US Senate

Bernie Sanders tells Bill Maher: Climate change is young people’s issue, and mine, too

Progressive presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he's going to reach out to young voters by emphasizing his calls for climate action.

Republicans cockblock NOAA appointment because of an oil-drilling snit

You’d think that the main criterion for being named the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association’s chief scientist would be that you are a scientist. (Lesser criteria: being plausibly chiefly; studying some field related to oceanic and/or atmospheric science.) Turns out, though, that being a scientist can be a real liability for the chief scientist job, […]

Why the Senate ethanol vote doesn't matter much

Even if the Senate's ethanol vote makes it through the White House, it won't stem the flow of corn from Midwest farms to distillers to gas tanks.

Senate refuses to sign ‘We Heart Offshore Drilling’ petition

Well, here's one piece of good news coming out of D.C.: The Senate — including five Republicans — voted to reject a bill that would have expanded offshore drilling. Of course, that might be because there are already plenty of new drilling permits being issued (53 shallow-water permits under the new post-Gulf spill regulations), so […]

Congress Passes a Budget That Doesn't Invest Enought in International Efforts to Curb Global Warming

The long drama of whether or not the US Congress would invest in international efforts to curb global warming pollution or gut these investments is finally over – at least for the rest of this fiscal year.  Last week President Obama signed into law a budget for the rest of this fiscal year (fiscal year […]

EPA is safe, for now

Well, the government isn’t being shut down, and the castrate-the-EPA riders have been stripped from the budget bill. For now, at least, the world is safe for those brutes at the EPA to keep oppressing helpless rich, powerful industry giants who only want to kill the planet a little. Don’t get too comfortable, though; this […]

Republicans lose Senate vote on EPA, call it a win

The riders that would forbid the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases didn’t succeed in the Senate yesterday. (They’re likely to do very well in the House, thanks to the Republican majority and some very disappointing Democrats.) That hasn’t stopped Senate Republicans from declaring victory, though. There were four riders dealing with EPA powers; no single […]

Would you vote for the Koch Brothers Appreciation Act?

After watching end-of-life planning become “death panels” and estate taxes become “death taxes,” Democrats are finally figuring out that owning the spin is all about owning the terminology. Accordingly, they’ve been having a grand time proposing amendments to give a more accurate name to the “Energy Tax Prevention Act,” which would “prevent energy taxes” by […]

Small number of senators ready to act like grownups

In the midst of a hair-pulling, face-scratching tussle over the EPA’s ability to regulate greenhouse gases, a number of senators are looking into reviving 2008’s bipartisan “energy gang.” The last gang crumbled under bickering about high gas prices — but not before swelling its ranks to 20 senators, and putting forth a bipartisan plan that […]