Climate Change

Conference on Saving Public Transit, Friday November 2nd at UCLA Law (Simulcast Available)

Please join us on Friday, November 2nd, for a free (with registration) conference on strategies to save public transit during a time of shrinking budgets.  The conference will feature experts on transit finance, real estate development around transit, and new technologies that may revolutionize transit in the coming years. Art Leahy, Chief Executive Officer of …

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Romney versus Truth, Future Generations – And His Own Past

My post earlier this morning about Romney’s embrace of anti-environmentalism was more timely than I knew.  According to Climate Wire, he told farmers yesterday: “And then there’s pushing cap and trade, I understand if they push cap and trade it will not only massively impact the income of farms, it will take millions of acres …

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Romney’s Embrace of the House Republicans’ Anti-Environmental Agenda

A lot of Romney’s views about energy and regulation seem familiar.  There’s a reason for that.  Driven by the Tea Party, the House has passed numerous deregulatory laws, some of them multiple times. On average, the House Republicans averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session in 2011. Romney …

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Two Cheers for a Hybrid Sales + Carbon Tax

Dan’s thoughtful post on the Hybrid Sales + Carbon Tax is worth careful consideration.  My initial thought is that Dan underestimates it one way, but might overestimate it in two ways. I think he underestimates its political viability.  He argues that “voters don’t like taxes, and sales taxes are especially easy for them to notice …

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The Possible Merits of a Hybrid Sales+Carbon Tax

There’s been a lot of discussion of carbon taxes, which economists virtually all love.  Proposed carbon taxes would generally be imposed at the level of fossil-fuel sellers or importers, or when producers use carbon.  Imposing the carbon tax on consumers would have some significant advantages. This could be done with some fancy VAT-type mechanism, but …

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Climate Change Politics: Calling Junior Appropriators!

“Whiskey is for drinking.  Water is for fighting over.” At least that’s the old saying (incorrectly attributed to Twain), and it is true.  You can’t study water law for more than a moment without seeing conflict.  In the west, water law is particularly conflictual due to the system of prior appropriation: rivers are divided into …

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Mitt Romney Hates Green Energy More Than He Hates Big Bird

Mitt Romney hates green energy even more than he hates Big Bird.  Or at least government support for it.  He disparaged  green energy subsidies three times last night, arguing that President Obama had spent $90 billion subsidizing it over the course of his administration, “50 years’ worth of what oil and gas get.” He also claimed that …

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Paul Ryan and the National Carbon Debt

Climate  denialists applauded Mitt Romney’s selection of Paul Ryan for what they call Ryan’s “awesome energy & climate record.” That’s not surprising: Ryan does have a clear record on climate change.   As ThinkProgress has documented: Ryan has voted to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse pollution, to eliminate White House climate advisers, to …

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Undecided Voters and Climate Change

If you tuned in to the Republican National Convention, you probably heard Republican nominee Mitt Romney take a stab at President Obama’s 2008 remarks about slowing the pace of global warming.  Romney allowed his line to speak for itself, and delegates and the audience erupted in laughter.  Yes, global warming was used as a laugh …

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McMahon versus Murphy – A Senate Race With High Stakes Environmentally

The Connecticut Senate race between Linda McMahon (R) and Chris Murphy (D) has major  environmental implications.  McMahon vigorously espouses the standard Republican positions on environment and energy.  But Murphy stands out among Democratic Senate candidates in swing states because of his especially strong commitment on the environment.  His House website emphasizes that commitment: Our environmental …

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