Dave Roberts
Does Climate Policy Just Need Better Framing?
Now that the climate bill is dead and decomposing, some advocates are writing op-eds arguing that if only its backers had framed things this way or that way, the public would've responded more positively and demanded action from lawmakers. See, for instance, Lee Wasserman's piece in The New York Times today. READ MORE >>
Can Bingaman Pass A Climate Bill?
Republicans vs. Markets
One of my favorite sub-genres of liberal opinion journalism is finding areas of public policy where Republicans oppose the free market solution when markets are hostile to established business interests. I've been reading cases like this for some two decades. Yesterday's great Politico story on the GOP and energy reported: READ MORE >>
What About A Utility-Only Bill?
There are all sorts of rumors swirling around right now about what might be in the energy bill the Senate is planning to take up next month. The most recent involves a carbon cap that would only apply to electric utilities while leaving the rest of the economy uncapped. Would this be an acceptable compromise? Here's Dave Roberts: READ MORE >>
It's hard to disagree with Ezra Klein about this, in reaction to Obama's oil-spill address last night: READ MORE >>
Obama's Real Energy Plan
Dave Roberts at Grist thinks that President Obama's environmental proposals, while falling short of a demand for cap-and-trade (which he'll lose) do have some substance to them: As it happens, most of the energy options on the table are mediocre-to-terrible (mainly Bingaman's bill and Lugar's bill). That side of the bill badly needs strengthening in three key areas if it's to be a substantial step forward: READ MORE >>
Many Oil Bills Make Light Work
In his big press conference Thursday on the ongoing Gulf disaster, Obama finally decided to put the oil spill in the context of broader energy reform and spent a few brief seconds asking the Senate to pass climate legislation. It wasn't the most rousing plea ever, but at least it's a start. READ MORE >>
What The Senate Climate Bill Would Achieve
The Peterson Institute for International Economics has just put out a great assessment of the Senate climate bill, the American Power Act. Dave Roberts has a post over at Grist with lots of colorful graphs pulled from it, but I thought this drab little chart was maybe the most helpful of the bunch. READ MORE >>
The National Academies Take On Global Warming
Do we really need more sweeping scientific reports about global warming? At this point we've been deluged with studies and assessments and summaries and reviews, and anyone who's still deep in denial about the problem probably isn't going to be convinced by yet another fat volume of graphs and citations. READ MORE >>
