Why we have the EPA
Air quality in Beijing over the past week has reached horrifically bad levels. The U.S. Embassy's air quality tracker went from "Hazardous" to "Beyond Index" on Dec. 4. Check out the depressing details via Treehugger and France 24. It looks like the Great Smog of London from 1952. England passed its Clan Air Act 4 years later; perhaps it is time for China to rethink its air quality regulation? And I am still waiting to hear how President Ron Paul would keep Los Angel...
CONTINUE READING4 degrees warming here we come!
With the Durban COP17 negotiations concluded, there seem to be two lines of thought in the environmental community: Wow, that was better than expected. Our climate is really screwed. In this case, I think both (1) and (2) can be simultaneously true. For some summaries of what went down at Durban, check out CleanTechnica, Climate Progress, and the Guardian. Why better than expected? Well, we do get an agreement to agree to "a protocol, a legal instrument or an ...
CONTINUE READINGGive to the Environmental Law Program of Your Choice, But Give!
Environmental law programs are worthy of your support because of their unique blend of teaching, research, and public service. They educate future environmental leaders, generate new solutions to environmental problems, and engage with policy makers, courts, and the public. To begin with, environmental law programs train the lawyers who will represent governments, businesses, and public interest groups with regard to environment and energy issues. This isn't just a ...
CONTINUE READINGWhat REALLY Happened in Durban?
Dan wants to know, and he is right to ask. Fortunately enough, it's a pretty easy question to answer. As far as I can tell, the delegates agreed to negotiate a treaty some time in the future. That is diplomatic-speak for kicking the can down the road. As I have argued for well over a year now, actual climate change policy will bubble up from the bottom, and that indeed appears to be happening. Ann has pointed out, various cap-and-trade schemes are alive and well....
CONTINUE READINGIs EPA regulation of carbon dioxide anti-democratic?
There’s been a lot of noise from House Republicans (and others) about how EPA regulation of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act is somehow an end-run around Congress or anti-democratic. But it is neither. Consider the first point: The Clean Air Act is drafted in very general terms, including in its definition of air pollutants almost any type of emission. At a number of stages in the Act, EPA is required to regulate air pollutants from various sources and i...
CONTINUE READINGTea Party activist wants to repeal all California environmental laws
A number of other posts on Legal Planet have noted various efforts by Republicans in Congress to stop or repeal EPA regulations. Those efforts are part of a broader movement by Tea Party organizations (organizations that are overwhelmingly Republican) to effectively eliminate environmental regulations in the United States. If there was any doubt about that point, a Tea Party activist in California recently got approval to circulate a ballot initiative that would repe...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Happened in Durban?
The outcome in Durban seems to be better than expected, although admittedly that's partly because expectations were low. From the official press release: In Durban, governments decided to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, but not later than 2015. Work will begin on this immediately under a new group called the Ad Hoc Working Group on the Durban Platform for Enhanced Action. Governments, including 35 industrialised countries, agre...
CONTINUE READINGPrimary Colors with a Green Overtone
Frederick Anderson, a leading Washington lawyer who works on energy and environment issues, has written a novel about the current primary campaign. It features a candidate who starts thinking for himself, with predictably negative political effects. Gary Hart, who knows a thing or two about how a primary campaign can go wrong, calls it a "highly plausible narrative fashioned around believable characters and realistic political intrigue." Although it's not explicit...
CONTINUE READINGLegal Planet is selected as one of ABA’s Blawg 100: Vote online for Legal Planet for best “niche” blog
Each year, the editors of the American Bar Association's ABA Journal selects the 100 best blogs by and for lawyers. This year, they selected Legal Planet as one of them, out of 3,500 eligible blogs. Now, blog readers get to vote for their favorites, and we'd love to have your vote. The journal editors categorize the blogs and ask blog readers to vote for their favorites in each of 12 categories. (Legal Planet has earned a coveted place in the category "Niche.")...
CONTINUE READINGPotential for 2015 roadmap from Durban?
Reuters reports on a potential roadmap for future climate change action that is developing at COP17 in Durban. Under the EU plan, parties would agree to a road map that would lead to legally binding commitments for GHG emission reductions in 2015. Up to this point, the head of the U.S. delegation, Jonathan Pershing, had indicated that the U.S. would not entertain legally binding commitments before 2020. But perhaps the U.S. negotiators can accept a roadmap to bindi...
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