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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Renewed anxiety
Renewables industry fears for future if Senate doesn't extend tax credits |
Kate Sheppard |
10 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Senate once again failed to pass tax-credit extensions for renewable energy on Tuesday, and folks in the industry are starting to get worried. Companies working in wind, solar, and other renewables rely on the tax credits, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Trade organizations that represent renewable-energy firms on the Hill say they're already seeing a slowing of growth in the sector because companies are hesitant to start new projects without the ... |
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| Topics: energy, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, renewable energy, US Senate (all these topics) |
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C6 of One, Half Dozen of the Other
Replacement for nasty chemical may be no less nasty, says EWG |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:40 PM on 10 Jun 2008 Under pressure from the U.S. EPA, eight chemical companies are phasing out perfluorooctanoic acid in nonstick, oil-resistant, and stain-resistant products -- but industry-favored substitutes may be no safer, says a new report from the Environmental Working Group. The chemical, known for brevity as PFOA or C8, has been linked to cancer, reproductive problems, and immu ... |
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| Topics: green living, health, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Victoria Falling
Climate change, deforestation, erosion take toll on African landscape |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:01 PM on 10 Jun 2008 A new United Nations atlas depicts alarming changes to Africa's landscape. On a continent that produces a mere 4 percent of the world's greenhouse-gas emissions, significant landmarks are taking a hit from climate change: Lake Chad and Lake Victoria are shrinking each year, and Mt. Kilimanjaro could be snow-free by 2020. The deforestation rate in Africa is twice the world aver ... |
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| Topics: Africa, agriculture, climate, climate change impacts, deforestation, news, United Nations (all these topics) |
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No renewal for renewables
Senate Republicans block movement on two bills to spur renewable energy investment |
Kate Sheppard |
10 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| With gas prices now averaging a record $4.04 a gallon in the United States, the Senate voted on two bills Tuesday that would have revoked tax breaks for Big Oil and extended tax credits to renewable energy. Proponents of the two measures touted them as vital for consumer relief and transition to new energy sources, but both measures failed to muster the 60 votes needed to proceed. The first vote, on the Consumer First Energy Act, fell short of cloture by a vote ... |
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| Topics: legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US Senate (all these topics) |
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In the clearing stands a Boxer
Boxer op-ed argues the Climate Security Act vote was a big step forward |
Kate Sheppard |
10 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Environment and Public Works Committee Chair Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) wrote an op-ed in today's San Jose Mercury News on the failed Climate Security Act that she championed in the Senate. In it, she argues that last week's vote was an important advancement. '[O]ur strong vote proves that we are moving in the right direction,' she writes. She also notes that other landmark environmental laws took quite a bit of time to pass: Our generation has been handed a tremendou ... |
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| Topics: Barbara Boxer, climate, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US Senate (all these topics) |
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Ready to Chirac
Former French prez launches foundation to preserve biodiversity |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:24 AM on 10 Jun 2008 Former French President Jacques Chirac has launched a foundation aimed at preserving cultural and natural diversity that humans seem intent upon obliterating. The Chirac Foundation will provide funds to improve access to water and medicines in developing countries, fight deforestation and desertification, and preserve languages and cultures that are on the verge of dying out. "I ... |
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| Topics: biodiversity, France, habitat protection, news (all these topics) |
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Witnessing Bear
Green groups sue feds to protect polar bears from oil-drilling effects |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:29 AM on 10 Jun 2008 Two green groups are suing the Interior Department over its refusal to limit the impacts of drilling on polar bears, which were listed as threatened last month. The Bush administration has tried its darnedest to ensure that listing the bears wouldn't limit oil and gas exploration in their Alaskan habitat, but Pacific Environment and the Center for Biological Diversity maintain ... |
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| Topics: litigation, news, polar bears, United States, wildlife (all these topics) |
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We'd Like to Thank the Academies
Science academies of 13 nations urge G8 to tackle climate change |
