02-03-09 by dugan One of the most valuable endorsements an energy project can get is the Sierra Club. Usually the venerable environmental group does its homework, at least at the state and national level. But…
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When greens do greenwashing
Archive | Climate
RSS feed for this sectionTracking the politics of pollution, climate change and emerging green technologies.
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What’s wrong with carbon credits
Here’s an environmental blog that gets straight to the heart of what’s wrong with existing and planned "cap and trade" schemes to reduce global warming emissions with a free market in so-called "carbon credits." The…
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Wheels cut from under transit
1-27-09 by dugan Now we know global warming will stick around for 1,000 years, and every extra pound of carbon emitted will make things worse. That report from scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric…
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The unwinding begins
President-elect Obama’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Administration all but said in hearings today that she would reverse the EPA’s rejection of California’s tougher-than-national greenhouse curbs on auto emissions. From the San Francisco Chronicle:…
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Petroleum’s Happy Holiday
12-24-08 by dugan The White House giveaways have been so fast and furious that they’re hard to track. But here are a couple of recent tales that round up the oil industry loot in this…
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Fusion Soon, Chevy Volt When?
12-19-08 by dugan Dan Neil in the LA Times reports today that he got 52 mpg city/highway in a test drive of the production model of the Ford Fusion hybrid, in comfort. Too…
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Auto Bailout’s Big, Bad Sticks
12-19-08 by dugan Do I have this right? A giant financial/insurance company, AIG, gets two taxpayer bailouts totaling $150 billion, no strings attached, which does zero to help distressed homeowners or the frozen credit…
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Putting energy policy on track
12-17-08 by dugan The New York Times today offered up a tight list of all the wrongs that the new Interior Secretary, Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, will face the minute he walks into his…
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First, Undo the Harm*
Sometimes good news mostly illumines the bad news that went before. Take president-elect Obama’s appointment of a four-person "energy and environment" team, including Energy Secretary-designee Steven Chu, Interior Secretary-designee Ken Salazar and a "climate czar,"…
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How to kill green energy
12-11-08 by dugan Two or three of us at Consumer Watchdog, OilWatchdog’s parent group, have gotten calls today asking our endorsement for the city of Los Angeles’ "Green Energy/Good Jobs Act" on the city’s March…
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Amtrak model for Big 3?
12-3-08 by dugan Michael Moore’s been wrapped up for the last several years with failing health care, the failed Bush Administration and the war in Iraq. But the author/moviemaker’s enduring fascination is Detroit iron. He…
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Roller-coaster hurts both ways
11-25-08 by dugan There’s no doubt that the crash in oil prices has taken pressure off of consumers and government, even though record-high energy prices did some serious economic damage before the fall. It’s like…
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Shale oil and water wars
11/24/08 by dugan Mark Twain never heard the phrase "shale oil," but he was dead on when he said of the West, "Whiskey’s for drinking, water’s for fighting. Whiskey-wise, I’d like a double sinker after…