The obvious news yesterday was Obama's signing the stimulus bill, which provides "$78.6 billion in clean energy, energy efficiency, and green transportation. ... When fully implemented, these provisions will prevent approximately 68 million tons of global warming pollution annually, reduce oil consumption by 15 million barrels per year, and create more than 1.5 million jobs," according to the advocacy group Environment Massachusetts.

Environment Massachusetts's highlights include:
• Providing $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program, enough to prevent 2 million tons of global warming pollution, create 375,000 jobs, and weatherize more than a million homes.
• Investing $8.4 billion in public transit, $1.3 billion in Amtrak and intercity rail, and $8 billion in new high speed rail, which combined will save 14 million barrels of oil per year and create or preserve nearly 296,000 jobs.
• Extending and “recession proofing” the renewable energy incentives, which will prevent 61 million tons of global warming pollution per year by the end of the three year extension and create or protect 670,000 jobs in the near term.

But also yesterday, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that new nuclear power plants must be build strongly enough to withstand the impact of a commercial airliner. Makes sense, for the obvious reason, but the significance, of course, is that nuke plants — already impossible to build without very hefty public financing — just got even more expensive to build.

And thirdly, the EPA said it would reconsider the Bush administration's decision not to regulate CO2 from coal-fired power plants as the pollutant it so obviously is. This is not the same as overturning the December ruling, which pro-CO2 forces took as a hopeful sign, according to the Washington Post.

"Washington lawyer Jeffrey R. Holmstead, a former EPA official in the Bush administration, said, "It's kind of a clever procedural move that allows the Obama folks to say that they are distancing themselves from the Johnson memo without changing anything."

Mr. Holmstead, in my opinion, is correct, for today. But he also has his head up in the smog with no clue about which way the wind is blowing.