Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act and Greenhouse Gases: Full Employment Act for Lawyers

For several years now, large law firms have sought work related to climate change, though prior to President Obama’s election the work was relatively thin. Sure there were challenges to California’s legislation to regulate greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) from cars; defenses to claims under the National Environmental Policy Act and California Environmental Quality Act; and …

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Explaining EPA’s Authority Under the Clean Air Act to Address Climate Change

In a new white paper by the Center for Progressive Reform (CPR), Amy Sinden and I try to  clear up some misconceptions about climate change and the Clean Air Act. Critics of EPA maintain that the Clean Air Act is somehow an inappropriate tool to address greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and that EPA should be …

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UCLA Law Symposium: Perspectives on Climate Change

Please join us at UCLA Law School on April 15th for the 2011 Environmental Law Symposium, Perspectives on Climate Change, Pollution and the Clean Air Act. The keynote speaker will be Gina McCarthy, Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. Please RSVP. You can also check out the program for more information. Panel …

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Boehner Tweet on Plastics Sums Up Republican Disdain for the Environment

In hardly the biggest news story of the day, but one that really irks me, House Speaker John Boehner tweeted this morning, “The new majority — plasticware is back.”  He’s referring to the move by the Republican majority to eliminate deposed Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s initiative to green the House of Representatives.  The initiative included — …

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The Huge Benefits of Air Pollution Regulation

EPA has a new report on the benefits from the increased pollution controls required under the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act.  According to E&E, A two-decade-old crackdown on smog and soot under the Clean Air Act will yield about $2 trillion in annual benefits by 2020, according to a study that was released …

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Six Myths About Climate Change and the Clean Air Act

The Clean Air Act is a broad statute that provides sensible remedies for anything which goes into the air and later causes harm. There’s nothing inappropriate about using the statute to address greenhouse gases.

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The Legal Underpinnings of EPA’s Climate Rules

The Clean Air Act is a formidably technical and complex statute — I often tell my students that it’s like the Internal Revenue Code except not as clearly written. But even those who know the statute may have been surprised by a couple of provisions that EPA is using to address greenhouse gases.

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More Garbage Conservative Constitutional Theory

James Joyner is one of the few conservatives who actually try to come up with intellectually coherent policy positions, and he often does.  So maybe we should give him a pass when he blows it. But wow, is this one a doozy.  The EPA has decided to begin to issue greenhouse gas regulations, as it …

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Republicans vow to attack federal climate change efforts

The New York Times reports that senior Republicans are saying they will aggressively attack our administration’s environmental and climate change initiatives if their party wins a majority in the House of Representatives.  EPA will be on the defensive, using its resources to defend against these attacks rather than move forward with regulatory initiatives that both …

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Another Senator paddling backwards on climate (are we up a creek yet?)

News reports yesterday have the moderate Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), at a meeting in his home state, expressing firm opposition to EPA’s regulation of greenhouse gases.  Here’s a link to the short video clip on YouTube.  Up in the air is whether this means he will support any of the formal measures being considered by the Senate to strip …

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