the humor of this sentence: "The McCains also own three 2000 NEV Gem electric vehicles, which are bubble-shaped cars popular in retirement communities." I think the hypocrisy […]
