Politics
The Owls in the Vineyard
It’s smart to take precautions against climate change. More can be done, even in the Trump era.
At night, you can hear the hooting of owls in the vineyard. The owners have deployed owls and falcons to control the pests that threaten the Kendall Jackson vineyards due to milder winters. But birds of prey aren’t the only things flying above the vineyard. There are also drones, which are used to observe small differences …
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CONTINUE READINGBears Ears: A Monumental End to the Obama Era
Will the Antiquities Act survive the new administration?
With one week left in his second term, President Obama’s “monumental” legacy is again at the forefront. Just yesterday, the President expanded, by proclamation, the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument in Oregon and the California Coastal National Monument, and created three additional national monuments: the Birmingham Civil Rights National Monument and the Freedom Riders National Monument in …
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CONTINUE READINGRex Tillerson Disappoints
The nominee gave vague, canned answers on climate change
Today’s confirmation hearing of Rex Tillerson, Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, has concluded. During the day, there were two impassioned exchanges about climate change, during which Tillerson revealed how naive environmentalists were that he might be able to sway Trump on the issue. First, Senator Tim Kaine (our almost-VP) excoriated Tillerson on ExxonMobil’s record …
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CONTINUE READINGA Win-Win Energy Law in Illinois
Illinois’s Future Energy Jobs bill shows that cooperation across party lines is possible.
It went pretty much unheralded by the national media, but in December Illinois adopted a major new energy lawl — and with strong bipartisan support. Each side had some things to celebrate. The Republican Governor touted the impact of the bill on utility bills. According to the Governor, the “contains a guaranteed cap that energy …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger David Spence: Another Take on the Tillerson Nomination
Hearings on the nomination of ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be President-elect Donald Trump’s Secretary of State are scheduled to begin on January 11th. The nomination puts Tillerson and his company at the vortex of a whirlwind of public grievances about ExxonMobil’s positions on climate science and Russian influence over American politics and policy. While …
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CONTINUE READINGExplaining Oil’s Political Clout
There’s an obvious explanation. But it’s false.
Let me start with two obvious points – only one of which is true. The first is that the oil industry has huge political influence. The second is that its clout reflects the industry’s economic heft. The first point is definitely true. As Political Wire recently observed: “Nearly every to top level appointment in Trump’s cabinet …
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CONTINUE READING2016: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
“But except for that, how did you like the play, Mrs. Lincoln?” It’s an old joke, for all I know going back to 1865. That was 2016,too, in a way. Like Mrs. Lincoln’s evening at Ford’s Theater, 2016 contained a lot of good things, some bad things, and then disaster. Here’s a list of each. The …
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CONTINUE READINGWill Deregulation Grow the Economy?
The Trump plan of deregulation and tax cuts has been tried. It didn’t work.
President-elect Trump has promised to unleash economic growth by cutting taxes and regulation. In terms of regulations, he has said: “One of the keys to unlocking growth is scaling-back years of disastrous regulations unilaterally imposed by our out-of-control bureaucracy. “Regulations have grown into a massive, job-killing industry – and the regulation industry is one business …
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CONTINUE READINGIt’s Déjà Vu All Over Again
Reagan, Gingrich, Bush — and Now Trump. This is a battle we’ve fought before.
As the choice of Scott Pruitt to head EPA confirms, we’re about to face a radical attack on environmental protection. We’ve seen this movie before. Three times, actually, starring Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush. So this feels in a way like the fourth installment in a horror film franchise. Call it “Return of the …
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CONTINUE READINGGOP Mayor: “Let’s Talk About the Octopus in the Room”
An octopus in a parking garage? It’s a sign of the times.
Jim Cason, the GOP mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, wants us to talk about climate change: “‘We’re looking to a future where we’re going to be underwater, a great portion of South Florida,’” Cason said. ‘For all of us down here, this is really not a partisan issue. We see it. We see the octopus in …
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