Will Washington State Pass the Nation’s First Carbon Tax?
Downtown Seattle, with Mt. Rainier.kanonsky/iStock/Getty Last November, some environmentalists in Washington state went to the polls hoping voters would back an initiative creating the nation’s first tax on carbon pollution. Initiative 732 went down to defeat as the country’s attention focused on Donald Trump’s shocking electoral college win. But now, one year later and buoyed…
California Will Get Half its Energy From Renewables by 2020
California Coastline along State Road 1Robert Bohrer/Shutterstock The US fight against climate change hasn’t exactly made much progress recently. Just this week, for instance, the Trump administration spent its time at the UN conference on climate change in Bonn praising the benefits of coal. But there is actually one bit of good news. A report released Monday from the California Public Utilities Commission shows that the state will get half of its…
Guess Which Country Was AWOL at the UN Climate Conference?
Andy Kroll A door. That, more or less, is the extent of the United States government’s public presence at the 23rd United Nations climate change conference, hosted this year in Bonn, Germany. During the Obama years, the US dispatched scores of delegates to Copenhagen, Marrakech, Doha, and Lima for climate negotiations. They represented the country’s…
The Republican Tax Plan Is an Assault on Renewable Energy
Solar energy companies don’t fare much better. The House GOP plan would also repeal the Investment Tax Credit for big solar projects that start construction after 2027. House Republicans also propose eliminating the $7,500 credit for electric vehicle purchases, which analysts say “could cripple the emerging EV market.” Along with the proposed changed to the…
The Clinton-Uranium “Scandal” Is Right-Wing Nonsense. Here’s Everything You Need to Know.
Larry Marano/Rex Shutterstock/ZUMA You’ve likely heard by about the Uranium One story—a much-hyped Washington controversy promoted by conservatives, led by President Donald Trump, who are accusing Hillary Clinton of handing over US uranium to Russia as part of a pay-to-play scheme. At issue is the 2010 sale of a Canadian company called Uranium One, which had…
The United States and Syria Are All Alone When It Comes to the Paris Climate Agreement
Nicaraguan president Daniel Ortega and vice president Rosario MurilloJeffrey Arguedas/EFE/ZUMA On Monday, Nicaragua officially joined more than 190 countries in signing the Paris climate accord, according to a statement by the country’s vice president and first lady Rosario Murillo. “It is the only instrument we have in the world that allows the unity of intentions and…