 16 February 20
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16 February 20
David Rohde | Why Is William Barr Really Criticizing Donald Trump?
David Rohde, The New Yorker
Rohde writes: "With surprising ease, they have reversed half a century of precedent that was designed to curb corruption in the criminal-justice system, and earned the enmity of hundreds of former Justice Department officials and legal experts. Many of those officials were deeply skeptical of Barr's seeming rebuke of Trump in the ABC interview."
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David Rohde, The New Yorker
Rohde writes: "With surprising ease, they have reversed half a century of precedent that was designed to curb corruption in the criminal-justice system, and earned the enmity of hundreds of former Justice Department officials and legal experts. Many of those officials were deeply skeptical of Barr's seeming rebuke of Trump in the ABC interview."
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Bernie Sanders. (photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Bernie Sanders Is Leading the 2 Most Important States on Super Tuesday
Dylan Scott, Vox
Scott writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders now holds critical polling leads in the 2020 Democratic primary: New surveys show him ahead in California and Texas, the biggest prizes in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections on March 3."
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Dylan Scott, Vox
Scott writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders now holds critical polling leads in the 2020 Democratic primary: New surveys show him ahead in California and Texas, the biggest prizes in the upcoming Super Tuesday elections on March 3."
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US soldiers at a base in Iraq. Multiple rockets struck near the US embassy in Baghdad on 16 February. (photo: Ayman Henna/AFP/Getty Images)
Baghdad Explosions: Rockets Strike Near US Embassy in Iraq
Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Multiple rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's capital early on Sunday, an American military source said, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets in the country."
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Agence France-Presse
Excerpt: "Multiple rockets hit near the US embassy in Iraq's capital early on Sunday, an American military source said, the latest in a flurry of attacks against US assets in the country."
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Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook had been slow to understand the scale of foreign interference in elections. (photo: Philipp Guelland/EPA)
Mark Zuckerberg: Facebook Must Accept Some State Regulation
Patrick Wintour, Guardian UK
Wintour writes: "Facebook must accept some form of state regulation, acknowledging its status as a content provider somewhere between a newspaper and a telephone company, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said."
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Patrick Wintour, Guardian UK
Wintour writes: "Facebook must accept some form of state regulation, acknowledging its status as a content provider somewhere between a newspaper and a telephone company, its co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has said."
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Activists gather in Washington to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. (photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Senate Republicans Want to Protect Babies 'Born Alive' After an Abortion. That Doesn't Happen.
Carter Sherman, VICE
Sherman writes: "Abortion politics are, to put it lightly, contentious. But in the coming weeks, the Senate will vote on what may be their third rail: abortions that occur late in pregnancy."
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Carter Sherman, VICE
Sherman writes: "Abortion politics are, to put it lightly, contentious. But in the coming weeks, the Senate will vote on what may be their third rail: abortions that occur late in pregnancy."
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Volodymyr Zelensky. (photo: Anastasia Vlasova/Getty Images)
Zelensky to Trump: Stop Saying My Country Is Corrupt
Blake Montgomery, The Daily Beast
Montgomery writes: "Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that president Trump was wrong to call Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Speaking with CNN at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said that Trump's designation of Ukraine as the 'third-most corrupt country in the world' was 'not true.'"
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Blake Montgomery, The Daily Beast
Montgomery writes: "Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that president Trump was wrong to call Ukraine one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Speaking with CNN at the Munich Security Conference, Zelensky said that Trump's designation of Ukraine as the 'third-most corrupt country in the world' was 'not true.'"
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Despite the industry's claims, oil and gas are far from being clean. (photo: Kanenori/Pixabay/The Wilderness Society)
New Report Details Impacts of Oil and Gas Development on Public Lands
Carla Ruas, EcoWatch
Ruas writes: "The American Petroleum Institute has rolled out a multibillion-dollar public relations campaign stating that oil and gas can help to solve climate change. The association is claiming that expanding the use of fossil fuels can lower climate emissions that are trapping heat on our planet."
