Charging Consumers for Imaginary Power Needs
FERC is distorting energy markets in the name of perfect competition.
Last year, the GOP majority on FERC decided that state clean energy policies were distorting energy markets in the country’s largest grid region. Because they provided incentives for power producers, FERC ruled, those policies should be considered subsidies. It directed grid operators to introduce new policies to counter those subsidies and halt the dreadful onslaught of cleaner energy. FERC’s remedy will cost consumers in that part of the country billions of dolla...
CONTINUE READINGBREAKING: SB 50 Voted Down By State Senators Representing Affluent Suburbs
Final vote today kills major climate-land use legislation to legalize apartments near transit
The California State Senate this morning (after an initial vote last night) narrowly and finally voted to kill SB 50, a major climate-land use bill that would have allowed apartment buildings near major transit stops and job centers, as well as fourplex conversions statewide. Despite high-profile opposition from some low-income tenants groups, the senators voting against the bill largely represent affluent suburbs. To illustrate the geographical divide, a Twitte...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and the Financial Industry
How is one of the world’s largest industries responding to climate change?
As of 2018, the U.S. financial industry contributed $1.5 trillion to GDP. How is the financial sector responding to climate change? The short answer is “slowly so far, but there are signs of progress.” For instance, just last Friday, the NY Times reported that European Central Bank began a strategy review with climate change on the agenda. There are four areas where we're starting to see significant change. First, there are indications that investors are start...
CONTINUE READINGAntacids for the Sea: Artificial Ocean Alkalinization
A potential tool for adaptation and carbon removal, but more research is needed.
The carbonate cycle helps make the oceans one of the largest carbon sinks on the planet. As the oceans’ surface waters mingle with the open air, they absorb enormous amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), storing it in the water as carbonic acid and carbonates and as limestone on the seafloor. The carbonate cycle is a natural process that far predates humans and industrialization, but as humans have added more CO2 to the atmosphere, the oceans have absorbed more CO2—mo...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and Political Action
Do the Fires in Australia Change Anything?
“I want people to unite behind the science . . . I’m not the one who’s saying these things. I’m not the one who we should be listening to. And I say that all the time. I say we need to listen to the scientists.” --Greta Thunberg, September 11, 2019 “Look, scientists also have a political agenda.” --Donald Trump, October 11, 2018, interview on 60 Minutes “We should be focused on clean and beautiful air-not expensive and business closing GLOBAL ...
CONTINUE READINGCan the Center Hold?
The Challenge to Mainstream Environmentalism
Is environmentalism facing a paradigm shift? Since the 1970s, mainstream environmentalists, lawyers, and scholars have sought incremental progress based on established law and political realities. But frustration with that approach is palpable. The face of climate advocacy is now seventeen-year-old activist Greta Thunberg rather than Establishment politician Al Gore. And there is growing frustration with conventional approaches. The Juliana case is one sign of this fr...
CONTINUE READINGDeciding a Climate Case in the Shadow of the Supreme Court
Juliana Judges Surely Had The Higher Court in Mind in Drafting Their Decision
The irony of the Ninth Circuit decision dismissing the Juliana v. United States case this week is plain to see. Two branches of government -- the legislative and executive - have failed to act to address an environmental problem that may cause the destruction of the federal government itself. The third branch, the judiciary, recognizes the existential threat but refuses to step in to do anything to stop the destruction. As Judge Staton, who wrote a powerful di...
CONTINUE READINGPricing Carbon: What Does It Actually Accomplish?
Pricing carbon may not work the way economists thought.
In theory, pricing carbon should incentivize emissions reductions. In reality, it is unclear to what extent that takes place unless the carbon price is very high. This is not to say that pricing carbon is useless, but the main benefits may take different forms. Basically, there are two ways of putting a price on carbon. One is a carbon tax. The other is to cap total emissions, requiring companies to pay for the right to a share of the limited amount of allowed e...
CONTINUE READINGLooking Ahead: Inauguration Day, 2021.
There are 3 plausible scenarios for the new balance of power.
Inauguration day is a year from today. What will the balance of power be then? The House doesn't seem to be in play. Democrats have an uphill fight to win the Senate, so a GOP White House would probably mean a GOP Senate. That leaves three likely scenarios, with different implications for environmental law. Scenario 1 GOP White House and Senate, but Democratic House. Most likely the GOP President would be Donald Trump. However, this doesn’t really ma...
CONTINUE READINGJuliana and the Future of Climate Litigation
Asking judges to pass judgment on all U.S. energy policy was a bridge too far.
The Ninth Circuit threw out the Juliana litigation this morning. The two judges in the majority basically said, legalistic language, that you can't get the Green New Deal by court order. It was wrong for the Supreme Court to step in at the last minute to put the trial on hold, rather than giving the plaintiffs their day in court. But the ultimate result wasn't surprising, given the unprecedented, sweeping ruling that the plaintiffs were requesting. I don't blame t...
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