Obama administration
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Keystone XL shot down, Republicans whine about it
The State Department has recommended that the Keystone XL pipeline application be “determined not to serve the national interest,” and President Obama has agreed — not even because it’s a disaster waiting to happen, but because (just as Dave Roberts predicted!) Republicans just could not sit down and shut up for five minutes.
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Clean energy policies create more jobs than Keystone
Obama is poised to reject Keystone XL this afternoon, so brace for a lot of Republican bellyaching about how he obviously doesn’t care about jobs. There is a problem with this line of argument, and it’s that it is nonsense. Don’t believe us? Check out this graph, from ThinkProgress, which shows how Obama administration policies […]
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Obama will reject Keystone XL
Politico is reporting that Obama is planning to reject the Keystone XL pipeline this afternoon. Here's a quick roundup of some reasons why that's awesome.
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Chief of Staff Bill Daley resigns, environment rejoices
Greens have been singing "won't you go home, Bill Daley" for a while (turn-of-the-century music jokes, anyone? No?). The now-former chief of staff was the guy responsible for kneecapping EPA smog regulations, and he was generally considered to be in the administration merely as a sop to Big Business. So now he's resigning, and probably the next guy will be an improvement? We hope?
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Give Thanks for Regulations
In the Broadway hit musical, “Book of Mormon,” a woman from Uganda envisions paradise as a place where warlords are benevolent and the Red Cross hands out as much flour as you can eat. In other words, the things that inspire hope and gratitude in any part of the world are in the eye of […]
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Is the pipeline victory a turning point for the climate movement?
Two days ago, I was convinced that the amazing Keystone XL pipeline victory won by the North American climate movement on Nov. 10 was going to be, without question, a pivotal turning point. Today, having thought more about it, I’d say it’s more like somewhere between “maybe” and “probably.” I’m reminded of another “victory” that […]
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Critical List: Keystone XL delayed; heating your home with firewood
The Obama administration delayed approval of the Keystone XL pipeline! (You probably already heard that, but we're still excited!) The White House says the decision's not political but "based on the process that we've been going through" (that up until enviros started protesting was moving swiftly towards approval). Oh, and the decision will now come […]
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Smacking down the latest Solyndra silliness
I’m really getting tired of playing this game.Photo: Thomas HawkI’m as sick of writing about Solyndra as y’all are of reading about it, but somebody’s got to write something sane about this latest chapter, and obviously the political press has no interest in doing so. You may have seen the new rash of stories in […]
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The Obama admin opens up the best lands in the west for solar development
The Obama administration is putting forward 285,000 acres of public land in the West as prime territory for solar development. About half of the land is in California; the rest is spread over five states, including Nevada and Utah. These sites, the administration says, have no looming environmental or cultural conflicts, and they're close to […]
