Elizabeth Kolbert, writing in the new issue of the New Yorker:
Since the midterm elections, Obama has barely mentioned climate change, and just about every decision that his Administration has made on energy and the environment has been wrong. In March, the Administration announced that it would be opening up new public lands in Wyoming for coal mining. In April, the White House delayed plans to impose stricter controls on the mining technique known as mountaintop removal. In May, the Administration put on hold rules aimed at cutting pollution from power plants at places like paper mills and refineries. Also in May, the President announced plans to increase domestic oil production by speeding up permits to drill off the coast of Alaska and in the Gulf of Mexico.
More: "Taking the steps that would reduce the risks of climate change is not going to be politically popular, which is why it is the President's obligation to press for them."
She doesn't really explain why, if, as she claims, climate change is responsible for hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and droughts, reducing the risk of them is going to be politically unpopular. It's also interesting that she links the Obama policy decisions to the midterm elections rather than to, say, $4 a gallon gasoline and a 9% unemployment rate.
