#EPA

My head is spinning from the latest developments in the long-running soap opera of climate and energy legislation in the US  Senate.  Plus, I am finally reading How Democratic Is the American Constitution? and I’m even more depressed now than when I wrote this post, SPQR.  Basically, we can never be a real democracy – you […]

We have made still another breakthrough on greenhouse gases.  The EPA and the US Department of Transportation have established new standards for fuel economy and GHG emissions from cars and light trucks.  The EPA release includes soundbites that have Lisa Jackson saying “We expect to reduce greenhouse emissions by the equivalent of 42,000,000 cars over […]

As you know if you follow the blog at all, mountaintop removal mining is right up there with tar sands extraction at the top of my list of destructive, hateful businesses.  Al Gore calls it a “despicable practice” in Our Choice.  (This, by the way, is a truly terrific book.) Here is an article from […]

I’ve been looking at energy and environmental policy for many years and I’m usually happily surprised when things take a smart turn.  Even thoughtful, progressive policymakers like Barack Obama, though, wind up making bone-headed calls.  Obama offers nuclear plant loan guarantee, as the FT reports, is one good example. I’m, to put it politely, less-than-sanguine […]

One dictionary I consulted gave several definitions for reaction: 1. a. A response to a stimulus. b. The state resulting from such a response. 2. A reverse or opposing action. 3. a. A tendency to revert to a former state.  b. Opposition to progress or liberalism; extreme conservatism. What I gather from this is that […]

I have not been, like most of the rest of the climate change cognoscenti, writing nonstop about Copenhagen this week.  I have been working on reviewing thesis work from students in the MS in Global Affairs program at NYU where I teach on climate change.  I’ve had one blockbuster thesis on how to make the […]

President Obama signed an executive order today that commits the federal government to massive reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.  The White House press release notes:  “The Federal government occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates more than 600,000 vehicles, employs more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services. […]

Shanghai, often recognized for its free-market tendencies and environmental leadership, is introducing China’s first municipal trading mechanism as a means to curb pollution. Last Friday, in advance of a major carbon trade industry event taking place in Beijing this week, word began surfacing in the Chinese media that Shanghai plans to pilot an emissions trading […]

I’ve been lauding the new Presidential administration’s approach.  See “Climate of Change” and “The Eagle Has Landed” and other posts going back to November. The new EPA has taken another critically important step:  They are going to create a comprehensive, nationwide reporting system for greenhouse gases.  This system is a critical component for any federal […]