Region: National

Why Doesn’t the GOP Offer Alternative Solutions to Environmental Problems?

Republicans hate conventional regulations. But they’ve given up on offering alternatives. Here’s why.

There’s one thing we all know: the Republican Party hates regulation.  Republicans want to roll back some  key regulations and make it a lot harder to pass new ones.  But there’s a curious silence about alternatives to regulation.  For decades, conservative Republicans have denounced “command and control” regulations by EPA and other agencies.  So why don’t they …

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State regulation of environmental harms on federal lands

California Supreme Court case indicates substantial authority for states to act

Sean has already reported on the recent Rinehart decision by the California Supreme Court, in which the Court concluded that a state law imposing a temporary moratorium on the use of suction dredge equipment in California waterways was not preempted by federal mining law.  Here, I just want to add to Sean’s excellent summary by …

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Battle for the Senate: New Hampshire

Almost uniquely, both candidates support action on climate change.

Kelly Ayotte’s rating from the League of Conservation voters is 35%.  That’s on the high side for a Republican.  Her opponent, Maggie Hasan, is a strong advocate of action on climate change. Ayotte is a former prosecutor and long-time state attorney general; she says that as AG she “stood up to polluters to protect New …

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Battle for the Senate: Pennsylvania

Toomey & McGinty have *totally* opposite views on environment and energy.

The Pennsylvania Senate race pits a former president of the conservative Club for Growth against a former chair of CEQ, the White House Council on Environmental Quality.  They may both love the color green, but his shade of green is the color of money and hers is the color of foliage. The Republican incumbent is …

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A Presidential Game of 20 Questions

Reviewing the candidates answers to Scientific American’s top science policy questions

Yesterday, Scientific American released the answers provided by all four candidates for President to the 20 questions they consider the most pressing when it comes to science policy. The answers are illuminating, to say the least. First, on climate change, the answers of top candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump could not have been more …

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Will We Get a Ninth Supreme Court Justice?

Not if Clinton Wins the President and the GOP Maintains Control of the Senate

Dan’s march through the Senate, and his fine post today on Wisconsin, might even be more significant than says. He writes: A President Trump with a Republican Senate could do a lot to carry through on his pledge to dismantle EPA’s powers, whereas a President Clinton would receive valuable support from a Democratic Senate. If …

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Battle For the Senate: Wisconsin

The candidates’ views on energy and environment are diametrically opposed.

Wisconsin is first up in a series of posts on key Senate races.  My goal is to describe the candidates’ views on key policy issues, not to make a case for either side.  The Wisconsin race is a rematch between the incumbent Ron Johnson and the previous incumbent, Russ Feingold, whom he had defeated in …

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Great environmental law scholarship

Some of the best articles in the field from 2014-15

Some of our readers may be interested in what is happening in environmental legal scholarship.  So I thought I’d post about the Land Use & Environment Law Review, which is Thomson Reuters/West Publishing’s peer-selected annual compendium of significant legal scholarship in land use and environmental law.  About sixty reviewers (made up of environmental law professors) …

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What is the Price of Equality?

Do Local Land Use Regulations Violate the Fair Housing Act?

One of the great things about studying land use is that it comprises so much of modern life. That creates some disciplinary problems: one UCLAW colleague who shall remain nameless (but comes from Pennsylvania) told me several years ago that he didn’t think land use was part of environmental law at all. (He has since …

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The Battle for the Senate: Eight Key States

The outcome of these races will have a major impact on environmental policy.

As important as the presidential election is, the presidency isn’t the only important federal office at stake. This year, an unusual number of Senate races could go either way, and control of the Senate hangs in the balance. The Democrats need to pick up 4 seats  (if Kaine is VP) or 5 (if Pence is VP). Over …

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