LA River Supreme Court opinion: narrow or broad-reaching?
As Sean posted yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its rather short opinion in Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. NRDC. Rather unsurprisingly, the Court ruled that water that flows from an improved (channelized) portion of a river to an unimproved portion of that same river cannot be considered a "discharge of pollutants" under the Clean Water Act. No party nor amicus, to my knowledge, argued otherwise. The Court asked and answered a question with wh...
CONTINUE READINGMore About the Distributional Impacts of a Carbon Tax
I've posted before about the equity effects of pricing carbon. A new paper from Brookings provides further evidence on the subject. The main conclusions are that a carbon tax is indeed regressive, but the problem could be fixed by spending about 10% of the proceeds on social welfare programs. The authors find that the direct incidence of the tax is regressive in terms of low-income households; the indirect incidence is also regressive but less so. The level of reg...
CONTINUE READINGWhat More Does it Take to Get the U.S to Act on Climate Change?
One standard explanation for why the U.S. has failed to act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is that it isn't worth it for us economically. Conventional wisdom has held that we would experience fewer consequences from a warming planet and could adapt more easily to a changing climate than countries in the developing world. Reducing emissions would, therefore, probably cost us more than we would gain. As Eric Posner and Cass Sunstein wrote in a 2007 article: ...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court agrees to hear TX-OK water dispute: Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann
On Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review Tarrant Regional Water District v. Herrmann (No. 11-889), an appeal from the 10th Circuit regarding apportionment of the Red River, which forms the southeastern border between Oklahoma and Texas. At issue before the Court is whether it is “OK” for a Texas water supplier to obtain Texas’ allocation of a shared river from within Oklahoma. The Court may also evaluate the constitutionality of Oklahoma statutes th...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court overturns Ninth Circuit decision that held L.A. County Flood Control District liable for stormwater pollution in a poorly-reasoned, but narrow, decision
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council. I've blogged about this case before, noting that the Supreme Court's grant of review in this case was based on a completely mistaken premise. (If you're unfamiliar with the case, the linked post explains in detail what the case is about, and may be useful for context. And Rick Frank posted his thoughts about the oral argument here.) T...
CONTINUE READINGEnvisioning the Earth
Here are some cool images from earth satellites. Fans of Benoit Mandelbrot may detect a fractal quality to many of them. The subject of this particular photo ois the Namib-Naukluft National Park, which includes Namibia’s Namib Desert. Here, southwest winds have created the tallest sand dunes in the world, with some dunes reaching 300 meters in height. Despite the lack of water, the park's denizens include oryx, hyenas, jackals, and springbok. As primates, huma...
CONTINUE READINGThe Trouble with TDRs
What went wrong with TDRs? But first, you might ask, what are TDRs? TDRs -- more formally, transferable development rights -- were the first form of environmental trading system to be used in the United States. For instance, the Supreme Court decided a the Penn Central case, which involved TDRs over a decade before Congress created the SO2 trading program in 1990. The idea is simple. In return for not being able to develop one trace of land fully, the owner is ...
CONTINUE READINGShould Environmentalists Worry About Chuck Hagel?
Reports out today indicate that within the next few days, President Obama will appoint former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to succeed Leon Panetta as Defense Secretary. Even though Hagel himself is a Republican, the GOP has already promised a fight, ostensibly on the entirely specious grounds that Hagel is anti-Israel. Hagel...hmmm...where have environmentalists heard that name before? Oh yes: the Byrd-Hagel Resolution of 1997, which undercut the Kyoto Protocol ...
CONTINUE READINGIn Climate Policy, A Stitch in Time Saves Nine
Moving quickly on carbon reduction could save a lot of money. A new study in Nature highlights the importance of timing in climate policy: [A]chieving the same 60% chance of success with action starting in 2020 would require a 2020 carbon price of around US$150 per tonne of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) — more than double the $60 per tonne CO2e required if action begins in 2015. However, delaying emissions limits from 2020 to 2025 would bring the chance of success ...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Law and the Gun Debate
The horrifying events in Newtown have predictably led to calls for new gun controls, which have predictably led to push-back from gun rights advocates -- some measured, some certifiable. For the most part, this debate has nothing to do with environmental law and policy, but there is an exception. The New York Times had an important story last week about the sometimes bizarre and outrageous constraints placed on the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (A...
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