Joe Miller, Sarah Palin’s choice candidate for one of Alaska’s Senate seats, does not believe in climate change. That didn’t bother Alaska voters: this week, Miller bested Sen. Lisa Murkowski in the state’s Republican primary. If that weren’t worrisome enough, it also emerged that the fossil fuel industry spent eight times more than environmental groups on lobbying in 2009, the year the House passed the climate change bill. It’s been a bad year already for environmental causes, and as the November election edges closer, progressives might want to start working overtime to regain momentum on climate and energy issues.

The Export-Import Bank (Exim) is an independent U.S. agency that provides financing for U.S. companies doing business abroad. Under pressure from the Obama administration, the Bank announced yesterday that it has backtracked on a decision to reject financing for a massive coal mine and refinery in India.

On July 4th, Americans are supposed to celebrate their independence. We may no longer have to worry about a greedy, distant monarch. But our country is still held in thrall to powerful interests that prize profit over individuals and their freedom—the energy industry comes to mind. As Jason Mark puts it at AlterNet:

Wendell Berry is a farmer and author who writes on issues of agriculture, the environment, and sustainability. In his 1997 essay “Energy in Agriculture,” he blames the rise of fossil fuels for the damaging shift from family farms to industrial agriculture. He then connects this transformation in agricultural practices to the all-conmsuming oil addiction that is slowly bringing America to her knees – calling it theft from future generations.

What does BP stand for? Bad People? Biggest Polluter? Bogus Product? Bribed President? Bonuses for Politicians? Blown-up Peons? Help me out with this, Please.

By Sarah Laskow, Media Consortium Blogger

In his first State of the Union address, President Barack Obama touched on climate issues only briefly. He called on the Senate to pass a climate bill, but did not give Congress a deadline or promise to veto weak legislation. Nor did he mention the Copenhagen climate conference, where international negotiators struggled to produce an agreement on limiting global carbon emissions.

Incredibly, 84 percent of the $1.05 billion in green energy grants awarded from stimulus funds have gone to foreign wind companies — creating jobs overseas. A strong Buy American clause in the stimulus bill could have prevented off-shoring of U.S. tax dollars intended to create jobs for unemployed Americans.

By Raquel Brown, TMC Mediawire Blogger