Grist | Topics | 163 Results

RESULTS		Results 76 – 100 of 163
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Headline	Author	Published	Section
Response from Environmental Defense: Top-down or bottom-up, the goal is cutting carbon Getting something done is the priority	David Roberts	22 May 2007	Gristmill
The following is a guest essay from Tony Kreindler of Environmental Defense, in response to Charles Komanoff's post from earlier today, "Strange bedfellows in climate politics." ----- Charles Komanoff's post is entertaining, but a lot of what he says is wrong. His main proposition is that unlike "devilishly complex" cap-and-trade, a carbon tax is straightforward approach that will resist gaming by special interests. That raises a few questio ...
Topics: carbon tax, climate, climate change mitigation, Congress, Environmental Defense Fund, politics, US CAP (all these topics)

Ungreening the Farm Bill Stop House ag czar Peterson before he kills the conservation title	Aimee Witteman	21 May 2007	Gristmill
Any lingering illusions that Democratic control of the House would automatically lead to more enlightened agriculture policy crumbled last Thursday, when Rep. Colin Peterson (D-Minn.), chair of the House Agriculture Committee, released the conservation section of his 2007 Farm Bill proposal. Peterson kicked off the 2007 Farm Bill reauthorization process -- and in the process, kicked the legs out from under one of the country's best agri-environmental programs. ...
Topics: ag subsidies, agriculture, Congress, politics (all these topics)

Back room jostling over climate legislation Expect a lot of it	David Roberts	20 May 2007	Gristmill
As I mentioned the other day, MarketWatch is doing a big series of articles on business and climate change. This one gets right to the heart of why we're hiring a D.C. reporter. Now that things have transitioned from whether there's going to be climate legislation to what climate legislation is going to look like, lots of elbows are getting thrown. There are dozens and dozens of stakeholders who stand to be affected by legislation, and they're all getting busy trying ...
Topics: politics, climate, legislation, Congress, greenhouse-gas emissions, energy (all these topics)

In Eighteen Hundred Seventy-Two, Ulysses Made the Greenies Blue Legislation introduced to overhaul ancient mining law		17 May 2007	Daily Grist
In Eighteen Hundred Seventy-Two, Ulysses Made the Greenies Blue Legislation introduced to overhaul ancient mining law In 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed a mining-regulation law -- and while resource extraction has changed significantly since then, the rules haven't. Now Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) is seeking to revamp what he calls "the Jurassic Park of all federal laws," introducing ...
Topics: Congress, energy, Harry Reid, mining, news, politics (all these topics)

Influencing the Farm Bill Now is the time to harangue your reps about farm and food policy.	Steph Larsen	16 May 2007	Gristmill
As debate over the 2007 Farm Bill heats up, more people than ever are realizing that the five-year omnibus legislation, due to expire this year, directly influences what crops are produced in this country, who gets paid for them and how much, the manner in which they are produced, what kind of product they become, and who eats what. They're also connecting the dots and realizing that our current farm and food policy is making us overweight and unhealthy while lining the ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Congress, food, politics (all these topics)

Dingell promises climate legislation	David Roberts	15 May 2007	Gristmill
Next year.
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, Congress, John Dingell, politics (all these topics)

Trade in the Shade Bush allows Democrats to attach eco-protections to trade agreements		15 May 2007	Daily Grist
Trade in the Shade Bush allows Democrats to attach eco-protections to trade agreements If the Decider isn't careful, he's going to become the Compromiser. Last week, President Bush and congressional Democrats worked out a deal that will attach environmental and labor protections to trade accords in the works with Colombia, Panama, Peru, and South Korea. The compromise will requi ...
Topics: Congress, international treaties, Nancy Pelosi, news, politics, regulation (all these topics)

Pombo continues his Hack Quest Won't run for Congress, but will shill	David Roberts	12 May 2007	Gristmill
It's official: Richard "Dick" Pombo (R-Nowhere) will not be attempting to reclaim the House seat he lost to Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.). The nation may breathe a sigh of relief. (McNerney's probably effed anyway, though -- after all, it's still an extremely conservative district.) You may recall that upon losing Pombo went almost immediately through the revolving door to scummy PR and lobbying firm Pac/West. As that did not satisfy his insatiable hunger ...
Topics: Congress, jackassery, lobbying, politics (all these topics)

