Environmental Politics

"Democrats want their national convention in Charlotte, N.C., to have a big effect on the 2012 election and a small footprint on the planet."

"Over the past four years, the Republican Party has undergone a fairly dramatic shift in its approach to energy and environmental issues. Global warming has disappeared entirely from the party’s list of concerns. Clean energy has become an afterthought. Fossil fuels loom larger than ever. And one way to see this shift clearly is to compare the party’s 2008 and 2012 platforms."

"The G.O.P. platform approved Tuesday in Florida included tough language on many expected issues like abortion, but also takes a stand on an issue that has historically been out of the party’s mainstream: Agenda 21."

"When GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney visited an Ohio coal mine this month to promote jobs in the coal industry, workers who appeared with him at the rally lost pay because their mine was shut down."

"A crusading oil patch lawyer calls the American refinery industry an 'under-regulated cesspool.' A member of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board is more polite, describing a mismatch between well-heeled oil companies and under-qualified government regulators."

"California legislators are poised to vote this week on a pair of bills that would help renters and low-income communities go solar. But the bills have encountered stiff resistance from some utility companies, which call them unnecessary and expensive."

"TAMPA, Fla. -- 'Drill, baby, drill!' is over the hill. Four years ago, the slogan was chanted during the Republican convention and strengthened into a resounding chorus by the November election. Since then, the economy tanked, Sarah Palin lost her luster and the worst spill in the nation's history fouled the Gulf of Mexico."