Welcoming Stanford to the Eco-Blogosphere
Stanford Law School has a new blog, "Environment and Energy Insight," which may be of interest to our readers: At Environment & Energy Insights, you will find a new post on our blog at least every two weeks that will address a topic of immediate relevance to environmental lawyers and policymakers. The authors include Meg Caldwell, Deborah Sivas, Buzz Thompson, and Michael Wara, all faculty members of Stanford’s Environmental & Natural Resources Law & Poli...
CONTINUE READINGGoogling Climate Change
I was curious about what information people would find if they were curious about climate change and took the easiest route by googling the phrase "climage change." It's a mixed story. The first listing on the page (presumably sponsored) is a Chevron site. Right below that are "related searches" for climate change emails climate change hoax climate change skeptics . When I did the same search with Yahoo, the second entry, right after Chevron, was Is There Glob...
CONTINUE READINGIn Terms of Ethanol, Corny Is Not Funny
Today's NY Times has an excellent op ed on corn ethanol. In terms of the environmental impact, the author (Russell Harding) says: . . . . if ethanol use was really helping the environment, it might be worth putting up with higher costs. But many environmental groups dropped their support for corn-based ethanol after two studies published by the journal Science last February concluded that ethanol production actually increases the amount of carbon dioxide released i...
CONTINUE READINGBusiness Gets Ready for Emission Cuts
Today's NY Times reports: Much of corporate America has already been thinking about how to comply. Many businesses concluded years ago that such limits were inevitable, and they have been calling on Congress to define the exact rules they will need to follow. Already, many companies are recording their emissions and analyzing the results. Some have set voluntary targets for reductions and are claiming substantial progress in meeting them. Sustainability — a notion mos...
CONTINUE READINGThankful for U.S., China News on Climate?
After yesterday's news that Obama will attend the international climate talks in Copenhagen and commit to near term targets (discussed by Cara here and Dan here) we're greeted today with the news that China's prime minister Wen Jiabao will attend and commit to reductions in the greenhouse gas emissions intensity of China's economy. China's commitment differs from the U.S. one in a very important way: the world's leading producer of greenhouse gases will not cut emiss...
CONTINUE READINGMore on today’s White House announcement re Copenhagen
Dan writes immediately below about Obama's announcement that he'll attend the talks in Copenhagen in two weeks, and with a U.S. emissions reduction target in the range of the 17% below 2005 levels found in the House bill. At the press conference on this announcement, a little more was said about the kind of agreement the White House is now hoping to acheive in Copehagen. In recent weeks, much has been written about the tamping down of expectations for a legally ...
CONTINUE READINGObama to Go to Copenhagen
Greenwire reports; President Obama will attend U.N. global warming negotiations in Copenhagen on Dec. 9, according to a White House aide. The White House also confirmed today that Obama will propose that the United States plans to curb its emissions by 2020 in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels -- which is the same as the thresholds in the House-passed climate bill. The question of what percentage to embrace is a tricky one. Anything lower than the House version...
CONTINUE READINGThe Climate “Partnership” with India
At least that's what the White House is calling it. (Okay, okay: technically, the White House calls it the "Green Partnership to Address Energy Security, Climate Change, and Food Security."). Does it mean anything? Maybe. Essentially, it provides for some technical assistance to improve governance capacity and scientific knowledge, and some new initiatives to foster R & D. It also takes the sensible position that the developed countries will adopt emissions...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Air Resources Board releases draft cap-and-trade plan
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) today released the preliminary draft cap-and-trade regulation. CARB staff would like to have comments by January 11th of next year. A new proposal based on the comments will then be issued in Spring 2010. Some quick key points: 1) The proposal limits a covered entity's use of offsets to a maximum of four percent of the allowances that the entity surrenders at the end of a compliance period. 2) CARB staff are considering shor...
CONTINUE READINGWar Tax=Carbon Tax
Congressman David Obey yesterday called for a war tax to pay for troops in Afghanistan. While the idea of a war tax makes all the sense in the world (if health care can't add to the deficit, why should our wars?), Obey's proposed tax on upper-income earners is aimed at the wrong source. Instead of an income tax, why not a carbon tax to pay for our wars in the Middle East? After all, much of the reason for our military involvement in that region comes from our desire to...
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