Author: Michael Shank

The Fix for Fossil Fuel’s Spill Legacy: Democratization of Energy

NATIONAL JOURNAL 07/22/13 By Michael Shank If Washington wants to avoid another Canadian case study and minimize the disasters associated with transporting fossil fuels it should, simply, stop transporting them. Here’s why and here’s how: The fossil fuel spill legacy is long. Most memorable is the Deepwater Horizon spill in […]

The Real War on Coal Starts in Kosovo

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/22/13 By Michael Shank Last week, the so-called “war on coal,” which Senate Joe Manchin, D-W.V., recently claimed is real, gained new momentum after the World Bank formally committed to stop funding most coal projects. Manchin, who knows something about existential wars given his laudable […]

US-Funded News Can Now Reach Americans

RIA Novosti 07/15/13 By Maria Young In the last two weeks, US government-funded news broadcaster Voice of America has received more than a dozen requests for news stories it has produced for foreign audiences to be made available to listeners in the United States, something that hadn’t been allowed since […]

U.S. Policy Toward a Nuclear North Korea Should Reflect Reality

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Rachel Kent That South Korea and North Korea resumed talks this week, but failed to reignite inter-Korean economic cooperation by reopening the complex at the Kaesong Industrial Zone, puts the fight over the North’s nuclear fight program in the political […]

The Bipartisan Way to Cut Costs in Congress: Energy Efficiency

NATIONAL JOURNAL 07/15/13 By Michael Shank Rarely does one turn to Congress for innovation. That is certainly the case with energy efficiency. Congress may be a go-to on oversight and accountability but not innovation. The Pentagon, in contrast, while not a leader in oversight and accountability (with no audit planned […]

Cost Cutting in Congress Faces Fossil Fuel Obstructionism

HUFFINGTON POST 07/13/13 By Michael Shank Rarely does one turn to Congress for innovation. That is certainly the case with energy efficiency. Congress may be a go-to on oversight and accountability but not innovation. The Pentagon, in contrast, while not a leader in oversight and accountability (with no audit planned […]

Keeping America Accountable in the War Zone

ROLL CALL 07/15/13 By Michael Shank and Matt Southworth The House Foreign Affairs Committee heard a compelling case recently for better oversight and accountability of war funding. Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction Stuart Bowen delivered the agency’s final oversight report to the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North […]

Congress Needs to be Involved in Trade Talks

THE HILL 07/11/13 By Michael Shank, Ph.D. With 150 negotiators in 24 working groups descending on Washington D.C. this week to take part in the first round of US-EU trade talks, and with the joint EU-US High Level Working Group saying that “ambitious outcomes” should be sought for the areas […]

The Big Problems in Obama’s Big Trade Deals

US NEWS & WORLD REPORT 07/08/13 By Michael Shank Framed as the biggest trade deal in the history of the world, trade representatives from the United States and the European Union meet in Washington this week to begin transatlantic trade talks. This is one of two major trade deals on […]