<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<rss version="2.0"
	xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/"
	xmlns:wfw="http://wellformedweb.org/CommentAPI/"
	xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/"
	xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom"
	xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/"
	xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/"
	xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:geo="http://www.w3.org/2003/01/geo/wgs84_pos#" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/"
	>

<channel>
	<title>SwamplandCategory: Environment &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
	<atom:link href="http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
	<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
	<description>Political insight from the Beltway and beyond</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 21 May 2013 08:40:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<language>en</language>
	<sy:updatePeriod>hourly</sy:updatePeriod>
	<sy:updateFrequency>1</sy:updateFrequency>
	<generator>http://wordpress.com/</generator>
<cloud domain='swampland.time.com' port='80' path='/?rsscloud=notify' registerProcedure='' protocol='http-post' />
<image>
		<url>http://1.gravatar.com/blavatar/11d9978cfec7d5a71822113fdc067df5?s=96&#038;d=http%3A%2F%2Fs2.wp.com%2Fi%2Fbuttonw-com.png</url>
		<title>SwamplandCategory: Environment &#124; Swampland &#124; TIME.com</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com</link>
	</image>
	<atom:link rel="search" type="application/opensearchdescription+xml" href="http://swampland.time.com/osd.xml" title="Swampland" />
	<atom:link rel='hub' href='http://swampland.time.com/?pushpress=hub'/>
		<item>
		<title>Pro-Obama Group Launches Attack On Republican &#8220;Climate Deniers&#8221;</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/20/obama-issues-group-launches-attack-on-republican-climate-deniers/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/20/obama-issues-group-launches-attack-on-republican-climate-deniers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 20 May 2013 17:13:17 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Zeke J Miller</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=96053</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Organizing For Action, the non-profit group formed out of the Obama campaign, has stepped up its efforts against Republican members of Congress who don&#8217;t believe in climate change. On Monday, the organization released a Twitter tool for supporters to &#8220;call out&#8221; their member of Congress as a &#8220;climate change denier,&#8221; with tweets like: &#8220;Rep. [John Doe] Stop denying the science of #climate change. It&#8217;s time for Congress to act.&#8221; Organizing for Action was formed in January by former campaign aides as an advocacy group to push President Barack Obama&#8217;s agenda with a focus on immigration reform, gun control, and climate change. &#8220;OFA listed climate change as a priority on our first day,&#8221; a spokesperson for the group told TIME. &#8220;We believe that real change is not going to happen unless you first get the conversation in washington on climate change to at least start with agreeing its a problem.&#8221; But the climate push is not tied to any specific legislation—because there is none in Congress—though it may be tied to the impending administration decision on whether to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport Canadian tar sands oil to the Gulf Coast. Strongly opposed by environmentalists, the pipeline has become a touchstone in the green community and a thorn in the side for the White House. Keystone politics followed Obama to a jobs event in Baltimore last week where the president of a company he was visiting to highlight manufacturing spoke out in support of the pipeline juts day earlier. Hundreds of pipeline opponents  protested in front of an Obama fundraiser in New York last week. But the Obama group has been silent on the issue, rebuffing calls to speak out against the pipeline in deference to Obama&#8217;s own silence waiting for the State Department to complete its review of the project. That decision is expected in the coming weeks, and if approved, Obama would be in the position of further angering a significant and vocal contingent of his liberal base. OFA has tried to skirt the controversy by focusing on the climate deniers, releasing a video last month highlighting lawmaker statements<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=96053&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/05/20/obama-issues-group-launches-attack-on-republican-climate-deniers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/rtr3dx98.jpg?w=147</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/rtr3dx98.jpg?w=147" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/rtr3dx98.jpg?w=147" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">A demonstrator carries a sign during a march against the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/b456c5209a547a000e0b869f3333aa77?