Update on the Litigation Over EPA’s Rule Controlling Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New Power Plants
UCLA Faculty File Amicus Brief on Behalf of Technological Innovation Experts
Late in 2015, the Environmental Protection Agency issued New Source Performance Standards to control greenhouse gas emissions from new and modified fossil-fuel-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act. This regulation is a companion to the more-often-discussed Clean Power Plan rule, which addresses greenhouse gas emissions from existing sources in the power generation sector. Last week, my colleague Sarah Duffy and I filed an amicus curiae brief in the litigation ov...
CONTINUE READINGCheaper, Cleaner Power
The cheapest new power today: gas, wind, solar. Almost never coal.
What's the cheapest way to add power to the grid where you live? Unless you live near Lake Superior, the answer isn't coal -- not even in West Virginia or Kentucky. Beyond that, the exact answer depends on just what you means by cheap. A major study from UT Austin digs deep into this question. If you only count generating costs, it's natural gas in most places except for a wedge stretching from West Texas to North Dakota and east to Northern Illinois. Wind is ...
CONTINUE READINGWill Deregulation Grow the Economy?
The Trump plan of deregulation and tax cuts has been tried. It didn't work.
President-elect Trump has promised to unleash economic growth by cutting taxes and regulation. In terms of regulations, he has said: “One of the keys to unlocking growth is scaling-back years of disastrous regulations unilaterally imposed by our out-of-control bureaucracy. “Regulations have grown into a massive, job-killing industry – and the regulation industry is one business I will put an end to.” Cut taxes and regulation, boost the economy? Is Trumpo...
CONTINUE READINGIt’s Déjà Vu All Over Again
Reagan, Gingrich, Bush -- and Now Trump. This is a battle we've fought before.
As the choice of Scott Pruitt to head EPA confirms, we’re about to face a radical attack on environmental protection. We've seen this movie before. Three times, actually, starring Ronald Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and George W. Bush. So this feels in a way like the fourth installment in a horror film franchise. Call it "Return of the Reg.-Eating Zombies, Part IV." Here are some quotes from the 1980 and 2016 Republican platform. They're pretty hard to tell apart: "Ano...
CONTINUE READINGGOP Mayor: “Let’s Talk About the Octopus in the Room”
An octopus in a parking garage? It's a sign of the times.
Jim Cason, the GOP mayor of Coral Gables, Florida, wants us to talk about climate change: "'We're looking to a future where we're going to be underwater, a great portion of South Florida,'" Cason said. 'For all of us down here, this is really not a partisan issue. We see it. We see the octopus in the room, not the elephant.'" (E&E News) An octopus in the room? It's a striking image. If you're wondering what prompted that unusual metaphor, Rob Verchick and I di...
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s wrong with a business-heavy presidential cabinet?
It's not just the revolving door problem or the different ways of conducting work; it's the difference in fundamental purpose
I know this doesn't sound like a post about environmental law and policy, but bear with me. There is a connection. Donald Trump ran for president largely on the claim that his experience as a businessman, and lack of experience as a politician, qualified him to shake up Washington. Just enough people in just enough states bought that claim to give Trump an electoral college win. Trump himself has no experience in the public sector. As he prepares to take over the O...
CONTINUE READINGGOP Climate Denial Is Way Out of the U.S. Mainstream
The Party's stance is out of touch with businesses, the public, scientists, and many GOP voters.
The national GOP seems to be locked into climate change denial. This stance puts the GOP leadership increasingly alone. They’re out of touch with the business community, the public, scientists, and even many of their own voters. Out of Touch with the Business Community In 2015, Shell and BP called for international cooperation to achieve the 2 ° temperature target. Even Rex W. Tillerson, ExxonMobil’s chief executive and Trump's nominee for Secretary of S...
CONTINUE READINGTillerson and Perry – It’s Complicated
They're not as bad as you might think. Relatively speaking.
The immediate environmentalist reaction to Rex Tillerson and Rick Perry -- Trump's choices to run the Departments of State and Energy -- is that these are disastrous choices, like Trump's selection of climate change denier Scott Pruitt to run EPA. That's understandable. After all, Tillerson is the CEO of Exxon. As to Perry, the Washington Post headline says it all: "Rick Perry is picked to head Energy Department, an agency he once vowed to abolish." But that react...
CONTINUE READINGLegal Mandates to Consider the Social Cost of Climate Change
Considering climate impacts isn't just a good idea. It's the law.
Many people seem to think that considering climate impacts and the social cost of carbon was just a policy decision by the Obama Administration, which Trump if he doesn't buy the reality of climate change. But it's not that easy. But there are strong arguments that considering climate change is mandatory. First, the whole idea of considering the social cost of carbon didn't come from the the Obama Administration. Rather, the Ninth Circuit overturned an action by...
CONTINUE READINGYes, there’s some actual good environmental news this week
Approval of regional ocean management plans, California planning for gray wolf return provide grounds for hope
It's not exactly been the best of weeks for those of us committed to environmental protection, and it doesn't look like the best of years coming up. But there is some good news, even in these difficult times. Two items in particular have helped lift the gloom for me this week. First, the National Ocean Council, a little-known group of cabinet-level officials and White House personnel created by President Obama in 2010, approved Regional Ocean plans for the northea...
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