Politics

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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What Drives Anti-Regulatory Public Opinion?

Distrust of regulation has surged recently, but in a one-sided and somewhat surprising way.  Here’s a graph from Gallup: The Gallup folks speculate that this is due to the GOP reaction to regulatory actions under Obama.  That does not seem to fit the graph. You’ll notice that the GOP antagonism toward regulation began under Bush …

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Genetically Modified Foods: a Controversial New Study and Prop. 37

Genetically modified organisms are in the news these days for two big reasons.  First, California voters will decide in November whether to require the labeling of foods that have been genetically engineered.  And second, a new study — subject to significant criticism even from some who advocate labeling — found that rats fed with genetically …

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Energy and Environment in the Wisconsin Senate Race

The Wisconsin Senate race pits Tammy Baldwin (D) against Tommy Thompson (R) — Tammy versus Tommy, as the newspapers are fond of saying. In the environmental area, the two are as different as day and night.  Baldwin champions environmental protection, while Thompson is in love with fossil fuels.

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Your Legal Planet Weekend Movie: Watch the Greenland Ice Sheet Melt!

Forget the cinema or Netflix. Legal Planet can meet your movie viewing needs. This video highlights research done by Dr. Laurence Smith at the UCLA Department of Geography, who spent the summer on the Greenland ice sheet tracking its melting. Somehow seeing the melting happen from the ground has more of an emotional impact for …

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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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Warren versus Brown on Energy and Environment

At the debate between Elizabeth Warren and Scott Brown last night, there was a  brief discussion of energy issues. Brown defended subsidies for oil companies but criticized Warren for trying to tie him to Jim Inhofe.  Unlike Inhofe, Brown does believe in climate change (at least right now — he seems to have waffled over …

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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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How Worried Are Small Businesses About Environmental Regulation?

We’re heard a lot recently about the supposedly dire effect of environmental regulations on small businesses. A recent poll of small business owners by George Washington University using the Thumbtack site has some interesting findings about this. One of the questions in the survey was, “How important are the following issues to the success of …

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Setting the Record Straight on Obama and the Environment

We shouldn’t underestimate Obama’s environmental achievements.

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