Energy
Picking Up the PACE: FHFA Releases Proposed Property-Assessed Clean Energy Rule
It has been a long road for supporters of Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. With the recent release of the Federal Housing Finance Agency’s Proposed Rule on enterprise underwriting standards and mortgage assets affected by PACE programs, some residential PACE supporters may be reasonably fatigued. But while the agency’s Proposed Rule maintains its position that …
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CONTINUE READINGCoal, China, and Pollution
Air pollution in China is a global problem, because of climate change, and a California problem, because pollutants from China reach the U.S. West Coast. An article in the current issue of Nature has good news and bad news about coal and pollution in China. The good news is increased pollution control. The authors estimate …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA Unveils Carbon Standard for New Power Plants
This morning, U.S. EPA released its anticipated rule limiting carbon dioxide emissions from new power plants. The proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act purports to set national limits on the amount of carbon pollution new power plants can emit. Today we’re taking a common-sense step …
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CONTINUE READINGTunnel vision in environmental law and policy
One of the reasons that environmental law and policy is so interesting, and so challenging, is that it is very, very difficult to reduce what we mean by “environmental quality” to one single metric. A couple of recent posts by a leading progressive policy blogger (Matt Yglesias) make this point very well.
CONTINUE READINGTen of the Top Environmental Stories of 2011
Nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. EPA issues new rules limiting mercury emissions by power plants. Durban climate summit produces modest progress, as developing countries begin to acknowledge the need for binding limits on their carbon emissions. White House kills scheduled new regulations of ozone. California adopts cap-and-trade system under AB 32. White House announces stringent …
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CONTINUE READINGTwo weeks of protest against Keystone XL ends Saturday
Two weeks of civil disobedience and protest against the Keystone XL pipeline ends this Saturday (Sept. 3), with a rally and final sit-in. Over 1,000 people have been arrested, including my former professor , Gus Speth. The protestors want President Obama to deny a permit to construct a pipeline to bring oil from Canadian tar …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate, Energy, and the Presidential Race
Michele Bachmann ripped into Tim Pawlenty last night for his past support of cap-and-trade. “When you were governor of Minnesota, you implemented cap and trade in our state…. you said the era of small government was over. That sounds a lot more like Barack Obama if you ask me.” Several of the other candidates have …
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CONTINUE READINGAnti-coal satire (with My First Inhaler) punks Peabody Energy
Peabody Energy — last seen on this blog as the real party in interest whose proposal to mine more coal on Indian land in Arizona had to go back to the drawing board because of this UCLA environmental law clinic case , and immortalized in the John Prine song “Paradise” — has been punked. (I’ve …
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CONTINUE READINGThe story of the Price-Anderson Act: how Congress made nuclear power financially viable in the U.S. by eliminating accountability for risk
Ever wonder how nuclear power plants have been able to get financial backing in the U.S. despite the huge, and largely uncertain, potential risks they pose? Or why there are nuclear plants within a few hours’ drive of major population centers such as Los Angeles and New York? Or who will pay the costs that …
CONTINUE READINGThe World in 2050: Economics and Resources
This is a second post on Laurence Smith’s new book, The World in 2050. I posted previously about demographic projections, but the economic and resource projections are also notable. Here are some important ones: Conventional oil is at or near its peak. Remaining oil will be increasingly expensive to obtain. Even with improved efficiency, India …
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