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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Here comes the story of the hurricane
If we're already in energy crisis, what happens when a major Gulf storm hits? |
Miles Grant |
10 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Yesterday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he'd be open to letting Big Oil drill on previously-protected public lands. And now this: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on President Bush to release oil from the government's emergency reserve to knock down gasoline prices she says 'are helping push the economy toward recession.'Pelosi, D-Calif., in a letter to Bush noted that the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been used three times before and each time th ... |
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| Topics: severe weather, oil, oil and gas drilling, Congress, politics (all these topics) |
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Bad Reggie!
Connecticut wants to hide carbon prices |
Sean Casten |
10 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative is far from a perfect GHG bill. It is heavily allocation loaded, focuses only on a small sector of the economy (power plants 25 MW), and doesn't have any direct carrots to go with sticks. The good news, such as it is, is that RGGI leaves many details to the discretion of the states, such that they can provide state-level patches to correct those absences in the overarching model. They can also make it worse. Earlier this w ... |
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| Topics: legislation, politics, state politics, greenhouse-gas emissions, Connecticut (all these topics) |
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The art of getting nothing for something
Congressional Dems consider preventing oil drilled offshore from export |
Adam Stein |
10 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Any article on how politicians are gearing up to 'do something' about oil prices is bound to contain more than the usual share of silliness. Still, though, this managed to stop me cold: [Senator Harry Reid] also hinted at a potential element of compromise legislation: that any oil produced from wider access to federal lands off shore be reserved for domestic use and barred from export. Such a policy would, of course, be utterly useless in our highly integrated internati ... |
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| Topics: US Senate, politics, oil, oil and gas drilling, gas prices (all these topics) |
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Oil hysteria, part 3
Congress scrambles for short-term solutions to counter oil prices |
Jon Rynn |
10 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I was afraid of this. The irrationality being exhibited about the price of gasoline is on prominent display this week in Congress. According to the New York Times article 'Congress feeling pressure for action on oil prices,' some of the things being considered are 1) drilling, of course, 2) anti-speculation legislation, and 3) 'incentives for renewable fuels,' ergo, corn ethanol. The most ironic idea, to me anyway, was Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) suggesting that voter ... |
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| Topics: politics, Congress, energy, oil, gas prices (all these topics) |
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Something to 'Hyde
Companies knew about high formaldehyde levels in FEMA trailers, Dems say |
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10 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 8:03 AM on 10 Jul 2008 Democrats on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said RV trailer manufacturers knew that the trailers they sold to the government had excessively high levels of formaldehyde but didn't disclose the information for fear of bad press. The trailers, which were used to house hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast, have been a touchy subject at FEMA ever since occ ... |
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| Topics: business, news, politics, toxics, United States (all these topics) |
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The long journey from denier to delayer
Bush hits the climate alarm snooze button at G8 |
Joseph Romm |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The NYT's Andy Revkin dissed the G8 climate statement with the blog headline, 'Rich and Emerging Greenhouse-Gas Emitters Fail to Set Common Long-Term Goal for Cuts.' The headline of the NYT's article on the subject, however, is 'Richest Nations Pledge to Halve Greenhouse Gas.' The Grist story begins, 'world leaders reached a landmark deal: agreeing to cut emissions in half by 2050,' calling it a 'significant step' for the Bush Administration, whereas NRDC's internatio ... |
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| Topics: greenhouse-gas emissions, G8, international politics, politics, climate (all these topics) |
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Cap-and-traitor?
Conservative blogger thinks McCain is ditching cap-and-trade |
Kate Sheppard |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Larry Kudlow of National Review seems to think that John McCain has dropped his support for cap-and-trade, after reading the Republican candidate's policy pamphlet [PDF] on 'Jobs for America,' released this week. Kudlow notes that the document includes no mention of cap-and-trade, though there is a portion titled 'Cheap, Clean, Secure Energy for America: The Lexington Project.' He writes: So I picked up the phone and dialed a senior McCain official to make sure thes ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, John McCain, politics, news, Muckraker, climate (all these topics) |
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World Bank responds to Guardian biofuel report
Bank chief Zoelick hints his old boss Bush is full of it on biofuels and food prices |
Tom Philpott |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| As I reported a few days ago, the Guardian recently uncovered what it called a 'secret' World Bank assessment holding U.S. and European biofuel boosterism largely responsible for the recent run-up in global food prices. You know, the one that has pushed 50 million new people under the poverty line globally, and essentially priced tens of millions of already-poor folks out of food markets. (The government-engineered biofuel boom has also unleashed a veritable tsunami of ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, food, World Bank, politics, international politics (all these topics) |
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You win summit, you lose summit
Not everyone jazzed about the G8 climate agreement |
Kate Sheppard |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| While G8 leaders are touting yesterday's climate agreement in Hokkaido as 'a significant step forward,' enviros and other world leaders are scoffing at the very idea that any progress was made. G8 leaders agreed yesterday to 'consider and adopt' the goal of cutting emissions by at least 50 percent by 2050, though they didn't agree on how to reach those goals, or any of the other particulars that would need to be hashed out in a global deal. U.S. Climate Action ... |
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| Topics: greenhouse-gas emissions, climate, G8, politics, news, Muckraker (all these topics) |
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Goode grief
Virginia candidates split on personal transit choices |
Kate Sheppard |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Rep. Virgil Goode, the incumbent Republican in Virginia's 5th District, appeared in a Scottsville, Va. Fourth of July parade last week accompanied by a Hummer H3. His opponent in this year's House race, Tom Perriello (D), appeared on a float pulled by a biodiesel-fueled tractor. Perriello fans put together a video highlighting the candidates' automotive choices: |
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| Topics: cars, Congress, elections, green living, Muckraker, news, politics, video (all these topics) |
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The Obama-vore's Dilemma
Alice Waters: Dem candidate gets it on food issues |
Tom Philpott |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| I read once that during the 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy met Norman Mailer, already a lion of American letters. If I remember correctly, Kennedy let slip that his favorite novel was Mailer's The Deer Park -- thus establishing his impeccable taste and intellectual rigor in the eyes of that mercurial novelist. Mailer went on to write about Kennedy as a kind of existential hero, doing his bit to burnish the Camelot mystique.A similar event has evidently happ ... |
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| Topics: politics, Barack Obama, food, video, presidential race 08, Alice Waters (all these topics) |
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Slowly But Offshorely, the Drills are Gonna Turn
Top Dems in Congress open to possible compromise deal on offshore drilling |
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09 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:43 AM on 09 Jul 2008 Some key Democrats in Congress have said they're willing to work out a compromise deal to open some offshore areas in U.S. waters to oil and gas drilling. On Tuesday, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said he's "open to drilling and responsible production." He also said that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid might also sup ... |
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| Topics: energy, gas prices, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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Notable quotable
Oil in the ocean: light as a feather! |
David Roberts |
09 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'These [oil] firms have learned a lot over the past two decades and three decades about their ability to go out and put a platform in water and extract oil and do it in a way that they're not causing any environmental harm at all.' -- White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto |
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| Topics: dumbassery, politics, video, insanity, energy, oil, quotables (all these topics) |
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Cheney reaction
Ex-EPA official details White House interference on climate action |
Kate Sheppard |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| In a letter [PDF] made public today, former deputy EPA administrator Jason Burnett indicates that both the Office of the Vice President and the Council on Environmental Quality have attempted to censor discussion of the consequences that global warming poses to human health. Burnett, who went public about the administration's obstruction after leaving the EPA in early June, detailed the interference in a letter to Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara B ... |
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| Topics: Barbara Boxer, climate, jackassery, Muckraker, news, politics, shenanigans, US EPA (all these topics) |
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We Said What We Parliament
E.U. committee vote signals backstep from biofuels |
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08 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:11 PM on 08 Jul 2008 The European Union took another step back from biofuels late Monday, as the Parliament's environment committee approved 36-0 a proposal to lower the E.U.'s original target for biofueled transportation. The committee's proposal would have the E.U. source just 4 percent of transportation fuels from biomass by 2015, then do a major review before jumping to the current target of 10 percent ... |
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| Topics: biofuels, energy, European Union, international politics, legislation, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Energy ad wars begin
New Obama ad knocks McCain's energy policy |
Kate Sheppard |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Barack Obama's campaign has released a new ad to counter those from the Republican National Committee criticizing his energy plan. Obama's ad, called 'New Energy,' accuses opponent John McCain of being 'part of the problem' and hits on his support of drilling and tax breaks for oil companies. The ad says that energy independence is an 'urgent priority' for the Democratic candidate, and notes his plans to invest in alternative energy and tax cuts for the middle class ... |
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| Topics: advertising, Barack Obama, energy, John McCain, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08, video (all these topics) |
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Summit of its parts
Bush administration, other G8 leaders agree to halve emissions by 2050 |
Kate Sheppard |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Today at the G8 summit, which began yesterday in Hokkaido, Japan, world leaders reached a landmark deal: agreeing to cut emissions in half by 2050. The leaders agreed to 'seriously consider' this goal last year, and six of the eight leaders have been trying desperately to get George Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper -- who continued to resist mandatory cuts as of Monday -- on board. That is, until a breakthrough today. Well, sort of: The Bush admi ... |
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| Topics: greenhouse-gas emissions, Muckraker, international treaties, climate, legislation, news, politics (all these topics) |
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RNC: 'balance' = a climate in crisis; Senate GOP: 'balance' = climate-destroying shale
Republican leaders advocate domestic shale development |
Joseph Romm |
08 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| 'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less.' The Republican National Committee just launched an ad called, 'Balance' claiming we have 'a climate in crisis.' Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the Climate Destruction Gas Price Reduction Act of 2008 late last month that would repeal the congressional moratorium on shale development. In a press release ... |
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| Topics: energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Water We Supposed to Do?
