Remembering Warren Christopher
News of the recent death of Warren Christopher prompted memories of a meeting I attended in 1987 -- several years before Christopher was appointed Secretary of State by Bill Clinton. A major California utility had hired Christopher’s Los Angeles law firm to take its side in a regulatory proceeding with several billion dollars at risk. The utility’s lawyers agreed to a meeting to consider the potential for settlement negotiations, and the meeting took place in the fir...
CONTINUE READINGThat’s “Chief Justice Bitch”
The ongoing Wisconsin saga of public sector union rights has, predictably, involved the state's Supreme Court. But in a much more personal way than one would think at first: The April 5th state Supreme Court election in Wisconsin, where incumbent Justice David Prosser is seeking re-election, is now being shaken up by news about the interactions on the court: Specifically, Prosser has admitted to calling Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson, one of the court's liberals, "...
CONTINUE READINGCourt issues final ruling in AB 32 challenge — enjoins implementation of AB 32 scoping plan pending CEQA fixes
On Friday, a California superior court judge handed down his decision in the challenge, brought by environmental justice advocates, to the state's implementation of AB 32, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act. The decision is available here. More analysis to come. On first read, the decision looks very similar to the tentative decision issued by the court about a month ago (and discussed here and here). It holds in favor of the CA Air Resources B...
CONTINUE READINGJapan Nuclear Situation Now May Be “Stable,” Not “Critical.”
There is now some reason to think that the situation in Japan has stabilized. According to Bloomberg, Japan’s efforts to cool reactors at the crippled Fukushima Dai-Ichi plant had some success, with reports two of the six reactors are under control and a second electric cable has been connected to the station. Tokyo Electric Power Co., the operator, declared Units 5 and 6 safe after cooling water pumped into them reduced temperatures, the Associated Press reported. ...
CONTINUE READINGBill O’Reilly Adopts the Precautionary Principle
Ann Coulter has written a column arguing that low doses of regulation are actually good for you. Through the so-called hormesis effect, she says, the low doses stimulate the body's protective mechanisms and actually produce health benefits. She was interviewed by Bill O'Reilly about this. As Huffington reports: She repeated this assertion to a skeptical Bill O'Reilly, who told her that, even if there was scientific discussion going on about the effects of radiation, ...
CONTINUE READINGMultiple Failures Exposed Diablo Canyon to Higher Risk
It is a coincidence that the Union of Concerned Scientists has released a new report on nuclear power plant safety while the Japanese nuclear crisis continues to unfold. Yet, the heightened awareness that many people now have of the importance of nuclear plant cooling systems may put us in a better position to understand the significance of the UCS findings. The report highlights 14 “near misses” at U.S. nuclear plants in 2010, including one at California’s Diab...
CONTINUE READINGJapan Update
Not good, on a number of fronts: The official death count is now past 7000, as reported by CNN. Another ten thousand are still missing. The NY Times reports that the Japanese government has finally raised the level of the event to 5, the same level as Three Mile Island. Here's a really scary statement from the same Times story: "Tokyo Electric Power Company, which operates the plant, said earlier this week that there was a possibility of 'recriticality,' in which fi...
CONTINUE READINGPoliticians Have Different Incentives Than Government Bureaucrats About Truth-Telling in a Catastrophe
Jonathan argues, essentially, that governments don't lie, people do, because the incentive structure for the person responsible for the catastrophe favors taking the risk that the better outcome will occur even if it's unlikely. This is especially true, in Jonathan's view, because if the terrible outcome occurs, the person in charge will be ousted and so lacks the long term incentive to act in the government's long term interest. I disagree. First, Jonathan's acco...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Cover-ups and the Bureaucracy
Ann wants to know, "why do governments engage in obfuscation in the case of a major environmental crisis?" The assumption here is that the public is going to find out eventually, so why cover it up now and make it worse? Well, here's a theory. Note that "governments" don't do anything -- people do. "Government" is something of a reification; the only potential actors are, of course, people. And that changes the incentives somewhat. If I'm the person in charge o...
CONTINUE READINGWill the West Coast get hit with Japanese nuclear fallout?
No, says the South Coast Air Quality Management District. For reasons unknown to me, I'm on their e-mail list, and this just came through: You have probably heard news reports about harmful radiation escaping from damaged nuclear power plants in Japan following the recent tsunami. Some have even voiced concern that this radiation could travel across the ocean and impact California. There is no increased risk of harmful levels of radiation exposure in the United St...
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