The Challenge of Regulating the Ordinary
The title is a play on a great paper of Holly's about the converse challenge of saving the ordinary. Whether the ordinary is good or bad, however, it tends to escape our interest and attention because it's so darn . . . ordinary. Case in point: nitrogen pollution. We emit a lot of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere, while dumping a lot of nitrogen into rivers and streams because of excessive fertilizer use by farmers. Sounds like it could be a problem, but not ...
CONTINUE READINGPolar Bears. Wolves. Sea Turtles.
Polar Bears. Wolves. Sea turtles. Did I mention polar bears, wolves, and sea turtles? The most popular posts on our blogs feature those subjects, along with fetching pictures. Some people dismissively refer to such creatures as charismatic megafauna, as if there were something wrong with people being attracted to some of nature's coolest denizens. But the attraction people feel to parts of nature is important -- and most of the people who are dismissive and pro...
CONTINUE READINGA Lot of Hot Air
One of the arguments that pro-"cap and traders" like to make against a carbon tax is that the outcome of a tax is too uncertain. Like Goldilocks, you may end up with a tax that is too weak or too strong. If it's too weak, the desired environmental emissions targets may not be met; too strong, and we crush the economy like Goldilocks sitting on the little bear's chair. But this argument is pretty weak coming from advocates of a cap-and-trade plan. After all, what ...
CONTINUE READINGChina’s Problems, Our Problems
President Obama’s trip to China (noted here yesterday by Dan Farber) refocused world attention on China’s mushrooming contributions to global warming. Many have declared that China has eclipsed the United States as the number one emitter of greenhouse gases, and it is evident that its emissions grow by the day. Perhaps the most devastating examples of China’s “progress” are the Three Gorges Dam and the rapid-fire introduction of new coal-fired power plants. I...
CONTINUE READINGCan You Teach an Old Corps New Tricks?
The levee failures in New Orleans a few years ago -- the picture is to help refresh your recollection in case you've forgotten about them -- put the spotlight on some major deficiencies in the operation of the Army Corp of Engineers. According to E&E News, lawmakers are complaining that the Corp has failed to heed legislative mandates for reform: "Three of the most significant of these programmatic reforms, independent peer review, safety assurance review, and ...
CONTINUE READINGRemembering Tom Graff
Last week, California and the nation lost a true giant of water law and policy, Tom Graff, who founded the California office of the Environmental Defense Fund in 1971 and had a hand in every key water battle or negotiation (as well as many other environmental developments) since then. EDF's memorial page is here; it includes a link for sharing remembrances of Tom. Contributions in his memory can be made to EDF's California water program here. Stuart Leavenworth wrote a m...
CONTINUE READINGThe multiple values of nature
Two interesting storylines came together last week about what nature does for people. The first has to do with economic value, the second with non-economic value. On the economic side, The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a project of the United Nations Environment Programme, the European Union, and several European nations, released a report for policymakers arguing that when the value of ecosystem services is accurately accounted for, the economic benefits ...
CONTINUE READINGUpdate on DeChristopher trial
U.S. District Judge Dee Benson has ruled that Tim DeChristopher, the student who bid on federal oil and gas leases to protest global warming, cannot present a necessity defense in his criminal trial. The decision is not a surprise. The necessity defense typically faces a high bar in US courts, which require that the defendant show that his actions were necessary to prevent imminent harm and that no lawful alternative existed. According to the Salt Lake Tribune's report, ...
CONTINUE READINGEverything You Always Wanted to Know About China But Were Afraid to Ask
As President Obama heads to China, the World Resource Institute has launched a very interesting new website devoted to China, energy, and climate change. The chart above is an example of the kind of information on the website. Notice for example the important role of manufacturing emissions on the Chinese side versus transportation emissions on the U.S. side....
CONTINUE READINGTo auction or not to auction
In the comments to a recent post, Red Desert raises a good question about the application of cap-and-trade to greenhouse gases. Red points to this report in The Wonk Room of a letter signed by 14 Democratic senators asking that the leadership "ensure that emission allowances allocated to the electricity sector – and thus, electricity consumers — be fully based on emissions as the appropriate and equitable way to provide transition assistance in a greenhouse gas-regul...
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