Recent Interviews
Why the defeat of Manchin’s energy bill could be a loss for the climate
On Tuesday, when Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) announced he was pulling his proposal to expand energy development across the country from a must-pass government operations bill, many environmental…
Washington’s latest energy drama: ‘Permitting reform’
Boring and technocratic as it sounds, “permitting reform” may be just about the most significant barrier facing the clean energy revolution Joe Biden wants to bring to America. Yesterday, Congress began debating it in earnest…
Manchin’s permitting reveal
The Progressive Policy Institute is out with a new report this morning that offers some support for Manchin’s efforts and disputes some of the criticism from progressives who argue the permitting changes would…
Why Republicans support Kigali
The Senate could ratify a major climate treaty by the end of the week. And it’s being pushed across the finish line by conservative Republicans and industry. The Kigali Amendment to the Montreal Protocol has long been a standout in…
Clean energy bosses urge permit reforms to meet US climate goals
Senator Joe Manchin to unveil bill revamping regulatory approvals for pipelines and power systems. A lobbying group has estimated that clean energy installations could be 100 gigawatts less without permitting…
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…
California hits the gas on electric cars
California regulators approved a rule today banning the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035. The move could accelerate the electric vehicle transition and reshape the nation’s auto market, but meeting that deadline will bring…
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…
Joe Biden’s signature legislation passes the Senate, at last
This has been decades in the making, and it will reshape the decades ahead.” That is how Fred Krupp, a longtime champion of congressional action on climate change as head of the Environmental Defence Fund, a green group…
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…
Five Decades in the Making: Why It Took Congress So Long to Act on Climate
The Senate bill avoided the political pitfalls of past legislative attempts by offering only incentives to cut climate pollution, not taxes. In 1969, President Richard Nixon’s adviser Daniel Patrick Moynihan wrote a memo describing a startling…
A closer look at Manchin’s asks on permitting
Manchin’s asks: The legislative agreement between Sen. Joe Manchin and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for Congress to take up “comprehensive” permitting reform in a bill separate from their reconciliation deal…
Biden’s climate agenda faces yet another obstacle: Kyrsten Sinema
The most ambitious attempt yet to pass climate legislation in the US may have surprisingly won the crucial backing of a senator who owns a coal company. Now it faces a further, deeply ironic, obstacle – a lawmaker who was once a member of…
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…
Holy Shit, Democrats Might Actually Pass a Climate Change Bill
So maybe we’re not just going to hurtle headlong into a fiery climate doom without the U.S. government lifting a finger to save us, after all. Senate Democrats shocked Washington D.C. and climate activists by unveiling plans for the largest…
Fears over US energy security help unlock historic $369bn climate bill
Environment experts welcome emissions reductions promised as ‘significant and unprecedented’ President Joe Biden’s original Build Back Better plan had originally earmarked $555bn but at $369bn the new bill will still be the largest…
Climate activists’ plot to make liberal politicians squirm
Jennifer Falcon, a climate and Indigenous rights organizer in San Antonio, Texas, worries constantly about the impacts of climate change on her community, such as water restrictions and a possible collapse of the electric grid…
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…
Dems stare into climate abyss
Democrats have had a week to digest the demise of their climate bill. They’re facing the prospect of yet another decade of congressional inaction at a time when consequences of global warming are growing more…
RADIO: BBC Climate Change Legislation
Starting at minute 31:23 Paul Bledsoe discusses what it will take to cut emissions in the US…
Kerry’s visit to China ends with no major agreements
The United States and China ended three days of climate meetings with no concrete outcomes, but have agreed to continue talking ahead of pivotal global climate negotiations this fall…
High stakes for Biden, King Charles in climate talks
Climate finance took center stage Monday during President Joe Biden’s visit to Windsor Castle, his first meeting with King Charles III since the British monarch’s coronation in May. The topic was a symbolic choice…
A Trade-Based Climate Policy Can Cut Emissions Globally
The recent reopening of diplomatic dialogue by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese leaders highlighted the enormous importance of climate change action by the world’s two largest greenhouse gas emitters. But it did not yield…
Former Biden and Clinton Officials Push for Harmony on CBAMS
A new proposal from the Progressive Policy Institute recommends the U.S., EU, and broader G-7 establish an “Alliance for Clean Trade” to get on the same page as they develop and implement carbon border adjustment mechanisms…
Advocates see Biden, not Congress, as key to carbon tariffs
With bipartisan interest on Capitol Hill growing around the concept of carbon tariffs, two off-Hill advocates are floating a plan to tie trade policy to climate action. The catch is that the proposal would effectively circumvent Congress…
A new proposal to simmer green trade tensions
Joe Biden has largely put a stop to the fractious trade wars of the Donald Trump era, soothing allies by suspending tariffs and offering fresh talks on a long-running dispute on aircraft subsidies. But the president has brought along with him…
Debt Deal Includes a Green Light for a Contentious Pipeline
Climate activists are livid over a provision in the debt limit agreement that orders federal agencies to issue permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline — and says courts can’t review them…
Biden’s climate gamble in the debt deal
President Joe Biden is in hot water with climate activists. Again. Environmental advocates are assailing what they call “poison pills” in the debt limit deal the White House made with congressional Republicans over the weekend. They’re…
Biden Needs To Remind Voters He’s Always Been Pro-Business
Anew AP poll found that only 31% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s handling of the economy, a result both shocking and familiar. Shocking because no modern president has received such poor marks during a period of…
Climate group with GOP roots a go-to for tariff push
Four senators — two Democratic, two Republican — plan to unveil proposals in coming weeks that would slap a tariff on carbon-intensive goods coming into the United States from abroad. Each bill will look very different in the approaches…
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