Region: National
The fight over California’s greenhouse gas and ZEV car standards continues
UCLA Clinic files amicus brief on behalf of Sen. Carper and Rep. Pallone to uphold standards
Of the many achievements of California’s legendary legislator Fran Pavley, one of the most remarkable is then-Assemblywoman Pavley’s modest bill, AB 1493, which directed California to become the first jurisdiction in the country to control greenhouse gas emissions from cars. That bill, introduced in 2001 and passed the next year, told the California Air Resources …
Continue reading “The fight over California’s greenhouse gas and ZEV car standards continues”
CONTINUE READINGThe Obesity Pandemic
It’s a global phenomenon, with poorly understood causes. But there’s no point in blaming the victims.
I’ve written in the past about the American obesity epidemic. Obesity rates have continued to climb in the United States, though the rate of increase has leveled out. But obesity is also on the rise globally. The obesity rate has increased everywhere. In nine countries, at least one out of five people is now obese: …
Continue reading “The Obesity Pandemic”
CONTINUE READINGIs Bipartisanship Possible?
It’s not easy in today’s polarized politics. But maybe it’s not completely off the table.
We are now, as so often, in a time of divided government. That makes bipartisan cooperation necessary. We are also in a time of hyper-partisanship. The problem may be compounded by the concessions made by McCarthy to the far Right in order to become Speaker. Nevertheless, there may be some opportunities for cooperation across party …
Continue reading “Is Bipartisanship Possible?”
CONTINUE READINGWhose Major Questions Doctrine?
There are two versions of the doctrine. One of them is more dangerous.
When it struck down Obama’s signature climate regulation in West Virginia v. EPA, the Supreme Court formally adopted the major questions doctrine as a way to synthesize prior anti-regulatory rulings. The major questions doctrine (MQD to insiders) has gotten a lot of attention. One thing that’s been overlooked, however, is that there are two versions …
Continue reading “Whose Major Questions Doctrine?”
CONTINUE READINGThe Emergence of the Environmental Justice Movement
The environmental justice movement is now 40 years old. Its influence is only growing.
Dr. King died in 1968, and the Civil Rights Movement had already been a powerful national presence for well over a decade. Yet it was fourteen more years until environmental justice entered the national spotlight. Environmental justice issues first received widespread attention in 1982 when protests erupted over the construction of a new waste disposal …
Continue reading “The Emergence of the Environmental Justice Movement”
CONTINUE READING30 Years of U.S. Climate Policy
Here’s a timeline of the victories and defeats since 1992.
Thirty years ago, the United States joined the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The decades since then have been a saga of victories and defeats for U.S. climate policy. Progress has been made under one President, only to be battered down by the next one. This to-and-fro is a sobering reminder of how …
Continue reading “30 Years of U.S. Climate Policy”
CONTINUE READINGDoes Ideology Kill?
Interpreting the association between conservatism and COVID death rates.
There is mounting evidence of an association between conservative politics and COVID impacts. Indeed, the higher death rate among Republicans may even have swung some close elections. A recent study sheds light on how ideology and death rates interact. As the Washington Post reports, the results were striking: “Covid death rates were 11 percent higher …
Continue reading “Does Ideology Kill?”
CONTINUE READINGSingle Subject = Single Stupidity
New House Rule Designed To Cause Dysfunction
The House Rules package passed last night is potentially a disaster: it seems specifically created to make it impossible for the federal government to pay its debts, although there are (second-best) ways around it that President Biden will undoubtedly use. One provision, though, seems common-sensical: each bill must have a “single subject.” No more massive …
Continue reading “Single Subject = Single Stupidity”
CONTINUE READINGLearning to Name Environmental Problems
It was only in the 1960s that the Supreme Court learned to talk about “pollution” and “wilderness.”
There are Supreme Court cases going back a century or more dealing with what we would now consider environmental issues such as preserving nature or air pollution. But when did the Court start seeing filthy rivers and smokey cities as embodiments of the same problem, despite their striking physical differences? And when it did start …
Continue reading “Learning to Name Environmental Problems”
CONTINUE READINGA Taste of Things to Come
Welcome to 2023. It’s going to be a wild ride.
In the past week, we’ve gotten a glimpse of what the next two years will look like. On the one hand, chaos in Congress. On the other hand, quiet progress toward environmental goals by the Biden Administration. Both trends are likely to continue throughout this Congress and the second half of the presidential term. The …
Continue reading “A Taste of Things to Come”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
