legislation

Nobelist Paul Crutzen suggests that a slowdown in the economy could be good for the climate

A: Of course not. Only efforts to sharply cut CO2 emissions starting immediately would be good for the climate. If proof were ever needed that winning a Nobel Prize does not make you a genius on every subject, consider what atmospheric scientist Paul Crutzen told Reuters: It’s a cruel thing to say … but if […]

How to fend off biological and cultural extinctions

The relationship between our planet’s vanishing species, languages, and cultures has long fascinated me, so I was thrilled to write a story on the subject for the current issue of Seed. In the piece, my co-author Terry Glavin and I mention some important legislation being put forth at the annual meeting of the IUCN in […]

Lawmakers use financial crisis as pretext to screw with climate legislation

In a post yesterday I drew attention to an emerging battle over macroeconomics. To put it crudely: does the financial crisis mean the next president will need to trim his ambitions and focus on reducing the deficit? Or does it call for substantial public spending to get the economy moving again (deficit be damned, at […]

Is 450 ppm (or less) politically possible? Part 7

No, 450 is not politically possible today. Nor is 550. Nor is action sufficient to stave off 1,000 ppm and 6°C warming. OK, that was clear before because congressional conservatives can certainly block the necessary action and demagogue the energy price issue — and they obviously intend to. But I think the financial bailout bill […]

The House Energy and Commerce Committee releases draft of potential climate legislation

Energy and Commerce Committee Chair John Dingell (D-Mich.) and ranking member Rick Boucher (D-Va.) released a “discussion draft” of their long-awaited climate change legislation today. “This draft is the culmination of nearly two years of intensive work on climate change by the Committee and marks an important step in our ongoing efforts to address this […]

The energy tax credits in the bailout bill, part 1

The bailout legislation passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bush on Friday has a $17 billion energy tax package. This post will focus on the clean energy credits. Part 2 will focus on the dirty ones. The biggest winner is certainly solar. As Scott Sklar, former head of the Solar Energy Industries […]

$13 billion Amtrak bill heads to Bush’s desk

The Senate this week voted 74-24 to approve the Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act, which would boost funding for Amtrak. With high gas prices and tough economic times pushing more Americans to ride the rails, Congress is aiming to improve rail infrastructure. The five-year, $13 billion bill would fund new safety measures for trains, like […]

Sen. DeMint tries to push through pro-drilling bill in last days of Congress

Apparently not satisfied with the expiration of the moratorium on drilling along the Outer Continental Shelf, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) is circulating a bill [PDF] that open up still more offshore areas to drilling. The “Drill Now Act of 2008” would accelerate the expansion of offshore drilling by superseding a provision that currently prevents new […]

Senate adds renewable-energy tax credits to bailout, to chagrin of moderate House Dems

The Senate is planning to add its tax bill — which includes the extension of renewable-energy tax credits — to the $700 billion bailout package it will be voting on tonight. The addition is intended to “sweeten” the deal in hopes of gathering more votes and ensuring passage of the bailout package. The Senate has […]