A Silver Lining to the Supreme Court Term for Environmentalists?
In assessing the environmental train wreck that was the just-concluded Supreme Court Term, the question arises: is there anything from that Term from which environmental interests can take comfort? The answer is at least a qualified "yes." Somewhat lost in the attention focused on the justices' five major environmental decisions--all of them clear defeats for environmental interests--is the fact that the Roberts Court showed far greater solicitude toward state law and...
CONTINUE READINGCynthia Giles Tackles Busy Agenda in High-Ranking EPA Post
The following was written by Andrew Cohen for Berkeley Law's Newsroom. As the new enforcement chief for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Cynthia Giles [Berkeley Law alum of] ’78 is anything but naïve about the enormity of her position and the pressure it brings. “We have a lot of important work to do,” says Giles, nominated by President Obama as head of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance and confirmed by the Senate in May. “Our Administrator h...
CONTINUE READINGCorps proposes to require individual permits for mountaintop removal mining
Last month, the Obama administration announced an interagency agreement to develop a coordinated policy on mountaintop removal mining. Now the Army Corps of Engineers has taken the first step toward implementing that promise. The Corps has been permitting mountaintop mining through Nationwide Permit 21, a process that provides little opportunity for public input and environmental review. Yesterday it published a proposal to amend NWP 21 to prohibit its use for surface co...
CONTINUE READINGOne step toward Klamath River dam removal, many more remain
The agreement to remove four dams on the Klamath River in Oregon and California is one step closer to implementation. Yesterday Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed into law a bill that will provide up to $180 million from surcharges on electric rates toward the costs of decommissioning and removing the dams. The new law is intended to fulfill Oregon's commitment under an Agreement in Principle reached last year by Oregon, California, the US, and dam operator PacifiCo...
CONTINUE READINGCap and trade: it’s never worked, so let’s try it on a massive scale
Why exactly do people believe that cap-and-trade is going to be effective in reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Let's face it: cap and trade is a nice idea that simply doesn't work in practice. The one success story that proponents have held up was the successful effort to control acid rain. However, that program involved a relatively straightforward technological fix for a few hundred power plants to switch to low-sulfur coal. But more importantly, cap-and-trade and ot...
CONTINUE READINGFor once, regulation precedes crisis
Often government doesn't notice, or at least isn't sufficiently motivated to respond to, the need for regulation until after something goes badly wrong (witness the financial market meltdown). But this week the National Marine Fisheries Service got ahead of the curve. On Monday, NMFS finalized a rule prohibiting all fishing for krill, the non-charismatic but essential tiny crustaceans at the base of the marine food chain, in the Exclusive Economic Zone off the west coa...
CONTINUE READINGThe U.S. Supreme Court; the Environment – It’s Not Too Late to Get Briefed
Recently, Berkeley Law's environmental faculty presented a fast-paced, informative webcast on the numerous, key environmental law decisions handed down by the United Supreme Court in its just-concluded Term. The 90-minute webcast was sponsored and hosted by Berkeley Law's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment (CLEE). Berkeley Law professors Dan Farber, Holly Doremus, Eric Biber and CLEE Executive Director Richard Frank also preview the Supreme Court's environme...
CONTINUE READINGThe Sotomayor Hearing and the Climate Nuisance Case
The NY Times reports that one issue in the confirmation hearing may be a case involving climate change. The plaintiffs sued under the federal common law of nuisance for injunctive relief against public utilities for their carbon emissions. The case has now been pending before a panel including Judge Sotomayor for several years. It's definitely an interesting case. The district court held that the case presented a "political question" and hence was not justiciable. ...
CONTINUE READINGOf judges and umpires
With the Senate about to begin hearings on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court and major league baseball at the all-star break, thoughts turn naturally to the intersection of America's Court and America's pastime. That intersection, of course, lies at the question of whether the judge should play the same role in the administration of justice as the umpire does in the administration of baseball. At his confirmation hearing in 2005, now-Chief Justice J...
CONTINUE READINGSetbacks for Coal
Two setbacks for coal this week: First, the Georgia Court of Appeals issued an order that will result in further delay of the Longleaf coal-fired power plant proposed for Early County, Georgia. Second, U.S. EPA notified the state of Kansas and Sunflower Electric Power Corp. that a new air quality permit will be required before Sunflower can build a 895 megawatt extension to its existing coal-burning power plant near Holcomb....
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