Climate Politics

Dodd endorses Obama

Chris Dodd, the only significant presidential candidate to support a carbon tax, has endorsed Barack Obama. He also said he wouldn’t want to be VP … not that there was much danger of that.

Reid makes good point about coal with bad analogy about Hitler

Oy, this is frustrating. Last week, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave an extraordinary speech to open the Renewable Energy World Conference in Las Vegas. He talked up the opportunities of a green economy, laid out concrete policies for getting there, and blasted the coal industry for standing in the way. Unfortunately, just before the […]

Greenpeace takes Heathrow

Today, Greenpeace UK held a peaceful protest against the proposed expansion of Heathrow Airport in London (the addition of a third runway). The activists managed to walk out onto the tarmac and up onto the tailfin of a plane, where they hung a huge banner: This effortless breach of security at one of the world’s […]

Governors are of varying minds when it comes to clean energy

At the annual winter meeting of the National Governors Association, which concluded Monday, state leaders revisited a previously launched initiative called “Securing a Clean Energy Future” — and struggled with the reality that “clean energy” has very different meanings to different states. “Clean coal,” in particular, was boosted by coal states and eyed with skepticism […]

Notable quotable

“Anybody has the right to run for president if they file sufficient papers. The job of the Democratic Party is to be so compelling that a few percentage of the vote going to another candidate is not going to make any difference.” — Barack Obama, on Ralph Nader’s entry into the presidential race

Notable quotable

"After all, there’s not a dime’s worth of a difference between a candidate promising tax cuts, pushing more health risk onto individuals, a re-invigoration of George Bush’s campaign to dominate the world through military force, and an industry-friendly approach to environmental issues and his rival who’s promising substantial socialization of medical risk, a 80 percent […]

Notable quotable

“His being on the Green Party [ballot] prevented Al Gore from being the greenest president we could have had, and I think that’s really unfortunate. I think we paid a big price for it. I’m pretty sad about that. — Hillary Clinton, on Ralph Nader’s entry into the 2008 presidential race

Ralph Nader jumps into the presidential race

“I have decided to run for president,” Ralph Nader declared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday morning, after listing a litany of problems in America and citing polls that have found citizen discontent with the direction of the country and with both main political parties. Washington, D.C. is “corporate-occupied territory,” he said, and he […]

Ralph Nader announces his presidential run, calls for carbon tax

Nader is officially in the race — and he is now the only big-name presidential candidate who supports a carbon tax. On the issues page of his campaign site, Nader also declares “No to nuclear power, solar energy first.” Only solar? Sounds like he hasn’t thought a lot about renewable energy since the ’70s.

A safety valve in Lieberman-Warner is senseless

I see no point whatsoever in passing a climate bill this year that includes a safety valve. I have blogged on this before, but it bears repeating as we appear to be getting to the endgame negotiations in the Senate on the Lieberman-Warner bill. Bottom line:

If you want to get a 60% to 80% greenhouse gas cut in four decades, you just can't waste time with safety valves. We need to get to a price of $30 to $40 a ton for carbon dioxide as soon as possible -- and if it needs to go higher than that because conservatives block the progressives and moderates from legislating aggressive technology deployment strategies that would keep costs low, well, as the saying goes, "We'll burn that bridge when we come to it."

If you just want to pass a bill that makes it seem like you're doing something while in fact doing little, then go for it! But surely a year's delay (waiting for a somewhat wiser Congress and an infinitely wiser president) is better than a pointless bill.

In an article titled "Sponsors of Senate emissions bill seek compromise on cost provisions," Greenwire (subs. req'd) reports: