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| Headline |
Author |
Published |
Section |
Green coal baron?
NYT Magazine's fawning piece on Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers |
Frank O'Donnell |
22 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| There's no doubt about it: Duke Energy CEO Jim Rogers is the most adept figure in corporate America at making himself look better than he is. He's proven it again in an extremely flattering profile in The New York Times Sunday Magazine. The piece refers to Rogers as 'one of the electricity industry's most vocal environmentalists.' Indeed, the piece reports that many 'prominent environmentalists' are his 'friends' and quotes in particular Eileen Claussen, he ... |
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| Topics: business, cap-and-dividend, carbon trading, energy, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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Hill heap
A weekly roundup of greenish news from the Capitol |
Kate Sheppard |
21 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A few of this week's environmental happenings that I've been meaning to point out: Oilman-turned-clean-energy-evangelist T. Boone Pickens came to town to testify about the country's transmission problems that are preventing wind from becoming a major source of power. Pickens, who is attempting to build the world's largest wind farm in Texas, joined experts from the Department of Energy and wind-energy lobbyists in testifying before the Senate Committee on Energ ... |
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| Topics: climate, energy, Muckraker, news, oil, politics, wind power (all these topics) |
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Solar strides in New York
Solar proponents in the Empire State eagerly await new legislation |
Adam Browning |
21 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| My colleague, Shaun Chapman, of our New York City office, offers this update on solar policy progress in the Empire State: Though it is the 5th largest solar state (PDF) (as measured by cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity), there have been strong feelings among solar proponents that New York needs to play catch up in the photovolatic market. It is catching up. Fast. Two very important bills just passed the legislature and will immediately be signed by ... |
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| Topics: energy, legislation, New York, politics, solar voltaic power (all these topics) |
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A huge tax increase?
The GOP disinformation machine settles on an angle |
Ryan Avent |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| It seems that another way that the GOP will try to win on this issue is by painting carbon pricing as a massive tax increase. This is just dishonest, though politically it's their best bet (assuming a complete lack of regard for actual outcomes). Let's all think back to the Lieberman-Warner debate, when Bush did his best to scare the crap out of everyone by arguing that L-W would increase gas prices 53 cents-per-gallon by 2030. In fact, it's difficult to imagine th ... |
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| Topics: carbon trading, climate, energy, gas prices, politics (all these topics) |
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White House covers Johnson
Bush invokes executive privilege to shield EPA administrator from subpoena |
Kate Sheppard |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee was set to vote today to hold U.S. EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson and Susan Dudley of the White House Office of Management and Budget in contempt of Congress for failing to turn over documents related to recent controversial decisions on smog and California's request for an emissions waiver. But it appears their friend in the White House swooped in this morning to block the committee's subpoenas for those docum ... |
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| Topics: George Bush, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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Conservation good. Drilling stupid
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Andrew Dessler |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Op-ed in the Austin American-Statesman. Reads like a Grist post. Go figure. |
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| Topics: Arctic Refuge, energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Have a Sense of Tumor!
New York state passes bill to create detailed map of cancer cases |
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20 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:40 AM on 20 Jun 2008 In an effort to educate the public about correlations between cancer rates and environmental factors, the New York state legislature just passed a bill that would create a detailed map of cancer cases in the state. The online map would plot the neighborhoods of cancer patients as well as the location of industrial facilities like chemical manufacturers and power plants. &quo ... |
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| Topics: environmental justice, health, legislation, New York, news, politics (all these topics) |
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Big bad boom
Radioactive deja vu in the American West |
David Roberts |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| This is a guest essay from Chip Ward, author and board member of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance. It was originally published on TomDispatch and is republished here with Tom's kind permission. ----- In the American West, we take global warming personally. Like those polar bears desperately hunting for dwindling ice flows, we feel we're on the frontlines of the new weather regime. The West is drying up. For example, canyon-hugging conservationists ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, energy, environmental movement, nuclear power, politics, water pollution (all these topics) |
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Making cities less dumb
Select Committee examines the benefits of smarter urban planning |
Kate Sheppard |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The House Select Committee for Energy Independence and Global Warming held a hearing on Thursday about the opportunities for better urban planning to reduce energy use and greenhouse-gas emissions. 'Planning Communities for a Changing Climate' brought together a panel of experts on 'smart growth,' clean air policy, and transit. Witnesses included Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, who works in smart growth in Abu Dhabi; Steve Hewitt, administrator of Greensburg, Kan., the town ... |
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| Topics: green living, Muckraker, news, placemaking, politics, urban planning (all these topics) |
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NOAA: Global warming has damaged our weather
Worse heat waves, floods, droughts, hurricanes, and storms to come |
Brad Johnson |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Originally posted at the Wonk Room. The traditional media rarely discusses extreme weather events in the context of global warming. However, as the Wonk Room Global Boiling series has documented, scientists have been warning us for years that climate change will increase catastrophic weather events like the California wildfires, the East Coast heatwave, and the Midwest floods that have been taking lives and causing billions in damage in recent days. Yesterday, th ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, politics (all these topics) |
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Sierra Club and USW endorse Obama
Groups make joint announcement in Cleveland |
Kate Sheppard |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The Sierra Club and United Steelworkers made a joint announcement this morning in Cleveland that the groups are throwing their support behind Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. 'We believe Sen. Obama is the change our nation needs -- he is the leader who will put America on the path to a clean energy economy that creates and keeps millions of jobs, spurs innovation and opportunity, and makes us a more secure nation,' said Sierra Club executive director ... |
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| Topics: Barack Obama, Muckraker, news, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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D.C.'s newest baseball team: The Washington Exxons
Protestors object to a green baseball stadium sponsored by the world's dirtiest corporation |
Mike Tidwell |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Imagine a Major League Baseball stadium constructed to actually fight lung disease. Imagine engineers eschewing asbestos in every form, using only materials approved by the American Lung Association. Imagine emergency inhalers at every seat, with team officials aggressively marketing the 'healthy-lung' park to conscientious fans. Then imagine your surprise, in visiting the park, to see a huge Marlboro cigarettes ad plastered across the left field fence. Ima ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, green living, politics (all these topics) |
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A climate hero: An outspoken truth
A look back at James Hansen's seminal testimony on climate, part three |
Guest author |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| A Climate Hero: An Outspoken Truth Worldwatch Institute is partnering with Grist to bring you this three-part series commemorating the 20-year anniversary of NASA scientist James Hansen's groundbreaking testimony on global climate change next week. It is written by Worldwatch staff writer Ben Block. Part three of three follows. Part one is here; part two is here. ----- In May 1989, a few months after NASA scientist James Hansen declared that global warming ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate science, James Hansen, politics (all these topics) |
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Stormy waters
Offshore drilling likely to raise some voter ire in Florida |
Kate Sheppard |
20 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| John McCain's call this week for an end to the moratorium on offshore drilling isn't faring well with environmentalists across the country. In one key state, however, it might really come back to bite him come November. Florida -- yes, land of dangling chads and nearly-won elections -- may well prove to be the place where McCain's call for drilling cost him in the general election. 'I think that he has made a serious miscalculation,' Holly Binns, field director fo ... |
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| Topics: energy, John McCain, muckraker, news, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Back to Nature
Nature publishes my climate analysis and solution |
Joseph Romm |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here is perhaps my most succinct and citable explanation of why 'Both national and global climate policy (PDF) must redirect its focus from setting a price on carbon to promoting the rapid deployment of clean technologies' (online here). True, I didn't think I would appear in Nature again. But Nature online asked me for my critique of the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner Bill bill, and they were open to a big-picture commentary based on the latest climate science. They even r ... |
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| Topics: climate, climate change impacts, climate science, legislation, politics (all these topics) |
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Why more drilling is not the answer
Conservative arguments to the contrary are intellectually bankrupt |
Michael Moynihan |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Originally posted at the NDN blog. Of the various false solutions being proposed to the current oil shock perhaps none is more disingenous than the idea that it can be solved by drilling in the Alaskan wilderness and along the Outer Continental Shelf. This is the idea that the right wing media, recently John McCain, and now President Bush have been pushing as a cure-all for soaring oil prices. Since many Democrats oppose this drilling, the next false logica ... |
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| Topics: Arctic Refuge, energy, John McCain, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Well, when you put it that way ...
Rasmussen poll biased on offshore drilling |
Joseph Romm |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Rasmussen Reports did a poll that they tout as showing '67 percent Support Offshore Drilling.' Given the biased way they did the poll (details here), I'm surprised the number was so low. The first question they asked: 'How concerned are you about rising gas and energy prices?' Pretty much everybody is concerned. Duh. But in a flawed poll, almost a push poll, the point of the first question is to get people thinking about about the pain of gasoline prices, rath ... |
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| Topics: energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Happy go drilly
McCain says he's willing to 'examine' his stance against drilling in ANWR |
Kate Sheppard |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| The News-Leader in Springfield, Mo. has more on McCain's energy policy roundtable yesterday. Seems he also indicated that he's open to reconsidering his stance on drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which he has consistently opposed in the past. 'I would be more than happy to examine it again,' McCain told the crowd. Guess it might not be so special after all. |
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| Topics: Arctic Refuge, John McCain, Muckraker, news, oil and gas drilling, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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What do oil lobbyists think about drilling for oil?
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David Roberts |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Here, MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell discusses McCain's plan to drill, drill, drill with RNC deputy chairman and McCain supporter Frank Donatelli: What Mitchell didn't tell you: Before joining the RNC, Donatelli was a registered lobbyist. For whom, you ask? What type of clients? Three guesses! Oh, fine, you got it the first time: ExxonMobil Corp. and Dominion Resources. But why would MSNBC viewers need to know that? |
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| Topics: Big Oil, business, lobbying, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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The Grand Ostrich Party
Conservative heads increasingly buried in sand |
Ryan Avent |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Andrew Sullivan reads this Jim Manzi post (Conservatives are going to win on climate change! By doing nothing!) and says he's on board. He then proceeds to blow my freaking mind: The key will be private and public innovation of non-carbon energy, and possibly carbon capture technology. Frankly, however painful it is for many, the high price of gas is perhaps the best anti-global warming non-policy there is. Now, why is it that the high price of gas is the best an ... |
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| Topics: climate, energy, fossil fuels, gas prices, politics, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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OMG, CNN actually reports
Major news network exposes McCain's energy contradictions |
David Roberts |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Does not compute: Only thing is, they keep saying, 'this shows how tricky it is for McCain.' What it also shows, one might think, is that McCain is willing to lie and change his positions willy nilly. They used to call Democrats people 'flip-floppers' and 'serial exaggerators' for that sort of thing. With McCain, it's just some sort of objective difficulty in the landscape that forces him to lunge this way and that on policy. Which you know pains him, since he's ... |
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| Topics: energy, John McCain, politics, presidential race 08 (all these topics) |
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350 or bust
The 350ppm challenge to U.S. environmental organizations and the importance of McKibben's 350.org |
Ken Ward |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Bill McKibben spoke about 350.org recently at the Jamaica Plain Forum. Coming on the heels of recent talks by Ross Gelbspan, also at the JP Forum, and Jim Hansen, in Lexington, Mass., Bill's talk completed a trifecta of area appearances by climate action patriots. My friend Andrée, who attended all three events, said: 'Hansen has the reserve of a scientist, and the certainty of someone who knows he is right. McKibben is just like his writing -- philosophical, wry ... |
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| Topics: Bill McKibben, climate, economy, environmental movement, grassroots activism, James Hansen, politics (all these topics) |
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Tough draft
Draft copy of EPA rulemaking on fuel efficiency suggests higher standards are possible |
Kate Sheppard |
19 Jun 2008 |
Gristmill |
| Earlier this week, the Wall Street Journal teased that they'd gotten ahold of an advance draft of the EPA's regulatory proposals for automobile fuel efficiency. According to the WSJ, EPA staffers found that cars and trucks could be even more fuel-efficient by 2020 than the 35 miles per gallon required by the latest update to CAFE standards. The draft notes that advanced technologies like plug-in hybrid vehicles could help raise fuel efficiency well beyond 35 mile ... |
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| Topics: fuel efficiency, legislation, Muckraker, news, politics, US EPA (all these topics) |
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It's Hard to Spray Goodbye
Ontario enacts province-wide pesticide ban; fine print upsets greens |
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19 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:07 AM on 19 Jun 2008 The Canadian province of Ontario has just passed a pesticide ban that by next spring would prohibit the use of more than 80 ingredients and 300 pesticide products across the province. However, many greens and public-health advocates have decried the just-passed legislation, saying it could ultimately end up damaging public health. The major problem with the ban, criti ... |
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| Topics: Canada, legislation, news, politics, toxics (all these topics) |
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Glow and Behold
McCain calls for 45 new nuclear reactors in U.S. by 2030 |
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19 Jun 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:51 AM on 19 Jun 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain, at a campaign event Wednesday in Missouri, called for 45 new nuclear reactors to be built in the United States by 2030, with a longer-term goal of 100 new reactors. Existing nuke plants currently provide some 20 percent of U.S. electricity, but no new nuke plants have been built in the U.S. since the 1970s due to the enormous costs of nuclear-p ... |
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| Topics: John McCain, news, nuclear power, politics, United States (all these topics) |
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