October 2012 - Page 6 of 8

Month: October 2012

How About a Regulatory Action Lab?

I have just finished reading Abhijit Banerjee and Esther Duflo’s excellent and very thoughtful book, Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty. MIT economists Banerjee and Duflo reject broad, sweeping arguments concerning either the necessity for infusions of foreign aid or the futility of such efforts. Instead, they advocate detailed …

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Fracking, Methane, and Moving Toward Better Data Through Collaboration

Is using natural gas produced through fracking better for the environment than using coal? The answer is an unqualified maybe . That’s because we don’t have good enough data to know definitively. But a new collaboration between academics, the fracking industry and environmentalists aims to fill the data gap. First, some background. The boom in …

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Conference on Saving Public Transit, Friday November 2nd at UCLA Law (Simulcast Available)

Please join us on Friday, November 2nd, for a free (with registration) conference on strategies to save public transit during a time of shrinking budgets. The conference will feature experts on transit finance, real estate development around transit, and new technologies that may revolutionize transit in the coming years. Art Leahy, Chief Executive Officer of …

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Romney versus Truth, Future Generations – And His Own Past

My post earlier this morning about Romney’s embrace of anti-environmentalism was more timely than I knew. According to Climate Wire, he told farmers yesterday: “And then there’s pushing cap and trade, I understand if they push cap and trade it will not only massively impact the income of farms, it will take millions of acres …

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Romney’s Embrace of the House Republicans’ Anti-Environmental Agenda

A lot of Romney’s views about energy and regulation seem familiar. There’s a reason for that. Driven by the Tea Party, the House has passed numerous deregulatory laws, some of them multiple times. On average, the House Republicans averaged more than one anti-environmental vote for every day the House was in session in 2011. Romney …

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A Strange Taking Case for the 2012 Term

Rick notes that the Supremes have decided to revisit Takings jurisprudence in a couple of cases this term. One of them, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, involves an important legal issue, but the factual issues seem quite strange. The Supremes granted cert in Koontz to consider two questions: 1) can a property …

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Akin v. McCaskill on Energy

Rep. Akin and Sen. McCaskill have sharply different views on issues such as reproductive rights. The differences on environment and energy are less stark. McCaskill seems to be the better pick on environmental grounds because of her stronger support for renewable energy and Akin’s general anti-regulatory stance.

Property Rights & the Takings Clause: Prominent on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Docket This Year

Last week the U.S. Supreme Court granted review in a potentially-important regulatory takings case, bringing to two the number of Takings Clause disputes on the justices’ docket this Term. The newly-granted case, Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, No. 11-1447, involves the question of whether a government-imposed condition on its approval of a …

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Two Cheers for a Hybrid Sales + Carbon Tax

Dan’s thoughtful post on the Hybrid Sales + Carbon Tax is worth careful consideration. My initial thought is that Dan underestimates it one way, but might overestimate it in two ways. I think he underestimates its political viability. He argues that “voters don’t like taxes, and sales taxes are especially easy for them to notice …

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The Possible Merits of a Hybrid Sales+Carbon Tax

There’s been a lot of discussion of carbon taxes, which economists virtually all love. Proposed carbon taxes would generally be imposed at the level of fossil-fuel sellers or importers, or when producers use carbon. Imposing the carbon tax on consumers would have some significant advantages. This could be done with some fancy VAT-type mechanism, but …

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The Supreme Court’s Top-10 Environmental Law Decisions

If these decisions had come out differently, environmental law would look very different than it does today.

Ninth Circuit Short-Circuits Juliana v. U.S. Climate Change Lawsuit

Iconic Children Plaintiffs Lack Legal Standing to Pursue Case, Court of Appeals Rules

30 Major Climate Initiatives Under Biden

By any measure, it has been an eventful four years for climate policy, with billions in spending and many major regulations finalized. Here’s a timeline of the Top 30 actions.

