Articles by Paul
Hickenlooper’s Real Green Deal
In announcing his candidacy for president this week, former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper emphasized “getting things done” by citing Colorado’s jump from 40th in job growth to the top 10, its provision of health care…
Trump border emergency is fake and climate crisis is real. Guess which just got funded?
One emergency, the border wall, is fake, invented by a rogue president desperate for a political win no matter the price. Another, the climate crisis, is real, with tens of millions of citizen victims around the country. Guess which…
Green New Deal Must Grow Up Fast To Influence Bills Congress is Already Writing
Little noticed in the media circus surrounding the mere introduction of a non-binding Congressional resolution on the Green New Deal was the deletion of much-criticized and plainly unachievable mandates contained in previous…
Trump Suggests Raiding Money from Climate-Disaster Victims to Fund Border Wall
President Trump is considering raiding money from relief funds designated for victims of storms and wildfires exacerbated by climate change, in a last-ditch attempt to get money for his dubious border wall…
As U.S. Emissions Spike Under Trump, Democrats Pursue Real Climate Policies, Not Green Wish Lists
Leading researchers today released a report finding that U.S. greenhouse gas emissions rose by more than 3.4% in 2018, the first increase since 2006 and the largest rise in 20 years. This news comes both as…
Going Nowhere Fast on Climate, Year After Year
Thirty years ago, a NASA scientist, James Hansen, told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that “global warming is now large enough that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence…
Takeaway from Poland: Climate success requires action by global leaders — including US president
The biggest takeaway from two weeks of climate negotiations in Poland is simple, if breathtaking: climate change is such a massive and existential issue that it can only be effectively dealt with…
Climate studies say warming may cost US $500 billion a year — it will cost much more
Three stunningly dire climate change reports have emerged in the last month, including the UN “Emissions Gap” report released this week and the U.S. National Climate Assessment released last Friday…
Wildfire and other climate costs are rising — fast
[Financial Times subscription required to read article.] If anything, your recent coverage of California’s wildfires (“The stark message from California raging fires”, editorial, and “Insurers grapple…
House Democrats Must Be Strategic To Win On Energy And Climate Change
By all accounts, House Democrats return to Washington this week to begin planning their priorities for 2019 in an aggressive frame of mind. But on climate change and energy issues, rather than simply responding…
Trump’s Blowhard Tactics on Climate Change and Storms Foreshadow A Political Blue Wave
In the last two years the U.S. has suffered from record hurricanes, rainfall, floods, wildfires and other disasters made worse by rising temperatures and sea levels…
As Heat-Fueled Hurricane Threatens Washington, Global Climate Leaders Begin to Act in California
This week Hurricane Florence, a massive Category 4 storm made larger by warmer than normal ocean temperatures, is bearing down on the Mid-Atlantic coast, including the Washington, DC region, where President Trump…
John McCain Knew Climate Protection Would Take Legislation, Not Just Regulation
It is a sad irony that John McCain died within just a few days of President Trump overturning Clean Power Plan regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. For McCain was the prominent…
Lower-Emitting U.S. Natural Gas Can Gain Export Markets
President Trump’s efforts to expand European imports of American natural gas thus far have consisted of tweeting and jaw-boning, approaches notably ineffective with EU allies whom he has sometimes cast as “foes”…
Dems Need “Big Tent” Energy Policies that Appeal to American Heartland
For more than a generation, Democrats have valiantly advocated policies to combat the serious problem of climate change. But they have usually done so with indifference or disdain for the economic and energy views…
Trump’s Coal Fixation will Harm Americans’ Health and Wallets
Earlier this month, President Trump ordered Energy Secretary Rick Perry to intervene in electricity markets to prop up failing coal power plants, falsely claiming the effort was needed to protect electricity grid reliability…
Democrats must embrace shale gas boom to win elections and climate battle
Democrats don’t have enough power to shape climate change policy. They can win the midterm elections if they embrace the shale oil and gas boom and their role in it…
Solar case shows climate protection requires globalized economy
Responses to President Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Chinese solar panels fall into two general camps. One holds that Chinese solar manufacturing subsidies are so egregious as to require U.S. tariffs…
Moynihan was right: The GOP tax giveaway will lead to safety net cuts
When Congress passed a massive tax giveaway to the richest that will add at least $1 trillion to America’s debt late last year, GOP lawmakers were remarkably candid about the next step: cutting the safety net for hundreds of millions of Americans by going after Social Security…
The Paris agreement: Whither the world after America’s retreat?
IN THE end, not even the pope’s pleas were enough to persuade Donald Trump to go back on his campaign promise to leave the Paris agreement. The arguments of his advisers, such as strategist Steve Bannon and the head of America’s Environmental Protection Agency…
Why Democrats Must Support Biden in 2024
Despite good news for Joe Biden lately, many Democrats continue to be deeply worried about his chances of reelection. These concerns are understandable given that Biden, already the oldest president in history, will be…
Streamline power line permitting to achieve IRA climate goals
One of the most important goals of the clean energy and climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden is the decarbonization of the electricity system. The core of this effort is…
A look at the policies in the Democrats’ historic climate bill
The Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in climate policy in U.S. history, including more than $300 billion to address global warming. It also sets a goal of reducing carbon emissions by…
Climate Change: Congress Needs to Act Now
Federal regulations have been a crucial part of U.S. efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions over the last 30 years. But such regulations are increasingly subject to reversal by Republican presidents…
Democrats: Don’t just declare a climate emergency — make clean energy a winning campaign issue
The decision by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to walk away from more than a year of negotiations over a landmark clean energy legislation is a bitter pill for President Biden and other Democrats who made passing effective…
As UK conservatives dump Johnson, most in GOP still embrace Trump’s far graver threat
Winston Churchill, the figure embattled UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson claims as his role model, once defined a politician as someone who “is asked to stand, wants to sit, and is expected to lie.” Yet in the end, Johnson’s…
Democrats in Congress, not courts or GOP, must address climate — a good bill is waiting
The Supreme Court decision this week to restrict federal regulatory authority over carbon dioxide emissions from power plants should provide Democrats in Congress the last impetus they need to finally act on comprehensive climate change legislation. And…
Democrats must limit oil shocks along with climate risks
Energy issues are defining U.S. consumer, economic and security challenges more profoundly than any time since the oil embargoes of the 1970s. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has placed enormous pressure on global oil and…
Letter: War is chance for US to drive green energy policies
Derek Brower’s Big Read (April 14) correctly details US efforts to increase near-term oil and natural gas supplies to address shortages resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. But history shows that high prices and security…
War means Biden needs a more muscular energy plan
As he travels to Europe this week, President Biden seems to face nearly insurmountable new energy challenges. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has spiked global oil prices, and constricted Europe’s natural gas supplies…
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