Carla Ruas, EcoWatch
Ruas writes: "The American Petroleum Institute has rolled out a multibillion-dollar public relations campaign stating that oil and gas can help to solve climate change. The association is claiming that expanding the use of fossil fuels can lower climate emissions that are trapping heat on our planet."
If that sounds fishy, it's because it is.
The campaign, which includes online ads, airport displays and billboards, credits oil and gas for the recent dip of 2.1 percent in the U.S. climate emissions. It also pushes the false narrative that fossil fuels — especially natural gas — are the energy sources of the future.
Our new report, The Climate Report 2020: Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Public Lands, shows that couldn't be farther from the truth.
While climate emissions went down slightly in 2018, the decline has more to do with the country's shift away from coal, a notoriously dirty energy source. And although the gap left by coal has been partially filled by oil and gas, to say dirty energy can stave off climate change is just plain wrong.
Our experts found that on public lands alone, oil and gas development is set to generate a massive amount of climate emissions. Federal lands leased to the industry in the last three years could produce as much as 5.9 billion metric tonnes of greenhouse gases. That's more than half the emissions that China — the world's largest emitter — releases per year.
You won't see that number in the industry's advertisements.
The problem is that oil and gas are far from being clean energy sources. Even the most efficient natural gas plant still emits about half of the carbon dioxide emitted by a coal plant. That's still high considering the world needs to slash carbon emissions to avoid the worst effects of the climate crisis, according to the United Nations
Federal lands leased in the last three years could generate half of China's annual climate emissions.
That's not all. The extraction of natural gas also releases methane, widely known as a climate change accelerant. The gas is released in smaller quantities than carbon dioxide, but it's 87 times more powerful in trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere.
It's clear that by investing in oil and natural gas instead of coal, we're just replacing one emissions problem with another.
It's also clear that oil and gas companies are not interested in solving climate change. For instance, methane leaks could be easily cut with cost-effective solutions. But the industry has done the opposite, spending heavily to block the passage of any regulations.
The Federal Government Has the Industry's Back
As fossil fuel companies attempt to rebrand themselves as "clean" to expand operations, the federal government has been giving them full support. So far, the Trump administration has offered 461 million acres of American public lands and waters for the development of oil and gas — an area technically bigger than the state of Alaska.
Catering public lands to fossil fuel extraction is highly irresponsible. They already contribute greatly to the climate change problem: Over 20 percent of total U.S. climate emissions come from oil, gas and coal extracted on those lands.
But from the very beginning, the Trump administration has managed public lands on behalf of corporate interests instead of the public. They have been offering sites to the industry at below-market rates and have purposely hidden the climate impact of fossil fuel developments.
As the world strives to solve the climate crisis, we seem to be going in the wrong direction. The results could be catastrophic — especially for lower-income and communities of color that are disproportionately impacted by extreme weather events including hurricanes, floods and wildfires.
The Real Solution: Healthy Lands
Instead of putting a band-aid on a bullet wound by investing in dirty energy to solve climate change, we need a long-term plan to reduce climate emissions.
We can start right here in our backyard: our shared public lands.
The federal government can easily reduce emissions stemming from public lands. They just have to reinstate limits on methane pollution, restrict the number of acres available for the oil and gas industry and charge a fair price for the land that is leased.
It gets better.
We can use this land to build responsible renewable energy projects such as wind turbines and solar panels. You know, the type that's actually clean. We can also foster natural carbon sinks—magical landscapes like the Tongass National Forest in Alaska that have the power to absorb carbon emissions. With this recipe, we can reach net-zero emissions on public lands and waters by 2030.
What's more, this approach is good for both the environment and people.
Less fossil fuel development on public lands will reduce air and visual pollution that so often burden local communities. Responsible renewable energy projects will put people to work. And healthy landscapes will strengthen climate resiliency for all and preserve our shared air, lands and waters.
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