The Shadow Price of Carbon
Merging Cost-Benefit Analysis and Feasibility Analysis
The U.S. government has devoted a lot of time and effort to estimating the social cost of carbon. This is basically a standard exercise in cost-benefit analysis, following a familiar three-step process: 1. Impacts. Figure out the physical impacts of the emissions. This involves setting up some emissions scenarios and then running computer simulations to see how much they would change global temperatures. Scientists are fairly confident about the floor for th...
CONTINUE READINGThe Top Ten Reasons Trump Should Endorse a Carbon Tax
A bold move, if Trump is brave enough to go there.
Not that he's asked for my advice, but here are ten powerful reasons why Donald Trump should endorse a carbon tax: 10. It would be completely inconsistent with his past positions. 9. It would shock the GOP establishment. 8. It would shock the media. 7. He's already endorsed a tax increase for the rich, so why not? 6. It could allow reductions in other taxes, which he favors to increase growth. 5. He could mock Fox News for it...
CONTINUE READINGCan We Trust the Science? The Challenge of Irreproducible Results
In the peer review process, articles submitted to scientific journals are sent to experts in the field who then assess the methodology, results and conclusions. Based on their feedback, authors often revise and re-submit, publishing an improved article as a result. Peer reviewers rarely attempt the actual experiments described in the paper. Irreproducible results are always a potential problem. Indeed, there is even a satirical journal dedicated to the issue (including...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Hike Meets Climate Change
Team Emmett Hikes Glacier National Park with Climate Ride
Team Emmett -- a group of seven women raising money for the Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment -- just returned from an incredible trip to Glacier National Park sponsored by the fabulous Climate Ride (Ted posted here about his experience on Climate Ride last year). We hiked to a glacial lake and an historic chalet; saw grizzlies, black bears, mountain goats, big horned sheep and moose; slept in teepees on the Blackfeet Reservation; met an incredible...
CONTINUE READINGRegistration Opens for 2015 Yosemite Conference–The Nation’s Top Environmental Law Event
This Year's Yosemite Conference Promises to Continue a Tradition of Excellence
Registration is now open for the 2015 edition of the State Bar of California's Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite. That conference, held each fall, is unquestionably the premier environmental law-related event in California. I would go so far as to argue that it's actually the top such program in the entire United States. The Yosemite Conference annually draws approximately 400 of California's top environmental lawyers from private practice, government and...
CONTINUE READINGGuess Who Benefits From Regulating Power Plants
The answer will surprise you.
What parts of the country benefit most from the series of new EPA rules addressing pollution from coal-fired power plants? The answer is not what you think. EPA does a thorough cost-benefit analysis of its regulations but the costs and benefits are aggregated at the national level. In a new paper, David Spence and David Adelman from the University of Texas break down these figures on a regional basis. What they found may surprise you. In fact, the areas bene...
CONTINUE READINGDueling Laws and the Clean Power Plan
EPA has shifted its position toward more readily defensible ground.
One of the most serious legal challenges to EPA's Clean Power Plan -- and probably the only one that could completely derail it -- involves an exceptionally abstruse legal issue. When Congress tried to amend an obscure part of the Clean Air Act, someone screwed and two different versions were included in the final law. That wouldn't matter except this previously obscure provision is the legal basis for EPA's plan to regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants...
CONTINUE READINGAnd a Child Shall Sue Them: Ambitious New Climate Lawsuit Filed Against Obama Administration
Will This Litigation Be More Successful Than Earlier, Related "Atmospheric Trust" Lawsuits?
Late last week, attorneys representing children from around the nation filed a provocative new lawsuit in federal court, arguing that the Obama Administration is violating the children's constitutional rights by not taking far more dramatic steps to curb greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change concerns. The newly-filed complaint in the lawsuit, Juliana ex rel. Loznak v. United States of America, seeks a sweeping judicial order directing the federal g...
CONTINUE READINGCoal States File Premature Petition to Block Clean Power Plan
AGs Sue For Tactical and Political Reasons Even Though Their Legal Case is a Loser
Attorneys General from 15 states, led by West Virginia, filed a petition in federal court yesterday to block the Clean Power Plan (CPP) from going into effect. The filing seems to be more tactical and political than a serious legal claim: the Environmental Protection Agency has yet to publish the rule in the Federal Register and Section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act authorizes judicial review only "within sixty days from the date" a rule "appears in the Federal ...
CONTINUE READINGU.C. Campuses Top Sierra Club’s “Cool Schools” Rankings
U.C. Irvine, U.C. Davis Rank 1 & 2 as Nation's Greenest University Campuses
The Sierra Club has released its latest rankings of the "greenest" colleges and universities in the United States, titled "Cool Schools 2015." The University of California fares extremely well in that survey, with four of its campuses placing in the top 10 of the Sierra Club poll. U.C. Irvine nabbed the top spot in the rankings, while U.C. Davis placed second. U.C. San Diego secured the seventh position in the survey, U.C. Berkeley tenth. The rankings are publish...
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