Climate Politics
All Stories
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A Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine
They are intrepid: Navigator, Explorer, Expedition, Blazer. They are virile and exotic: Bronco, Cherokee, Laredo, Tahoe. They are your friends: Amigo. They are even, on occasion, honest about themselves: Suburban. SUVs are huge and getting huger by the model year. One need not pore over market statistics (SUVs now represent about 20 percent of the […]
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Judge? Not!
As Washington simmered this weekend, at least one intractable political problem appeared to melt away in the withering summer sun. Or did it? In the relative quiet of the Fourth of July weekend, the New York Times reported that Pres. Clinton would enter into a (some would say Faustian) bargain with Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah). […]
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See Everett Oops
Junk science. Two of the sharpest words in the arsenal of the public policy wars. Is your adversary touting a study that shows a product is safe (or harmful)? Vilify the study as bogus, cooked-up junk paid for and concocted by this industry or that special interest group. Sometimes the charge fits; other times it […]
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Power Play
Several weeks ago in this magazine, Sara Patton of the NW Energy Coalition uncorked an acidic rant against the aluminum industry (and its lackeys in Congress) for strong-arming the Bonneville Power Administration into providing the industry with below-market electricity rates. Aluminum plant on the Columbia River, Wash. There is still no agreement on paper, but […]
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Jesse Ventura wants to ride light rail
PR professionals the world over must be scratching their heads at the sudden surge of interest in sprawl. The topic has all the sex appeal of a zoning meeting or a traffic jam — being about zoning meetings and traffic jams — and its number-one spokesperson is V. (as in vanilla) P. Al Gore. The […]
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Is Young Restless After All?
Last week, we reported on rumblings that Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) might not seek reelection next year, at least in part because committee chair term limits mean he can’t be at the helm of the House Resources Committee in the next Congress. We brought the issue to the attention of Young’s staff who lazily batted […]
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Sierra Club Leaping into Political Ring?
Latest buzz on the streets of San Francisco is the nascent mayoral candidacy of enviro wunderkind Adam Werbach, who at the ripe old age of 26 is already an ex-president of the Sierra Club. We tracked Werbach down at the production company he runs in the Bay Area to find out if he is serious […]
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Bird in the Hand Worth Two for Bush?
While you were smoothing on suntan lotion or stoking the barbecue this weekend, Texas state legislators were madly finishing up work before their midnight May 31 deadline. Gov. George W. Bush‘s tax cuts and education initiatives got most of the attention, but we kept our gaze trained on the environmental bills likely to come up […]
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Senator Browner?
It’s been a busy few weeks for EPA Administrator Carol Browner. During Senate testimony last week she launched an emotional attack on the recent appeals court ruling that invalidated EPA’s 1997 clean air standards. One Muckraker source present at the hearing said Browner had Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) tied in knots as he repeatedly attempted […]
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The Phantom Menace?
Last week brought an end to the remarkable run of Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, who announced his intention to leave Washington and turn the reins of the federal treasury over to his well-groomed deputy, Lawrence Summers, known affectionately to some enviro insiders as Darth Vader. Although Wall Street may be comfortable with Summers, environmentalists are […]