Mountaintop removal and clean water: Kinda at odds DC lobbying effort May 12-16	Erik Hoffner	11 May 2007	Gristmill
Citizens from Appalachia were at the UN's meeting on sustainable energy policy this week to challenge the clean-coalers, and were received really well by the other delegates. Coal advocates were hard-put to refute the evidence that coal kills communities. Now the effort moves to D.C. from May 12-16 for the 2nd Annual Mountaintop Removal Week lobbying effort. Organized by Appalachian Voices, the effort will advance the Clean Water Protection Act toward passage and he ...
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, environmental justice, legislation, lobbying, mining, politics, United Nations (all these topics)

Reid gears up to defend stupid mining law Sigh	David Roberts	10 May 2007	Gristmill
The 1872 Mining Law is evil. It gives mining companies cheap and privileged access to public land, and makes it virtually impossible for anyone, including the gov't, to stop them from grabbing it (yet another cost of mining that gets offloaded onto the public). Attempts to get rid of or update the absurdly archaic and destructive statute have long been blocked by legislators from mining states. Among them is Harry Reid (D-Nev.), now the majority leader in the Senate, ...
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, Harry Reid, lobbying, mining (all these topics)

Where there's muck there's brass A bill to subsidize making biogas from cow manure	Ron Steenblik	10 May 2007	Gristmill
Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) has just submitted a bill in the Senate that would establish federal tax credits, loans, and loan guarantees to encourage production of "biogas" from cow manure. Three Republicans are co-sponsoring the bill: Senators Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, Wayne Allard of Colorado, and Larry Craig of Idaho. A similar bill has been introduced in the House. As described by an article in the Omaha World-Herald, the legislation would 'help ease America' ...
Topics: ag policy, biofuels, Congress, energy, politics, renewable energy (all these topics)

Inslee v. Scarlett A smackdown in Congress	David Roberts	09 May 2007	Gristmill
The corruption and incompetence of the Bush Interior Dept. are legend at this point, so I won't rehash it all here (though I can't resist linking to this). Instead, I'll just report that today, in a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on the Endangered Species Act, Rep. Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) laid into Interior Deputy Secretary Lynn Scarlett. He accused her of being responsible for incompetence and 'political hackery,' and told her she should resign because, and ...
Topics: Congress, Jay Inslee, politics (all these topics)

Caveat	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
A few posts back I big-upped Jon Tester for killing the liquid coal mandate coal-state Republicans tried to attach to the Senate EPW energy bill (which passed committee last week). I should add, lest things get too darn cheery around here, that the bill itself is largely focused on boosting ethanol. And you know how Gristmillians feel about that. So.
Topics: coal, Congress, energy, ethanol, politics (all these topics)

Carbon tax news Could the unthinkable become thinked?	David Roberts	07 May 2007	Gristmill
Over on MyDD, Rep. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) discusses the carbon tax bill he recently introduced. My legislation, the Save Our Climate Act (H.R. 2069), would tax coal, petroleum and natural gas at a rate of $10 per ton of carbon content. Applied when these fossil fuels are initially removed from the ground, the tax would increase by $10 each year, freezing when a mandated report by the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Energy determines that carbon d ...
Topics: carbon tax, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, Congress, legislation, politics (all these topics)

An encouraging farm bill proposal Reps. DeLauro and Gilchrest want to invest in local infrastructure.	Tom Philpott	04 May 2007	Gristmill
Update [2007-5-4 15:15:3 by Tom Philpott]:Oops. I misinterpreted this bill. It's what's known as a 'marker bill,' not intended to be voted on, just to express the opinions of the legislators. Thus its lack of a 'commodity title' doesn't mean its sponsors intend to eliminate commodity payments, as I assumed. Nevertheless, the bill contains good ideas, and remains worthy of debate. It's just not 'epochal,' as I hastily -- and wishfully -- wrote below. When Bush's USDA ...
Topics: ag policy, agriculture, Congress, politics (all these topics)

Hey, Seattleites: Chat about climate with Jay Inslee and friends Catch a climate symposium at Town Hall on May 9	Lisa Hymas	02 May 2007	Gristmill
Rep. Jay Inslee, Democrat from Washington's 1st congressional district and a clean-energy champion, will be discussing climate change with other local eco-experts (and with the audience) at Seattle's Town Hall on May 9. Additional smart folks at the Symposium on Climate Policy, presented by the Thomas C. Wales Foundation, will include Denis Hayes, national coordinator of the first Earth Day and president of the Bullitt Foundation; K.C. Golden of Climate Solutions; Ben Pac ...
Topics: climate change mitigation, climate, Seattle, Congress, politics, Jay Inslee, energy (all these topics)

