Revisiting the Origin of the Administrative State — Not a 20th Century Invention After All
Every institution seems to have a creation myth of some kind. Many people think that the federal bureaucracy was a creation of the New Deal, which deviated from the Framers' vision of small government. More sophisticated people realize that the administrative state began in the late 19th century with the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission. In a recent book, Jerry Mashaw shows that both views are wrong. Bureaucracy and administrative procedure are almost ...
CONTINUE READINGEnergy and Environment in the Wisconsin Senate Race
The Wisconsin Senate race pits Tammy Baldwin (D) against Tommy Thompson (R) -- Tammy versus Tommy, as the newspapers are fond of saying. In the environmental area, the two are as different as day and night. Baldwin champions environmental protection, while Thompson is in love with fossil fuels. Tommy Thompson's position on energy essentially amounts to "drill, baby, drill." His website calls for legislative action to "open areas of shoreline in the Atlantic, Paci...
CONTINUE READINGMayor Bloomberg and the Granny State, or: When is a Soda Ban Not a Ban?
Yes, that's right: granny state, not -- as conservatives are wont to call it -- the nanny state. Dan's thoughtful post the other day suggested but did not spell out an important theoretical implication of New York City's prohibition on large servings of sugared soft drinks: it represents an almost-classic form of the "nudge," the policy tool advocated by Cass Sunstein and Richard Thaler. As Dan noted, Mayor Bloomberg observed that the soft drink ordinance does not ba...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Developers Shouldn’t Blame Environmental Review for the Lack of Infill
Members of the business community are smelling blood when it comes to effectively dismantling environmental review statutes like the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). They now have a political opening with the high unemployment rate, some well-publicized bad outcomes of CEQA litigation, and examples of lawsuits by rival businesses abusing the process for competitive purposes and not for environmental ends. The New York Times picked up the thread recently a...
CONTINUE READINGEnergy and Environment in the Old Dominion
George Allen (R) and Tim Kaine (D) are facing off in the Virginia Senate race. On environment and energy issues, Allen is a clone of Mitt of Romney, Kaine tracks Obama's energy policies but also emphasizes preservation of open space, including historic as well as natural sites. Like all of the Republican Senate candidates I've examined, Allen is very enthusiastic about offshore drilling and fracking. His website also has a few kind words to say about energy effici...
CONTINUE READINGThis Blog Post is Full of Crap
As Cara and I have noted previously, many municipalities are seeking to limit or completely ban plastic bags in grocery stores. Good for the environment, right? Well, maybe. How shall I put this? Plastic supermarket bags, while terrible in many ways, are particularly good at the removal of a particular form of non-toxic canine waste that often afflicts our urban and suburban areas. Indeed, they might be the perfect vehicle for this sort of job. One major c...
CONTINUE READINGThe Environmental Impact of Cloud Computing
The NY Times has a long article and a Room for Debate piece about cloud computing energy demand. Basic economics tells us that these data centers are likely to locate in places where electricity is cheap but the article doesn't tell us the geography of where these data centers locate. Internet companies will ignore the environmental implications of where they choose to locate a data center. The environmental implications of such privately optimal choices depends on...
CONTINUE READINGYour Legal Planet Weekend Movie: Watch the Greenland Ice Sheet Melt!
Forget the cinema or Netflix. Legal Planet can meet your movie viewing needs. This video highlights research done by Dr. Laurence Smith at the UCLA Department of Geography, who spent the summer on the Greenland ice sheet tracking its melting. Somehow seeing the melting happen from the ground has more of an emotional impact for me than seeing the depressing, yet oddly abstract, view from space. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/49612210 w=400&h=300]...
CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit Finds Public Nuisance Lawsuit Unavailable to Address Climate Change Impacts on Threatened Native Alaskan Village
Today, the Ninth Circuit issued an opinion affirming a federal district court decision to dismiss the lawsuit filed by the Native Alaskan Village of Kivalina that sought damages from oil and electric power companies whose greenhouse gas emissions have contributed to climate change. Kivalina contended that the companies' greenhouse gas emissions constituted a public nuisance that contributed to the sea level rise and permafrost melting that threatens their community. ...
CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit Rules Against Indian Tribe’s Climate Change Suit
Not much of a surprise here; a Ninth Circuit panel "has ruled against the northwest Alaska village of Kivalina, which sued energy companies over claims that greenhouse emissions contributed to global warming that is threatening the community's existence." The village brought a common-law public nuisance claim against the oil companies, but the panel held that federal common law actions are displaced by the Clean Air Act. Interestingly, the AP article gets it quite ...
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