Taming the Dormant Commerce Clause
A new Supreme Court opinion is good news for state climate regulators.
Although the Constitution does not say so directly, the Supreme Court has said there are implied limits on state regulations that interfere with interstate commerce.. This is known as the dormant commerce clause doctrine. State clean energy laws have been bedeviled by challenges based on this doctrine. The Supreme Court has just made it easier for states to fend off those claims. As an example, consider laws that encourage a state's utilities to buy power from renew...
CONTINUE READINGCan The Major Questions Doctrine Break The Debt Ceiling?
NAGE’s New Lawsuit Makes A Strong Case That It Can
Last week I argued that a lawsuit from a private party challenging the debt ceiling would be a good way to break the impasse between President Biden and GOP terrorists. Well, as it turns out, someone has done just that, although not on my account. This lawsuit is better than my idea, I think, because it also strokes the Supreme Court’s legal erogenous zones. The plaintiff is the 75,000-strong National Association of Government Employees, an affiliate of the Service...
CONTINUE READINGThe Philanthropy Gap
Spending relating to climate change is far too low given the urgency of the situation.
Larry Kramer, who heads the Hewlett Foundation, pointed out in a speech five years ago that climate change accounted for less than 2% of foundation spending. He called upon “anyone who cares about our children’s and grandchildren’s futures to step forward.” The situation has gotten only a bit better since 2017. In 2020, according to a McKinsey report, “climate and climate adjacent fields” accounted for 2.2% of philanthropic spending. Less than half that ...
CONTINUE READINGEPA’s Power Plant Rule is Not Bold. It’s What’s Required.
It’s important to remember the regulatory history—and the growing urgency—of limiting climate change-related carbon pollution from power plants.
Today’s the day for the long-awaited release of Environmental Protection Agency regulations to tackle planet-warming pollution by the nation’s power plants. (Read the announcement here and the full text here.) The EPA is proposing a new standard for fossil fuel-fired power plants to avoid 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2042. For weeks, we’ve seen headlines about “Biden going big on regulating power plants” and “Biden’s aggressive n...
CONTINUE READINGNew York Adopts Cap and Trade
Yes, the new NY law includes some bans on natural gas. That’s far from all it does.
Last week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed major climate legislation. Press coverage focused on one small piece of the legislation: a partial ban on natural gas use in new buildings. That’s controversial and easily grasped by the public. But a much bigger part of the new law went almost unnoticed: the legislature’s endorsement of an economy-wide “cap and invest” law, a variant of cap and trade. Basically, the state will auction allowances and use a third of t...
CONTINUE READINGHow to Solve the Debt Ceiling Standoff? Sue Janet Yellen
A lawsuit by a federal debtholder could take the terrorists' bombs from them.
We are now just a few weeks away from the House GOP blowing up the world and national economy, with awful environmental consequences as well.. At this point, it's quite obvious what their strategy is: crash the global economy, and then blame President Biden for it. They aren't interested in a deal, as even the Biden Administration is beginning to recognize. What to do? In my latest piece for The American Prospect, I suggest that the best answer is straightforward:...
CONTINUE READINGMexico y el Cambio Climático
There is much to celebrate tomorrow on Cinco de Mayo. But probably not Mexican climate policy.
President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (generally known as AMLO) could be described as a left-leaning populist. Like other populist leaders, he has not been friendly to climate action. In November, Mexico ramped up its 2030 commitment under the Paris Agreement from 22% to 35%. That sounds like great news, but there may be less to this commitment than meets the eye. It may have been intended more as a public relations gambit than an international commitment, and som...
CONTINUE READINGThe Energy Transition and the Working Class
Is Biden right? Can we attack climate change while uplifting the lives of workers?
In most of the world, May 1 is International Worker’s Day. It celebrates the collective struggle of workers for better wages and working conditions. That made me start thinking about the efforts that have been made to unite climate action with the interests of workers. That has been a particular emphasis of the Biden Administration and is reflected in recent spending laws. From the start of his administration, Biden has linked jobs and workplace issues with climat...
CONTINUE READINGJob-Killing Rollbacks
The GOP debt ceiling bill is a dagger aimed at the American economy. (Not to mention the planet)
The debt ceiling bill passed by House Republicans would eliminate tax credits for new emissions credits for nuclear energy, renewable energy manufacturing, domestic sourcing of electric vehicle components, hydrogen production and extensions of the wind and solar production credits. It was a remarkable smackdown of American industry and, if enacted, a big win for foreign competitors in Asia and Europe. It will also eliminate many projected manufacturing jobs for America...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Allows Major State, Local Government Climate Change Litigation to Proceed on Merits
Justices Decline to Intervene in Government Lawsuits Seeking Damages from Fossil Fuel Industry
This week the U.S. Supreme Court gave state and local governments a big--if preliminary--legal win against the fossil fuel industry. The justices declined to take up numerous cases in which government entities have sued oil, gas and coal companies, seeking compensation for the climate change-related damage the jurisdictions they claim to have suffered, and which they attribute to the greenhouse gas emissions the companies' products have released into the atmosphere. ...
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