Free Trade, Deregulation, and Clean Energy — A Good Mix?
Some scholars like to suggest that there is a natural regulatory cycle: the perception of market failures leads to regulation, and the perception of regulatory failures leads to deregulation. While the 1990s were dominated by free trade agreements and economic deregulation, many political observers see greater acceptance of regulation now, in light of investor malfeasance and our recent recession. It is probably fair to say that the anti-regulatory fervor of the ‘90...
CONTINUE READINGThe Low-Carbon Meat Diet
If you're like me, you like meat. Especially red meat, like a pepper-crusted steak or a juicy burger drizzled with bleu cheese. But if you're also like me, you're concerned about climate change and the impact that our lifestyle has on the planet. While hyrbids and CFL light bulbs get a lot of attention, Ezra Klein rightly points out that cutting back on meat would have a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It's not just that cows bu...
CONTINUE READINGAnother Law Professor to Washington
We've just received word that Rob Verchick has been appointed the Deputy Associate Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation (OPEI). OEPI is the main policy arm of the EPA, responsible for supervising the rulemaking process and pushing innovative strategies, among other things. He will report to Associate Administrator Lisa Heinzerling (on leave from Georgetown), who in turn reports to EPA Administrato...
CONTINUE READING“It is not natural…
...for a man to write this well every day." So commented the great literary critic Alfred Kazin on Henry David Thoreau's Journal, which he kept quite regularly from his Harvard College graduation in 1837 to just a few months before his death. Kazin is right: the Journal is a real gem of American letters and philosophy, with whole lot of great nature writing thrown in. I am currently reading Penguin Books' wonderful edition of the Journal from 1851; I did not think it...
CONTINUE READINGSandra Day O’Connor: The Most Gullible Jurist in America
So now we hear from Sandra Day O'Connor that she is "disappointed" that the Roberts Court has "dismantled" several of her rulings: Asked how she felt about the fact that the current court had undone some of her rulings, the nation's first woman justice responded, "What would you feel? I'd be a little bit disappointed. If you think you've been helpful, and then it's dismantled, you think, 'Oh, dear.' But life goes on. It's not always positive." To which one is entitled to...
CONTINUE READINGFederal Circuit rules for water contractors
The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled in Stockton East Water Dist. v. U.S. that the federal government must pay damages to two California water districts for its failure to deliver water they were contractually promised. Plaintiff districts hold contracts for water delivery from the New Melones Reservoir, which is part of the Central Valley Project operated by the Bureau of Reclamation. The contracts were signed in 1983 and contemplated that deliveries...
CONTINUE READINGA student’s law school rankings for environmental law
In general, I'm a skeptic of rankings for schools. My view is that decisions about where to go should depend not just on the school but on the student and her or his individual goals and interests. There's no way that a single ranking system can represent the best choices for everyone. So I'm all for individuals who are willing and able to put together their own lists. Here's one from Josh Gellers, currently Assistant Director of the Focused Research Group in Internation...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #6: Every Crisis is an Opportunity
This is the sixth in a series of short homilies about the lessons of climate change. It's not clear who first observed that every crisis is an opportunity. Probably it's in the Bible somewhere, if not the story of Gilgamesh. But a crisis, painful as it may be, does present opportunities for innovation. In the case of climate change, the most obvious opportunity is to develop a new, environmentally cleaner energy system. For that reason, my colleague Dan Kammen ...
CONTINUE READINGFeds re-engage on the Delta
Last week brought a lot of good California water news. Restoration of the San Joaquin River took a giant step forward, as the first flows were returned to the channel in accordance with a settlement agreement negotiated in 2006, ending years of litigation by NRDC. As Steve and I noted, removal of four dams on the Klamath River moved one step closer to reality. And for the first time since the California legislature adjourned in disarray there are hopeful signs on the Bay...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Lesson #5: Send Not to Ask For Whom the Bell Tolls
This is the fifth in a series of short homilies on the lessons of climate change. As far back as Sierra Club v. Morton, Justice Blackmun quoted John Dunne, but Dunne's words seem equally apropos today, particularly for climate change: No man is an Iland, intire of itselfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thin...
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