Politics
Second Firm Exits Coal Group That Opposes Climate Bill
Published September 09, 2009 @ 07:30PM PT
Is the coal industry's anti-climate action front group losing steam?
Five weeks ago, news broke that a PR firm hired by one of the most prominent coal lobby groups, the "American Coalition for Clean Coal Energy," had sent forged letters to Congress in opposition to the Waxman-Markey clean energy and climate action bill. The letters were made to look as if they were from community groups. Rep. Ed. Markey has since spearheaded a House investigation into the letters, uncovering several more fakes.
A week ago, Duke Energy announced that it had left ACCCE, because powerful members of the pro-coal group oppose the climate legislation, which Duke supports.
Today another company has fled the ACCCE embrace: Alstom Power, a French company that manufactures power plant parts, and works on carbon sequestration.
Van Jones' Departure: A costly error for the Obama administration?
Published September 06, 2009 @ 08:46AM PT
Van Jones, green jobs advisor to the White House Council on Environmental Quality, resigned his Obama administration post early this morning.
"Jones found himself in conservatives' crosshairs after it was revealed that he signed a petition in support of 9/11 "truther" conspiracy theorists and called Republicans "assholes" in a video taped before he was tapped to head up the White House's green jobs program," reports Slate. "Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., [photo, left] was calling for a congressional inquiry into Jones' past," which included membership in activist groups that some, including Fox News fantasist Glenn Beck, have termed "radical."
The most immediate downside here is that one of the nation's most eloquent, effective advocates for improving the lives of millions of lower-wage workers, and righting long-endured social and economic injustices -- all via creating a low-carbon, more climate-neutral economy -- will no longer be at the service of the president.
That's a loss to the entire nation.
This debacle is unlikely to be the undoing of Van Jones, however. He is inspired at communicating and realizing his vision of an inclusively better future, and well-respected in the progressive political community.
If and as the truth emerges, I don't think it will be those 9/11 investigation endorsements that led the Obama administration to toss Jones overboard. Yes, he should have given those petitions a closer read. But remember how you were feeling about the attacks and the Iraq war in 2004? 'Nuff said.
It won't even be for calling Republicans assholes in public.
Inhofe Watch: Oklahoma senator's torture denial
Published September 03, 2009 @ 04:24PM PT
Senator Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) is the Congressional standard-bearer for global warming denial.
(And the recipient of hundreds of thousands in campaign contributions from the oil, gas, and utility industries.)
Yesterday, he demonstrated that his is an equal opportunity capacity for self-delusion, when he told constituents at a town meeting that there has "never been a case of torture" at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp.
If only this were true. But it's just as accurate as Senator Jim's claims about global warming, which is to say not accurate at all. The the Center for Constitutional Rights, International Committee for the Red Cross, and the CIA itself have all documented the use of torture by American interrogators against detainees at the Guantanamo Bay prison.
It's unlikely that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder would have bucked the wishes of his boss, President Obama, and appointed a prosecutor to investigate abuses of detainees by the CIA, if there were no case to be made.
What's this got to do with global warming? It goes to credibility.
How to Fail at Climate Change Journalism
Published September 01, 2009 @ 12:36PM PT
When does reporting on climate change become reporting fail?
When The Washington Post, one of the nation's most important national newspapers, leaves off sifting for useful facts and dialogue on climate change, in favor of republishing a lot of lowest common denominator yammer.
This is what veteran reporter Doug Feaver did when he lifted around two dozen reader responses to a story, published in yesterday's print and online editions, about how environmentalists are coping with oil lobby tactics for defeating climate policy reform this year. The article focused in particular on the lobbies' efforts to fend off establishment of a carbon dioxide emissions cap, as well as a market for trading carbon emissions credits -- both included in the House-passed climate and energy bill.
As the Senate prepares to take up its versions of the House bill, reporter David Fahrenthold writes, oil and coal lobbies are organizing astroturf rallies. They're also running TV ad blitzkrieg campaigns in the Mountain West, the region that's home to several crucial Senate swing votes.
Environmentalists, meanwhile, are staying largely inside the Beltway, and in his analysis "are struggling in a fight they have spent years setting up."
[Environmentalists] are making slow progress adapting a movement built for other goals -- building alarm over climate change, encouraging people to "green" their lives -- into a political hammer, pushing a complex proposal the last mile through a skeptical Senate.
