Breaking News: Supreme Court’s Decision Upholding Cross-State Air Rule Is Good Sign for Greenhouse Gas Rules
Huge victory for EPA in regulating air pollution that crosses state lines
The Supreme Court's 6-2 decision issued this morning in EPA v. EME Homer, upholding the agency's rule to control air pollution that crosses state boundaries, gives plenty of reason for optimism that the Court will also uphold EPA's greenhouse gas rules at issue in a different case, Utility Air Regulator Group v. EPA. Both cases involve very complex regulatory schemes EPA developed under separate provisions of the Clean Air Act. At stake in today's case is how t...
CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy and Political Geography
The Washington Post had a story over the weekend about the concerted campaign by the fossil fuel industry to rollback state laws favoring renewable energy. This effort was also the subject of an editorial in the Sunday Times. So far, this effort hasn't gained real legislative traction. The story attributes this failure to the growth of the renewable energy industry as a political force. I agree that this is part of the political dynamic. So is the general public ...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Steve Jobs Could Teach Us About Land Use and Transit Planning
Lessons for making urban spaces great from the celebrated entrepreneur
Steve Jobs died in 2011, but his life experience, as related by biographer Walter Isaacson, offers some important lessons for today's transit and urban development practitioners. I just finished reading the biography and was struck -- like many others -- by what a notoriously awful person he was to those around him. Part of the challenge with someone as flawed as Jobs is accepting his ugly personal side along with the incredible positives he offered the world. Those ...
CONTINUE READINGCelebrate Earth Day By Destroying The Planet!
Is It Possible To Have A Holiday Without Going Shopping?
The first e-mail in my inbox this morning was from a regional pharmacy chain, advertising "Great Earth Day Savings!" That seemed to me to be a little ironic: celebrate by the planet by consuming as much as you can! It isn't alone. Just Google "Earth Day Shopping" and you'll get hundreds of hits. Now, obviously, some purchases might help the planet: trade in your SUV for a Tesla and you are getting somewhere. And consumption brings with it all kinds of good things. ...
CONTINUE READINGGeorge Kennan and the Environment: With Friends Like These…
One Cannot Divorce His Environmentalism From His Racism
Last year, I read John Lewis Gaddis' magisterial biography of George F. Kennan, one of the prime architects of American Cold War policy and a distinguished foreign policy intellectual. I was surprised -- and not a little pleased -- to learn from that book that Kennan was something of a pioneering environmentalist, thinking about these issues long before it became fashionable. As early as 1954, in his book Realities of American Foreign Policy, Kennan argued: [The] ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Quest to Tame the River
"Mississippi River Tragedies" tells the story of the river's refusal to stay within the walls that we build.
As the song tells us, “Old Man River, he just keeps rolling along” – but he doesn’t necessarily roll where we want him to. Human efforts at controlling the river and its massive tributaries succeed at times but seem always doomed to eventual failure. We are playing defense against an opponent that is infinitely patient, needing only to find the right time and place to overcome or sidestep our efforts and knock us flat. Mississippi River Tragedies, by Chris...
CONTINUE READINGFracking and the Environment
A new RFF report sheds light on the critical issues.
There are a lot of unanswered questions about natural gas and fracking. A recent report by Resources for the Future sheds light on some of the answers. RFF is unusual among Washington think tanks -- an honest broker that uses expertise to try to answer hard questions. The report reaches three important conclusions. The first conclusion relates to impacts on water. In terms of water pollution, the report finds little evidence of impacts on the quality of surface wat...
CONTINUE READINGIPCC Report Highlights Need for Rapid Shift to Renewable Energy; Delay Will be Costly
Meanwhile, EPA Considers Methane Regulations for Oil and Gas Production
According to the newest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) mitigation report, only a few decades remain to halt the worst effects of global climate change. To meet climate goals, globally we will need to reduce emissions to 40 to 70 percent below today's levels, by mid-century. Delaying action will be enormously costly from an economic, human, and environmental standpoint. The IPCC Working Group III report, written by 235 scientists from 52 countries, se...
CONTINUE READINGA Victory for Clean Air
The D.C. Circuit has upheld EPA's regulation of mercury from coal-fired plants. We can all breath easier as a result.
EPA won an important victory in the D.C. Circuit today. In White Stallion Energy Center v. EPA, the court upheld EPA's new regulations limiting mercury from coal-fired power plants. The main issue in the case was about a threshold requirement for regulation. Before setting limits on mercury from coal plants, EPA had to consider studies of the health impact of the pollution and determine that regulations were "appropriate and necessary." EPA interpreted this as a...
CONTINUE READINGThe Missing of Summer Lawns*
It's Time to End the Wasteful Practice of Irrigating California's Residential Landscaping With Fresh Water
What a difference a drought makes. Once upon a time, a fundamental attribute of home ownership in California and the American West was an expansive, verdant lawn surrounding private homes, townhouses and apartment complexes. Indeed, some communities have historically imposed permit conditions or adopted local ordinances mandating the inclusion and maintenance of lush, healthy lawns as part of residential properties and communities. But local governments and indivi...
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