A Mighty Wind
The Great Plains are wind power’s firewall of Republican support in Congress.
You might find this a bit surprising, but wind power has a solid political base in key Republican states. It’s a case of economics outweighing politics. Here are the top five states for wind power: Rank State Installed Capacity* 1 Texas 20,320 2 Iowa 6,911 3 Oklahoma 6,645 4 California 5,65...
CONTINUE READINGRenewables and Republicans in the Rustbelt
Republican Governors in Ohio and Michigan have given support to renewables. Indiana, not so much.
When people think of the rustbelt, they think of places like Cleveland, Gary, and Detroit. Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan form a cluster of states under solid Republican control, Republicans controlling the governor’s mansion and both houses of the legislature. All three states went for Trump, with varying margins. The three states also have commonalities in terms of energy. Historically, they have all relied heavily on coal. Yet, according to the National Renewable Ene...
CONTINUE READINGZinke’s Report Recommends Downsizing or Loosening Restrictions in 10 National Monuments
Report Lacks Details on Boundaries but Recommends Management Changes to Permit Wider Range of Uses
Late last night, the Washington Post reported that Secretary Ryan Zinke had recommended making changes--by downsizing and/or by loosening restrictions--to a total of 10 national monuments. The list of monuments goes beyond what had been reported last month. The Post released a leaked copy of Zinke's recommendations that were submitted to President Trump on August 24 upon conclusion of the Department of the Interior's 120-day review (see earlier post). At the end of th...
CONTINUE READINGNews Flash: 10th Cir. Rebukes Government Over Coal Leases
Today's important ruling on standing, public lands, and climate change
In an important ruling this morning, the Tenth Circuit rejected the government's assertion that it could ignore carbon emissions tied to renewing coal leases. In WildEarth Guardians v. BLM, the court also rejected the mining company's attack on the standing of environmental groups to raise this claim.The mines in question are in the Powder River Basin, which is the source of almost 40% of coal production. The mines involved in the case are massive, producing 230 million ...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy in the Land of 10,000 Lakes
What is “Lake Wobegon” doing about climate change?
Minnesota has had climate change legislation on the books since 2007, when the Next Generation Energy Act was signed by Republican Governor Tim Pawlenty. The 2007 law called for the state to reduce its emissions 15 percent by 2015 and 80 percent by 2050. At the time, Pawlenty saluted the bill, saying,"The nation has been asleep at the switch, but here in Minnesota we are kick-starting the future by increasing our nation-leading per capita renewable fuel use, boosting cos...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Policy in the Bay State
With a nudge from its courts, Massachusetts is pushing back against Trump's climate agenda.
Even in 2006, it was clear that climate change is a serious threat to Massachusetts. That year, in its path-breaking decision on climate change, the Supreme Court gave Massachusetts standing to challenge the Bush Administration’s refusal to regulate greenhouse gases. The basis for standing was impact of sea level rise on the state. It now seems that the estimates back then may have been too cautious. According to a report by the state five years later: “Assuming t...
CONTINUE READINGAmazon’s New Urban Headquarters Could Flip A Red State To Blue
A city-state rundown on how an influx of Democratic-leaning tech workers could impact swing states like Arizona, Wisconsin and Michigan
UPDATE: Thanks to commenter Bob below who pointed out that the employee numbers from the San Francisco Chronicle that I used to make the calculations below have since been significantly revised downward. As Geekwire reports, the numbers I cited were for Amazon company-wide, not just Seattle. In fact, Amazon employees 40,000 in Washington state, not the 340,000 I cited below. While this changes the single impact of Amazon's move, my original post was perhaps conservat...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Protection and the Rule of Law
A Report from the Second Inter-American Congress on Environmental Rule of Law
I am back from attending the Second Inter-American Congress on Environmental Rule of Law, hosted by the Supreme Court of Chile in Santiago and planned by the Organization of American States, UN Environment, IUCN World Commission on Environmental Law, and other partners. For the past five years since the 2012 Rio+20 conference (20 years after the original Rio Earth Summit), stakeholders in the international environmental law community have been advancing discourse...
CONTINUE READINGState of Play: Trump v. the Environment
Here's a roadmap to what he's done -- and how things will probably unfold.
How has Trump impacted environmental law? What's going to happen next? CLEE has issued a new report assessing the state of play in environmental law seven months of the Trump presidency. The report, 200 Days & Counting, reviews the Administration’s environmental proposals and offers a glimpse into what may be coming down the pike. The report focuses on the mechanisms that Trump and congressional Republicans could use to attack the environment, along with ...
CONTINUE READINGThe CEQA Exemption that Ate LA
A bold attempt to get a huge exemption from state's marquee environmental law
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a state law that requires full analysis, public disclosure, and where feasible, mitigation of environmental impacts from state and local government projects, including permits for private development. I’ve written before about the problematic nature of exempting specific projects from CEQA. In general, my concern is that once you start exempting specific projects, you create a political dynamic where other project ...
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