Taxing Carbon?
Should we adopt a corporate carbon tax? Something to think about on Tax Day.
Today is Tax Day, delayed from its usual spot in mid-April due a backlog at the IRS. It seems like an apt time to think about a carbon tax. At present, it doesn't seem to be on Biden's agenda, but agendas can change with circumstances, sometimes unpredictably. Politically, the biggest problem with a carbon tax always been that it's . . . a tax. Democrats are planning to raise some taxes anyway, however, so this might be less of a consideration. A...
CONTINUE READINGMaking Corporate Commitments Credible
How can we make climate pledges something more than cheap talk?
Companies across many different economic sectors have announced ambitious goals like being climate neutral by 2050. Commitments on ESG - Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance — are a growing corporate emphasis. Talk is cheap, however. How can we know they’re serious? How can we even be sure that the information they release about their environmental performance is true? There are not easy questions, but there are steps that companies could take if they ...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Contributors Clara Barnosky, Jane Sadler, Richard Yates, and Zachary Zimmerman: The Biden Administration’s First 100 Days of Reversing Environmental Rollbacks
An Early Analysis of Progress and Priorities in the Executive Branch
In the final months of the Trump presidency, we (a team of students working with U.C. Berkeley’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE)) compiled a database of over 200 environmental rollbacks enacted during the Trump administration. These rollbacks characterized the administration’s aggressive focus on deregulation of industry and disregard of protections for the environment. After January 20, 2021, the work shifted as President Biden took office. The...
CONTINUE READINGWashington State Ups Its Climate Game
After much travail, the state has finally put a price on carbon.
The Washington state legislature passed a historic climate change bill on April 24. The bill requires a 95% cut in carbon emissions by 2050. After much travail, the state has finally managed to put a price on carbon by adopting a cap-and-trade system. With the decision of additional states to join the east coast RGGI system, this may be a sign that the stalled momentum for carbon pricing might be picking up a bit. In any event, Washington State is giving California rea...
CONTINUE READINGThe Ninth Circuit Makes EPA an Offer It Can’t Refuse
Regulate chlorpyrifos or else!
Chlorpyrifos is one of the most widely used pesticides in America, although it has been banned in the EU. Last week, the Ninth Circuit took the extraordinary step of ordering EPA pointblank to ban or reduce traces of chlorpyrifos in food. A dissenter accused the majority of misreading the statute in question and abusing its discretion by limiting EPA's options so drastically and giving it only sixty days to act. Warning: The majority and dissenting opinions cover 116 p...
CONTINUE READINGTime to End FERC’s Misguided Effort to Fix Wholesale Power Prices
A FERC ruling tilts the playing field against renewable energy. It should be repealed.
In 2018, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decided that state clean energy policies were distorting energy markets operated by PJM, the country’s largest grid region. That, at least, was the view of the Commissioners who were appointed by Republican presidents. PJM, which runs the electricity grid more or less from Chicago to Maryland, has now decided that FERC’s idea is unworkable. It’s planning to ask FERC to change its rule before the rule does r...
CONTINUE READINGBiden and the Environment: The First 100 Days
Biden has set up a lot of future actions. But he's already got some notches on his belt.
Tomorrow marks Biden’s first 100 days in office. He’s appointed a great climate team and is negotiating an infrastructure bill that focuses on climate change. With luck, those actions will produce major environmental gains down the road. There are also some solid gains in the form of actions that have already come to fruition. Here's where things stand. Executive orders. Trump seemed to delight in issuing anti-environmental executive orders. All of those are gone ...
CONTINUE READINGBiden Administration Sets Stage for Action on Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Pollution
Complementary actions by NHTSA and EPA clear the way for EPA to restore California’s waiver for tailpipe GHG emissions and its EV mandate
In two complementary actions in the last week, the Biden administration has set the stage for more stringent regulation of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from passenger vehicles—one of the country’s single largest sources of pollution that causes climate change. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency published a notice that it would reconsider the Trump administration’s withdrawal of California’s waiver to set tailpipe greenhouse gas emissions standard...
CONTINUE READINGFive Myths About Climate Policy
Debate about climate policy is often distorted by misconceptions.
In this post, I want to talk about some of the ideas that make it hard to have sensible discussions about climate policy. I don’t mean outright climate denial. Instead, I’m talking about less blatant misconceptions that keep many people from thinking seriously about cutting carbon emissions. Myth #1. EPA climate rules are a regulatory power grab. The main agency regulating greenhouse gases is EPA. Because the first regulations were issued under Obama, it’...
CONTINUE READINGAmerican Soil
Soil is an important carbon sink. It's literally going down the drain, eroding away.
Today is Earth Day. Let's talk about something earthy: the dirt under our feet. When I was a kid growing up in central Illinois, the topsoil was black and went down about a foot. When I was a little older and tried gardening, I was amazed at the fertility of the soil. When I’ve gone back there more recently, however, I’ve been startled by the thin, gray look of the soil on the farms. I wondered if it had eroded away, blown off the fields by the spring winds ...
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