Ben Adler at Grist writes
What can a president do to boost renewable energy? A lot:
When Hillary Clinton was asked in July whether she would ban fossil fuel extraction on public lands, she said, “not until we’ve got the alternatives in place.”
That may sound reasonable. If we do not have sufficient renewable energy generation capacity (and enough energy efficiency), then we cannot limit our production of fossil fuels, right? But she’s missing a key element here: Limiting the supply of fossil fuels is actually the route to expanded renewable deployment, since driving up the price of fossil fuels shifts consumers towards renewables. This is the economic rationale for cap-and-trade and carbon-tax systems.
And Clinton’s answer was inappropriately passive for another reason: If she actually got the job she’s campaigning for, she would have the power to do a lot to build up renewable capacity — even without cooperation from Congress. [..]
A recent report by the Center for American Progress (CAP) found that solar, wind, and geothermal projects on federal land provide a better deal for taxpayers than fossil fuel leasing, as well as greater transparency and less negative environmental impact. Clinton vaguely nodded at this in July when she released her renewable energy platform, which promised to “expand renewable energy on public lands, federal buildings, and federally-funded infrastructure.” But it provided no specifics as to how.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2003—US tells UN to screw off, but give us money and troops first:
I can't be too surprised about this, but it's still shocking:
The United States went to the United Nations Wednesday to seek help with troops and money for Iraq, but said it would not give up command of military operations or its dominant role in the country. |
Translation: Give us your money and blood, but Halliburton is still in charge.
Germany is unlikely to be swayed, as they want the UN to take control of the operations. And France wants a hard deadline for ending the occupation (which to be honest is a silly requirement). Russia seems to be sitting back enjoying the castration of the might US military.
We suddenly don't look so tough anymore, huh?
Tweet of the Day
On
today's Kagro in the Morning show,
David Waldman strolls in, thinking there’s nothing interesting to talk about. Wrong! Trump understands Gop all too well. Priebus wins peace in our time. Trump gets Mitt’s attention, who knows that only he may be able to stop him. Jeb! hopes this will end up good news for him. Or, is September Carson's month?
Greg Dworkin credits Cotton & Bibi for securing Iran Deal. Dumbest guy on earth & the article most likely to be mistaken for satire. Employee violates "no shooting in the office" policy. KY Clerk has been planning on not doing her job for a while. What the court could do. David returns to Teflon & C8, the surfactant that all of us have in us forever.
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