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">zekemiller</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/screen-shot-2013-05-20-at-1-36-30-pm.png?w=539" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Screen Shot 2013-05-20 at 1.36.30 PM</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Feds Halt Funding for $361M Pipeline</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/21/feds-halt-funding-for-361m-pipeline/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/21/feds-halt-funding-for-361m-pipeline/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 21 Apr 2013 17:21:33 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>AP / Matt Volz</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=93579</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[(BOX ELDER, Mont.) — Federal officials temporarily stopped funding a $361 million water pipeline for a Native American reservation in Montana after learning that millions of project dollars were missing and a Chippewa Cree leader in charge of the project steered federal dollars to a company he owns. The tribe has since replaced the missing money, but federal funding for the pipeline won&#8217;t resume until tribal leaders show they have permanently fixed the problems, Bureau of Reclamation regional director Michael J. Ryan said. &#8220;While we commend the tribe for restoring the funds soon after the shortage and for self-reporting the issue, this reallocation of funds without consultation is a serious non-compliance matter with potentially long-lasting implications,&#8221; Ryan said in a March 18 letter obtained by The Associated Press. Pipeline funding is controlled by the Bureau of Reclamation, which is part of the Interior Department. Bureau spokesman Tyler Johnson confirmed that the agency&#8217;s inspector general is conducting an investigation, but Johnson declined to provide details. The irregularities are among several alleged corruption issues on the Rocky Boy&#8217;s reservation in northern Montana, said Kenneth Blatt St. Marks, a former tribal chairman. Marks said he reported the missing pipeline funds to the Bureau of Reclamation and that he is cooperating with the inspector general and with federal prosecutors in an investigation into alleged corruption on the reservation. &#8220;There&#8217;s millions and millions and millions of dollars missing here,&#8221; claimed St. Marks, whom Ryan also identified as having a potential conflict of interest in the pipeline project. &#8220;This reservation is upside down.&#8221; Calls to tribal officials were referred to attorney Dan Belcourt, who said he was not authorized by acting tribal chairman Richard Morsette to comment on the pipeline project or St. Marks&#8217; allegations. Belcourt released a brief statement Saturday on behalf of tribal leaders that said they are &#8220;actively working with BOR on the issues raised in that letter.&#8221; &#8220;The tribe and BOR share a common goal of seeing the Rocky Boy&#8217;s/North Central Montana Regional Water System project through to completion,&#8221; the statement said.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=93579&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/21/feds-halt-funding-for-361m-pipeline/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tribal-water-missing-_yang.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tribal-water-missing-_yang.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/tribal-water-missing-_yang.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TRIBAL WATER-MISSING CASH</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://0.gravatar.com/avatar/cbef58d71daefb9ddab6c6b20018290c?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F0.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">timeassociatedpress</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>White House: Keystone XL Pipeline Not A Climate Change Cure</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/16/white-house-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-a-climate-change-cure/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/16/white-house-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-a-climate-change-cure/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 16 Mar 2013 09:45:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Scherer</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=90607</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE Barack Obama has seen protesters from his motorcade for years: McCain and Romney campaign supporters, health care reform opponents and all manner of Tea Party acolytes. But when he left Argonne National Laboratory in a cold rain outside Chicago on Friday, there was another breed altogether: environmentalists bearing bright hand-painted signs with messages like, “No XL Pipeline.” In a matter of months, the Obama Administration will have to decide whether to permit the Keystone XL pipeline, a 2,000 mile conduit for Canadian oil seeking ports on the Gulf of Mexico. Environmentalists have made stopping the pipeline their number one priority, saying it will encourage the development of a particularly dirty type of oil at a time when America should be leading the world in reducing greenhouse gases. White House aides are clearly uncomfortable with the current campaign from their left, a fact that quickly became clear on the flight to Chicago. “Thousands of miles of pipeline have been built since President Obama took office, and that hasn’t had a measurable impact on climate change,” said Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest, on board Air Force One. “The truth is what we need to do is take an all of the above approach.” When I asked if he was saying that further green energy investment was more important to fighting climate change than stopping the new pipeline, he did not hesitate. “There is no question about that,” he said. White House officials say no final decision has been made about the fate of the pipeline, but for environmentalists reading the tea leaves, such rhetoric is not a positive sign. Repeatedly in recent weeks, Obama’s aides have tried to distance the President from the process. “When there is a decision that is ready to be announced by the State Department, they will go ahead and make that announcement,” said Earnest. Notably, when Obama rejected a previous plan for the pipeline during the election year, he said his concern was focused only on the rushed permit process. “This announcement is<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=90607&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/03/16/white-house-keystone-xl-pipeline-not-a-climate-change-cure/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/obama-air-force-one.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/obama-air-force-one.