NEPA and terrorism
To what extent does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have to consider the threat of terrorist attack in the environmental analysis it undertakes for nuclear power plant licensing decisions? A March 31 decision from the Third Circuit, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, creates a circuit split on that question. In the Third Circuit case, New Jersey argued that the NRC had to consider the risk and consequences of a terror...
CONTINUE READINGChina and Climate Change
In a recent lecture at Berkeley, Orville Schell discussed the attitudes of Chinese leaders toward climate change. One significant factor is the increased understanding of how vulnerable China's water supply is to climatic changes on the Tibetan Plateau, which is a key source of water for 2 billion Asians. The speech includes some remarkable photos showing the retreat of glaciers in the Himalayas. You can see the speech here....
CONTINUE READINGCustomer Impacts From Waxman’s Cap & Trade? Let’s Not Exaggerate
In Wednesday's New York Times, Felicia Barringer reports on pocketbook concerns related to the Waxman-Markey carbon cap and trade proposal as expressed by parishioners at St. Louis' Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church. The article contains the following statement, attributed to a representative from the local electric utility: "Jaime Haro, Ameren UE’s director of asset management and trading, said his company paid $30 to produce a megawatt of electricity. The coal ...
CONTINUE READINGRx for the oceans
The Joint Ocean Commission Initiative, the merger of the Pew Oceans Commission and the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, has issued a new report titled Changing Oceans, Changing World. It lays out an agenda for short-term actions for Congress and the Obama administration. The report's key recommendations will be familiar to those who follow ocean policy. They are substantially similar to the suggestions made by the two earlier commissions in their 2003 and 2004 reports. ...
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s new on the Delta?
Quite a bit, and most of the news is bad. American Rivers has declared the Sacramento-San Joaquin the most endangered river in the United States. The longfin smelt has been listed as threatened by the state, but it is not going to be federally listed, at least not yet. Commercial salmon fishing off the California coast is one step closer to being formally closed for 2009. And while late rains have increased water supplies, some farmers are still slated to get little ...
CONTINUE READINGCleaning Up the Bush EPA’s Dry Cleaning Rule
The Washington Post reported that EPA "is reconsidering whether to compel dry cleaners to phase out a cancer-causing chemical used in tens of thousands of operations nationwide." In 2006, the Bush Administration issued an air toxics rule for professional dry cleaners using perchloroethylene in which it tightened technology requirements, but refused to phase out use of the chemical. This despite the fact that California regulators had already enacted phase outs, havin...
CONTINUE READINGFree Allowances! Get Your Free Allowances!
From WashPo, The Obama administration might agree to postpone auctioning off 100 percent of emissions allowances under a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas pollution, White House science adviser John P. Holdren said today, a move that would please electricity providers and manufacturers but could anger environmentalists. Why would this "anger environmentalists'? I certainly see the fiscal arguments for auctioning allowances, but I don't get why auctioning ma...
CONTINUE READING(Asian) oysters on the half shell
Almost two months ago, I blogged that a decision was expected soon about whether to deliberately introduce an Asian oyster to Chesapeake Bay in the hope of reviving the Bay's flagging oyster harvest. Well, it may not qualify as "soon," but the Washington Post reports that the U.S., Virginia, and Maryland have agreed to halt experimental farming of the Asian oyster. Instead, they will concentrate on efforts to restore the native species. At the insistence of Virgini...
CONTINUE READINGWaxman-Markey: Adaptation
(This post is co-authored with Alejandro Camacho, Associate Professor of Law, University of Notre Dame, and cross-posted with permission from the Center for Progressive Reform blog.) It’s heartening that the recently released Waxman-Markey climate change bill discussion draft includes a lengthy subtitle on Adapting to Climate Change. No matter how rapidly the world acts to reduce future greenhouse gas emissions, significant changes to global temperatures, sea levels, ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009–A Macro and Micro View
I'd like to follow up on Sean Hecht's recent posting concerning Congressional passage and President Obama's signing into law of the Omnibus Public Lands Management Act of 2009. This massive bill designates two million acres of wilderness in nine states as permanently off-limits to development, and increases the number of river miles protected under the federal wild and scenic rivers system by a full 50 percent. It's also the first major piece of environmental legislati...
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