shenanigans
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Who will bail out the McMansion developers?
If you think the economic downturn is bad for you, try being a developer of sprawly McMansion exurbs. Those dudes have it rough! Don’t miss this hilarious story from Kaid Benfield, director of NRDC’s smart growth program. So developer Gladstone Homes builds this development outside Chicago, in Plainfield, Ill., called Chatham Square, filled with McMansions […]
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House holds hearing on MMS scandal; Kempthorne recommends ethics training
On Thursday the House Natural Resources Committee held a hearing on the MMS scandal currently providing humorists with so many drilling puns. Pelosi’s blog has an account of the hearing. (See also E&E News, $ub req’d.) The most amusing part was the righteous performance from Rep. George Miller, particularly this exchange with Interior Secretary Dirk […]
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Obama thinks the American people don’t want diversions and manipulations … but why?
Obama responds to the trumped-up “lipstick on a pig” controversy, whereby the media dutifully reported the McCain campaign’s hilarious assertion that Obama was calling Palin a pig: [vodpod id=ExternalVideo.1011972&w=425&h=350&fv=launch%3D26640762%26width%3D400%26height%3D320] Yes, the McCain campaign would love to have this kind of thing continue right through November. Obama thinks the American people would rather discuss solutions to […]
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Sex and drug scandal at Interior could affect the offshore-drilling debate in Congress
Yesterday’s revelation that 13 Interior Department employees who handle oil royalties are under investigation for allegedly engaging in illicit sex with and accepting gifts from employees of oil companies may affect the debate over drilling currently underway in Congress. An Inspector General’s report describes a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity” at the agency, which […]
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Interior Department employees under investigation for sex, drugs, and bribe scandal
Thirteen government officials are under investigation for allegedly engaging in illicit sex with and accepting a number of gifts from employees of energy companies, according to federal investigators. The probe involves Interior Department employees in the Denver and Washington offices, who handle billions of dollars in oil royalties. At the Denver Minerals Management Service, the […]
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EPA knuckleheads hide info on pesticide implicated in colony collapse disorder
So there’s this insecticide called clothianidin that seems likely to be implicated in colony collapse disorder. By the EPA’s own reckoning [PDF], clothianidin “has the potential for toxic chronic exposure to honeybees, as well as other nontarget pollinators, through the translocation of clothianidin residues in nectar and pollen.” Over in Germany, the introduction of clothianidin […]
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The Twinkie lobby
Photo: Nathan Pruzaniec I’ve been pondering writing something about this story in Politico, in which Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell says he’s fine with any energy bill that doesn’t "raise taxes," which is Republicanese for revoking some of the billions in tax breaks and subsidies U.S. taxpayers provide oil companies. McConnell is well aware that […]
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All of the above minus one
This is poison: If everyone agrees that we should do everything, why is it that we’re spending so much time talking about drilling, and less time on other measures like conservation and alternatives? [Taylor Griffin, a spokesman for the McCain campaign] said because drilling is one area in energy policy where Obama and McCain disagree. […]
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The media will not tell the public the real story on the energy clash in Congress
I’m not sure what’s more astonishing, the current political drama around energy or the utter and complete failure of the media to portray it accurately. Let’s recall what’s happened over this past session. Congress had some 13 chances to support renewable energy, as bill after bill was put forward by Democrats. Republicans blocked them all. […]
