Rebutting the Economic Attacks on Waxman-Markey
The first line of defense against climate regulation was that climate change didn’t exist. The next line of defense was that maybe it was real, but it wasn’t caused by humans. Now we’re up to the third line of defense: it does exist and it is caused by humans, but it’s too expensive to fix. For example, the Heritage Foundation estimates that Waxman-Markey would cost society a whopping seven trillion dollars by 2035. These estimates fail to ask a critical questio...
CONTINUE READING11th Circuit stirs the NPDES pot
Cross posted at CPRBlog. In a decision that shows the power of Chevron deference, Friends of the Everglades v. South Florida Water Management District, the 11th Circuit has upheld EPA’s water transfers rule, which provides that the act of moving water from one waterway to another does not require a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit under the Clean Water Act. The question of whether water transfers are subject to CWA permitting has been litigated...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change and War: A Partial Dissent
As risky as disagreeing with Dan always is, I'm not sure I accept the comparison between war and climate change -- at least not in terms of the negotiations. I think that a better analogy is between climate change and trade. Most succinctly, I believe this because in war, the relative gains of either side predominate. The issue in a war is not "who gains or loses" but rather "who gains or loses more than the other side." The Union won the Civil War because it destro...
CONTINUE READINGAcid oceans coming to a beach, and theater, near you
Global warming has gotten so much attention lately that the public has largely overlooked another, independent consequence of rising CO2 concentrations: acidic oceans. As discussed by Dan earlier this year, for many years the oceans have been silently absorbing CO2 and thereby buffering against even higher atmospheric GHG levels, staving off more warming -- but with potentially devastating consequences scientists have only recently begun to understand. The ocea...
CONTINUE READINGEndangered species news round-up
It's been a busy late spring in the endangered species world. Some recent developments: Gray wolf: Environmental groups have filed a lawsuit challenging the delisting of the gray wolf in the northern Rockies. The EarthJustice press release is here, complaint here. The gist of the complaint is that the state management plans do not provide enough protection. Meanwhile, AP reports that Wyoming, where wolves remain on the endangered list because FWS rejected the state...
CONTINUE READINGDeclaring War Against Climate Change
The NY Times describes the current negotiations in Beijing as resembling an arms control contest, with demands for verifiable reductions (but in emissions rather than missiles). The military comparison may be apt. Dealing with climate change is going to be like fighting a major war in a number of respects: *It will involve mobilizing for collective action on a vast scale. *It involves offensive actions (climate mitigation to reduce the strength of the "enemy") and...
CONTINUE READINGLuke Cole, Environmental Justice Activist, Killed in Car Crash
I'm very sorry to report the news that Luke Cole, long-time environmental justice advocate, was killed in a car accident this week in Uganda. Luke had taken a sabbatical from the Center for Race, Poverty and the Environment , which he headed, to travel the world (he was also my law school classmate and friend). His death was announced by his father, Skip Cole, on Luke's Facebook page. Cole was well-known for his work on numerous leading environmental justice cas...
CONTINUE READINGGlobal Hotspots and the Environment
I recently noted the role of environmental woes in North Korea's current situation. The Middle East also faces serious environmental problems, as a recent TNR posting discusses: Does the world really need more headaches in the Middle East? No, of course not, but rising global temperatures are likely to create a few more regardless. According to a new report from the Institute for Sustainable Development, the Levant is currently on pace to get hotter and drier in the ne...
CONTINUE READINGCoeur Alaska–A Shifting Legal Position by the Obama Administration?
As the U.S. Supreme Court Term winds down, only one environmental case on the Court's docket remains undecided: Coeur Alaska v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, No. 07-984. That case, which involves the relationship between the Clean Water Act's water pollution control (NPDES) and its wetlands dredge-and-fill programs, arises in the context of a proposed gold mine operation in Alaska. That mining project would use --and essentially destroy--an Alaskan lake by t...
CONTINUE READINGDrowning the East Coast
According to WaPo, Sea levels could rise faster along the U.S. East Coast than in any other densely populated part of the world, new research shows, as changes in ice caps and ocean currents push water toward a shoreline inlaid with cities, resort boardwalks and gem-rare habitats. Three studies this year, including one out last week, have made newly worrisome forecasts about life along the Atlantic over the next century. While the rest of the world might see seven to 2...
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