Comments jyoungster has made

  • Obama's coal connections

    Here's another little tidbit on the Obama camp's connections to coal. Did you know Obama's top energy and environment advisor, Bob Sussman, spent the bulk of his career as a lobbyist and lawyer with Latham & Watkins? L&W is, of course, the firm that represented coal and other energy interests at the time that they were influencing the Bush admin's mercury rule, NSR decisions and other items. (L&W basically ghost wrote the mercury rule, you'll recall, though Mr Sussman says his role in those issues was "peripheral.")

    I learned about Mr Sussman's career when the Obama campaign sent Mr Sussman my way to talk about the Obama plan on climate change for a story on the fine public radio program (shameless plug) PRI's Living on Earth.
    The campaign identified him as a "former EPA official under Pres. Clinton," which is true. Sussman was a Deputy Administrator at EPA for 2 years before Carol Browner apparently showed him the door. After leaving EPA he returned to L&W. He recently retired and is now a fellow at the Center for American Progress.    

    Here's the pertinent section from the piece on LOE this week:

    > SUSSMAN: Well I don't think there's much of a connection there to worry about.
    >
    > YOUNG: Sussman himself, aside from working at the EPA, spent much of his career
    > as a lobbyist and lawyer for the firm Latham and Watkins. The firm represented
    > coal power companies in their attempts to influence Bush administration rules
    > on mercury emissions and changes to the clean air act.
    >
    > SUSSMAN: That's true. I did work for different folks in the energy industry,
    > and I don't consider that to be a bad thing, but it's not a factor at all in
    > anything that I'm doing for Senator Obama now. Senator Obama's been very clear
    > that he doesn't want lobbyists involved in his campaign. That's an excellent
    > line to draw, but people who have worked for industry understand how industry
    > works, and have expertise on these issues, have an awful lot to contribute and
    > they should have a seat at the table along with everybody else.

    The story's at PRI's Living on Earth:
    http://www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=08-P13-00 ...

    cheers,
    Jeff

    comfort the afflicted; afflict the comfortable

    On Obama or Clinton: who's greener? posted 1 year, 9 months ago 46 Responses

  • Atlantic multi decadal osciallation

    the orthodoxy at NOAA's hurricane center is that the AMO--this "natural cycle" of 'cane active periods--is the chief reason for stormy years and that climate change is a minor contributor.
    This study is the latest to challenge that. A study published a few weeks ago by Kerry Emanuel of MIT and others goes even further, saying the AMO doesn't exist at all--it's all about climate change.
    Living on Earth's clever and handsome Washington reporter (ok, me) did a piece on that a few weeks ago. here's the link:
    http://www.loe.org/shows/shows.htm?programID=06-P13-00023#feature2

    comfort the afflicted; afflict the comfortable

    On New study on global warming and hurricanes posted 3 years, 5 months ago 4 Responses