DEMON SPAWN OF THE STIMULUS
From an initial concept by H.P. Lovecraft: The Boxer-Inhofe Amendment SEE! $50 billion in new stimulus money for highways to be introduced on the Senate floor tomorrow!!!! HEAR! Nothing for transit!!!!! SMELL! (TASTE?) (FEEL?) Alleged environmentalist Barbara Boxer (D-Marin County) writing a bill with climate denier James Inhofe (R-Olduvai Gorge) to build thousands of miles of roads and increase our dependence on fossil fuels! THE STIMULUS THAT ATE THE ENVIRONMENTAL...
CONTINUE READINGEnergy law courses
If you're interested in learning more about energy law, you might want to take a look at these two Berkeley classes which are now available on youtube:: Law 270.6 - Energy Regulations and the Environment - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=8256AD22B9C1CE53 Law 270.7 - Renewable Energy & Alternative Fuels - http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=214AD3BA0B8D3FBA The downloads are free and available to anyone....
CONTINUE READINGUnnatural disasters
Scientific American's 60-Second Science blog is reporting, picking up on a news story from Science, that last year's devastating earthquake in southern China may have been caused by the filling of an enormous reservoir behind a dam built in 2004. The weight of the water in that reservoir, located just over 3 miles from the quake's epicenter, may have increased stress on the nearby fault enough to trigger its rupture. The Chinese government denies any connection....
CONTINUE READINGOn the International Renewable Energy Agency
Steve's post on the proposed International Renewable Energy Agency raises an important question: why do it this way? It would seem to me that if one really wanted to make a difference here. you would try to integrate renewable energy issues (and perhaps mandates) into the one international organization that really matters: the World Trade Organization. I say that the WTO matters because (virtually) alone among world bodies, it has real enforcement teeth: its judgments...
CONTINUE READINGBarack Obama: America’s #1 Liberal
...if you follow Robert Frost and define a liberal as a man "who is too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel." He lets Daschle go today after allegedly fully backing him yesterday. More to the point for this weblog, in the Senate, he completely checks out on the fight over transit funding, which could be the best long-term, energy-independent, and greenest stimulus there is. Obviously, Larry Summers, who did such a wonderful job with the international economy ...
CONTINUE READINGKlamath takings litigation heads to the Oregon Supreme Court
As Dan Tarlock and I detailed in our book Water War in the Klamath Basin: Macho Law, Combat Biology, and Dirty Politics, the Klamath Basin has been a hotbed for litigation on a variety of fronts since irrigation deliveries from the Klamath Reclamation Project were temporarily curtailed in the critically dry summer of 2001. Now there's a new twist in the takings litigation brought by the Project irrigators. In two opinions issued in 2005 and 2007, the Court of Claims ...
CONTINUE READINGA Public Lands Agenda for the New Administration
Given the overarching issue of climate change, it's probably unrealistic to assume that the question of how best to manage the nation's public lands will be an immediate priority of the Obama Administration. And the economic crisis currently confronting the U.S. likely pushes environmental issues off the top tier of the Administration's priority list as a general proposition--at least temporarily. But creating a new public lands agenda for America remains hugely impor...
CONTINUE READINGAn International Renewable Energy Agency
Prometheus and Nature News report that on January 26th, 75 nations signed an agreement calling for the creation of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). Its mission is to become "the main driving force in promoting a rapid transition towards the widespread and sustainable use of renewable energy on a global scale. Acting as the global voice for renewable energies, IRENA will provide practical advice and support for both industrialized and developing co...
CONTINUE READINGOcean Acidification and the Clean Water Act
Dan's post today on ocean acidification discusses findings by an international scientific panel that ocean acidification is a very serious problem. This week, according to the nonprofit Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), the U.S. EPA just agreed to review whether and how the federal Clean Water Act can or should be used to address ocean acidifcation. According to CBD's media release, EPA’s formal response to the Center’s petition sets out a public process to...
CONTINUE READINGWhen the Seas Turn Sour
Just in case you didn't have enough to worry about, the New York Times reports there is growing concern about the impact of CO2 levels on the oceans: The oceans have long buffered the effects of climate changeby absorbing a substantial portion of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. But this benefit has a catch: as the gas dissolves, it makes seawater more acidic. Now an international panel of marine scientists says this acidity is accelerating so fast it threatens the sur...
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