Even now, these groups differ on whether to scare the public with predictions of heat waves or woo it with promises of green jobs. And they are facing an opposition with tycoon money and a gift for political stagecraft.
"Progressives and clean-energy types . . . made a mistake and slacked off" after the House of Representatives passed its version of a climate-change bill in June, said Joseph Romm, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress who blogs on climate issues. "And the other side really kept making its case."
[Then again]..."People have been naysaying all year long," said Josh Dorner of the Sierra Club. But, he said, "We got a bill through the House, and you know . . . all signs point to yes" in the Senate.
That's not to say it's a level playing field: climate change activists are by and large not sitting on the giant pools of money available to fossil energy lobbyists and campaign operatives.
Still, this is a provocative and useful bit of reporting. My own professional observations often support it: When it comes to a substantial "national dialogue" on energy policy and climate change action, I still hear crickets chirping.
Video to Watch: "A Warming Web: The Blogosphere and Climate Change"
Published August 27, 2009 @ 05:12PM PT
Once upon a time, I volunteered to organize a discussion about blogging and global warming. Several excellent journo-bloggers agreed to participate. Then, I couldn't actually make it to the meeting in Pittsburgh. So I asked a keen fella to replace me as moderator, and everyone else showed up too, and had a scintillating discussion was had.
Thanks everyone, for carrying on without me in such fine style. Dave says there might be spanking somewhere in there; you're just going to have to watch the whole thing to find out.
- Kevin Grandia of DeSmogBlog
- Brentin Mock of The American Prospect (and elsewhere)
- Brad Johnson of Think Progress
- Dave Roberts of Grist
- Kate Sheppard of pure awesomeness
- Tim Lange, aka Meteor Blades of Daily Kos
- Miles Grant of National Wildlife Federation
See it all for yourself:
Over a Dozen Senators Working to Strengthen Climate Bill
Published August 25, 2009 @ 07:31PM PT
Related post: Citizenship 101: How to contact Congress
Although four senators recently floated the idea that climate legislation was dead in the Senate, over a dozen of their colleagues are working on measures to make it stronger.
According to the progressive political blog Wonk Room,
Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) has introduced the IMPACT Act, "Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act of 2009," which would create a $30 million revolving loan fund to "help small and medium-sized manufacturers finance retooling, shift design, and improve energy efficiency.” The act has been added to the Senate legislation, and over 150 businesses around the country have endorsed it.
Sen. Brown has been joined by nine other Democratic senators in urging President Obama to be sure the legislation includes strong support for American manufacturing. They include Russ Feingold (D-WI), Carl Levin (D-MI), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Robert Casey (D-PA), Arlen Specter (D-PA), Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Robert Byrd (D-VW), Al Franken (D-MN), and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI).
Senators Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Tom Carper (D-DE) are working on adding language to the bill to “regulate power plant emissions of mercury, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide.”
Sen. Carper is also seeking to improve the bill's funding for cleaner transportation. His Clean, Low-Emission, Affordable, New Transportation Efficiency Act (S. 575 / H.R. 1329) would allocate a share of the proceeds from carbon cap-and-trade "to transit, bike paths, and other green modes of transport.” Co-sponsoring the bill are Senators Arlen Specter (D-PA), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), and Ben Cardin (D-MD) have co-sponsored the legislation.
Oil Lobby Responds to Change.org Questions, Defends Claims on Climate Bill Costs
Published August 25, 2009 @ 08:13AM PT
Above: "Photo of caribou walking alongside the Trans-Alaska Pipeline, taken July 1998 by Stan Shebs." Source: Wikimedia Commons.
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Last week I asked the American Petroleum Institute questions about its criticisms of the American Clean Energy and Security Act -- the climate and clean energy legislation that was passed by the House of Representatives earlier in the summer.
Jane Van Ryan, New Media Coordinator of the American Petroleum Institute, has answered. I've added some extra paragraph breaks to make the text more readable on-screen, and links as relevant to the content.
Do Ms. Van Ryan's talking points hold up? If not, why not? There are a lot of them, so I'm asking the Change.org community to help me out:
Please pick a point or a few to check out, and post your findings in the comments.
More after the jump.
