Joe Barton
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Texas Republican says we should still invest in solar after Solyndra
Here's Joe Barton, a Republican congressman from Texas, explaining why the Solyndra collapse shouldn't end solar loan guarantees. Refreshing! Solyndra had "too little oversight," Barton says, but solar is still viable and other companies should get loans if there's a reasonable expectation that taxpayers won't get screwed.
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GOP attacks the EPA for doing its job
The GOP refuses to acknowledge that the Obama EPA is following federal laws and court orders issued when the Bush administration failed to abide by the law.
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Utilities and Joe Barton: 'Ignore the science: Pollution isn't bad for you!'
Do you believe doctors, EPA scientists, and peer-reviewed studies when it comes to the danger of pollution? Or heavily polluting utilities and Joe Barton?
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Barton denies any ‘medical negative’ from mercury, smog, or soot pollution
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. At a congressional hearing on Friday designed to lay the groundwork for an effort to delay critical EPA toxic pollution standards, Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) claimed that reducing emissions of toxic mercury, sulfur dioxide, and soot would not bring health benefits. Though conceding he is “not a medical doctor,” Barton offered […]
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Congress is making ignoring science a habit
In a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee climate hearing, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) jokingly asked if some of his fellow colleagues were going to overturn the law of gravity, “sending us floating about the room.” It seems funny until you realize that it’s in response to a disturbing trend in Congress of misusing, manipulating, […]
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The Wall Street Journal editorial board does not like clean air
The Wall Street Journal's editorial on the EPA mangles basic facts and omits mention of the overwhelming public health benefits from cleaner air.
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House Republicans battle over committees, reinforce orthodoxy
The internecine warfare among House Republicans is a remarkable illustration of party discipline -- and how only one side knows how to do it.
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Upton takes right-wing beatdown for incandescent bulb ban
When Republican choose the head of the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee, the decision may come down to light bulbs. That's right, light bulbs.
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GOP climate deniers vie to run House Energy Committee
The House Energy Committee is seeing an intense leadership fight, as four different Republicans are vying to take over the influential post. The four candidates -- Reps. Fred Upton, John Shimkus, Joe Barton, and Cliff Stearns -- all want to reopen the floodgates for a deregulated fossil fuel industry. But precisely how reactionary the committee will become depends on who wins. The frontrunner Upton is the only candidate who doesn't explicitly question climate science.