Barack Obama
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What Role Will Senator Murkowski Play in Climate and Energy Negotiations?
Speaking at a sparsely-attended luncheon in Fairbanks, AK on Friday, Senator Murkowski (R-AL) touted her failed effort to block the EPA from regulating greenhouse gas emissions as a ‘badge of honor.’ She went on to explain why she considered the maneuver, which went down by a 53-47 margin on June 10th, a qualified success. “We […]
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G20 may punt on fossil-fuel subsidies in Toronto
Among the highlights of last fall’s G20 summit in Pittsburgh was a joint pledge to phase out wasteful fossil-fuel subsidies (which amount to a dizzying $550 billion worldwide). Now ClimateWire reports that change may not come as fast as greens would like: President Obama and other heads of state are poised to water down a […]
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Obama Vows To Go Where No Man Has Gone Before: Passing and Signing Climate and Energy Legislation
Given the emotional reserve of a man whose aides once referred to as “no drama Obama,” the president is getting pretty fired up about energy. On Wednesday President Obama concluded an all hands cabinet meeting at the White House by publicly declaring again his resolve to develop a “new energy strategy that the American people […]
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Judge who ruled against offshore drilling moratorium invests in oil industry
The federal judge who overturned Barack Obama’s offshore drilling moratorium appears to own stock in numerous companies involved in the offshore oil industry — including Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to BP prior to its April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico — according to 2008 financial disclosure reports. So Yahoo […]
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What Obama Did Not Say: BP Gulf Disaster Is Biggest Cut In A Bleeding Earth
The morning after President Barack Obama called for a “national mission” in pursuit of a clean energy economy the BP blowout gushes oil into the Gulf at the new estimated rate of 60,000 barrels a day. And though the president said “we can’t afford not to change how we produce and use energy -– because […]
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Presidents keep failing to get us off oil, but Americans aren’t helping
Who’s to blame for America’s 40-some years of stagnation on energy policy — cowardly politicians or a lazy public? Time‘s Bryan Walsh finds some fault with both in a new post. The case against politicians: Energy is one of those bipartisan issues that any politician can dust off — usually whenever gasoline prices have gotten […]
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Public support for offshore drilling continues to plummet, despite GOP scare tactics
On the 64th day of the nation’s worst environmental disaster, Americans’ opposition to offshore oil drilling continues to grow. Center for American Progress’s Daniel J. Weiss has the details: A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll of adults taken on June 16, the day after President Obama’s Oval Office energy address, found an 18 percent swing towards […]
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Senate Democrats doubt Obama can find votes for climate
Senate Democrats have cast doubt that President Barack Obama can achieve his intention of finding the votes to pass comprehensive climate legislation this year. To overcome a Republican filibuster, Obama needs to mobilize the entire Democratic caucus and find at least one Republican senator willing to cross the aisle on behalf of the nation. On […]
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Should Obama be talking more about climate change?
He Who Must Not Be Named?In his new book The Climate War, Eric Pooley describes how the message of climate campaigners has evolved from one focused on, well, climate (“polar bears”) to one dominated by national security, green jobs, and competitiveness. He calls this latter version the “Trojan Horse” message, one that tries to smuggle […]