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Stephen King Says "Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!" by Terrance Heath, OurFuture.org | April 30, 2012
Finally, someone's giving NJ governor Chris Christie (whom fellow blogger Richard Eskow rightly dubbed, "The Heartless, Smug, Bullying Embodiment Of The Republican Party") as good as he dishes out. At the Daily Beast, author Stephen King has posted a response to Christie's suggestion that Warren Buffett should just "shut up and right a check." A top-selling horror writer, King isn't the least bit scared of Christie's bombast. It's one of the best things I've read today, and not to be missed. What groups like the Patriotic Millionaires and candidates like Elizabeth Warren have said with more civility and eloquence, King puts in language even Christie can understand. read more »Romney’s Solar Flip-Flop by Andrew Leonard, salon.com | April 25, 2012
In February 2007, in his very first presidential campaign visit to New Hampshire, Mitt Romney toured a solar power plant. Unsurprisingly for a politician in such a location, he found some nice things to say about renewable energy. Romney promised he would soon “lay out a full energy program” featuring government incentives for developing alternative energy — including solar and wind power. Romney anticipated such “incentives will foster technological breakthroughs that can speed up” the development of alternative energy. Today, Mitt Romney isn’t quite such a fan of changing the world with solar power, if we are confident enough to believe his campaign website. Of course, back in 2007, Romney also believed that climate change was man-made and supported a global cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions. So it shouldn’t be all that much of a shock that Romney is giving the cold shoulder to solar power. If there’s one thing we know about Mitt, he never allows his past positions on an issue to weigh him down. read more »A Stain That Won’t Wash Away by Adam Lustgarten, The New York Times | April 20, 2012
Two years after a series of gambles and ill-advised decisions on a BP drilling project led to the largest accidental oil spill in United States history and the death of 11 workers on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, no one has been held accountable. Sure, there have been about $8 billion in payouts and the outlines of a civil agreement that will cost BP an additional $7.8 billion in restitution to businesses and residents along the Gulf of Mexico. It’s also true that the company has paid at least $14 billion more in cleanup and other costs since April 20, 2010, bringing the expense of this fiasco to about $30 billion for BP. These are huge numbers. But this is a huge and profitable corporation. What is missing is the accountability that comes from real consequences: a criminal prosecution that holds responsible the individuals who gambled with the lives of BP’s contractors and the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico. read more »ALEC's Other 'Deadly Force' Campaign to Kill Climate Initiatives by Elliot Negin, Huffington Post | April 20, 2012
The relatively unknown American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) got a black eye recently when news stories revealed it was a prime mover behind "Stand Your Ground" laws in Florida and 24 other states that temporarily shielded the man who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. But the secretive group's influence in statehouses goes a lot further than deadly force, self-defense laws. Since its founding in 1973, ALEC has ghostwritten state legislation across the country on a wide range of issues, from voter ID laws to prison policy to worker protections, as a number of press accounts have pointed out. What has gone unmentioned, however, is ALEC's longtime stealth campaign to scuttle state — and federal — climate change initiatives, despite the fact that a number of its corporate members publicly acknowledge that global warming is a serious problem. read more »A New Energy Third World in North America? by Michael T. Klare, tomdispatch.com | April 2, 2012
The "curse" of oil wealth is a well-known phenomenon in Third World petro-states where millions of lives are wasted in poverty and the environment is ravaged, while tiny elites rake in the energy dollars and corruption rules the land. Recently, North America has been repeatedly hailed as the planet's twenty-first-century "new Saudi Arabia" for "tough energy" -- deep-sea oil, Canadian tar sands, and fracked oil and natural gas. But here's a question no one considers: Will the oil curse become as familiar on this continent in the wake of a new American energy rush as it is in Africa and elsewhere? Will North America, that is, become not just the next boom continent for energy bonanzas, but a new energy Third World? Knowledgeable observers are already noting the first telltale signs of the oil industry's "Third-Worldification" of the United States. read more »Clean Air Helps the Economy by Josh Bivens, slate.com | April 2, 2012
In December, the Obama administration approved long-overdue environmental regulations requiring U.S. power plants to reduce emissions of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic metals. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, or air toxics rule, is expected to prevent up to 11,000 premature deaths a year and have many other health benefits. And yet conservative members of Congress oppose it. Why? Because they say it will "kill jobs." This is a familiar tactic for politicians opposed to any sort of regulation. Conservatives have been scarily disciplined in appending the job-killing label to all regulations, both old and new. As somebody who has been on the front line of this particular battle, I'm afraid to say that the tactic seems to have resonance. Of course, it has also been a disaster for those interested in a true assessment of regulation's impacts on the economy. read more »Obama's Plan B For Saving The Climate Is In Effect by Bill Scher, OurFuture.org | March 28, 2012
