environmental politics
What Does the High Profile of Environmental Issues in this Election Mean for the Future?
Environmental issues have been surprisingly visible in this campaign – nearly every Senate candidate gives them prominent attention. The New York Times reports that they are also the third most common topic for political ads in this cycle. The evidence they report shows, not surprisingly, that coal and oil are big issues in key states: …
CONTINUE READINGAfter November, the Deluge?
What will the Republicans do if they take control of the Senate? Will this be Armageddon for Obama’s environmental policies, as both Democrats and Republicans insist? The truth is likely to be less dramatic, though still bad from an environmental perspective. Greenwire had a very interesting piece about that on Friday. Both Republican and Democratic …
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CONTINUE READING2014 Senate Races and the Environment: Georgia and North Carolina
Two GOP candidates: a cipher on environmental issues and a Romney clone.
Last week, I looked at the Republican Senate candidates in the neighboring states of Arkansas and Louisiana. This week, we turn to two other Southern neighbors, Georgia and North Carolina. (Before you rush to email me that they’re not neighbors because South Carolina is between them, take another look at the map — Georgia and …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Does Mitch McConnell Hate the Environment?
McConnell’s environmental record is terrible — worse than Rand Paul or Jim Inhofe.
Mitch McConnell hates the environment. When I say McConnell hates the environment, I mean that he’s an environmental disaster. The environment would be in better hands if he were replaced as the Senate Republican leader by Ted Cruz or Rand Paul. Here’s a fun fact: Mitch McConnell’s environmental record is twice as bad as Ted …
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CONTINUE READINGRand Paul versus Clean Water
Rand Paul’s plan to cut wetlands protection and make enforcement against polluters impossible.
Rand Paul recently won a big victory in the straw poll held by CPAC,the Conservative Political Action Conference. In the environmental area, his signature measure is the Defense of Environment and Property Act. On its surface, the goal of the law is to cut back on federal jurisdiction over wetlands. The bill would drastically cut back …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Rhetoric of Cap and Trade
Different ways of framing the concept of cap and trade help drive the public debate.
Discussions of cap and trade tend to frame it in various ways, which often skews the debate. These different frameworks guide the thoughts of both supporters and critics, sometimes in surprising ways. There are four different ways to talk about cap and trade, and they tend to lead the debate in very different directions. The …
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CONTINUE READINGLies, Damned Lies, and Climate Denial
One key question is whether these statements amounted to factual accusations that Mann had engaged in scientific misconduct.
A D.C. trial judge recently refused to dismiss climate scientist Michael Mann’s libel lawsuits against the National Review and the Competitiveness Institute. There are some serious constitutional barriers against such libel suits, which are designed to provide ample breathing room for free speech. Is this one of the rare cases that can jump the hurdles?
CONTINUE READINGWrite Your Own News Story
Just fill in the blanks, and you can save yourself the trouble of reading newspaper accounts about any new EPA action. New EPA Regulations Spark Controversy The Environmental Protection Agency today announced tough new regulations on [name of industry]. According to the agency, the regulations will save thousands of lives by reducing dangerous levels of …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Issues and the 2016 Race
You may have thought that we were done with presidential politics for a while. Not so! The ballots weren’t even completely counted before Marco Rubio set off to Iowa, supposedly for the Governor’s birthday party. Here’s one list of potential candidates: GOP. Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Chris Christie, Bobby Jindal, and Condoleeza Rice. …
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CONTINUE READINGAttitudes Toward Climate Change, Environmental Science, and Clean Energy
A new AP poll reports a sharp increase in the number of people who believe that climate change is happening and will be a problem for the United States. The biggest change was among the significant group of people who say they don’t trust scientists. Here’s the summary from AP: 4 out of every 5 …
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