Pouring Gas on a Five Alarm Fire

That’s Trump’s climate policy in a nutshell. His campaign slogan should be, “Burn, Baby, Burn.”

Can GoGreen Advance California’s Home Decarbonization Goals?

The state’s home energy financing program remains modest and needs to scale

Mobilizing Environmental Voters

People who care about the environment may not be voters. Can that be changed?

Little Hoover Commission Releases Flawed CEQA Report

The long-awaited report proposes sweeping exemptions and process changes—even though its own reasoning points in the opposite direction.

California Seeks to Protect Homes from Excessive Indoor Heat

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

Western States Should Opt In to Regionalized Electricity Markets

Guest contributor Kelly Cook writes that regionalization efforts present a low risk that federal control will threaten state authority.

Temporary Takings and the Adaptation Dilemma

Current law penalizes adaptation measures because of the risk of takings liability.

Climate Action for Earth Day

“We have a long way to go, but we’ve started down the path.” I asked my UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues what climate actions give them hope on Earth Day. Here’s how they answered.

Could Trump Cancel the IRA?

Probably not. But also possibly yes.

We Need a True Debate Over Income-Graduated Fixed Charges

A state bill to cap the fixed charges utilities can collect in California would shut down an important debate about equity and rate design. Here’s a better way forward.

Why the New Climate Reg for Coal is a Perfectly Normal EPA Rule

EPA’s approach isn’t a novel innovation. It’s just EPA applying its usual approach.

Climate Policy and the Audacity of Hope

The barriers are still huge — but we can also envision a path to success.

Judicial Deference to Agencies: A Timeline

Decisions about judicial deference to agencies on legal issues didn’t begin or end with Chevron.

California Seeks to Protect Homes from Excessive Indoor Heat

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

Little Hoover Commission Releases Flawed CEQA Report

The long-awaited report proposes sweeping exemptions and process changes—even though its own reasoning points in the opposite direction.

Pouring Gas on a Five Alarm Fire

That’s Trump’s climate policy in a nutshell. His campaign slogan should be, “Burn, Baby, Burn.”

30 Major Climate Initiatives Under Biden

By any measure, it has been an eventful four years for climate policy, with billions in spending and many major regulations finalized. Here’s a timeline of the Top 30 actions.

Month: October 2012

TRENDING

If these decisions had come out differently, environmental law would look very different than it does today.

Iconic Children Plaintiffs Lack Legal Standing to Pursue Case, Court of Appeals Rules

By any measure, it has been an eventful four years for climate policy, with billions in spending and many major regulations finalized. Here’s a timeline of the Top 30 actions.

That’s Trump’s climate policy in a nutshell. His campaign slogan should be, “Burn, Baby, Burn.”

The state’s home energy financing program remains modest and needs to scale

People who care about the environment may not be voters. Can that be changed?

The long-awaited report proposes sweeping exemptions and process changes—even though its own reasoning points in the opposite direction.

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

Guest contributor Kelly Cook writes that regionalization efforts present a low risk that federal control will threaten state authority.

Current law penalizes adaptation measures because of the risk of takings liability.

“We have a long way to go, but we’ve started down the path.” I asked my UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues what climate actions give them hope on Earth Day. Here’s how they answered.

Probably not. But also possibly yes.

A state bill to cap the fixed charges utilities can collect in California would shut down an important debate about equity and rate design. Here’s a better way forward.

EPA’s approach isn’t a novel innovation. It’s just EPA applying its usual approach.

The barriers are still huge — but we can also envision a path to success.

Decisions about judicial deference to agencies on legal issues didn’t begin or end with Chevron.

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

The long-awaited report proposes sweeping exemptions and process changes—even though its own reasoning points in the opposite direction.

That’s Trump’s climate policy in a nutshell. His campaign slogan should be, “Burn, Baby, Burn.”

By any measure, it has been an eventful four years for climate policy, with billions in spending and many major regulations finalized. Here’s a timeline of the Top 30 actions.