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10 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:27 AM on 10 Jun 2008 Ahead of the G8 summit in Japan next month, the science academies of 13 nations, including the United States, urged the G8 nations as well as Brazil, China, India, Mexico, and South Africa (G8+5) to agree to cut world greenhouse-gas emissions in half by 2050. "We urge G8+5 leaders to make maximum efforts to carry this forward and commit to these emission reduct ... |
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| Topics: climate, international politics, news, politics (all these topics) |
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148 Days to Go
McCain and Obama tout very different energy policies |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:51 PM on 09 Jun 2008 While campaigning in different cities Monday, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama managed to trade plenty of jabs on energy policy. At a rally in Raleigh, N.C., Obama called for a tax on oil-company windfall profits and declared, "At a time ... when we're paying more than $4 a gallon for gas, [McCain] wants to spend $1.2 billion on a tax break for ExxonMobil." McCain's economic adviser ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, energy, John McCain, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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The Road to Recovery
Commuting can drive you crazy -- no, literally |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:04 PM on 09 Jun 2008 Think your commute drives you crazy? Well, you might be right. In a culture so accustomed to being on-the-go, sitting immobile in traffic for hours each day can take a toll on mental health, researchers say. "If you're stuck in traffic, there's a feeling of being out of control," says psychologist Laura Pinegar, who says she's hearing more and more complaints of traffic anxiety in her ... |
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| Topics: cars, green living, insanity, news, placemaking (all these topics) |
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The Price of Emissions in China
China bank offers draft plan to reduce nation's emissions |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:43 PM on 09 Jun 2008 China's central bank has taken a first stab at a national emissions-reduction plan that could apply to various pollutants. A draft emissions-trading proposal unveiled to top officials on Friday suggests that China determine a national goal for reducing pollution, have regional authorities determine quotas for businesses, and put in place a system with controls at the nation ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, China, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, news (all these topics) |
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Letter it all out
Swing-vote Democrats explain why they oppose the Climate Security Act |
Kate Sheppard |
09 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| On Friday, 10 Democratic senators wrote a letter [PDF] to Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) outlining the reasons why they would not have voted in favor of the Climate Security Act. Democratic leaders pulled the bill from the floor last week after it failed to muster enough votes to move forward. The senators who signed the letter are from key energy-producing and manufacturing states, and argue that the bill would impact their const ... |
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| Topics: climate, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US House of Representatives (all these topics) |
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Hamburg Helper
E.U. has trash problem; Hamburg has trash solution |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:16 AM on 09 Jun 2008 The European Union is running out of landfill space and faces a looming trash problem. All member nations have been directed to reduce landfill-bound trash 35 percent of 1995 levels by 2020, but many nations have slim chances of meeting that target; Italy, Spain, Greece, and Britain currently send more than 60 percent of their rubbish to landfills. Hopefully, E.U. trash laggards will look to the e ... |
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| Topics: European Union, Germany, Italy, news, waste (all these topics) |
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This Land Is Badlands, This Land Is Your Land
NPS considers returning half of Badlands National Park to Oglala Sioux |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:44 AM on 09 Jun 2008 The National Park Service is considering returning the southern half of Badlands National Park in South Dakota to the Oglala Sioux tribe. Under the proposal, the northern half would remain a national park, but the 133,000-acre southern half would be returned to the tribe. The land was seized from the Oglala Sioux by the military in World War II fo ... |
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| Topics: National Park Service, news, public lands, United States (all these topics) |
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Are You High?
High oil prices affecting consumer goods, nearly everything else too |
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09 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:50 AM on 09 Jun 2008 Oil prices surged $11 on Friday, hitting a new record high of $138.54 a barrel. Over the weekend the average price of regular unleaded gasoline around the U.S. also surged to new high of $4 a gallon. Unsurprisingly, folks in rural areas are taking the largest hit to their incomes from gas prices due to sparse or nonexistent public transit, longer distances to commute, and reliance ... |
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| Topics: cars, gas prices, news, oil, United States (all these topics) |
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Trouble in paradise?
