Taking sides on Waxman-Markey
Now that the revised Waxman-Markey compromise draft has been make public (here), those in favor of strong climate change regulation are soul-searching about whether to support it. Did Waxman give away too much -- on, among other things, free allowances to industry, reduced caps, and lessened requirements for ramping up renewable energy sources (see Steve's post on this last point here)? Despite all the compromises, is this our best hope for cutting emissions on a ti...
CONTINUE READINGObama’s Bold New Auto Standards
In what is a huge victory for California and a strong national commitment to more fuel efficient cars, the New York Times is reporting that the Obama administration will grant California its waiver to issue tough greenhouse gas emissions standards while at the same time combining those standards with a new national Corporate Automotive Fuel Economy (CAFE) standard. The result will be a unified national fuel standard of 42 miles per gallon for passenger cars by 2016 and...
CONTINUE READINGSea level falling in places — but change still problematic
This morning's New York Times has this story by Cornelia Dean describing the changes global warming is bringing to Juneau, Alaska. While sea level is rising relative to coast lines in many parts of the world as ocean waters warm and expand, the opposite is happening in and around Juneau. As the region's glaciers recede, the land is rebounding from removal of that weight far faster than sea levels are rising. The land has risen about 10 feet relative to sea level over t...
CONTINUE READINGA Carbon Map of America
A post on DailyKos makes the very important point that carbon emissions vary vastly within the United States, linking to a terrific Purdue University mapping project on carbon emissions. As the post indicates, reliance on coal is a key factor. But there are other forces at work as well. In considering the role of the states in regulating climate change, it is important to keep in mind the large contributions by some states to overall GHG emissions, as well as the ...
CONTINUE READINGDisaster Law
Disaster issues have several links to environmental law. Perhaps the most obvious is that climate change is likely to cause a sharp increase in the number of extreme weather events such as floods and heat waves. Less obviously, disaster law is the flip side of environmental law, concerned with how nature impacts us rather than how we impact nature. It raises many of the same issues as environmental law about risk assessment, cost-benefit analysis, the precautiona...
CONTINUE READINGEducational Equality as an Environmental Issue
This is the first in an occasional series about surprising dimensions of environmental problems. Today's thesis is that promoting educational equality in developing countries would be a good thing for the environment. In other words, environmentalists should favor directing more educational funds to girls rather than following the norm in many countries, which is to spend those funds on boys. Here's why: First, increasing female literacy is one of the best ways...
CONTINUE READINGRelist Yellowstone’s grizzlies?
Grizzly bears in the Yellowstone region were removed from the ESA list in 2007 on the grounds that they had recovered to the point that they no longer needed protection. Now Doug Peacock argues in Environment 360 that Yellowstone's bears should be returned to the ESA's protected list. His piece highlights three key challenges for delisting decisions. First, it can be difficult to predict the extent to which relaxing regulatory protections will result in increased huma...
CONTINUE READINGNew court ruling requires City, Wal-Mart to re-analyze GHG impacts of development and consider a more climate-friendly alternative
Under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), local governments and state agencies in California must analyze the environmental impacts of any permit to approve a new development project, and must identify and promise to implement mitigation to the extent feasible, before approving the project. Over the last two years, it has become clear that climate change impacts - specifically, a project's contribution to greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change ...
CONTINUE READINGWho will pay for the costs of foreign carbon dioxide in our consumer goods?
I discussed in this post the problem of GHG emissions from imported consumer products. We import and buy more and more goods from China and other countries that rely heavily on greenhouse gas-intensive coal-fired power. As a result, our consumer habits are responsible for a large and growing proportion of GHG emissions in other countries. These GHG emissions aren't included in US GHG inventories, as evidenced by the sources cited in my prior post. At what poin...
CONTINUE READINGWhere Have You Gone, Jimmy Carter?
When Paul Simon famously asked his nostalgic question about the whereabouts of Joe DiMaggio, it was only 16 years after Joltin’ Joe had retired from baseball. It's 28 years since President Jimmy Carter left office. Is it time to become a little nostalgic about his energy policy? The question is prompted by Carter’s testimony, this week, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, where he declared, “I would guess that our entire status as a leading nation ...
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