Month: October 2015

What Do You Know About Interior: Test your knowledge

Inspired by Dan Farber’s recent quiz about EPA, here is a similar challenge for the Department of Interior. The questions go from easier to harder (and more obscure). The last question will really test your knowledge. But first some quick history. The Department of the Interior was created by Congress in 1849. As the Department’s …

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Clean Power Plan Litigation Kick-Off

Flood of lawsuits follows publication of EPA rules to regulate power-plant GHGs

*Updated: Nov. 17, 2015* On Friday, October 23, 2015, the Federal Register formally published EPA’s rules to control greenhouse-gas emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act. I described the basics of the rules after EPA released the unofficial text in August. The final text of the rule to regulate new and modified …

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Japan Removes Whaling from ICJ Jurisdiction

In a decision that surprised many, almost 18 months ago the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Japan’s whaling activities in the Southern Ocean were not justified under the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW). Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs replied soon after that “as a state that respects the rule of law …

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What Do You Know About EPA? Test Your Knowledge.

Much of what most people think they know about EPA is wrong.

This test involves a few basics about EPA.  See how much you know. 1.  What President established EPA? A.  Kennedy. B.  Johnson C.   Nixon D.  Clinton 2.  When is cost a factor in issuing EPA regulations? A.  Whenever allowed by law. B.   Under Republican Presidents. C.   Only for minor regulations. D.   …

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California Supreme Court Continues to Expand Its Environmental Docket

Justices Considering Unprecedented Number & Variety of Environmental Law Issues

At the beginning of 2015, I posted on this site an analysis of the California Supreme Court’s environmental law docket.  My conclusion was that California’s highest court was showing unprecedented interest in environmental law–as demonstrated by the fact that it then had pending nine cases arising under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and 20 …

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Addressing Externalities: A Modest Proposal

How to make health and safety a personal priority for industry officials.

According to economists, firms have little reason to take into account the cost of externalities — that is to say, the harms their activities may impose on others.  The traditional solutions are damage remedies or taxes to transfer the financial cost to the industry, or regulation to force  industries to limit their harmful activities.  Why not …

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Air quality and wildfire

We may need to burn more to get less smoke

One of the impacts of California’s difficult fire season has been air pollution. Fires produce smoke. Large wildfires produce a lot of smoke. And large wildfires in the southern Sierra Nevada produce smoke in the southern Central Valley – the part of the United States that already has some of the worst air quality in …

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Dueling California Drought Relief Bills Debated on Capitol Hill

Stark Differences Emerge Between Competing House and Senate Bills

What can and should the federal government do to assist the State of California in weathering the worst drought in recorded state history? While the U.S. House of Representatives is embroiled in a chaotic political debate over selection of a new House Speaker, the more deliberate consideration of new legislation continues apace in the Senate. …

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The First Environmentalist Law Teacher

William Colby (1870-1964), a pioneering figure in the Sierra Club from Berkeley’s past

I’m pretty sure that William E. Colby  qualifies as the nation’s first environmentalist law teacher, if only because environmentalism was very young at the time..  Colby was a lecturer on mining law and water law at Berkeley for twenty-one years, retiring in 1936.  (That doesn’t make him the first natural resources teacher;  Judge Lindley had taught …

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Gaping Hole in EPA’s Methane Rules

Why don’t EPA’s proposed rules to reduce methane emissions apply to existing oil and gas facilities?

In August, EPA released proposed rules to reduce fugitive methane and VOC emissions from oil and gas operations.  While this is a significant action in the fight against climate change, and much needed in light of the shale-driven national drilling renaissance, there is a gaping hole in the methane rules that has environmentalists worried — …

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