Answer us these questions 15 Senators demand Congressional participation in Endangered Species Act changes	Kate Sheppard	27 Apr 2007	Gristmill
On Wednesday, several key Senators sent a letter to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne expressing concern about an Interior Department proposal they say will weaken the Endangered Species Act. The letter states that draft revisions to the act have suggested a major overhaul of the act is under consideration and demands that the Bush administration include Congress in any attempt to rewrite the 30-year-old law. It also includes 15 questions that the Senators want ans ...
Topics: Congress, endangered species, US Senate (all these topics)

Let's all go to the lobby Exxon Mobil hikes spending, big time	Kate Sheppard	26 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Perhaps fearing the coming crunch of climate and energy legislation, oil giant Exxon Mobil more than doubled their reported lobbying expenditures in 2006 to $14.5 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This blows their previous year's total of $7.14 million and next-highest-spender Chevron's $7.5 million out of the water.
Topics: Big Oil, business, Congress, lobbying, politics (all these topics)

Schwarzenegger doesn't like having Johnson in his face Legally speaking	David Roberts	26 Apr 2007	Gristmill
California is threatening to sue the U.S. EPA for obstructionism. You'll recall that the U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled decisively that CO2 is a pollutant under the Clean Air Act, and that implementing restrictions on vehicle CO2 emissions does not abrogate the DOT's authority to set fuel-efficiency standards. That ruling pretty well destroys the legal basis for the lawsuits automakers have filed against Calif. and other states adopting tough vehicle emissions st ...
Topics: Barbara Boxer, California, Congress, politics, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, US EPA (all these topics)

Boxer discusses global warming Video, yo	David Roberts	25 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Here's Sen. Barbara Boxer (most appropriately named!), discussing global warming at the National Press Club (for 25 min.). Good stuff: (h/t: Hugg)
Topics: Barbara Boxer, climate, climate change mitigation, Congress, politics (all these topics)

Congress gets a sustainability complex Shooting for a green capitol	Kif Scheuer	25 Apr 2007	Gristmill
No, it's not a new psychological disorder, but a plan for greening the capitol complex. Over at Building Design and Construction they've got a piece on the acceptance of a 'green the capitol initiative.' On April 19, Nancy Pelosi accepted a preliminary proposal and ... ... announced that operations of the Capitol Complex, which includes congressional office buildings and the 775,000-sf U.S. Capitol Building, would become carbon neutral no later than the end of the ...
Topics: Congress, greening biz operations, greenwashing, politics (all these topics)

Johnson Takes a Pounding EPA administrator spars with Senate over climate action		25 Apr 2007	Daily Grist
Johnson Takes a Pounding EPA administrator spars with Senate over climate action Senate Democrats badgered EPA administrator Stephen Johnson yesterday about the agency's greenhouse-gas foot-dragging. They unleashed a barrage of questions at an Environment and Public Works Committee hearing, focusing on the recent Supreme Court ruling that said EPA has the authority to regulate carbon dioxide vehicle emissions. F ...
Topics: climate, Congress, news, politics, US EPA (all these topics)

Conspiracy uncovered! Letter to the editor from Arkansas	Andrew Dessler	24 Apr 2007	Gristmill
This is the text of a letter to the editor printed in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette on April 16 of this year: You may have noticed that March of this year was particularly hot. As a matter of fact, I understand that it was the hottest March since the beginning of the last century. All of the trees were fully leafed out and legions of bugs and snakes were crawling around during a time in Arkansas when, on a normal year, we might see a snowflake or two. This shoul ...
Topics: climate, climate change skepticism, Congress, insanity, politics (all these topics)

Tighten Up Plans to boost energy efficiency start getting traction in Congress	Amanda Griscom Little	23 Apr 2007	Muckraker
What's not to love about energy efficiency? It's the paradigmatic win-win scenario -- save money, protect the climate and broader environment, and reduce reliance on unsavory sources of energy, all in one fell swoop. As efficiency guru Amory Lovins puts it [PDF], "Using energy more efficiently offers an economic bonanza -- not because of the benefits of stopping global warm ...
Topics: Amory Lovins, Congress, Ed Markey, energy, energy efficiency, legislation, Muckraker, politics (all these topics)

Different Farm Bill this time around? Pollan weighs in	Jason D Scorse	21 Apr 2007	Gristmill
Michael Pollan thinks so. Let's hope he's right. Call your Senators and Representatives to make sure.
Topics: agriculture, Congress, food, legislation, politics (all these topics)

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