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/obama-air-force-one.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">President Obama Air Force One</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/a467a0981ef8e059913a0aa44ba7df1b?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelscherer</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama Nominates a Fighter and an Engineer at the EPA and the Energy Department</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/03/04/obama-nominates-a-fighter-and-an-engineer-at-the-epa-and-the-energy-department/</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/03/04/obama-nominates-a-fighter-and-an-engineer-at-the-epa-and-the-energy-department/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 18:41:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89589</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89589&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/03/04/obama-nominates-a-fighter-and-an-engineer-at-the-epa-and-the-energy-department/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/epa-energy-omb.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/epa-energy-omb.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/epa-energy-omb.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">U.S. President Barack Obama nominates three new members of his staff in Washington</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>State Dept: Build the Keystone Pipeline or Not, the Oil Sands Crude Will Flow</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/03/01/state-dept-build-the-keystone-pipeline-or-not-the-oil-sands-crude-will-flow/?iid=sci-main-lead</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/03/01/state-dept-build-the-keystone-pipeline-or-not-the-oil-sands-crude-will-flow/?iid=sci-main-lead#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 04 Mar 2013 15:16:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89573</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[&#160; &#160;<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89573&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/03/01/state-dept-build-the-keystone-pipeline-or-not-the-oil-sands-crude-will-flow/?iid=sci-main-lead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/161625776-1.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/161625776-1.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/161625776-1.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Keystone Pipeline Protest</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>I&#8217;m with the Tree Huggers</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/28/im-with-the-tree-huggers/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/28/im-with-the-tree-huggers/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 28 Feb 2013 10:45:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Magazine]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Viewpoint]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=89188</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The activists fighting the Keystone XL pipeline are radical-and right The respectable center has recognized that climate change is not only real and man-made but also a genuine emergency. The scientific evidence has become too stark to indulge denial or dithering. The earth is hotter; Arctic ice is melting at a terrifying rate; staid institutions like reinsurers and the CIA are sounding dire warnings about rising seas and extreme droughts. There&#8217;s an emerging consensus that fossil fuel apologists are on the wrong side of the battle of the century. But there&#8217;s also an emerging consensus-among newspaper editorial boards, respectable-centrist pundits, even the magazine Nature- that the rabble-rousing activists who have tied themselves to the White House gate and clamored for President Obama to reject the Keystone XL pipeline are picking the wrong fight. Stopping Keystone, these critics point out, wouldn&#8217;t prevent catastrophic warming. It might not even prevent the extraction from Canada&#8217;s dirty tar sands. It wouldn&#8217;t cut emissions as much as new coal regulations or clean-energy subsidies or carbon pricing. Meanwhile, approving the pipeline would create jobs and reduce our dependence on petro-dictators while signaling that Obama isn&#8217;t as radical as the tree huggers protesting outside his house. TIME Graphic Well, I&#8217;m with the tree huggers. The pipeline isn&#8217;t the worst threat to the climate, but it&#8217;s a threat. Keystone isn&#8217;t the best fight to have over fossil fuels, but it&#8217;s the fight we&#8217;re having. Now is the time to choose sides. It&#8217;s always easy to quibble with the politics of radical protest: Did ACT UP need to be so obnoxious? Didn&#8217;t the tax evasion optics of the Boston Tea Party muddle the anti-imperial message? But if we&#8217;re in a war to stop global warming &#8212; a war TIME declared on a green-bordered cover five years ago &#8212; then we need to fight it on the beaches, the landing zones and the carbon-spewing tar sands of Alberta. If we&#8217;re serious about reducing atmospheric carbon below 350 parts per million, we need to start leaving some carbon in the ground.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=89188&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/28/im-with-the-tree-huggers/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Magazine</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/magazine/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-2.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-2.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/keystone-xl-pipeline-2.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Keystone XL Pipeline</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/picture-110.png" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Keystone XL Pipeline</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/keystone-xl-pipeline.jpg?w=753" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Keystone XL Pipeline protester</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Can An Outdoorsy CEO Manage the Interior Department’s Split Personality?