Gaping Hole in EPA’s Methane Rules
Why don't EPA's proposed rules to reduce methane emissions apply to existing oil and gas facilities?
In August, EPA released proposed rules to reduce fugitive methane and VOC emissions from oil and gas operations. While this is a significant action in the fight against climate change, and much needed in light of the shale-driven national drilling renaissance, there is a gaping hole in the methane rules that has environmentalists worried -- the rules do not apply to existing sources. With only vague pronouncements to assuage the environmentalists' concern, we are lef...
CONTINUE READINGDuPont Found Liable In First of 3,500 Lawsuits
Chemical Used in Teflon Linked to Numerous Health Problems, but its Use is Still Legal Under TSCA
Yesterday, a jury in the Southern District of Ohio found DuPont liable for a woman's kidney cancer in the first of 3,500 suits the company faces. The cases all stem from DuPont's use and disposal of perflourooctanoic acid (PFOA) or C8. The chemical is used to make Teflon, among other things, and the most recent available data from the CDC suggests over 99% of Americans have detectable levels of C8 in our blood. DuPont used, and ultimately manufactured C8 at its Parker...
CONTINUE READINGLost in the Ozone Again
The Ozone Standard, Regulatory Pragmatism, and the Rule of Law
EPA issued a new regulation last week that mandates a reduction in ozone levels to 70 ppm from the current 75 ppm (originally set by the Bush Administration). The new regulation was immediately attacked by industry and environmentalists. According to industry, the regulation will be a job-killing burden on the economy. According to environmentalists, the Administration sold out to industry pressure for a second time, after previously killing an EPA effort to re...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia and Other Western States See Barriers to Protecting Streams
A new report highlights twelve western states' efforts to restore stream flows using environmental water transfers
Unnaturally low flows in rivers and streams throughout the western United States have threatened fish and other aquatic species for decades. But restoring flows has proved a significant and complex challenge. A recent report prepared for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation by Stanford University’s Water in the West Program documents twelve western states’ efforts to restore stream flows using a relatively recent tool: environmental water transfers. My research ...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Enshrines Renewables And Energy Efficiency 2030 Goals — And Maybe Greenhouse Gas Goals, Too
Buried provision in the bill codifies long-term climate goals in the context of vehicle electrification
Today Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 350 (De Leon), a landmark bill that pledges California to a 50% renewable goal by 2030, as well as a doubling of energy efficiency in existing buildings by that date. Despite the environmental win, it’s been well-reported by the media and others that California’s environmental leaders got beaten pretty badly this last legislative session by the oil industry. Faced with a provision in SB 350 that would mandate 50% petroleum reducti...
CONTINUE READINGNew Report: Grading California’s Rail Transit Station Areas
Next 10 releases Berkeley Law study on transit-oriented development
If we build it, they will come. For many years, that was the mantra of rail transit planners. Just build the rail line, and development will happen around the stations. And then more people will ride, and the system will be a good investment. But in California, too often that hasn't been the case. Much of our prime real estate within an easy walk (half-mile) of urban rail lines has been wasted -- a victim of bad planning, poor market conditions, and/or restrictive loc...
CONTINUE READINGEvangelicals Versus Property Rights
Guess who invented the idea that property rights evolve with changing social values?
Today, evangelical Christians tend to be aligned with conservatives in defense of private property. But that was not always true. In the 19th and early 20th Centuries, evangelicals launched a major attack on property rights. As historian John Compton documents in a recent book, they also adopted the idea of the “living Constitution” to justify their revisionist view of property. The conflict between property rights and religion was sparked by moral opposition to d...
CONTINUE READINGExploring Potential Challenges to EPA’s New Source Performance Standard: PART III
CCS for coal power plants, but not natural-gas power plants?
This post is the third in a mini-series (see first and second posts) exploring likely legal challenges to the New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) for power-plant greenhouse gas emissions under Clean Air Act § 111(b), and how those challenges might affect the Clean Power Plan. In my first post on EPA’s New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) for greenhouse gas emissions from new and modified fossil-fuel-fired power plants, I explored some of the legal arguments re...
CONTINUE READINGIs CCS the “best” system of emission reduction for coal-fired power plants?
Exploring Potential Challenges to EPA’s New Source Performance Standard: PART II
This post is the second in a mini-series (see first post) exploring likely legal challenges to the New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) for power-plant greenhouse gas emissions under Clean Air Act § 111(b), and how those challenges might affect the Clean Power Plan. In my first post on EPA’s New Source Performance Standard (NSPS) for greenhouse gas emissions from new and modified fossil-fuel-fired power plants, I described the content of the final rule, introdu...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Law as a Three-Legged Stool
Ad. Law provides the process and institutions, while Torts and Property concepts underly the substance.
Environmental law is a formidable tangle of long, complicated statutes and sometimes arcane judicial doctrines. But underneath all that, I'd like to suggest, there's a very simple structure, rooted in legal basics. The procedural and structural framework for environmental law is provided by administrative law, supplemented in a few areas like Superfund by ordinary civil litigation. That's why I've heard it said that environmental law is just a branch of administra...
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