Sen. Bernie Sanders has a new bill out to kill fossil fuel subsidies that come in the form of tax breaks for the oil and gas industry. Instead, Sanders would redirect those funds to generate 10 million solar roofs in America, which would create installation jobs and significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption.

The countries at the Durban climate conference made an agreement to make an agreement. I am skeptical they will make an agreement in 2015, which would not take effect until 2020. For the time being, the world will still operate under the auspices of the Kyoto protocol, which only covered industrialized nations, and to which the United States, one of the world’s biggest emitters, is not a signatory.

Recessions tend to depress economic productivity and reduce demand for electricity generation (a primary source of carbon emissions in the US and China). That results in less greenhouse gas emissions. But that brief reprieve on emissions has ended, according to the latest studies, accelerating the climate crisis.

As expected, the State Department essentially gave its environmental blessing to the Keystone XL pipeline today, which would stretch nearly 1,700 miles from Alberta, Canada to Texas, and which would deliver as much as 700,000 barrels of noxious tar sands oil every day. This is not a final approval on the project, but getting a favorable environmental impact study (EIS) is a necessary hurdle before final approval.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that global carbon emissions set a record in 2010, rebounding from the recession to exceed 2008 levels. The EPA found in April that US carbon emissions dipped in 2009, mirroring the rest of the world. But though the recession has recovered in 2010 slowly in the industrialized world, and economic output (which has followed carbon emissions, for obvious reasons) has not reached pre-recession levels, growth in emerging markets pushed emissions up. China and India accounted for most of the increase.

We’re hours away from a government shutdown because Republicans want to use their hatred of lady parts to extract maximum budget cuts. Apparently John Boehner agreed to drop that rider last night, if we’re to believe Harry Reid, but then Boehner sent a 4am email saying he couldn’t sell it to his caucus. He’s not really in control.

So the Republicans run and win a campaign in a treacherous economic environment, when people are desperate for something tangible to improve their situation in life. And the Republicans will start that new era by putting science on trial.

One area where a new GOP-heavy Congress would focus in the coming year is on the major agenda item that Democrats didn’t make much progress on when they had big majorities: climate change. Right now, the fallback solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions is to use the EPA to regulate, but experts believe that will fall short of the carbon reduction promised by the passage of legislation. Nevertheless, every greenhouse gas emission is sacred to the Republicans, so they plan to harass the EPA Administrator and make her life miserable.

Texas energy companies stuck it to California a decade ago, and now they’re coming back again to try to derail California’s law on greenhouse gas emissions.

The Administration’s argument for trying to shut down a public nuisance lawsuit against the nation’s top greenhouse gas emitters is “an industry argument,” according to the co-lead counsel in the case, and has been contradicted by opinions of past Democratic Administrations.