Climate Politics

Nations meet to hash out claims to Arctic seafloor

What with climate change melting record amounts of Arctic ice, the five nations that claim land rights in the Arctic region have been rushing to stake claim to the minerals and oil wealth beneath the Arctic Ocean. Starting Tuesday, Denmark is hosting talks among the five countries, aiming to bring a measure of civility to […]

Personal carbon trading considered in U.K.

Britain should go ahead with a carbon-credit trading system for individuals, a committee of Members of Parliament has recommended. The system could be modeled on cap-and-trade programs for industry, setting a cap on the amount of carbon each person is allowed to emit and requiring those who would exceed their allotment to purchase credits from […]

G8 nations agree on the need to agree on emission cuts

A three-day meeting of G8 environment ministers in Japan this weekend concluded with a familiar call for nations to agree on goals to cut emissions. The sentiment was formalized in a statement citing “strong political will” among G8 countries to agree to cut emissions by 50 percent by 2050 when they convene at the full […]

Obama calls for clean energy activists in commencement speech

From Barack Obama’s commencement speech at Wesleyan University, 25 May 2008 (he was standing in for Ted Kennedy): At a time when our ice caps are melting and our oceans are rising, we need you to help lead a green revolution. We still have time to avoid the catastrophic consequences of climate change if we […]

Bush may designate large marine reserves

Hoping to burnish President Bush’s conservation legacy, the White House is considering creating some of the largest marine reserves in the world, NPR reports. The plan — now being discussed, but not a sure thing — would have Bush use his powers under the Antiquities Act of 1906 to create “marine monuments,” which would not […]

Fox News anchor calls for assassination of Barack Obama

“… and now we have what … uh…some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama … uh … um … Obama [after being prompted by the FNC anchor] … well both if we could [laughing] …” — Fox News anchor Liz Trotta, commenting on Hillary Clinton’s invocation of Robert Kennedy’s 1968 assassination […]

Militarization and progressive change are not compatible

The U.S. military push for coal-based synthetic fuels reminds us that in the long run, solving climate chaos is incompatible with an aggressive military policy. Solutions will ultimately have to draw on traditional American virtues of thrift and cleverness, not the domination and power expressed in the new U.S. Air Force motto: Air Force Above All, which probably sounded more impressive in the original German.

Militarization has a long history of pushing us down less sustainable paths in the U.S. Part of that is direct meeting of Pentagon needs. For example, one reason we have today's super-highway system is that Eisenhower was impressed by the military advantages of the German autobahn network -- both for the Germans and for the allies when their turn came to use it.

The "National Defense Highway System," as it was called when first inaugurated, was built wide enough to allow tanks and military convoys to travel freely across the U.S. without depending on rail. The financial structure was similar to the autobahn's as well. The national highways trust is based largely on fuel taxes paid by both rail and trucks, but which rail gets almost no benefit from -- that helped ensure the gradual shift of freight from trains to trucks.

Lost amid the crop-subsidy battle, a new biofuel regime

Amid all the thunder and lightening about subsidies in the new farm bill — which officially became law Thursday — Congress made a major policy shift with regard to the goodies lavished on ethanol makers. Under previous policy, biofuel makers — whether conventional or cellulosic — benefit from a 51 cent a gallon tax credit […]

Coal industry launches full-scale attack against climate legislation

Originally posted at the Wonk Room.

The coal-industry front group American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity has launched a major lobbying campaign against the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. ACCCE claims it is opposed to Lieberman-Warner because it "does not adequately embrace" their "principles" and raises "just too many unanswered questions."

Principles: ACCCE's 12 principles [PDF] for federal legislation boil down to demands that they be allowed to construct new, uncontrolled coal-fired power plants until taxpayers pony up unlimited amounts of money for carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology. That's not a statement of principles -- it's a ransom note.

Lieberman-Warner, named for its two co-sponsors Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and John Warner (R-Va.), would allow the United States to join the rest of the world in combatting climate change by setting a firm limit on carbon emissions while providing support to low-income families. However, the bill also makes significant concessions to polluters, particularly the coal industry:

• The bill calls for reductions in greenhouse emissions that are insufficient to avoid climate catastrophe.
• The bill gives a windfall of emissions permits to polluters, instead of auctioning all permits [PDF].
• The bill promises over $300 billion directly to coal polluters.

Strangely, that isn't enough for ACCCE.

House passes Defense authorization bill, includes various climate-related elements

The House passed ($ub. req’d) the defense authorization bill for 2009 last night, and there were several climate and energy-related components included. One amendment modifies part of last year’s energy bill that forbids federal agencies from purchasing alternative or synthetic fuels that have higher lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions than conventional petroleum. Amendment sponsor Rep. Dan […]