Climate and Energy on the East Coast
Renewable energy and climate action are big issues in NY and NJ.
New York and New Jersey are at the core of what people think about in terms of the "Northeast." Both are very active in promoting renewable energy -- New Jersey despite Governor Chris Christie, New York in part because of Governor Cuomo. New York in particular seems ready to position itself as the East Coast equivalent of California. New Jersey Despite having a Republican governor who took the state out of the regional emissions trading program, New Jersey is doi...
CONTINUE READINGLooking Back on Lucas
Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Comm'n has had surprisingly little impact, despite fears at the time.
Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Commission was the high-water mark of the Supreme Court’s expansion of the takings clause, which makes it unconstitutional for the government to take private property without compensation. Lucas epitomized the late Justice Scalia’s crusade to limit government regulation of property. The decision left environmentalists and regulators quaking in their boots, especially because of its possible impact on protection for wetlands and habitat...
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s in Trump’s Proclamations on Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments
An analysis of the new proclamations and the legal issues they raise
On Monday, President Trump signed two proclamations, downsizing the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah. These two proclamations are the first official acts by Trump to implement the recommendations from Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke’s national monuments review this summer. (Zinke’s final report and recommendations were just made public yesterday. In a short side-by-side read-through, the public version looks almost identical to th...
CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: ANWR and Monuments Updates
Updates on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and National Monuments
Two updates on issues that we have been following. First, the Senate passed a tax bill that opens up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil and gas development – though an initial version of that provision which would have relaxed environmental review of development in the refuge was stripped out. The bill likely will go to conference committee with the House version of the tax bill which did not have the refuge provision in it. For additional discussion see...
CONTINUE READINGPresident Trump’s national monument rollback is illegal and likely to be reversed in court
Authored by Nicholas Bryner, Eric Biber, Mark Squillace, and Sean B. Hecht
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Supporters of the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments during a rally Saturday, Dec. 2, 2017 in Salt Lake City. AP Photo/Rick Bowmer On Dec. 4, President Trump traveled to Utah to sign proclamations downsizing Bears Ears National Monument by 85 percent and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument by nearly 50 percent. “[S]ome people think that the natural ...
CONTINUE READINGRick Perry, PJM, and the Polar Vortex
Michael Wara posted previously about Rick Perry’s proposal to subsidize coal and nuclear. In its current incarnation, the proposal is aimed purely at ISOs and RTOs that operate capacity markets, which largely means a single entity, PJM. Why the focus on PJM? Oh, I guess I had better explain. OK, to start with, what did that sentence about ISOs mean? Here’s a glossary: ISO means independent system operators, which run areas of the national grid, including operat...
CONTINUE READINGThe Federal Government Has *Always* Shaped the Energy System
Obama was criticized for intruding the federal government into energy policy. But that's nothing new.
To hear some of the debate, you'd think that the Obama Administration breached some longstanding barrier that left energy policy to the states and the market. If there ever was such a barrier, it disappeared over a century ago, with the onset of World War I. Ever since then, the federal government has been actively shaping energy production, distribution, and sale. We wouldn't have the oil industry or the coal industry we have today if the Feds hadn't been involved....
CONTINUE READINGBringing South Carolina into the Sunshine
A dedicated state legislator, against the odds, opened the door to solar energy in the Palmetto State.
Solar energy is poised to make an appearance in the state, in good part due to the efforts of a single Republican state legislator. That will be a big change: South Carolina has had essentially no wind or solar power, although nuclear accounts for half of its electricity. The state senator, Chauncey (“Greg”) Gregory, hails from Lancaster, South Carolina, which calls itself the Red Rose City. Nearby York calls itself the White Rose City. This War of the Roses theme...
CONTINUE READINGWetlands, WOTUS and California
California Regulators Can and Should Adopt Strong State Wetlands Protection Rules
For the past year, an overriding concern of many Californians has been whether and how state legislators and regulators can fill the environmental law and policy gap left by a Trump Administration that is in the process of reversing a host of Obama-era environmental rules and that has otherwise largely abandoned the field of environmental protection. In some areas--like forestalling renewed federal interest in offshore oil and gas development and proposed reductions to...
CONTINUE READINGThe Top 10 Things to Be Thankful For (Environmental Version)
It hasn't been a good year, to say the least. But there are some things to be thankful for.
Overall, it's been a pretty lousy year since last Thanksgiving. If you care about the environment, there are a lot of things NOT to be thankful for, or rather one big thing in the form of He Who Must Not Be Named. But there are also some things for which we should feel thankful, many of them involving resistance to You Know Who. Here's a top 10 list: 10. Nicaragua and Syria have joined the Paris Agreement, leaving the U.S. as the only outlier. 9. Some countr...
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