Politics
Lots of Rhetoric, Not Much New in Obama’s Climate Plan
The Obama Administration just released a “Climate Action Plan” to accompany the speech the President will give this morning at Georgetown University. I applaud the President for delivering a speech devoted exclusively to climate change. But for all the hooplah surrounding the President’s speech as “major,” the measures he’s proposed in the new plan to …
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CONTINUE READINGOcean news and non-news
Sometimes what isn’t news is as revealing as what is. Last week, the Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, a bipartisan effort to improve U.S. national ocean policy, issued a new report titled Charting the Course: Securing the Future of America’s Oceans. The Initiative is led by a distinguished group of policy and science experts — its …
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CONTINUE READINGWill House Republicans Save Food Aid Reform?
These next 48 hours are critical for advancing reform of US international food aid, which I have blogged about previously. Short version: because current rules essentially demand that we provide aid in food grown in the US via government subsidy, our current aid regime wastes money, delays delivery of aid by weeks, lines the pockets …
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CONTINUE READINGA New “Study” on Forest Certification: SFI’s Latest Attempt to Fool Consumers?
I’ve posted before on the competing systems of forest certification, in particular the fight between the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC), which is really the gold standard, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), an industry-driven effort that has substantially weaker standards and many have accused of greenwashing. SFI has improved its standards in recent years, but …
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CONTINUE READINGObama’s Tactics on Greenhouse Gas Regulations Come Into View
Last week, Ann wondered why the Obama Administration has withdrawn proposed rules on greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources, worrying that time might run out of the possibility of getting them written in time for the end of Obama’s second term. The two reasons proffered — 1) susceptibility to legal attack; and 2) waiting until the …
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CONTINUE READINGWrite Your Own News Story
Just fill in the blanks, and you can save yourself the trouble of reading newspaper accounts about any new EPA action. New EPA Regulations Spark Controversy The Environmental Protection Agency today announced tough new regulations on [name of industry]. According to the agency, the regulations will save thousands of lives by reducing dangerous levels of …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Legislature Suspends Oil Severance Tax: Wimp-out or Long Game?
Perhaps the most obvious fiscal reform for California lies in an oil severance tax, which charges producers per barrel coming out of the ground. California is the only major oil-producing state without such a tax (the miniscule fee to fund the Department of Oil, Geothermal, and Geophysical Resources doesn’t count), and because of the international …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Right-Wing Noose Tightens on Recess Appointments
Republican judges are continuing to do their best to hamstring the Obama Administration: six days ago, the Third Circuit joined the DC Circuit in restricting recess appointments to intersession recesses. Intrasession recesses, which, as the Court noted, were made routine under Ronald Reagan and used nearly 150 times by George W. Bush, are now unavailable. …
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CONTINUE READINGMaybe a Super EIS for Climate Policy?
Following closely on the heels of Ann’s argument concerning the flaws of the Keystone XL DEIS came a NYT story from John Broder with an interesting suggestion: if the administration approves the pipeline, then it should do something else in order to advance the battle against climate change: [C]ould some kind of deal be in …
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CONTINUE READINGNew York Nasty versus Los Angeles Nice?
Tomorrow, Los Angeles voters go to the polls to elect a new Mayor. (At least a few of them, anyway: current estimates predict only 25% turnout, about which more later). In September, New Yorkers will do the same. And depending upon the way things turn out, political and cultural reporters could have a field day. …
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