Public Lands Watch: House Joint Resolution 69
House passes resolution to nullify regulation restricting hunting on Alaska National Wildlife Refuges
Additional update: The President signed SJR 69. Update: The Senate just passed S.J.R. 69. The House voted last week to pass House Joint Resolution 69. The resolution disapproves of the Fish & Wildlife Service rule, “Non-Subsistence Take of Wildlife, and Public Participation and Closure Procedures on National Wildlife Refuges in Alaska,” which was finalized on August 5, 2016. The resolution uses the Congressional Review Act (CRA), which allows Congress to di...
CONTINUE READINGThe GOP’s stealth carbon tax?
Republican proposals for border adjustment tax are equivalent to a carbon tax on oil
One of the leading proposals being floated by Republicans for tax reform is what is called a border adjustment tax. Put simply, it would tax corporate income on imports into the U.S. and leave income from exports tax exempt. The policy argument for it is that it would simplify tax administration for large, multinational companies operating in the U.S., and reduce incentives they currently have to park their profits outside of the U.S. to avoid corporate income tax. I ...
CONTINUE READINGA conservative proposal for a carbon tax
A promising proposal from conservative leaders, but important questions remain
An impressive lineup of senior Republican leaders has embraced a carbon tax as an approach to address climate change. The proposal is to trade away the Obama Administration Clean Power Plan and tort liability against fossil fuel companies for a $40/ton carbon tax that would increase over time. All revenues from the tax would be rebated per capita to individuals, producing a per-person payment of about $2000/year, and increasing over time. Right now, given the curr...
CONTINUE READINGIs Texas Cleaning Up Its Act?
Carbon emissions are set in decline in Texas, with less coal and more renewables.
At a national meeting of state utility regulators, the head of the group recently said that the Clean Power Plan was basically dead, BUT this might not matter because "arguably, you're seeing market-based decarbonization" due to technological changes. Case in point: Texas. Market trends are pushing Republican-stronghold Texas toward a cleaner grid. ERCOT, which operates nearly all of the state's grid, recently projected that in the next fifteen years, Texas will ...
CONTINUE READINGUsing Scalia Against Trump
An anti-environmental opinion by Scalia could provide ammunition against Trump.
As environmentalists search for weapons to use against the Trump Administration, one place to turn could be an important opinion by Justice Scalia – one that many of us criticized sharply at the time. The case in question, Michigan v. EPA, involved mercury emissions from power plants, in which the Supreme Court instructed EPA to consider regulatory costs in applying a statutory mandate for “necessary and appropriate” regulation. Justice Scalia’s opinion for ...
CONTINUE READINGA Coalition of the Willing
States need to work together to make progress happen in the age of Trump.
In the short time since the election, it’s already become a truism that state governments will have to keep the flame alive for environmental protection. But it’s not just individual state governments. It’s also crucial for states to work together. There’s been a lot of loose talk about “Calexit” out here. Secession is unconstitutional. (As one of my Minnesota colleagues used to say, that was conclusively settled in the 1865 case of Grant v. Lee.) Blue states...
CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: HJR 44
Resolution would eliminate updates to planning process for BLM lands
Final Update: The President signed the resolution. Update #2: It just passed the Senate 51-48. Update: This is currently being considered in the Senate as Senate Joint Resolution 15. House Joint Resolution 44 – A proposal to overturn the BLM’s Planning 2.0 rule for preparing and amending resource management plans. Today the House passed HJR 44, the latest in a flurry of joint resolutions introduced in the House to disapprove agency rules under the C...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s 2-for-1 Order: Legal Issues
Some applications would be clearly illegal. Others are less clear.
Trump issued an Executive Order (EO) requiring agencies to repeal at least two regs for every new reg and also capping the combined compliance costs of all the regulations issued in a given year. To see what the legal effect is, we need to tease out several scenarios. Of course, we can never be 100% sure of how courts will rule on a new issue, but the law seems pretty clear on some of these issues. Scenario 1. Silent Exercise of Discretion. The agency has discre...
CONTINUE READINGMaking America Great Again for Dirty Energy
Connecting the Dots on Congressional Action, Trump Appointments
It is hard to imagine a better start to a Presidential Administration for the fossil fuel industry than this one. Three of Trump's appointees to cabinet positions -- Scott Pruitt as Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Rick Perry as Secretary of Energy and Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State -- are deeply intertwined with the energy industry. Tillerson is, of course, the former CEO of ExxonMobil. Scott Pruitt has been bankrolled by the Koch Broth...
CONTINUE READINGIf At First You’re Blocked by Congress, Try, Try Again.
How much does the Congressional Review Act preclude follow-up regulation?
Most people probably never heard of the Congressional Review Act before now. This law -- "CRA" to Beltway folks -- is an obscure statute -- previously used only once -- that allows Congress to strike down an agency rule with an expedited procedure (no filibuster). The GOP is gleefully taking advantage of its control of the federal government to put the CRA to much greater use. Going forward, a key question will whether a future Administration could resume regulating...
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