Republican Party

Which Side Are Environmentalists On?

Watching Bill Clinton’s interview with Jon Stewart earlier today, I was struck by one thing: Clinton’s advocacy of Walmart’s environmental practices.  If the 42nd President is to be believed, the retailing giant has pioneered a series of seemingly impressive environmental initiatives, particularly in the use of solar photovoltaics, and in reducing VMT for its vast fleet …

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More Idiocy from the Wall Street Journal Op-ed Page

A few years ago, a friend of mine suggested starting a blog entitled something like, “Why The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page Was Idiotic Today.”  You’d never run out of material for posts! Certainly that was the case today, as Senator Lamar Alexander and Representative Mike Pompeo, both Republicans, make a case against the wind …

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Party Differences on Energy and Environment: A Side-by-Side Comparison

After I posted a description of the Republican platform, a reader suggested that a side-by-side comparison would be helpful when the Democratic Platform came out.  Here it is, presented as objectively as I could. Subject Democratic Platform Republican Platform Regulatory reform Give president power to reorganize agencies.   Congressional approval required for all major rules. …

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Give states control over energy leasing on federal lands?

Another element of the Romney energy plan that was announced this week is a proposal to turn over to the states the process of leasing of federal lands for oil and gas development.  The Romney campaign argues that this will result in quicker and cheaper leasing development than under current federal management. This seems to me …

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A Friendly Debate with a Conservative Colleague About Climate

My friend and colleague Steve Bainbridge is out with a new article on “Corporate Lawyers as Gatekeepers,” which, if you are interested in corporate law, you should read (Steve is one of the country’s most distinguished scholars in the field).  But what piqued my interest when he sent it to me was his offhand remark …

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Destroying the Land in Order to Save It

In the middle of the worst drought in decades, the climate denying House of Ayn Rand Representatives was so intent on hacking apart Food Stamps that it couldn’t even figure out how to pass a farm bill.  (And the House Ag Committee version, it should be mentioned, was an abomination, maintaining egregious farm subsidies and …

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Christie Goes Solar

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed legislation a few days ago to strengthen the state’s solar industry. Utilities will be required to 2.05% of their power from solar in 2014, rising to 4.1% in 2028. The law also sets a price cap of $339 for each megawatt-hour short of the goal in 2014. According to …

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One reason for anti-EPA riders

There’s been a lot of (appropriate) outrage over the efforts in the past year and a half by House Republicans to gut environmental protections through the use of appropriations riders.  Those efforts might well continue in the next appropriations cycle, especially since bashing the EPA is apparently a popular election-year activity for Republicans.  One of …

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Obama Administration Rejects Keystone XL

Here: Obama laid the responsibility for the rejection of the pipeline on political gamesmanship by Republicans. “As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipeline’s impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our …

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Hey Conservatives! Let’s Make a Deal on Keystone XL!

The always-thoughtful Jared Bernstein has a, well, thoughtful take on Keystone XL.  It might be called the view of a Realist Progressive Economist.  Bernstein’s point is that given the global demand for oil, and the Canadian government’s commitment to getting it out of the ground and selling it (much stronger now that the Tories have …

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