Month: February 2016

Environmental Enforcement in the Age of Trump

Is it time for a retributive turn in environmental law?

Many thought that the BP Oil Spill would lead to new environmental legislation, as happened after past environmental disasters.  That didn’t happen.  But something else did happen: BP paid $24 billion in civil and criminal penalties.   In an era where any effort at government regulation is immediately denounced as a dire threat to liberty, …

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Bernie Sanders’ Position on the Clean Power Plan

His proposals would require withdrawing the rule and would increase its legal vulnerability

In an interview with Grist last week, Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders provided details about his views on the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants.  Sanders said two things of note: the first is that he would change the CPP to increase incentives for renewable fuels; the second …

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Risk Subsidies and the Future of Nuclear Power in the U.S.

Should We Take Into Account Government Subsidies that Reduce the Risks Borne by the Nuclear Industry as We Consider Our Energy Future?

As I’ve written about before, U.S. law massively subsidizes the nuclear power industry.  In particular, a law called the Price-Anderson Nuclear Industries Indemnity Act dramatically skews the incentives to develop nuclear plants, and to site them in places where there is a lot of risk, because it requires the public to bear much of the …

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Nevada Governor Sandoval on Obama’s Short List of Supreme Court Candidates

How Would a Justice Sandoval Vote on Environmental Issues?

Multiple news sources reported Wednesday that the Obama Administration has floated the first identified candidate the President is considering nominating to the U.S. Supreme Court to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who died unexpectedly earlier this month.  That candidate is a most intriguing and unconventional one: Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval–a Republican. Sandoval, 52, received his law …

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Unleashing the Lower Courts

Justice Scalia’s death greatly expands the maneuvering room for liberal judges.

There’s already been a lot written about how Justice Scalia’s untimely death will affect pending cases, not to mention speculation about the possible nominees to replace him.  Less attention has been given to the effect on the lower courts.  Yet Justice Scalia’s departure gives liberal judges in lower courts more freedom than they’ve had in …

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Lessons from Aliso Canyon, Part II

Leaks in Regulation

  Today, Southern California Gas announced it has successfully and permanently stopped the methane leak at its Aliso Canyon storage site. This marks the (fingers-crossed) end of a multi-month environmental crisis in northwest Los Angeles, causing residents to move and schools to close. Earlier this month, I blogged about the possible lessons we could learn …

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Does Sri Srinivasan’s Clean Power Plan Role on the D.C. Circuit Panel Hurt His Nomination Chances?

He may feel compelled to recuse himself, lowering the odds that the CPP is upheld in the Court of Appeals

Some environmentalists are already criticizing Sri Srinivasan’s environmental credentials because as a lawyer at O’Melveny & Meyers he defended Exxon Mobil and Rio Tinto, a mining company, in cases alleging human rights abuses in Indonesia and Papau New Guinea.  He also represented Enron villain Jeff Skilling. But I wonder if Srinivasan’s nomination raises a different, …

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The Tricky Problem of Cumulative Exposures

A new UCLA report finds reason to be concerned about cumulative risk, and notes that under CA law regulators are required to act

We are all exposed to hundreds, if not thousands of chemicals through consumer products, air pollution, drinking water, and occupational exposures, just to name a few.  Yet chemicals and pollutants are largely assessed and regulated individually.  Increasingly, environmental health professionals have been attempting to grapple with assessing the risk of exposure to multiple chemicals. New …

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What Does Justice Scalia’s Death Mean for the Clean Power Plan?

Basically, everything

I am very sensitive to the emotions surrounding the sudden death of Justice Antonin Scalia and feel deep sympathy for his family, many friends and colleagues.   He was a towering intellectual force and we will be dissecting his influence for years to come.  Yet the death of a public figure — especially one as …

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Mitch McConnell’s “War on Coal Miners”

McConnell seems to care more about political payback than the miners’ welfare.

Mitch McConnell’s website trumpets that last fall he received  an award from the Washington Coal Club “for his work to defend Kentucky’s coal jobs, miners and their families.”  His concern for miners turns out not to be so deep.  As the Washington Post reported last week, he single-handedly blocked a measure to rescue health and pension benefits …

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