Climate Politics

Feds approve floating liquefied-natural-gas terminal in Long Island Sound

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Thursday approved a $700 million floating liquefied-natural-gas terminal to be built in the middle of Long Island Sound. The energy companies Shell and TransCanada are partners in the project, which is expected to supply 1.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day to New York and Connecticut — […]

Enviros file supreme suit to stop border wall

Sierra Club and Defenders of Wildlife have filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court challenging elements of the REAL ID act, which gives Secretary of Homeland Security the power to waive any environmental laws that would get in the way of the 700-mile-long double-layered concrete wall Congress authorized for the U.S.-Mexico border.

From the press release announcing the lawsuit:

By granting one government official the absolute power to pick and choose which laws apply to border wall construction, the REAL ID Act proves itself to be both inherently dangerous and profoundly un-American. The issue here is not security vs. wildlife, but whether wildlife, sensitive environmental values, and communities along the border will be given fair consideration in the decisions the government makes," said Rodger Schlickeisen, president of Defenders of Wildlife. "We are hopeful that the Supreme Court will take up this case in order to protect the fundamental separation of powers principles enshrined in the United States Constitution."

The lawsuit seems to have some legs; a government official familiar with it said it had some chance of success.

Clinton’s MTR comments spark outrage

Hillary Clinton’s wishy-washy, confused comments on mountaintop-removal mining yesterday have set off an internet sh*tstorm. Appalachian Voices rounds up the outrage.

A look at Ralph Nader’s environmental platform and record

Updated 22 Aug 2008 Ralph Nader. Though Ralph Nader is running as an independent and not under the Green Party banner this time around, he still has some serious small-G green cred (at least among those not still livid over his alleged role in Gore’s 2000 presidential defeat). In the heyday of his consumer advocacy, […]

The money we’ve spent on the five-year Iraq War could have shifted the world to renewables

Today is the five-year anniversary of the beginning of the Iraq War. I don’t have a whole lot to say about it that other people haven’t said better. I would just stress one point: People frequently fret that we can’t afford the measures necessary to fight climate change. That is false. We are an enormously […]

Hillary Clinton gives tepid response on question about mountaintop-removal mining

Hillary Clinton was asked about mountaintop-removal mining in an interview on West Virginia public radio (mp3 link) this morning. Her answer was, in my eyes, terribly disappointing. Here it is: I am concerned about it for all the reasons people state, but I think it’s a difficult question because of the conflict between the economic […]

Senate candidate shows energy policy promise; rocks at parties

Oregonian candidate for U.S. Senate Steve Novick seems refreshingly up on energy issues:

But is he electable? Well, they say Bush got votes because people perceived him as a guy they could relax and have a beer with:

An interview with Ralph Nader about his presidential platform on energy and the environment

He brought you the seat belt. He launched a consumer advocacy empire. He got over 2 million votes in the 2000. We interview with Ralph Nader about his presidential platform.

Bush aide: Slightly less than doubling of GDP is ‘recessionary’

Need more proof that Bush will never, ever, in a million gazillion years, sign a decent climate bill? Here’s what his right-hand hack Jim Connaughton had to say ($ub. req’d) about the relatively tepid Lieberman-Warner bill: James Connaughton, the chairman of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, cited EPA’s worst-case modeling projections for the […]

Word

James Howard Kunstler, who has a new post-peak-oil novel out this week (World Made by Hand, which I hope to review soon) hits the nail on the head in his weekly commentary: