The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Council’s “Draft Comprehensive Plan for Restoring the Gulf Coast’s Ecosystem and Economy” does not actually include any restoration projects.
Everyone knows that life is just a little bit slower in the South; as it turns out, so is ecosystem restoration. On this date three years ago, you likely were continuing to monitor distressing television footage of the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, wondering if the millions of barrels of oil gushing out of the Macondo Well would ever stop. A headline from the June 3, 2010 edition of the New York Times read Plan for Relief Wells Spurs Hope ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Curious Case of Positive Train Control
In a recent column, George Will uses positive train control as a poster child for the evils of government regulation, while also complaining about the "democracy deficit" of agency regulations. Actually, his two points contradict each other. Positive train control is really an example of democracy in action rather than bureaucratic excess -- an automated safety system specifically mandated by Congress and moving forward in its present form only because Congress gav...
CONTINUE READINGAlex Hall’s Work on Climate Change and Los Angeles
My UCLA colleague Alex Hall has developed a model for predicting future climate conditions across Los Angeles areas such as Venice vs. Pasadena. Take a look at Tables 2 and 3 of this report. As an economist, I'd like to make a point for lawyers to think about. Take a look at Table 3 and note that Professor Hall predicts very few extra 95 F degree days in Venice and Santa Monica relative to other parts of Los Angeles. This suggests that the land zoning codes in ...
CONTINUE READINGCan We Learn About Climate Change Adaptation Efforts Today From Historical Lessons from 500 Years Ago?
I am married to an economic historian and I have co-written a Princeton Press book on economic history but I do not believe that long run history is relevant for thinking about how we will adapt to climate change. In this blog post, I discuss recent work by Geoffrey Parker as he sketches stories from hundreds of years ago and hints that they foreshadow our future. But, past failures to adapt provide little guidance about our future when today we are; 1. urbanized, ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Market for Lemon Solar Panels
George Akerlof won the Nobel Price for his work on the market for lemons and the role that asymmetric information and adverse selection plays in mucking up markets. His favorite example is the used car market. The seller knows more than the buyer about the vehicle's true quality. Used vehicle owners are more likely to sell if their vehicle is low quality so this means that the average quality of the select set of vehicles that owners want to sell is lower than the ...
CONTINUE READINGObama’s Tactics on Greenhouse Gas Regulations Come Into View
Last week, Ann wondered why the Obama Administration has withdrawn proposed rules on greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources, worrying that time might run out of the possibility of getting them written in time for the end of Obama's second term. The two reasons proffered -- 1) susceptibility to legal attack; and 2) waiting until the Senate confirms EPA-nominee Gina McCarthy -- seemed extremely weak, even for a hyper-risk-averse administration such as this one...
CONTINUE READINGWrite Your Own News Story
Just fill in the blanks, and you can save yourself the trouble of reading newspaper accounts about any new EPA action. New EPA Regulations Spark Controversy The Environmental Protection Agency today announced tough new regulations on [name of industry]. According to the agency, the regulations will save thousands of lives by reducing dangerous levels of [name of substance] pollution. The total cost of the regulations is estimated at $[number] billions. The regulatio...
CONTINUE READINGThe NY Times Publishes a Strange Anti-Geoengineering Op-ED
I encourage this blog's readers to skim Clive Hamilton's piece on Geoengineering which was published in the NY Times today in its Opinion section. His piece is so strange that it is worth a carefully read. Here I provide some direct quotes; "We can imagine a situation 30 years hence in which the Chinese Communist Party’s grip on power is threatened by chaotic protests ignited by a devastating drought and famine. If the alternative to losing power were attempting ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Emergence of Food Law
As with most holidays, Memorial Day is associated with a traditional food component -- in this case, picnics. So this seems like a good occasion to talk about the emerging legal field of food law. According to the Food and Drug Law Institute, about sixty law schools have courses on Food and Drug Law, a traditional course focusing on the FDA. But a new type of course has emerged in recent years, focusing on food law more broadly conceived. It’s not hard to find e...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Legislature Suspends Oil Severance Tax: Wimp-out or Long Game?
Perhaps the most obvious fiscal reform for California lies in an oil severance tax, which charges producers per barrel coming out of the ground. California is the only major oil-producing state without such a tax (the miniscule fee to fund the Department of Oil, Geothermal, and Geophysical Resources doesn't count), and because of the international market for petroleum, it will not cause prices to increase at the pump. The failure to enact such a tax represents hundre...
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