Climate Politics

Boxer on new L-W amendment: ‘I think I have enough votes for the motion to proceed’

Barbara Boxer. Photo: Kevin Parry/ WireImage Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer held a press conference this afternoon to officially unveil the outline of her substitute amendment to the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act that she began circulating on the Hill last week. Speaking to collected members of the press, the senator stressed the differences […]

Oregon and Kentucky vote; nation yawns and rolls over

In case anyone’s still paying attention, there were two more primaries today. Hillary Clinton scored a big win in Kentucky, with 65 percent of the vote to Obama’s 30 percent. But Obama looks poised to win Oregon, and says he’s reached the delegate threshold. Various media folks are reporting that he now has an “insurmountable […]

Senate Energy Committee members wring their hands about the cost of climate action

The Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee held a hearing this morning on the economic effects of global climate change legislation, and as expected, it was largely devoted to stoking fears about the potential costs of meaningful action. “On the extremes, models have been used to show that legislation will have massive disruptions to the […]

Green groups sue over polar bear listing

In entirely expected news, green groups have sued over the Interior Department’s listing of the polar bear as a threatened species — or, more accurately, over Interior’s caveats that the listing not be used as a means to fight global warming. The Center for Biological Diversity, Greenpeace, and NRDC say the bears should be listed […]

Sen. Edward Kennedy

Sen. Edward Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor. Spare him a thought. Here’s a clip from the lovely eulogy he gave for his older brother Bobby, delivered 8 June 1968 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York: It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man […]

Surely there must be some mistake

Branch of U.S. federal government accidentally passes bill that would provide $1.7 billion in grant funding for public transit.

Climate, as such, is unlikely to ever be a determinant of many votes

Chris Hayes emphasizes the difference between, in Grover Norquist’s terms, "intensity and preference" — issues that people vote on vs. ones they merely respond to favorably in polls. He thinks it’s dumb that many Dems still don’t seem to get the difference when it comes to deficit spending. Which reminds me of something I’ve been […]

Senate Energy and Natural Resources hearing to stoke fear about the costs of climate legislation

Speaking of cost-containment and the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow on “recent reports analyzing the energy and economic impacts of climate change legislation.” Many political observers see this as a move intended to scare up concern among Senate Democrats that meaningful action on global […]

Barbara Boxer circulates an outline of her amendment to Lieberman-Warner

On Friday, Senate Environment and Public Works chair Barbara Boxer released an outline of what promises to be the version of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act that actually gets debated and amended on the Senate floor in early June. David posted the full document summarizing the manager’s amendment earlier today. It’s only an outline, not […]

Legal strategies for battling climate change

This post is by ClimateProgress guest blogger Bill Becker, Executive Director of the Presidential Climate Action Project.

When President Bush delivered his much-hyped climate policy speech from the Rose Garden last April (see here), he voiced an interesting concern. He's worried that the courts will do what the other two branches of government have failed to do: take meaningful action to curb the country's carbon emissions.

"We face a growing problem here at home," the president said. "Some courts are taking laws written more than 30 years ago -- to primarily address local and regional environmental effects -- and applying them to global climate change."

"Decisions with such far-reaching impact should not be left to unelected regulators and judges," he continued. "Such decisions should be opened -- debated openly; such decisions should be made by the elected representatives of the people they affect. The American people deserve an honest assessment of the costs, benefits and feasibility of any proposed solution."

The White House promised that Bush's Rose Garden remarks would be important and it was correct: The president's call for open debate and an honest assessment of climate action was a major policy shift. His complaint about unelected judges making decisions was specious, however. The elected members of past Congresses and Bush's predecessors signed the 30-year-old laws on which some of the current court decisions are based. Old laws are being applied to global warming because the current Congress and White House have failed to pass new ones.