Climate Politics
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Senate passes renewable tax credits on the ninth attempt
The Senate today overwhelmingly approved a massive tax package that mashes together incentives for renewable energy with support for traditional energy sources less beloved by environmental groups. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008, sponsored by Sens. Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), would extend the investment tax credit for solar energy for […]
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Diversion of Great Lakes water will soon be illegal
If you don’t border the Great Lakes, keep your grubby hands out of ’em. That’s the general message of a bill that would bar any major water diversion from Lakes Erie, Ontario, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, unless all eight lake-bordering states approve. The so-called Great Lakes Compact, which has passed Congress and heads to the […]
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Palin’s climate skepticism is irrelevant
The Washington Post‘s Juliet Eilperin writes a piece on Sarah Palin’s climate skepticism that seems, like so many articles in this genre, to dance around something obvious. In the piece, upon finding out that Palin doesn’t believe in anthropogenic climate change, one Alaska enviro is quoted saying "now I know why" Palin fought emission reductions. […]
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Al Gore, Wangari Maathai urge U.N. to tackle deforestation in next climate treaty
Nobel Peace Prize winners Al Gore and Wangari Maathai urged United Nations countries on Monday to pay special attention to tropical deforestation in their next international climate treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol. Preserving forests, they said, will help local communities, fight poverty, and may substantially slow global warming since deforestation accounts for about one-fifth […]
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Bad policy ideas in Michigan
Environmental pressures and economic slowdowns are admittedly hard for state governors to tackle. Even still, Michigan’s latest is a lousy idea. As noted here, the state legislature has just passed a bill which Gov. Granholm has promised to sign that would: Strengthen the utility monopolies, guaranteeing DTE and Consumer’s Energy at least 90% of the […]
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The scoop on energy bills in Congress: offshore drilling, oil shale, renewable tax credits, and more
What’s really up with the energy bills in Congress? Will we see oil rigs off the coast of New Jersey anytime soon? Will Congress actually get anything done before it adjourns next week? As the clock ticks down on the 110th Congress, it’s not entirely clear what we can expect in terms of energy. The […]
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John McCain’s environmental record is as bad as climate change denier James Inhofe
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is an avowed climate science believer who comes from a state with enough solar resource to power the entire nation. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) is an avowed climate science denier who comes from a major oil patch state. So why has McCain voted with Inhofe and against clean energy and the […]
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Palin: ‘renewables are not yet proven to be economic nor reliable’
The week before she was chosen as John McCain’s running mate, Alaska governor Sarah Palin was interviewed by CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo about drilling for oil in the Alaskan National Wildlife Reserve and elsewhere. In measured, lucid tones, Palin produced a veritable tsunami of non sequiturs, misleading claims, and outright falsehoods. One would need to go […]
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Newsweek takes a look at the presidential candidates’ automobiles
After all that hubbub over houses a few weeks ago, Newsweek decided to look into the vehicle-registration records for the McCain and Obama families and find out how many cars they own. The final count? McCain: 13. Obama: 1. McCain’s fleet includes three 2000 GEM electric vehicles and the Prius that his daughter Meghan drives. […]
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In Canadian national election, economic worries trump environmental agenda
Canadian voters regularly told pollsters last year that their top concern was global warming and what to do about it. So when the national election was called for this Oct. 14, the chief opposition party charged out with a bold carbon tax proposal. The other opposition parties also opened their campaigns with carbon tax or […]