</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/02/07/can-an-outdoorsy-ceo-manage-the-interior-departments-split-personality/?iid=sci-main-lead</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/02/07/can-an-outdoorsy-ceo-manage-the-interior-departments-split-personality/?iid=sci-main-lead#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:48:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=87537</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=87537&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/02/07/can-an-outdoorsy-ceo-manage-the-interior-departments-split-personality/?iid=sci-main-lead/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/sally-jewell.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/sally-jewell.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/sally-jewell.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Obama announces the nomination of Sally Jewell, CEO of Recreational Equipment Inc., to Interior Secretary at the White House in Washington</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Outgoing Energy Secretary Steven Chu’s Parting Warning on Warming</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/02/01/outgoing-energy-secretary-steven-chus-parting-warning-on-warming/</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/02/01/outgoing-energy-secretary-steven-chus-parting-warning-on-warming/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 02 Feb 2013 14:48:58 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=86965</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=86965&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/02/01/outgoing-energy-secretary-steven-chus-parting-warning-on-warming/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/12308200-jpeg.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/12308200-jpeg.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/12308200-jpeg.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">12308200-jpeg</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>On Climate Change, Obama Talks and California Acts</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/01/29/obama-talks-climate-change-california-is-acting-on-it/</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/01/29/obama-talks-climate-change-california-is-acting-on-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 29 Jan 2013 18:01:55 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=86442</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=86442&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/01/29/obama-talks-climate-change-california-is-acting-on-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/152853130.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/152853130.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/152853130.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Views Of A ConocoPhillips Refinery</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Obama Talked Climate Change in His Inaugural Address. Now Can He Do Something About It?</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/01/22/obama-talked-climate-change-in-his-inaugural-address-now-can-he-do-something-about-it/</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/01/22/obama-talked-climate-change-in-his-inaugural-address-now-can-he-do-something-about-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 22 Jan 2013 19:35:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=85913</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=85913&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/01/22/obama-talked-climate-change-in-his-inaugural-address-now-can-he-do-something-about-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>2012 Was the Hottest Year in U.S. History. And Yes — It’s Climate Change</title>
		<link>http://science.time.com/2013/01/08/2012-was-the-hottest-year-in-u-s-history-and-yes-its-climate-change/</link>
		<comments>http://science.time.com/2013/01/08/2012-was-the-hottest-year-in-u-s-history-and-yes-its-climate-change/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2013 15:12:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=84495</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=84495&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://science.time.com/2013/01/08/2012-was-the-hottest-year-in-u-s-history-and-yes-its-climate-change/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/11.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/11.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/08/11.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Political Photos of the Week</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/509f545dfcf07266c1eb847a42170416?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F2.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">drogers1271</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Nobody Mentions Climate Change. But Somebody Did Something About It.