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  • December 19 — the day after COP15

    Tens of thousands of modern-day crusaders, charlatans, Nobel laureates, CEOs, quick-buck artists, earnest politicians, and assorted movie extras of every conceivable socio-political-ethnic-economic background will descend on Copenhagen for the next three weeks to participate in an orgy of carbon-bashing and flag-waving. The goal will be to agree on a blueprint — not quite the precise […]

  • John Cornyn (R-Texas)

    Sen. John Cornyn is expected to vote against a climate bill, and that’s confirmed in this letter he wrote to a constituent.  He argues that the Kerry-Boxer climate bill would “create a massive new government bureaucracy, raise energy prices, increase taxes, and send American jobs overseas.” Dear [Constituent]: Thank you for contacting me regarding a […]

  • Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)

    Sen. Daniel Akaka is considered a likely “yes” vote on climate legislation, but in this letter sent to a constituent in late November 2009, he doesn’t reveal much of anything about his views on climate change or what should be done about it. Dear [Constituent]: Thank you for your comments on climate change and energy […]

  • Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)

    Sen. Charles Schumer is an advocate for climate legislation and said in July that he believed such legislation would attract the 60 needed votes.  In this letter to a constituent, Schumer expresses his support for a bill “that gets America running on clean energy, ends our dependence on foreign oil and includes energy incentives that […]

  • Obama administration officials grateful for early spring

    “The good news is spring is coming earlier and earlier [thanks] to climate change.” — An anonymous White House official, on the prospect of the Senate debating a climate and clean energy bill in the spring of 2010.

  • Inhofe to Boxer: “We Won, You Lost, Now Get a Life!”

    I had previously blogged on the anti-mature (ante-mature?) antics of the Senator from Oklahoma (see Sen. Inhofe explains he’s going to Copenhagen so that when Sen. Kerry says “Yes. We’re going to pass a global warming bill” then “I will be able to stand up and say, ‘No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. […]

  • Carol Browner strongly backs bipartisan cap-and-trade bill

    A top White House adviser yesterday pushed back against the idea of paring down Senate legislation on energy and global warming and frowned upon emerging talk among some moderates to limit legislative efforts to capping greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. “Our position is, let’s do it all,” said Carol Browner, President Obama’s senior aide […]

  • Reflecting on the lameness of my profession

    For the past few weeks there has been the appearance of a flood of news about the Copenhagen climate talks and the clean energy bill in the U.S. Senate. Standing in that flood it’s easy to get caught up in the atmospherics of frantic action and constant crisis. But step out for a while and […]

  • Hot planet to Obama: What’s your Plan B?

    “Never again.” Those ought to be the words coming from the White House right now on global warming. Never again can we tolerate a year like 2009, where attempts to cap carbon pollution experience such profound stagnation. Already this month President Obama has confirmed two painful truths. First: Congress will not complete work on a […]