The Deans List
What would be the best way to kill or stall federal regulations that protect public health and the environment, but that rankle industry lobbyists and their political allies? The following, taken from the current Congressional playbook, could become the ultimate textbook example.
First, though, a little background: in 1990, as mounting evidence linked air pollution to brain damage, cancer, and premature death, Congress ordered reductions in the amount of mercury, arsenic, and other toxic chemicals released by coal-fueled power plants. So far, so good.
It fell to the Environmental Protection Agency to do the technical, scientific, and legal work required to turn the will of Congress into regulations.
Finally, those...
If Congress can't figure out how to make democracy work, maybe the republic can be governed by the laws of arithmetic -- especially those of subtraction.
That's the theory behind the rules of the road for the special congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, whose abject failure sets the stage for $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts. Those cuts could take a serious toll on the protection of waters, air, wildlife, and lands, as federal agencies already reeling from budget cuts face additional belt tightening a year from now. The cuts also seem certain to slow or stifle needed progress across an array of important environmental initiatives, such as...
Energy Secretary Steven Chu was in Hawaii on Sunday, holding forth on energy efficiency and appliance standards before President Obama and the leaders of China, Japan, and 18 other Pacific Rim countries.
On Thursday, Chu will become the piñata in a pitched proxy battle over the future of clean energy development when he goes before a House subcommittee investigating the collapse of solar panel maker Solyndra.
Such are the swings of fortune these days for Chu, the embattled Nobel Prize winner in the eye of the...
The fate of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline was cast into limbo for at least 18 months on Thursday, as the State Department ordered a review of alternative routes to avoid putting at risk critical water sources in Nebraska.
The move puts off until 2013 a tough presidential decision on whether to allow the pipeline, sparing President Obama a politically tough call in an election year. And it throws the...
Sunday's anti-pipeline rally, the largest White House protest since the invasion of Iraq, added a populist dimension to the debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, solidifying the issue as a symbol of President Obama's commitment to reducing the nation’s reliance on fossil fuels.
All of that sharply raises the political stakes in the matter for a president struggling to bolster his flagging popularity, especially with young voters and progressives...
With thousands expected to protest TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline at a White House rally on Sunday, President Obama said it could be “several months” before he decides whether to OK the project and pledged that he would not put safe drinking water, fertile croplands, and public health at risk.
“My general attitude is, what is best for the American people? What’s best for our economy both short term and long term, but also what is best for the health of the American people,” he said Tuesday in an interview with KETV in Omaha, Nebraska.
“I think folks in Nebraska, like all across the country, aren’t going...
The House Judiciary Committee takes up two bills today designed to tie the hands of federal agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency, the Mine Safety and Health Administration, and others that provide essential public oversight intended to protect us.
The agenda adds to the 168 votes the House already has taken this year alone to undermine those protections, in the single greatest assault ever waged on the foundational safeguards that defend our environment and health.
The House Republicans leading the charge claim these attacks will put Americans to work. "The current regulatory system has become a barrier to economic growth and job creation," asserted...
In the weeks since solar panel maker Solyndra went bankrupt, House Republicans have rushed to belittle the promise of solar power and discredit public support for it. Democrats have pushed back, accusing the GOP of tainting the national energy debate with a political witch hunt targeting President Obama in the lead-up to election year. And there are more high-profile congressional hearings to come in the weeks ahead, Republicans have vowed.
With $535 million in taxpayer loan guarantees at stake, it’s important we find out the...
