Today’s Oil Spill News
BP is attempting the "top kill" method of stemming the leak with uncertain results as of yet. Early results are encouraging, and we all hope for the best. In other developments: According to the White House, President Obama will announce six-month extension of moratorium on drilling new wells and will cancel new lease sales off the coasts of Alaska, Virginia. Obama will hold a full-scale news conference about the oil spill as well. The director of the U.S. Minera...
CONTINUE READING“Why can’t we just make it legal?”
No, not that. The developer in the video below asks the question about building communities that feature walkable spaces, a mix of uses, and more compact development near transit. Most local government land use laws now make them illegal, but they are critical to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from driving, preserving open space, and giving consumers more housing options. The video from American Makeover represents an interesting PR effort to show the problems associa...
CONTINUE READINGA Two-Word Phrase Beginning with “Cluster” and Rhyming with “Luck”
Here's the latest on the causes of the Gulf blowout. According to WaPo's Steve Mufson, BP's internal investigation of the Gulf Coast oil spill points to a series of equipment failures, mistakes and missed warning signs that led to the blowout and fire on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, according to lawmakers briefed by the company. . . Once the blowout began, all the systems in place to prevent disaster broke down in serial fashion, the memorandum said, "including th...
CONTINUE READINGThe Oceans Heat Up
Here's the data from the latest research in Nature, courtesy of Real Climate: I'm sure that at least some economists will view this as a desirable development: soon we're going to have our very own planetary hot tub! ...
CONTINUE READINGCarbon Sequestration: Is There a Lesson from Offshore Drilling?
When he lifted the moratorium on new offshore leasing in July of 2008, President Bush assured us that "advances in technology have made it possible to conduct oil exploration in the OCS that is out of sight, protects coral reefs and habitats, and protects against oil spills." We know now that he was wrong, in part because drilling has pushed into newer and deeper waters where technologies have not yet become tried and true. I'm not bringing up his statement as a belate...
CONTINUE READINGIn Memoriam: Jamie Grodsky
We learned this weekend of the tragic death of Jamie Grodsky, a rising star in environmental law who taught at George Washington University. She died after a brief illness. Jamie joined the GW faculty in 2006, after serving as an associate professor of law at the University of Minnesota Law School. Jamie was a meticulous scholar and deeply dedicated teacher. She recently served as a co-investigator on a multi-university NIH grant dealing with the impacts of new bio...
CONTINUE READINGRand Paul and the Environment
Rand Paul, Kentucky's Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has obviously garnered huge attention in the last few days for his comments on civil rights. But his views about environmental topics ought to grab a few headlines too. Consider the following: -- He's called the Environmental Protection Agency "out of control,", and " a regulatory body run amok," -- He says that a cap and trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions could lead to "toilet pap...
CONTINUE READING1001
1001 of what? Arabian nights? No, 1001 posts on Legal Planet -- including this one. As of today, that's the total number, along with over 300,000 views. We've only been on-line for a little over a year. As Al Jolson used to say in the days of vaudeville ," you ain't seen nothing yet."...
CONTINUE READINGRetrofitting homes to make them more energy efficient
When we ponder ways to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change, nothing says "low hanging fruit" more than retrofitting our existing homes and small businesses to make them more energy efficient. Energy use from commercial and residential buildings accounts for 22 percent of California's greenhouse gas emissions. But relatively simple steps like insulating air ducts, sealing leaks in the building, and improving insulation in the walls can result in ...
CONTINUE READINGKerry-Lieberman and State Government
The Georgetown Climate Center has put together a very useful summary of how the bill would impact state regulation, both positively and negatively. The most important fact is that the summary is fifteen pages long. The bill is obviously a big deal in terms of helping state regulation in some respects and curtailing it in others....
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