</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/22/nobody-mentions-climate-change-but-somebody-did-something-about-it/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/22/nobody-mentions-climate-change-but-somebody-did-something-about-it/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 22 Oct 2012 17:09:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=80651</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I constantly whine about the Beltway media, and I believe global warming is the most important issue facing humanity. So I was infuriated but not surprised to hear Candy Crowley explain after the last debate that she considered a question for “you climate change people,” but ditched it because “we knew the economy was still the main thing.” Actually, the technical term for people affected by climate change is “people.” It’s already an economic issue—drought is overwhelming the middle of the country—and, memo to Bob Scheiffer, it’s a foreign policy issue, too. But unless Schlieffer asks about it tonight in Boca, this will probably be the first election since 1984 that climate change doesn’t come up in a debate, and the candidates certainly haven’t been raising the issue themselves. “Climate Silence” has become a meme in recent months, alongside photos of President Obama and Mitt Romney with duct tape over their mouths. Activists held a Climate Silence rally last week in ankle-deep water at a Whole Foods just a few blocks from my home in Miami Beach, where rising sea levels are forcing salt water from Biscayne Bay into our streets at high tide. It’s certainly annoying to hear the candidates argue about who would burn more coal in Ohio and Virginia, and who would be more friendly to oil and gas drilling on public lands. In 2008, Obama talked a lot about climate change on the campaign trail; I remember him warning in New Hampshire that global warming could wipe out the ski industry. John McCain talked about the issue, too. It’s bizarre that after four more years of record-breaking temperatures, not to mention (because the candidates don’t) the BP spill and the Massey mine disaster, Obama and Romney are bragging about their friendliness to fossil fuels. I’ll have more to say about this after the debate. But while it’s absolutely fair to complain that Obama doesn’t talk about climate change anymore, except at rallies when he’s firing up his liberal base, it’s also worth noting that he’s probably done more to<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=80651&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2012/10/22/nobody-mentions-climate-change-but-somebody-did-something-about-it/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_climate_change.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_climate_change.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/600_climate_change.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN-OBAMA</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Hey, Aaron Sorkin: Your Lame Show Got the BP Spill Backward</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/26/hey-aaron-sorkin-your-lame-show-got-the-bp-spill-backwards/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/26/hey-aaron-sorkin-your-lame-show-got-the-bp-spill-backwards/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Jun 2012 15:16:11 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=73058</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Like a knight with my banners now bravely unfurled, I hurl down my gauntlet to thee, Aaron Sorkin, and your preposterous, sanctimonious, Man of La Mancha–quoting HBO drama Newsroom. And I basically agree with the show’s basic critique of dumbed-down, he-said-she-said, eyeball-driven journalism! I just hated the pedantic lectures disguised as rat-a-tat-tat dialogue in the first episode, and our awesome Jim Poniewozik says the coming episodes are even worse. I don’t have much to add to Jim’s TV criticism, but I want to gripe about Sorkin’s first example for his journalism-bashing thesis, the BP spill. He seems to think it was the ultimate undercovered story. It was actually an overcovered story. I got torched as an antienvironmental BP shill when I first reported that leading coastal scientists thought the spill’s ecological impact had been exaggerated, so let me clarify what I’m saying. The Deepwater Horizon explosion was obviously a tragedy for the 11 men who were killed on the rig. It was clearly an economic disaster for coastal Louisiana. And oil isn’t a recommended additive to marine environments. Spilling 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico was bound to affect the ecosystem, and not in a good way. Pelicans aren’t supposed to wear black. But contrary to Sorkin&#8217;s fantasy, it wasn’t just brave speak-truth-to-power rabble rousers who instantly declared the BP spill the Worst Ecological Disaster in History. It was the entire media herd. It was a dramatic story, with a fiery explosion, telegenic oiled wildlife, corporate flacks who couldn’t get their story straight and a mesmerizing gusher that nobody could figure out how to plug. I probably would have hyped it too, if I hadn’t been home at the time with a newborn baby. When I finally got sent to the Gulf a few months later, though, there just wasn’t any evidence of ecological havoc. There were some oiled birds, but less than 1% of the number killed by the Exxon Valdez, and only three oiled mammals. And the spill had done almost nothing to accelerate<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=73058&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2012/06/26/hey-aaron-sorkin-your-lame-show-got-the-bp-spill-backwards/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Media</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/miscellany/media/</primary_category_link><featured_image>http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/146624075.jpg?w=200</featured_image>
		<media:thumbnail url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/146624075.jpg?w=200" />
		<media:content url="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/146624075.jpg?w=200" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">HBO&#039;s &#34;The Newsroom&#34;</media:title>
		</media:content>

		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Climate Rules: Why Natural Gas Will Be the Big Winner in New Greenhouse Gas Regulations</title>
		<link>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/03/27/climate-rules-why-natural-gas-will-be-the-big-winner-in-new-greenhouse-gas-regulations/</link>
