Energy and the Environment

Despite some eleventh-hour heroics by environmentalists, the Republican Congress has been offering lots of goodies to industry polluters — thanks largely to the corporate lobbyists who wrote much of the legislation.

How corporate developers have used grassroots organizing to disguise their attack on environmental protection — and how activists in one state stopped them.

Less developed countries are spewing dangerous emissions that will lead to global warming. But it will take money to change that–money that the wealthier, more developed nations are reluctant to spend.

It used to be that leaving states to their own devices meant rampant pollution, as each state relaxed regulation standards to attract business. No longer.

The sky isn’t falling. But it is filling—and emission rights are worth millions. Will we give those rights away, or use them to create a new source of public wealth?

Strip mining is carving up broad swaths of West Virginia’s hillsides and valleys. Are we willing to pay higher energy prices to stop it?