Even as President Obama announces plans to invest $50 billion in new nuclear capacity, some see the looming relicensing battle of 70s-era plants as the canary in the coal mine. Is the vote on Vermont Yankee the death knell for nuclear’s nascent comeback?
The Copenhagen agreement fizzled, but failure to take global action on climate change may have greased the skids for transition from the post-9/11 epoch into a new global Eco Cold War.
Climategate may give skeptics some ammunition, but those skeptics will not be at the table in Copenhagen. Still, with China and India eyeing growth and the rest of the world cautious on the cost of carbon capping, these are the three factors that will result in something rotten from Denmark.
While passage of House a health care bill was hailed as a victory for President Obama, the Democrat divide over the Stupak-Pitts abortion amendment is already playing out in the Massachusetts race for Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat. After climate change compromise, inevitable escalation in Afghanistan, and little movement on gay rights, is the House health care bill’s abortion amendment a bridge too far for progressives? Will health care galvanize or divide Dems heading into 2010. And, what might it mean for climate change?
Olympia Snowe’s support of the finance committee draft puts health care back in play, but without a public option. The Graham-Kerry compromise climate bill would start to cap carbon, but also allow coal to cash in. Will progressives settle for incrementalism?
Time-traveling to 2010 reveals how some of Washington’s worst-kept secrets will catch up with President Obama and cripple his climate agenda.
Failure to read the field on Chicago’s Olympic bid begs the question: who is counting votes for President Obama? The White House will need a much better ground game if the US is going to lead the world on climate change.
Is Exelon’s departure from the US Chamber of Commerce a harbinger for the entire utility sector? Or, is there a divide emerging within the industry?
As the world arrives at the UN ahead of Copenhagen, the US has more to lose than China in an escalating war of words over climate change leadership.
Once upon a time, Obama’s plan called for cap-and-trade dollars to fund health care reform. Greens should be watching the health care fight, because the closer he gets to a bill, the more he will need cap-and-trade in order to pay for it.
Cap-and-trade calamity? Au contraire. While the US flounders on regulating carbon, France’s Nicholas Sarkozy is pushing forward with new carbon tax legislation that will only add to France’s edge in the emerging green economy.
Ousted White House adviser Van Jones’ green-collar ghettos legacy lives in a Los Angeles-area program that trains former gang members to install solar panels.
If the Senate can get 60 votes for climate change legislation, these are the six Senators that lobbyists will be courting, the White House will be pressing, and you should be watching.
Kennedy was not known for his environmental politics, but what will be his legacy vis-a-vis the environment and energy? Will he be remembered for what many viewed as self-interested and elitist opposition to the proposed Cape Wind project, an offshore wind farm in Nantucket Sound, barley visible from the Kennedy’s Hyannisport compound?
It is strange to be reading so many stories about premium-priced green power programs and net metering programs for excess power right alongside stories about utilities performing record numbers of shut-offs for non-payment.