		<comments>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/03/27/climate-rules-why-natural-gas-will-be-the-big-winner-in-new-greenhouse-gas-regulations/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 27 Mar 2012 18:21:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=68307</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Ever since comprehensive climate legislation died of neglect in the U.S. Senate in 2010, environmentalists have looked to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to step in and save the day. According to the Supreme Court, the agency has the power—and the responsibility—to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act if the EPA decided climate change posed a threat to public health, which it did under the Obama Administration. Direct greenhouse gas regulations were always considered a second-best route to curb climate change, and one the White House was loath to pursue given the political ramifications among conservatives, but once cap-and-trade legislation died, it was just a matter of time.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=68307&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2012/03/27/climate-rules-why-natural-gas-will-be-the-big-winner-in-new-greenhouse-gas-regulations/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>The Science Is Dire on Carbon Emissions. The Politics Are Worse.</title>
		<link>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/12/05/the-science-is-bad-on-carbon-emissions-the-politics-are-worse/</link>
		<comments>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/12/05/the-science-is-bad-on-carbon-emissions-the-politics-are-worse/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:24:22 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Bryan Walsh</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=60864</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[However you slice it, the scientific news has not been good on the pace of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. The weekend saw a pair of new studies that confirmed the fact that—far from curbing greenhouse gas emissions—we&#8217;re warming the atmosphere faster than ever, even as the slow-moving U.N. climate talks underway now at Durban underscores how difficultthe political challenge of cutting carbon emissions is proving to be. The first study—by scientists with the Global Carbon Project and published in the journal Nature Climate Change—tracked carbon emissions over the past few years, and found that emissions from burning fossil fuels jumped by a record 5.9% in 2010, hitting 10 billion tons last year. The second study—published in the journal Nature Geoscience—estimates that three-quarters of the warming that&#8217;s been experienced since 1950 can be traced to human activities. Just in case there was any doubt—and there should be little now—we&#8217;re warming up the planet, and we&#8217;re doing it at an accelerated rate.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=60864&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2011/12/05/the-science-is-bad-on-carbon-emissions-the-politics-are-worse/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/44310a1af940f994952d1e4db73096cd?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">TIME.com</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Gas Guzzlers Be Gone: Obama Makes a Big Deal with the Big Three</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/29/gas-guzzlers-be-gone-obama-makes-a-big-deal-with-the-big-three/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/29/gas-guzzlers-be-gone-obama-makes-a-big-deal-with-the-big-three/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 29 Jul 2011 13:00:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=53263</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[It’s always nice when political antagonists stop running nasty ads and work out a reasonable compromise. No, no, the insane debt-limit debate continues in Washington. But the insane gas-guzzler debate is over. On Friday, President Obama will announce a near-doubling of fuel efficiency standards for cars and light trucks, and the Big Three automakers &#8212; GM, Ford and Chrysler &#8212; will support it. It&#8217;s a big victory in the fight to reduce our foreign oil addiction, our carbon emissions, and our gasoline costs—and while Obama had sought a slightly bigger victory, the modest concessions he made to the automakers were a small price to pay to avoid a nasty fight in a dysfunctional Congress. The final deal will require vehicle fleets to average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025, which will reduce fuel consumption by 40% and carbon emissions by 50%. That is real change. Before Obama took office, fuel-efficiency standards hadn’t really budged since the Reagan era; now he’s ratcheted them up twice. Yes, environmentalists had pushed for 60 m.p.g.  And the White House had floated a compromise of 56.2. But 54.5 is pretty close, considering that last year’s standards were only 28.3. And the carve-out that the White House agreed to for pickup trucks sounds reasonable; pickups are often used to pick up heavy stuff. SUVs, despite their cheetah guards and rugged Dakota/Yukon/Expedition-style branding, are generally used to pick up the kids at soccer practice. It&#8217;s not as if Obama would have been able to get a better deal in the Republican-controlled House, or even a Senate with two Democrats from Michigan. Obama was right to cut a deal with the Big Three, along with Honda and Hyundai, up front. Every U.S. President since Nixon has talked about ending our dependence on Middle East oil, but these standards represent the most significant effort to do something about it in a long time. If I wanted to be churlish, I might point out that the same auto industry that ran attack ads about how 56.2 would destroy their businesses and force everyone<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=53263&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/29/gas-guzzlers-be-gone-obama-makes-a-big-deal-with-the-big-three/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Al