Region: National
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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CONTINUE READINGHow to Hedge Your Portfolio Against a Possible Trump Victory
Place your financial bets on having LESS renewable energy and MORE climate change.
If you’re worried about the economic impact of a Trump victory, you should be thinking of hedging your risk. One hedging strategy is to place a bet on climate change. By undoing Obama’s climate regulations and scuttling the Paris Agreement, Trump will set back climate policy, here and around the world by years, maybe decades, He’ll …
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CONTINUE READINGOf Pipelines, Protests, and General Permits
A fight in North Dakota reveals problems in how we permit and review large infrastructure projects
Native American tribes and environmental groups are currently protesting the completion of an oil pipeline in North Dakota. The pipeline would travel beneath the Missouri River. Tribes and environmentalists are fighting the pipeline both through litigation and also through direct action (occupying the site where the construction to complete the pipeline beneath the river would …
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CONTINUE READINGObama’s Public Lands Conservation Legacy
Progress, but still much more to do
President Obama has gotten some high praise lately from the New York Times editorial board, and this op-ed from Prof. David Brinkley, a presidential historian at Rice noted for his biography of President Theodore Roosevelt. Brinkley compares Obama favorably to Teddy Roosevelt for his conservation legacy. The specific recent actions by President Obama that prompted …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Downward Political Spiral of a Declining Industry
As the coal industry weakens economically, it also loses political clout.
Tighter regulation contributes to an environmentally dirty industry’s economic decline, which reduces its political clout, which allows more regulation, further weakening the industry. Coal is prime example. The coal industry’s economic plight is well-known. Coal production is the lowest since a major strike 35 years ago. In fact, my colleagues at the business school report that coal …
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CONTINUE READINGBikes in Wilderness
A misguided proposal in Congress
This New York Times article notes that a bill (S. 3205) is pending in Congress to allow mountain bikes in federally-designated wilderness areas. In short, the bill is a terrible idea. First, on the merits, allowing mountain bikes into wilderness areas has the potential for significant impacts both on other humans using wilderness, and on …
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CONTINUE READINGIdling Cars, Dirty Air
The pollution isn’t just indoors. It’s also inside the car or bus.
Being stuck in traffic is even worse than you thought. A new study, reported in yesterday’s NY Times, “pollution levels inside cars at red lights or in traffic jams are up to 40 percent higher than when traffic is moving.” But things could be worse: you could be a kid on an older school bus. …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Does Industry Always Attack New Rules?
It makes businesses look obstructionist and often gains them nothing. So why do they do it?
It seems like every time EPA makes a move, industry says it’s another job-killing power grab by the government and files court challenges within about an hour of EPA’s action. But why? The rule often survives judicial review, so industry spends millions on lawyers and gets nothing in return. It’s true that industry does often win at …
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CONTINUE READINGCap and Trade’s Future in California, Redux
Litigation, AB 197 and Politics May All Have an Influence
Two days ago, I posed a series of questions about what AB 197 might mean for the future of cap and trade in California but never really answered the question of whether we’re likely to see a continuation of the program going forward post-2020. Eric posted his view this afternoon that he is relatively pessimistic …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clinton Foundation and the Environment
There’s a lot of talk about where the money comes from. But where does it go?
We hear a lot about the Clinton Foundation these days, but it’s all about where the money comes from. That’s outside the scope of this blog, but it made me curious about what they do with the money. In particular, I wondered what they did for the environment. Since the only thing I really knew …
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