Supreme Court Denies Cert. in Mercury Case
The Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court opinion striking down the Bush Administration's regulation of mercury. This isn't a huge surprise since the Obama Admimistration indicated that the lower court opinion was consistent with its own regulatory policy, leaving only the industry to seek revieew. The lower court opinion is one of a spate of opinions in the last year or so finding that the Bush Administration's actions were inconsistent with clear statu...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Refugees
The Washington Post discusses eco-migration today: In Bangladesh, about 12 million to 17 million people have fled their homes in recent decades because of environmental disasters -- and the low-lying country is likely to experience more intense flooding in the future. In several countries in Africa's Sahel region, bordering the Sahara, about 10 million people have been driven to move by droughts and famines. In the Philippines, upwards of 4 million people have moved from...
CONTINUE READINGBlowing Off Steam: Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Clean Water Act
The Entergy case, which is now before the Supreme Court, involves EPA regulation of power plant's cooling systems. This is an important environmental issue because the cheapest systems kill acquatic life in the front-end intake process and then raise the temperature of water bodies in the back-end discharge. More broadly, the case raises questions about whether EPA can reinterpret the Clean Water Act to convert the statute's mandated technology-based standards into ...
CONTINUE READINGIs Ray LaHood Trying to Subsidize Gas Guzzlers?
We finally see Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood (R-IL) emerge from his undisclosed location, and the result isn't pretty: Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says he wants to consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive rather than how much gasoline they burn _ an idea that has angered drivers in some states where it has been proposed. This idea is bad on several levels: 1) To the extent that we are concerned about climate change and energy consumptio...
CONTINUE READINGHip Hip Hoo—-Wait A Minute …..
Two recent announcements seem to offer reason for good cheer on the renewable energy front. But in each instance, it pays to read a little deeper and maybe keep the cork in the champagne a bit longer. The first came in the form of a California Public Utilities Commission report that concluded that there are enough proposed renewable energy projects floating around to more than meet the state's most ambitious targets. As of now, the state requires that its utiliti...
CONTINUE READINGMary Nichols gets mad
Amid the general relief that California's legislature has finally passed a budget, our state's (and nation's?) chief air & climate conscience makes some serious objections: California's proposed budget contains a major provision that would weaken air pollution regulations while saving the construction industry millions of dollars. The measure, largely overlooked in a public debate focused on taxes, would delay requirements for builders to retrofit bulldozers, scrap...
CONTINUE READINGObama on Transportation, Land Use and Energy Use
Stunning news from the White House: we actually have a US president who understands the connection between land use patterns and energy use. Obama's stimulus bill was weak on spending for transit projects (as opposed to highway projects). But that was because it was a bill about jobs, and more highway projects just happened to be ready to go to create immediate work for people. The upcoming transportation re-authorization bill, however, will give the new president an op...
CONTINUE READINGThe Fire Next Time
Realclimate.org has an interesting post about the Australian wildfires: Although formal attribution studies quantifying the influence of climate change on the increased likelihood of extreme fire danger in south-east Australia have not yet been undertaken, it is very likely that there has been such an influence. Long-term increases in maximum temperature have been attributed to anthropogenic climate change. In addition, reduced rainfall and low relative humidity are ex...
CONTINUE READINGNew York City prepares for climate change’s impacts
New York City's climate change task force report was released today. This report, which discusses how climate change will affect the city's infrastructure and residents, has attracted some media attention. Notably, the New York Times has an article on the report. This is important, given how little attention the impacts of climate change on cities' infrastructure have received to date. Some important consequences of climate change, such as loss of polar b...
CONTINUE READINGAnd the Beat Goes On . . .
Two recent reports drive home the fact that phasing-out harmful chemicals is typically only the beginning of effective chemical policy rather than the end. Methyl bromide, widely used in the last decade as a fumigant in California and elsewhere, is a toxic volatile organic compound and is ozone-depleting to boot. Although efforts are underway to phase it out under the Montreal Protocol and the Clean Air Act, it appears that the likely substitutes are equally troublin...
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