EPA
EPA and the social cost of carbon
This is Part I of a two-part series of posts discussing Eric Posner’s critiques of the role of cost-benefit analysis in climate regulation. The social cost of carbon (SCC, for policy wonks) represents the cost, in today’s dollars for the harm of emitting a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent gas into the atmosphere. Recently, the …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA Sends Climate Rules for New Power Plants to OMB
Though I was somewhat skeptical that the Obama climate plan unfurled last week included much new, I’ve also argued previously that if the administration uses its extensive power under the Clean Air Act to regulate both new and existing power plants, the President will really have accomplished something on the climate change front. It looks …
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CONTINUE READINGLots of Rhetoric, Not Much New in Obama’s Climate Plan
The Obama Administration just released a “Climate Action Plan” to accompany the speech the President will give this morning at Georgetown University. I applaud the President for delivering a speech devoted exclusively to climate change. But for all the hooplah surrounding the President’s speech as “major,” the measures he’s proposed in the new plan to …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Grants Cert. in Interstate Pollution Case
The Supreme Court agreed this morning to review a D.C. Circuit opinion that had struck down EPA’s effort to curb interstate pollution. This is welcome news. As I wrote when the lower court ruled: Now that I’ve had a chance to read the lengthy opinion in EMR Homer City Generation v. EPA, I’m struck by …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s holding up the Clean Water Act jurisdictional guidance?
Cross-posted on CPRBlog. People on both sides of the political spectrum agree that the boundaries of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act are murky, to say the least. But efforts by EPA and the Corps of Engineers to clarify those boundaries have been tied up in the White House for more than a year, …
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CONTINUE READINGGina McCarthy to be nominated as EPA head
As predicted by Cara recently in this space, it’s being widely reported (for example here) this morning that Gina McCarthy, currently EPA’s Assistant Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation, is Obama’s pick to succeed Lisa Jackson as EPA Administrator. Cara sees this appointment as a good thing for EPA’s climate policy efforts and …
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CONTINUE READINGCellulosic Biofuel mandate for 2013
I mentioned the other day that the D.C. Circuit struck EPA’s cellulosic biofuel mandate for 2012. Today, the New York Times reported on EPA’s 2013 quota. EPA has proposed to raise the mandate to 14 million (ethanol-equivalent) gallons for 2013. EPA explicitly stated that it believes its 2013 proposal “is consistent with” the D.C. Circuit …
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CONTINUE READINGD.C. Circuit’s biofuels mandate ruling
The D.C. Circuit issued an opinion last Friday in American Petroleum Institute v. EPA, concerning EPA’s biofuels mandate. (N.Y. Times; slip opinion). The part of the mandate at issue required refiners to incorporate higher levels of cellulosic fuel into transportation fuel. Cellulosic biofuel is in the class of “advanced biofuels” that could actually offset greenhouse gas …
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CONTINUE READINGLisa Jackson Steps Down From EPA
The Washington Post announces that Lisa Jackson is resigning as Administrator of EPA. Summarizing her four years at EPA, the Post says: The slew of rules EPA enacted over the past four years — including the first-ever greenhouse gas standards for vehicles, cuts in mercury and other toxic pollution from power plants and a tighter …
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CONTINUE READINGStanding and the EPA Greenhouse Gas Emissions Decision
As I described in my earlier post of today about the Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA decision upholding the Environmental Protection Agency’s greenhouse gas emissions rules, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the plaintiffs — groups representing large industrial and manufacturing facilities and states that oppose any greenhouse gas regulations under the Clean …
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