Environment

Global warming skeptics hope “SuperFreakonomics” will continue to shift attitudes toward their cause.

As Kate pointed out a few weeks back, the Environmental Protection Agency earlier this month stalled 79 applications for new surface mines in the Appalachian Mountains, citing concerns that those operations would harm local water quality. Today, the agency went a step further, announcing in a letter to the U.S. Corps of Engineers that all [...]

Kate has a great piece today about some of the nation’s polluters embracing once-dreaded regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency in order to fend off the tougher House climate bill. But at least one group has added a twist. The Western Business Roundtable, an industry coalition opposed to the Waxman-Markey bill, issued a statement yesterday [...]

With Congress not expected to pass a climate change bill this year, industry groups see EPA as their new target.

From The Minnesota Independent:
No Republican contenders in the 2010 gubernatorial contest — except environmental activist Leslie Davis — believe in global warming, according to a report from Minnesota Public Radio. Perhaps most strident is state Sen. Mike Jungbauer (East Bethel), who told attendees at a recent State Fair debate that global warming is “pure, unadulterated [...]

Following up on our earlier post about senators’ requests for more funding for carbon-capture-and-storage (CCS) technology in the Senate bill, we were wondering just how much of its own money the coal industry spends on CCS.
Turns out, the average coal company spends very little.

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative – a ten-state experiment in crafting a U.S. cap-and-trade program – will mark its one-year anniversary on Sept. 25. Last week the group, known as RGGI, held its fifth auction of pollution permits, an event that highlighted one of the flaws in the program thus far – which is, they [...]

Environment and Public Works Chair Barbara Boxer faces an even tougher climate than in May 2008 when the Warner-Lieberman climate bill failed.

The EPA just issued a statement announcing that they have extended the review period for 79 surface mining permit applications in Appalachia. This means that the permits will not be streamlined for approval, and is in accordance with the Obama administration’s memorandum issued in June to subject coal-mining permits to greater scrutiny.
“The administration pledged earlier [...]

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) who highlighted his support for cap-and-trade legislation to woo independent and environmentally-minded voters during the 2008 presidential campaign, affirmed again this week that he’s not willing to vote for a Democratic climate bill.
“I can’t use cap and trade as a way to increase revenue,” McCain told E&E. “It’s $630 billion that’s [...]