state politics
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Why do cities get so little respect from state and national governments?
Sao Paulo, Brazil.Photo: Henrique GodoyLast week, I attended the C40 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The C40 is a network of cities across the globe that are working to address climate change. It recently absorbed the (Bill) Clinton Climate Initiative, a story you can read about in The New York Times, and now represents enormous […]
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The Climate Post: Earth will take 100,000 years to recover from the midterms' effects on climate
Nothing ruins the opportunity of stopping climate change like Speaker of the House John Boehner. Plus, the Leaf's batteries and Alaska's gas problem.
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'Cities' may not matter as much as we think
When we talk about "cities" strictly limited to a fraction of a place's total area and population, we're being arbitrary and missing important points.
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Fifteen states have polluter-driven resolutions to deny climate threat
Cross-posted from the Wonk Room. Yesterday, the South Dakota legislature passed a resolution telling public schools to teach “balance” about the “prejudiced” science of climate change by a vote of 37-33. Earlier language that ascribed “astrological” influences to global warming was stripped from the final version. This act of conspiracy-driven ideology is hardly alone — […]
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Preserve states’ right to fight climate change
In his Sept. 22 U.N. speech President Obama got it right: the battle to arrest calamitous climate change can be won only if each of us enlists, perseveres, and fights “for every inch of progress.” It is, therefore, critical that the nation not embark on that battle with one hand tied behind our collective back. […]
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BC voters back carbon tax
Carbon emissions met its first big electoral test this week, as British Columbia voters rewarded BC premier Gordon Campbell, who last July instituted North America's first major carbon tax, with a third four-year term.
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Washington’s cap-and-trade legislation no longer involves cap and trade
Photo: libraryman via FlickrWashington state’s cap-and-trade legislation is no more. Or rather, it IS … in the existential sense … but after the House passed a watered down version on Wednesday, it should no longer be allowed to call itself “cap-and-trade legislation.” As there is no cap and trade in said cap-and-trade legislation. There is […]
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Oregon’s successful mileage tax experiment worked smoothly — and helped curb congestion
Recently I’ve been flogging the concept of a mileage tax, a system of per-mile road usage fees that over time can replace our dysfunctional gasoline tax as a way of funding transportation infrastructure. Although people have raised a lot of interesting objections, I’d like for now to skip ahead and simply describe Oregon’s successful experiment […]
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Oregon tries to undo ethanol leg. while ‘enviros’ lobby for biofuels subsidies
Oregon is struggling to undo bad ethanol legislation. Meanwhile, the Oregon Environmental Council continues to shill for ethanol subsidies because there might someday be a magic pony of ethanol created in an entirely different way, using entirely different plants and processes, and if we don’t support agribusiness with subsidies and mandates now, why, why, they […]