Greenhouse gas emissions

EPA’s Proposed Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rules Are Remarkably Business-friendly

Business wins on baseline year, flexible compliance methods will keep costs down

President Obama’s EPA will tomorrow issue proposed greenhouse gas limits for existing power plants.  By all accounts the rules will be a remarkable step forward in the fight against global warming, with the U.S. finally demonstrating significant leadership on an issue on which it has lagged behind for more than a decade.  And yet from …

CONTINUE READING

Obama’s Clean Air Act 111d Rules Are Legally Required, Not an End Run Around Congress

Massachusetts v. EPA triggered the President’s Action

On Monday, President Obama is expected to release proposed regulations to cut carbon emissions from existing power plants.  Leaks to date suggest that the rules, which will cover 40 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, will be ambitious and far-reaching, requiring cuts of approximately 20 percent from the electricity sector. We can already anticipate …

CONTINUE READING

Still Waiting For Supreme Court Decision on Greenhouse Gas Emissions Cert Petition

We May Learn This Week Whether Court Takes Up Important Climate Change Case

Court watchers are still waiting to learn whether  the U.S. Supreme Court will hear the  second most important federal case involving greenhouse gas emissions,  Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA.   The Court is closed today for a federal holiday (not because of the shutdown) but any day we should hear about whether it will take …

CONTINUE READING

If we could see it, would we stop it?

Making carbon pollution visible.

Cross-posted at The Berkeley Blog. It’s difficult to see something as a problem if we can’t see it at all. That’s one problem with coming to grips with greenhouse gas pollution. It doesn’t show up in the air the way smog does, and its impacts aren’t directly linked to emissions in perceptible ways. Interestingly, it …

CONTINUE READING

Guest Blogger Ken Alex: 2030 is Calling

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. California’s AB 32 is the most important climate change law in the country.  We are in full implementation mode to meet the requirement that …

CONTINUE READING

Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Saving Electricity for a Rainy Day

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. We are making progress in two more key areas, although California, for now, is not in the lead.  Thanks to new developments and a …

CONTINUE READING

Guest Blogger Ken Alex: California’s Road to 2020 and Beyond

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Four years ago, when I was the head of the Attorney General’s environment section,  I wrote a series of guest blogs for Legal Planet …

CONTINUE READING

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 …

CONTINUE READING

Lots 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 …

CONTINUE READING

Waxman/Whitehouse carbon tax draft

On Tuesday, Representative Waxman, Senator Whitehouse, Representaive Blumenauer and Senator Schatz released their proposal for a carbon tax bill. They are currently seeking feedback on the draft proposal, which is accordingly short on details. The Waxman/Whitehouse proposal is to require downstream emitters (mainly power plants and other emitters) to purchase annual “carbon pollution permits” per …

CONTINUE READING

TRENDING