Waxman-Markey May Lower Household Costs
In another report issued today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency counters the predictions of some critics of climate change legislation by concluding that the Waxman-Markey bill would not lead to higher energy costs for consumers. In fact, the EPA concludes that household energy costs actually may go down. In one scenario, each household on average would save $80 per year. In another scenario, the annual savings would be $111. How does the EPA reach th...
CONTINUE READINGCoeur Alaska and mountaintop removal mining
As Dan noted below, yesterday the Supreme Court decided its final environmental case of the year, Coeur Alaska v. Southeast Alaska Conservation Council. While Coeur Alaska was not a mountaintop removal case, it does have ramifications for the argument about whether the Clean Water Act allows mountaintop removal coal mining. The central issue in Coeur Alaska was which of the Clean Water Act's two permitting programs applied to a gold mine's operations. The mine would u...
CONTINUE READINGThe Low Cost of Climate Legislation
According to a new CBO estimate reported by the Washington Post: Climate-change legislation would cost the average household $175 a year by 2020, according to the Congressional Budget Office, far below the figure commonly used by GOP critics of the House bill. The CBO said yesterday that the poorest 20 percent of American households would actually receive a $40 benefit in 2020 from the legislation, which would establish a cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emis...
CONTINUE READINGComment Period for Endangerment Finding Expires Tomorrow
GOP lawmakers and industry sources have requested unsuccessfully that the comment period be extended. Since the Supreme Court's ruling in Mass. v. EPA, it has been clear that EPA would have to make a finding one way or another, so everyone has been on notice for a long time that this was coming. Moreover, if there were any feasible route to a finding of no endangerment -- taking "feasible" to include law, science, and politics -- the Bush Administration certainly would h...
CONTINUE READINGNews Flash: Supreme Court Decides Coeur Alaska
In an opinion by Justice Kennedy, the Supreme Court decided two issues in this case, over a dissent by Justice Ginsburg. The first was whether the Clean Air Act gives authority to the United States Army Corps of Engineers, or instead to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), to issue a permit for the discharge of mining slurry. The second question was whether the Corps acted lawfully in issuing the permit. The Court held that the Corps was the appropriate agency to...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Report from Copenhagen
The University of Copenhagen has issued a synthesis report on Climate Change: Global Risks, Challenges and Decisions. A good summary can be found here. The authors include such luminaries as Sir Nicholas Stern (author of the Stern Report) and Dan Kammen (from Berkeley's Energy and Resources Group). The bottom line: "further inaction is inexcusable." Future generations will ask about us: What did we know? And when did we know it?...
CONTINUE READINGNational Cotton Council ruling stayed
In National Cotton Council v. EPA, the Sixth Circuit in January overturned an EPA rule exempting pesticides applied in accordance with the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) from the Clean Water Act's permitting requirements. On EPA's request, the court has now stayed the effect of that ruling until April 9, 2011, giving the agency time to develop a national NPDES permit for pesticide application to or over water. Beveridge and Diamond posted this...
CONTINUE READINGNotes From Japan
A few environmental observations from my family vacation in Tokyo. The first is an obvious one: Tokyo's public transportation system is a marvel. Several American cities have admirable subway systems but what is so impressive about Tokyo's is the sheer area it covers. It's the largest subway and train system in the world. No American subway system comes close to covering the geographic space of the Tokyo system and no American city as sprawling as Tokyo can boa...
CONTINUE READINGNew climate change information resource
The Santa Clara Valley Water District has created a Climate Change Portal on its website, compiling "reports and other technical literature on the subject of climate change" and how it could affect the District's work. The reports can be browsed by topic or date. They include everything from hard-core science to legal analysis, and from local to global scope. No single site can keep up with all the information being generated about global warming and its consequences, bu...
CONTINUE READINGZoi confirmed for EERE post
Energy efficiency isn't the sexiest topic in the world, but it may be among the most important (see this study, showing how much and how cheaply the US could cut GHG emissions by ramping up the efficiency of buildings and appliances). Good news: Today, Cathy Zoi was confirmed as Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, a post within the Dept of Energy. She was CEO of Gore's Alliance for Climate Protection and Chief of Staff in the White Ho...
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