Politics

The Environmental Journalism Issue in the Presidential Race

There is one enormously striking thing about the New York Times article that Dan references in the post below.  The article details how virtually all the Republican candidates have essentially declared war on the Environmental Protection Agency, claiming that environmental regulation is responsible for job losses and sluggish growth.  It also quotes people from Republicans for …

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The Environmental Issue in the Presidential Race

With the partial exception of Mitt Romney, all of the Republican presidential candidates are negative about EPA.  According to the NY TImes, Opposition to regulation and skepticism about climate change have become tenets of Republican orthodoxy, but they are embraced with extraordinary intensity this year because of the faltering economy, high fuel prices, the Tea …

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Rick Perry Should Be Confined to a Padded Room, Chapter One

Governor Rick “Crotch” Perry is somewhat of an expert at saying inane things, a trend that has accelerated since he declared his Presidential candidacy.  He flirts with secession, he accuses the Fed Chairman of treason, he was against cervical cancer before he was for it, he wants to repeal the 17th Amendment, he claims that …

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More on California Environmental Leader & Coastal Advocate Peter Douglas

Legal Planet colleague Jonathan Zasloff has previously written about the recently-announced retirement of long-time California Coastal Commission Executive Director Peter Douglas.  I’d like to add a few additional comments about Peter, my long-time mentor, client and friend. Peter Douglas has devoted the past four decades of his incredibly rich and active life to the cause of …

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The GOP Candidates on Energy (and Environment)

I’ve taken this information from the websites of some of the Republican contenders.  What they say about their policies and records may not be exactly objective, but it’s interesting to see how they’d like to be perceived on environment and energy.  Here are four takeaway points: Republican primary voters apparently don’t care very much about …

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Climate, Energy, and the Presidential Race

Michele Bachmann ripped into Tim Pawlenty last night for his past support of cap-and-trade.  “When you were governor of Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state…. you said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me.” Several of the other candidates have …

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An Environmental Hero Rides Into the Sunset

The Sacramento Bee reports today that Peter Douglas, the long-time executive director of the California Coastal Commission, has taken a medical leave of absence and will retire in November.  Douglas definitely deserves his retirement, but it’s a real loss for the environmental community. Douglas helped draft the original Coastal Act as legislative director for former …

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The Tea Party Embraces Local Energy Efficiency Financing?

It looks like we’ve finally found an environmental issue that can attract strong bipartisan support. The PACE program allows municipal bond financing to pay for energy efficiency retrofits and solar panels, among other environmentally benign building improvements, to be repaid through property tax assessments. But the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) essentially squashed the residential …

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Climate Deniers: Stupid or Evil?

It’s an interesting psychological question, actually.  Fox News’ climate change “expert,” the appropriately-named Joe Bastardi, claims that the theory of anthropogenic climate change cannot be true because it contradicts what we call the 1st law of thermodynamics. Energy can be neither created nor destroyed. So to look for input of energy into the atmosphere, you have …

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The War Against the Environment

Using the pretext of saving jobs, the GOP has embarked on the biggest campaign against the environment in modern history.

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