Climate Politics

Yes, Americans are a bunch of whiners …

As a big Obama supporter I am delighted that McCain's national co-chair and economic adviser Phil Gramm was stupid enough to talk about America being in a "mental recession" and the country being a "bunch of whiners"; it's going to be the gift that keeps on giving (Obama had a great line about how the country doesn't need a new Dr. Phil).

Gramm was 100 percent wrong about the "mental recession" part -- we are teetering on a real recession if not already in one -- but he actually was right about America being a bunch of whiners, although not for the reasons he thinks.

Some Democrats in Congress bending on drilling debate

Some Senate Democrats are warming to the idea of opening some offshore areas in U.S. waters to oil and gas drilling, as we reported earlier this week. A few more may now be joining the ranks. Republicans in Congress have hyped the need to drill, and representatives are under pressure from constituents to do something […]

Bush administration decides to run out the clock on regulating greenhouse-gas emissions

The Bush administration made clear today that it doesn’t intend to do anything about climate change in the final six months in office, announcing that instead of responding to the Supreme Court’s mandate last year that the EPA determine the dangers posed to humankind by greenhouse-gas emissions they would simply request further public comment. The […]

Obama reaffirms support for rail and transit

From RailwayAge: In a letter to United Transportation Union President Mike Futhey, presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has pledged to “push for Amtrak, commuter rail, and public transit system funding, ensuring strong employment levels well into the future.” He also promised to “preserve the sanctity of the Railroad Retirement and Federal Employers […]

Greens to announce presidential candidate

The Green Party is hosting their presidential convention in Chicago this week, where the party is expected to officially select former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (Ga.) as its presidential candidate. Yesterday hip-hop activist Rosa Clemente accepted McKinney’s invitation to run as the VP candidate. More to come on the Green ticket soon. Speaking of third-party runs […]

Court strikes down federal clean-air rule that would have actually cleaned air

One of the rare Bush administration clean-air policies favored by enviros has been struck down by a federal appeals court. The Clean Air Interstate Rule would have required 28 Eastern states to reduce soot-causing, smog-forming emissions that easily spread on the wind. The U.S. EPA estimated that the rule would prevent 17,000 premature deaths per […]

Bush admin gets senior-itis, says it won’t decide on emissions before term ends

EPA head Stephen Johnson. Photo: epa.gov Instead of deciding whether greenhouse-gas emissions endanger human health and welfare and formulating standards to reduce them — as the Supreme Court ordered — the EPA will run out the clock for the next few months soliciting more public comment. The Supreme Court ordered the EPA last year to […]

Al Franken talks green jobs while Jesse Ventura threatens to bust heads

Minnesota Senate candidate and former funny-man Al Franken (D) recently put out a very, very sincere video on green jobs: Franken is taking on incumbent Norm Coleman (R), and polls so far have shown Coleman ahead by a considerable margin. But now former Reform Party governor, professional wrestler, and actor Jesse Ventura is threatening to […]

Gov. Kathleen Sebelius talks to Grist about her fight against coal and her VP potential

Among the many names swirling in the Obama VP buzz is that of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. A second-term Democratic governor in what’s traditionally seen as a bastion of conservatism, Sebelius earned national attention as the chair of the Democratic Governors Association in 2007 and for delivering the Democratic response to this year’s State of […]

Alaska state legislature proposes fund to support alternative energy including coal

Alaska has proposed a $21 billion fund (Greenwire, $ub. req'd), which uses oil surpluses to support alternative energy projects, including:

wind, solar, geothermal, hydroelectric, tidal, biomass and a plant that "produces ultraclean fuels from coal."

State Rep. Les Gara (D-Anchorage) responds:

Coal is not renewable energy and by any fair definition it's not really alternative energy

Sounds controversial!