Spotlight on green news & views: Paris talkers ponder 1.5° target; Sanders unveils climate plan

For the story of this monarch caterpillar at lunch, see tharu1’s post here:

OUTSTANDING GREEN STORIES 

Politico: Democrats might give Big Oil a big win in Congress by Justin Mikulka: “As today’s Politico headline makes clear, Democrats are poised this week to grant the oil industry its number one wish — lifting the oil export ban. The fact that they most likely will vote to pass this the same week as the COP21 talks are concluding does make it seem like in DC they are all talk and no action when it comes to caring about the climate over Big Oil. The big win in question would be a vote to lift the oil export ban. This has been a goal of the oil industry for the past several years and is the stated top priority of the American Petroleum Institute. As Kenneth Cohen, Exxon Mobil’s recently retired vice president for public and governmental affairs, told the New York Times in October—‘The sooner this happens, the better for us.’ ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance said lifting the export ban is ‘number one on my wish list.’ The oil companies want to lift the ban so that they can frack every last bit of American oil and sell it to countries like China who are going to need a lot more oil in the next couple of decades while most predictions have American oil demand staying flat or decreasing.”

Democrats Ignoring Climate Implications of Lifting Oil Export Ban written by Justin Mikulka: “Jason Bordoff wants to lift the oil export ban and has been actively working on this for the past two years. Which is odd if you believe that President Obama is against lifting the ban as the White House claims. Prior to Bordoff’s work to lift the oil export ban at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy (CGEP), he was special assistant to President Obama and senior director for energy and climate change. So why is Obama’s former senior director on climate change pushing a policy that will greatly increase fracking in America as well as global oil consumption for decades? The carbon and methane pollution consequences of this for climate change are plainly obvious. Perhaps Bordoff had a change of heart since leaving the administration? If so he has plenty of company. For the past two years, many former Obama administration officials have joined Republicans in calling for a lifting of the export ban. Lawrence Summers, former Obama treasury secretary gave a talk at the oil industry-funded Brookings Institute in September 2014 arguing for lifting the ban, and he didn’t leave much room for debating the merits on the issue saying, ‘The merits are as clear as the merits with respect to any significant public policy issue that I have ever encountered.’”