Climate Politics
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The renewable portfolio standard will return
The Renewable Portfolio Standard will return to Congress. Multiple Dems have vowed that the RPS will return as a separate bill when Congress is back in session. I believe them exactly 87 percent. Despite the recent energy bill debacle, the RPS is not entirely political poison. Some 29 states have adopted one (a confusing patchwork!) […]
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California stats say state emissions-reduction plan far more effective than federal law
When the U.S. EPA denied California the right to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles, the agency reasoned that the just-passed energy bill’s boost to national fuel-economy standards would be stronger emissions-reduction policy than the state’s plan. California, which has sued, would beg to differ, and has released statistics refuting the EPA’s claim. For example: The […]
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Why not Eilperin?
After four separate posts bashing Peter Baker’s craptastic WaPo piece, I come to a simple question: Why did they have Baker write this piece instead of their environmental reporter Juliet Eilperin? She’s incredibly sharp, one of the best green reporters working today. I doubt she would have gone along with the spin as easily as […]
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Dodd and Biden drop out of race for Democratic presidential nomination
After getting trounced in the Iowa caucuses yesterday, Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd (Conn.) and Joe Biden (Del.) dropped out of the presidential race. Dodd was the only candidate who supported a corporate carbon tax as a means to fight climate change; both Dodd and Biden supported a cap-and-trade system to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions 80 percent […]
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Tom Carper totally knows the president
(An on we go, in a series on the WaPo piece so bad it required numerous separate gripes.) Tom Carper would like you to know that he’s a) committed on global warming, and b) tight with the president: People find all sorts of ways to lobby President Bush. Sometimes it comes in the form of […]
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Will climate wash out as an issue or help the greener candidate?
If we end up with an Obama v. Romney/Giuliani/Thompson race, the green dynamic will be simple. The guy who wants to do something about global warming vs. the guy who prefers the energy status quo. But if, as I’m now (wildly and irresponsibly) predicting, it’s an Obama v. McCain race, the dynamic shifts in some […]
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McCain will likely take it after all
The Republican primary race has been astonishing from the word go — less the embarrassment of riches of the Dem side than just … embarrassment. It’s been a roller coaster. Nonetheless, I’m going to go on the record predicting that McCain will take it. Here’s how I see it. Way back when, Santorum lost his […]
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The candidacy is Obama’s to lose
One hesitates to predict anything in a race this mercurial. But I think it’s Obama’s to lose at this point. Hillary’s pitch was always "experience" and (left unstated) inevitability. It was never the experience that made her inevitable, though. It was something more like Dem voters’ loss aversion. She has always been the Establishment Dem […]
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Huckabee and Obama win Iowa caucuses; what’s the green angle?
Mike Huckabee is the projected winner of the Iowa GOP caucuses, a surprising victory that puts him at the front of the pack in the Republican presidential race — at least until the New Hampshire primary next week. Huckabee is one of just two GOP candidates who support a cap-and-trade system to fight climate change […]
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Huckabee and Obama have it
Sounds like they’ve called the Iowa caucuses. Huckabee’s the huge winner on the R side, with Romney an anemic second. Obama got a very narrow win on the D side (35%), with Edwards and Clinton effectively tied for second with 31%. Interestinger and interestinger. UPDATE: OK, the final looks like 37% Obama, 30% Edwards, and […]