Lag in water-pollution enforcement traced to muddled court decision |
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08 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:58 PM on 08 Jul 2008 The U.S. EPA has neglected to pursue hundreds of potential violations of the Clean Water Act because of regulatory uncertainty, according to an internal memo. The lack of clarity stems from a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that left plenty up in the air about the types of waterways and wetlands that fall under EPA jurisdiction. The confusion has had "a significant impact ... |
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| Topics: news, politics, regulation, US EPA, water pollution, wetlands (all these topics) |
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'Cooling a fevered planet' in Z Magazine
Economics, policy, and vision for fighting global warming |
Gar Lipow |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Z magazine has published an extended article by me on the politics and economics of global warming. It begins: Nobody, except for a small lunatic fringe, still disputes that human-caused climate chaos endangers all of us. Further, most serious scientific and technical groups who have looked at the question have concluded that we have the technological capability today to replace greenhouse-gas emitting fossil fuels with efficiency improvements and clean energy -- usua ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, climate equity, economy, politics (all these topics) |
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Tax relief?
Minority leader proposes spending cuts to pay for renewables tax-credit extension |
Kate Sheppard |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Yet another episode in the drama that is the renewable-energy tax-credit extensions. Last week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) sent a letter [PDF] to Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi asking that the Democrats agree to spending cuts in order to fund the extension of tax credits for renewable energy. In the letter, McConnell says he 'would like to focus on areas of bipartisan agreement in order to break the impasse o ... |
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| Topics: Harry Reid, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, renewable energy, US Senate (all these topics) |
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Cheney's third term
McCain's economy plan fails to substantially address energy efficiency |
Joseph Romm |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| John McCain takes the 'conserve' out of 'conservative.' His entire energy efficiency strategy would fit on one side of a very small file card and can be summarized as follows: Ban Porsches, green federal buildings, and applaud homeowners who do stuff on their own! His repackaged new economic plan, 'Jobs for America' has precisely three paragraphs that deal with efficiency: CAFE Standards: John McCain has long supported CAFE standards -- the mileage requiremen ... |
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| Topics: economy, elections, energy efficiency, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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The Iraqi Oil Ministry's new fave five
All the oil news that's fit to print |
Guest author |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest essay from Nick Turse, author of The Complex: How the Military Invades Our Everyday Lives. It was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom's kind permission. ----- On June 19, the New York Times broke the story in an article headlined 'Deals with Iraq Are Set to Bring Oil Giants Back: Rare No-Bid Contracts, A Foothold for Western Companies Seeking Future Rewards.' Finally, after a long five years-plus, there was ... |
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| Topics: Big Oil, energy, Iraq, mainstream media, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics, White House (all these topics) |
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Voters' Voices: Oregon II
A chat with Portland's Charlie Stephens about petrodollars and oil wars |
Melinda Henneberger |
07 Jul 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is part of a series of dispatches from Melinda Henneberger, who's talking to voters around the U.S. about their views on the environment and the election. One thing I learned traveling around the country a couple of years ago, talking to voters for a political book I was working on, is that Americans tend to give their elected officials a super-size helping of benefit of the doubt. One night, I was in Suffolk, Va., having dinner with some active-duty ... |
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| Topics: economy, energy, Iraq, oil, Oregon, politics, Voters Voices (all these topics) |
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Bucking Convention
Democratic convention planners struggling to meet big green goals |
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07 Jul 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:13 AM on 07 Jul 2008 Planners of August's Democratic Convention in Denver are finding that it's just not that easy to pull off Green Director Andrea Robinson's goal of "the most sustainable political convention in modern American history." Only three states' delegations have agreed to purchase carbon offsets through the convention's "Green Delegate Challenge" program. Merchandise ... |
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| Topics: elections, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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