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Thursday, Jul 22, 2010 7:30 PM UTC

Climate bill dead

The Senate won't take up even a tiny, stripped-down bill addressing carbon emissions this summer

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Topics: Global Warming, Gulf Oil Spill, Harry Reid, John F. Kerry, D-Mass., U.S. Senate, War Room,

Climate bill dead

Sorry, Earth! Maybe we’ll do something about not destroying you next year? Harry Reid has officially given up on passing climate legislation this summer.

Reid was originally going to maybe put some Earth-helping stuff in a bill responding to the Gulf oil spill, with the idea that Republicans would be embarrassed to vote against a bill addressing the oil spill, but Republicans are shameless, and so Harry Reid gave up.

John Kerry — who made headlines for incessantly bugging his peers to pass a climate bill despite the fact that no one wanted too — promises this won’t take as long as health care did, which is probably good, because if it takes as long as health care did, there won’t be much the Senate can do.

Meanwhile:

Sea levels are rising faster than scientists predicted just a few years ago. Himalayan glaciers are melting. In the American West, pine beetles (which struggle to survive the cold) are multiplying and killing trees.

According to NASA, 2010 is on course to be the planet’s hottest year since records started in 1880. The current top 10, in descending order, are: 2005, 2007, 2009, 1998, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2004, 2001 and 2008.

On the other hand, it definitely snowed last winter.

Alex Pareene

Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.

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