Climate Politics

Hillary Clinton brings an environmental issue to the fore in Nevada

Hillary Clinton is taking pains to make sure all Nevadans know her views on — gasp! — an environmental issue: She would stop plans to store nuclear waste at the state’s Yucca Mountain repository. “This is not just, ‘We’re in Nevada, so we’ll talk about an issue Nevadans care about,'” Clinton assured voters. “This is […]

Can the Kansas governor show toughness under assault from Big Coal?

A certain faction of young progressive bloggers is fond of the notion of Barack Obama picking Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as his running mate. She is a successful, popular, progressive governor in a red state, and has shown a real talent for bringing people together to produce practical results. That would compliment Obama’s core message. […]

Is it important to push climate legislation through this year?

Now that Congress is back, there’s been a mini-flurry of stories about the prospects of climate legislation this year. See Politico here and here, a really superb analysis of Lieberman-Warner’s chances by Darren Samuelsohn (sub rqd), and another E&E story today on trade groups panicking. Politico‘s reporting is characteristically sloppy, but it does get at […]

The widening war between activists and coal

According to AP, at least 48 coal plants are being contested in 29 states: From lawsuits and administrative appeals against the companies, to lobbying pressure on federal and state regulators, the coordinated offensive against coal is emerging as a pivotal front in the debate over global warming. Music to my ears. Naturally, the industry forecasts […]

Canada announces new fuel-economy regs to match or exceed U.S. standards

At the Montreal International Auto Show, Canada’s transport minister announced the country will be setting new fuel-economy regulations that will match or exceed the U.S. fuel-economy standards signed into law in late December. The Canadian standards will be phased in starting in 2011 and by 2020, cars and light trucks sold in the Great White […]

Thus spake Chairman Peterson of the House Ag Committee

David already pointed to it, but it bears repeating: House Ag Committee Chairman Colin Peterson, a tireless champion of ethanol and any other big-ag project he can get his mits on, has declared that cellulosic ethanol could well never “get off the ground.” At best, he declared, cellulosic ethanol stands at least 10 years away […]

Alberta premier heads to D.C. to preach the virtues of tar sands

Kevin Grandia has the skinny on Alberta (it’s in Canada) Premier Ed Stelmach’s visit to D.C. to shill for tar sands and to fight "the myth that the environmental cost of the oilsands is too high." Below is Stelmach with a very perspicacious polar bear:

Bush asks Saudi king to open oil spigots

The president who said "America is addicted to oil" now begs the Saudis for another fix. Like some binge-drinking, pill-popping starlet -- is there any other kind? -- the president is prostrate before his top foreign "dealer," begging for more, even at the risk of public humiliation:

The Saudi oil minister, however, waited only a short time before announcing that oil prices would remain tied to market forces -- a direct slap at Bush.

Wow! When even your dealer won't sell you more, you have got a real problem.

Just one hour later, though, "President Bush made a private visit to Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to again ask him to open the spigots."

U.S. House passes mine-safety legislation; Bush threatens veto

The U.S. House of Representatives passed new mine-safety legislation yesterday aimed at improving dangerous working conditions such as those that may have contributed to the Crandall Canyon Mine collapse that killed six workers and three rescue personnel last year. The bill allows independent investigations when accidents kill more than one miner, grants the Mine Safety […]

Got any ideas for a better Toxic Release Inventory system?

As the letter below indicates, OMB Watch has spent a lot of time on defense since the Supreme Court installed "W" (they use W so he can spell it properly) in 2000. The group fights for government openness and accountability and supports the nonprofit sector.

One of their campaigns has been to preserve the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI), one of the most useful things ever to emerge from the era of unashamed environmentalism. Just knowing that the TRI was out there led corporations to huge reductions in toxic releases.

Naturally, gutting TRI was high on the Bush junta's agenda. But it seems like most of the bad ideas have gone away, and OMB Watch is now looking for ideas for making TRI even better, now that the Democratic majority runs Congress.

So get creative -- how would you like to see information displayed? What would be most useful for your town?