Good News for Air, Climate, Traffic?
Two recent interesting and potentially related articles in the LA Times suggest an encouraging trend. California drivers are consuming less gasoline, a trend that began in 2006. And U.S. car buyers may begin to look more like European consumers, buying smaller, more fuel efficient cars and keeping those cars longer. As the Times reports in High Gas Prices Drive Changes in California Gas Consumption , California gasoline consumption has dropped eleven consecutive q...
CONTINUE READINGTracking state climate policy
The New America Foundation has released a new tool for tracking state climate planning and policy efforts. The Foundation's State Climate Policy Tracker compiles publicly available information about the measures states are implementing, the degree of progress, and their potential GHG emission reductions. According to the Foundation: Since 2006, 33 U.S. states have created climate action blueprints to guide greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions efforts. These blueprints, often ...
CONTINUE READINGClimate change threatens human health
A new report in The Lancet (registration required to access the full document), a leading international medical journal, provides more backing for EPA's proposed finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger public health as well as public welfare. From the multi-authored report's executive summary: Climate change is the biggest global health threat of the 21st century. Effects of climate change on health will affect most populations in the next decades and put the live...
CONTINUE READINGHonorary Degree for Joe Sax
We were delighted to learn that Joe Sax, the eminent environmental law scholar, will receive an honorary degree on May 20 from Columbia University. Congratulations, Joe!...
CONTINUE READINGWaxman-Markey Bill’s Tentative Compromise on Renewable Energy Offers a Weak Standard
When Representatives Waxman and Markey introduced their energy bill concept, they included a requirement that utilities deliver 25% renewable-derived power by 2025. According to the New York Times, a tentative agreement with Democrats unenthusiastic with the orginial proposal would reduce the target to 15% by 2020. And the 15% gets watered down even further. States that are simply having trouble making that target can reduce it to 12% if they accomplish a higher lev...
CONTINUE READINGIs dam removal in the offing on the Lower Snake River?
For most of two decades, environmentalists have sought removal of four federal dams on the Lower Snake River for the sake of the northwest's wild salmon runs. So far, they have been stymied by the agencies that operate the dams -- the Corps of Engineers and Bonneville Power Administration -- and local utility and industry interests. But now, Ken Olsen writes in High Country News, the political tides may be shifting. Some of those formidable obstacles to dam removal re...
CONTINUE READINGNominee for key USDA post
President Obama has nominated Homer Lee Wilkes, a career employee of the USDA's Natural Resource Conservation Service and currently the head of NRCS's Mississippi office, to become undersecretary for natural resources and environment. That's a key post for environmental policy because it oversees the US Forest Service as well as the much smaller NRCS. The pick has surprised many observers. High Country news describes the nominee as "an effective unknown . . . who lacks ...
CONTINUE READINGClimate bill has votes to get through key House panel, says Waxman
Breaking news: Greenwire (via the New York Times) and Grist.com are reporting that Rep. Henry Waxman said tonight he "believe[s] we'll have the votes for passage" to move his climate bill through the House Energy and Commerce Committee. (The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Rep. Waxman "expects" to have sufficient votes but takes a tone of skepticism.) Waxman plans to introduce the bill tomorrow, and the committee is expected to take up the bill right away. G...
CONTINUE READING“Smoking gun” OMB memo on EPA climate change rulemaking is not what it seems
As Dan has mentioned, there has been a bit of a dust-up over a document in EPA's rulemaking docket relating to EPA's recent finding that greenhouse gases pose an endangerment to public health and welfare. As Dan notes, the memo, apparently originating at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), is harshly critical of the EPA's endangerment finding, based largely on policy considerations that the Supreme Court has already ruled wold be impermissible to rel...
CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: Interior Nominee Blocked
HuffPost reports: Republicans have blocked President Barack Obama's pick for the No. 2 job at the Interior Department because of a flap over oil leases in Utah. In a 57-39 Senate vote, Democrats fell short of the 60 votes they would have needed to advance the nominee past GOP obstacles. It's the first time Republicans have blocked an Obama selection. This is a real shame. It's hard to imagine anyone better qualified than David Hayes, a former Latham & Watkins par...
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