McCain criticized during Florida trip for opposing funding for Everglades restoration |
Kate Sheppard |
09 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Visiting the Everglades has become de rigueur for presidential candidates hoping to shore up environmental cred in Florida, the nation's most populous swing state. But Republican presidential candidate John McCain's trip to the wetlands on Friday seemed to generate only bad publicity. Last year McCain opposed legislation that included funding for Everglades restoration and urged colleagues to let Bush's veto of the bill stand. And last week he didn't do a particul ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, elections, Florida, John McCain, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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Slam Monk
Caribbean monk seal is extinct |
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06 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:26 PM on 06 Jun 2008 The Caribbean monk seal is extinct, U.S. officials declared Friday. The seals, also called West Indian seals, have been on the endangered-species list since 1967; the last confirmed sighting of one was in 1952. The Caribbean monk, native to the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico, is the only seal that has gone extinct directly because of human causes. "Following European colonization from the 1700s to 1900s, the seals ... |
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| Topics: Caribbean, endangered species, extinction, news, wildlife (all these topics) |
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Is He Everglade to Be There
McCain says he hearts Everglades, despite opposing bill with restoration funding |
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06 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:25 PM on 06 Jun 2008 Sen. John McCain swung through Florida last week, taking time for a boat tour of the Everglades on Friday. The Obama campaign promptly criticized McCain for his opposition last year to a water bill that included major funding for Everglades restoration. McCain said he would have supported a stand-alone Everglades bill, but the broader water bill was choc ... |
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| Topics: Florida, habitat protection, John McCain, legislation, national parks, news, politics, presidential race 08, wetlands (all these topics) |
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We Spend That Before Breakfast
Mere $45 trillion needed to tackle climate change, says IEA |
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06 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:26 PM on 06 Jun 2008 A G8-backed goal to halve greenhouse-gas emissions by 2050 would take a global clean-technology investment of merely $45 trillion, the International Energy Agency said in a report Friday. That's about 1.1 percent of the world's average annual gross domestic product through 2050; more overwhelmingly, it's also about three times the size of the current U.S. economy. To meet ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, energy, G8, news (all these topics) |
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To Preserve and Protect
Vermont-sized area of Amazon may be protected |
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06 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:51 AM on 06 Jun 2008 Brazil's president has unveiled plans to protect a large area of the Amazon rainforest, after weeks of mutterings that the country has insufficient protections in place. The proposal by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva would create three protected reserves for a total area the size of Vermont; the plan still has to be approved by Brazil's Congress. Amazon deforestation is on the rise, and w ... |
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| Topics: Amazon, Brazil, habitat protection, news, rainforests (all these topics) |
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Special interested
Top Senate recipients of fossil-fuel money behind climate-bill stall tactics |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The good folks over at Muckety.com (maybe we're long-lost cousins ...) put together an awesome interactive map detailing the connections between the fossil-fuel industries and some of the folks behind the death of climate legislation in the Senate this week. Check it out: muckMapWidth='645'; muckMapHeight='500'; muckMapCtx='http://www.muckety.com/Java'; muckMapProps={restore:'373C5F82BB5B7B482452879A36FA3E0C.map',autoGroup:'7,11'}; Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), ... |
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| Topics: climate, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US Senate (all these topics) |
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Week not a total wash for environmental action in the Senate
Budget resolution includes funds to clean up nuclear sites |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Apparently the Senate actually accomplished something this week in the environmental realm: the 2009 federal budget resolution that passed 48-45 on Wednesday included $500 million for a Department of Energy environmental management program to clean up Hanford and other nuclear sites across the country. Hanford is the decommissioned nuclear-weapons complex along the Columbia River in Washington state that manufactured the plutonium used in the first nuclear bomb. I ... |
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| Topics: Muckraker, news, politics, toxics, US Senate, waste (all these topics) |
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Shenanigans in the House
Republicans try to stoke Dem discord on climate legislation in the House |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Amidst the chaos in the Senate over climate legislation, Rep. Ed Markey introduced his climate legislation in the House on Thursday. House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio), hoping to take advantage of apparent disarray within the Democratic Party, has dared Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) to push Markey's bill to the floor. He wrote a letter (PDF) to the speaker calling the bill 'reckless and inappropriate,' but urging her to take it to the floor in hopes o ... |
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| Topics: climate, Ed Markey, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US House of Representatives (all these topics) |
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We're Changing the Climb-It
Climber scales New York Times building with climate message |
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06 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:03 AM on 06 Jun 2008 For World Environment Day on Thursday, a French climber scaled the New York Times building in Manhattan to protest climate change. Wearing a T-shirt bearing the words "The Solution Is Simple.Org" -- the web address of a one-page site calling for meaningful climate action -- Alain Robert climbed to the top of the 52-story building unroped and without a parachute. Onc ... |
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| Topics: climate, heroes, New York, news (all these topics) |
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An inhospitable climate
Climate Security Act dies, failing to muster enough votes to move forward |
Kate Sheppard |
06 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Senate held a cloture vote this morning to bring to a close debate on the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act, a vote that would have allowed the amendment process to begin. After four days of conversation and delays, the bill died, failing to reach the 60 votes needed to invoke cloture by a vote of 48-36. Unable to move forward, Democratic leadership yanked the bill from the floor. In a press conference following the vote, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif ... |
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| Topics: climate, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US Senate (all these topics) |
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