Yesterday the EPA released a new rule setting greenhouse gas emission limits on new power plants, which are strict enough to effectively ban new coal plants that lack the ability to ca read more »The Top Five Things You Need to Know About EPA’s New Carbon Rule by David Roberts, grist.org | March 27, 2012
After long anticipation and many delays, EPA is expected to issue its first limits on carbon pollution from power plants this week. With Republicans increasingly desperate in the face of economic recovery, they are sure to treat this as a lifeline, a focus for renewed attacks. They will try to make the rule a stand-in for government overreach, job-killing regulations, and Obama’s secret plan to raise gas prices. Also probably Sharia. These conservative attacks will be meritless, flying in the face of the considered judgment of credible, independent analysts. But the political media is unlikely to play “truth vigilante” by fact-checking them. Instead, expect endless horserace coverage of political tactics based on tired conventional wisdom. With that coming fact void in mind, here are the top five things you need to know about the rule and the attacks that will follow it. read more »Gas Prices Have Been Rising For a Decade, Why Keep Subsidizing Big Oil? by Bill Scher, OurFuture.org | March 26, 2012
While the volatile price of gas can give you whiplash and screw up household and business budgeting, the fact is the price of gas has been steadily rising since 2002. It only took a break in 2008 after the global financial crisis shattered economic demand. read more »Today In Inadvertent Republican Admissions: Obama Not Killing Oil Production With Socialist Policies by Bill Scher, OurFuture.org | March 20, 2012
Last week on Fox News, while chatting with Mitt Romney about President Obama's citations of increased domestic oil production, Sean Hannity retorted, "He's claiming we've never produced more oil, but that is on private land." read more »
The Latest
Huge Solar-Plant Project Approved, The Wall Street Journal | October 26, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/26/2010A proposal to build the world's biggest solar-thermal power plant in the Southern California desert got the go-ahead Monday from the Obama administration, which used the announcement to bolster its message that renewable energy creates jobs. read more »
Climate Regulations Coming for Trucks, Buses, Politico | October 22, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/10/2010The Obama administration will propose the first-ever greenhouse gas emission limits for heavy trucks and buses next week.
The proposal will call for a 20 percent reduction in heat-trapping emissions from trucks’ tailpipes, according to Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign.
China Plans to Reduce Its Exports of Minerals , The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Time Right to Resume Deepwater Drilling, CNN | October 19, 2010
Last week, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar lifted the moratorium on deepwater drilling almost two months before it was set to expire. It was the right decision at the right time, because developments over the last three months, including new rules and regulations, will make deepwater drilling far safer than it was before.
Governors Races: Losing The Western Climate Initiative, wonkroom.thinkprogress.org | October 19, 2010
The Western Climate Initiative — a regional cap-and-trade compact between California, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Washington, Oregon, Montana and four Canadian provinces — was established in 2007 and scheduled to go into effect in 2012. There are governors’ races in all the states except Montana and Washington. read more »
In Kansas, Climate Skeptics Embrace Cleaner Energy, The New York Times | October 19, 2010
Residents of this deeply conservative city do not put much stock in scientific predictions of climate change. “Don’t mention global warming,” warned Nancy Jackson, chairwoman of the Climate and Energy Project, a small nonprofit group that aims to get people to rein in the fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change. “And don’t mention Al Gore. read more »
Heads in the Sand...., Washington Monthly | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010A decade ago, George W. Bush told voters he'd support a cap on carbon dioxide. Two years ago, the GOP's McCain/Palin presidential ticket supported a cap-and-trade policy.
The Republican hostility towards science and evidence isn't new, but its wholesale, party-wide rejection of all climate data is new.
Environmental group claims poll on climate bill shows support for incumbent Democrats, thehill.com | October 19, 2010
Article Publication Date:10/18/2010The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund says new poll data shows that voters in regions with competitive House races prefer incumbent Democrats who support legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions. read more »
States Aim to Cut Energy Bills , stateline.org | August 13, 2010
North Shore Community College, located outside Boston, joined the glitzy side of the green-building trend last November when it broke ground on the first state-owned “zero net energy” building in Massachusetts. The 58,000-square foot health and student center, with geothermal heating and cooling and solar panels on the roof, will produce more than enough power to cover its energy needs.
Obama's Beach Will Be Clean, But Oil Lies Beneath Sand Nearby , Huffington Post | August 13, 2010
The Florida Panhandle beach where the Obamas are going to spend the weekend to boost tourism in the region is indeed pristine and oil-free.
Panama City Beach, where the White House has announced the first family will be staying Saturday and Sunday, was spared the worst of the BP oil spill, sullied only by sporadic tar balls that were easily cleaned up.