Gore Attacks President Obama for Failing to Do Al Gore&#8217;s Job</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/23/al-gore-attacks-president-obama-for-failing-to-do-al-gores-job/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/23/al-gore-attacks-president-obama-for-failing-to-do-al-gores-job/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 23 Jun 2011 12:56:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[al gore]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Barack Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[climate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Global Warming]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[green energy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[stimulus]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=50820</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Al Gore takes some shots at President Obama in a new Rolling Stone essay, grumbling that he has “thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change.” Wait: Isn’t that Al Gore’s job? The president’s job is the action, not the case-making. And while I don’t plan to spend all my time defending him against unfair attacks from the left, his actions on climate have been a lot bolder than Gore suggests. At some level, Gore seems to understand this. The thrust of his essay is about climate denialism and an entertainment-obsessed media that’s more interested in “building the audience” than telling the truth; the swipes at Obama are afterthoughts near the end. And Gore balances his criticism with enough caveats to plug the hole in the ozone layer. He catalogues all the “incredible challenges” Obama faced: the Bush legacy of the Great Recession and the debt, Republican obstructionism, fossil-fuel industry control of most of the GOP and some Democrats, and a well-financed campaign of climate denial. “In spite of these obstacles,” Gore acknowledges,” “President Obama included significant climate-friendly initiatives in [his] economic stimulus package….He implemented historic improvements in fuel-efficiency standards for automobiles…He appointed many excellent men and women to key positions, and they, in turn, have made hundreds of changes in environmental and energy policy that have helped move the country forward slightly on the climate issue.” Significant! Historic! Excellent! Those are pretty good blurbs. So what did Obama do wrong? Other than failing to do Gore’s job for him? Well, there’s this: “After successfully passing his green stimulus package, he did nothing to defend it when Congress decimated its funding.” This is…how to put this gently?&#8230;a crock. Obama secured $90 billion worth of clean-energy funding in the stimulus, and Congress has not decimated it. I follow the stimulus with a stalkerish obsession&#8211;are there support groups for this kind of compulsion? &#8211;and I can only recall $3.5 billion in green funding getting eliminated. It was actually shifted out of a loan guarantee program for<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=50820&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/06/23/al-gore-attacks-president-obama-for-failing-to-do-al-gores-job/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Blowing Up Birds Point: The Army Corps of Engineers Gets One Right</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/blowing-up-birds-point-the-army-corps-of-engineers-gets-one-right/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/blowing-up-birds-point-the-army-corps-of-engineers-gets-one-right/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 03 May 2011 02:20:47 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Michael Grunwald</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.time.com/?p=46994</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I have an unhealthy obsession with the ecologically destructive boondoggles of the Army Corps of Engineers, the dysfunctional water resources agency that drowned New Orleans. And one of the most ludicrous Corps projects is located in Missouri&#8217;s soggy southeastern bootheel, right where the agency dynamited a Mississippi River levee Monday that will flood 130,000 acres of farmland. But I&#8217;m not going to use this opportunity to re-trash the project. Yet. First, I&#8217;m going to give the Corps some props. It&#8217;s going to take a lot of flak for its controversial decision to blow up the Birds Point levee, but it&#8217;s doing the right thing. And it&#8217;s redeeming some ugly history. Nobody likes to flood farmland on purpose, but this particular farmland is in a floodway. After the catastrophic flood of 1927, when the swollen Mississippi River had no room to spread out, Congress designated this sparsely inhabited area to be sacrificed in case the river ever rose that high again.  The idea was to keep the river from overwhelming the levees protecting the population of Cairo, Ill. Well, the &#8220;project flood&#8221; is here.  It&#8217;s been here for several days, but the handful of predominantly white and well-off landowners around Bird Point and their allies in Missouri politics persuaded the Corps to hold off for a while, and filed lawsuits to try to force the Corps to back off. Meanwhile, the 3,000 predominantly black and poor residents of Cairo have been waiting in fear. But now the Corps has acted to save them. I suppose the Corps shouldn&#8217;t get too much credit for doing its job; it may even be too late to save Cairo&#8217;s levees. But when the river rose in 1927, as my friend John Barry chronicled in his brilliant history Rising Tide, the Corps blew up a levee and drowned poor black communities in order to save the property of rich whites. So this is a welcome reversal. That said, before this flood, the Corps was still pushing ahead with its preposterous St. John&#8217;s Bayou-New Madrid Floodway project, which would<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=46994&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/05/02/blowing-up-birds-point-the-army-corps-of-engineers-gets-one-right/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/ddcaf430de0f1a59f27cc4ad614221d9?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">michaelgrunwald</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>How the Feds Are Reacting to Fukushima</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/07/how-the-feds-are-reacting-to-fukushima/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/07/how-the-feds-are-reacting-to-fukushima/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:03:29 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Benjamin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.blogs.time.com/?p=44199</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Stark similarities between the stricken nuclear plant in Japan and dozens of sites in the United States continue to emerge, suggesting that under similar drastic scenarios, the United States might face the same kind of disaster. It&#8217;s unclear what the Nuclear Regulatory Commission or Congress are prepared to do about it, but they do have the power to force the industry to implement new, costly safety measures. A simulation by the NRC conducted last November showed that given a two-day power failure, the Peach Bottom plant in Lancaster, Pa. would come shockingly close to a reactor meltdown. Democrats on the House Energy and Commerce Committee released the model Wednesday. The plant is 40 miles away from Baltimore. &#8220;The Peach Bottom plant came within one hour of core damage in a severe loss-of-power scenario,&#8221; Committee Ranking Member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) said yesterday. &#8220;That result raises questions about whether our reactors may be as vulnerable as those in Fukushima,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Congress should be asking tough questions.&#8221; There are 35 so-called &#8220;boiling water&#8221; reactors operating in the United States similar to those under duress in Japan. Of those, 23 are virtually identical to those in Japan, though the industry says that additional safety precautions implemented domestically after 9-11 make U.S. plants safer. Those measures were taken into account in the NRC simulation at the Peach Bottom plant. The NRC is currently conducting a 90-day review of U.S. nuclear reactors in the wake of the disaster in Japan. Critics have long argued that the commission is too close to the industry it regulates and sometimes eschews costly or burdensome regulation. Meanwhile, Democrats and Republicans in Congress seem divided on how to respond. While Waxman says Congress should take a hard look at safety at U.S. plants, some Republicans have expressed concern that reflexive overreaction to the events in Japan could stifle the industry, which generates 20% of electricity in the U.S.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=44199&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/04/07/how-the-feds-are-reacting-to-fukushima/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>9</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7666b70a5b0305bd59953f5bca02cce5?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Adam Sorensen</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Energy Secretary: Obama Still Wants New Nuclear Plants</title>
		<link>http://swampland.time.com/2011/03/16/energy-secretary-obama-still-wants-new-nuclear-plants/</link>
		<comments>http://swampland.time.com/2011/03/16/energy-secretary-obama-still-wants-new-nuclear-plants/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Wed, 16 Mar 2011 15:32:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Mark Benjamin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Environment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://swampland.blogs.time.com/?p=42527</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Energy Secretary Steven Chu told Congress Wednesday that the Obama administration remains committed to building new nuclear power plants in the United States, despite the unfolding nuclear debacle unfolding in Japan. Texas Republican Rep. Joe Barton pressed Chu on the new plants during a hearing of the Energy and Commerce Committee. Chu noted that the president’s budget calls for loan guarantees for new nuclear plants. “That position has not been changed,” Chu responded. “Is that a yes?” Barton pressed about support for new nuclear plants. “That is a yes,” Chu responded. Chu quickly also said that the Energy Department would carefully review the events in Japan and apply safety lessons to existing and future nuclear plants. “We are going to look at what went wrong with this double-barreled whammy,” Chu said about the earthquake followed by the massive tsunami in Japan. The president’s current budget requests $36 billion for loan guarantees for construction of new nuclear reactors. Around 20 percent of U.S. electricity is currently generated by nuclear power, which produces almost no greenhouse gases.<img alt="" border="0" src="http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=swampland.time.com&#038;blog=5284847&#038;post=42527&#038;subd=timeswampland&#038;ref=&#038;feed=1" width="1" height="1" />]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://swampland.time.com/2011/03/16/energy-secretary-obama-still-wants-new-nuclear-plants/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>65</slash:comments>
	<primary_category>Environment</primary_category><primary_category_link>http://swampland.time.com/category/domestic-policy-2/environment-domestic-policy/</primary_category_link>
		<media:content url="http://1.gravatar.com/avatar/7666b70a5b0305bd59953f5bca02cce5?s=96&#38;d=http%3A%2F%2F1.gravatar.com%2Favatar%2Fad516503a11cd5ca435acc9bb6523536%3Fs%3D96&#38;r=G" medium="image">
			<media:title type="html">Adam Sorensen</media:title>
		</media:content>
	</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
