Air Quality
EPA to Release Proposed Rule for Existing Power Plants under Clean Air Act 111(d) that Cuts Carbon Emissions 30% from 2005 Levels by 2030
This rule represents one of the most significant actions ever taken by the United States to mitigate climate change
Major news outlets are reporting that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will release on Monday a proposed rule for the regulation of existing power plants under Clean Air Act section 111(d) that would reduce carbon emissions from the electrical generating sector 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. This rule follows the recent release …
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Kate Konschnik: EPA’s 111(d) Authority – Follow Homer and Avoid the Sirens
Kate Konschnik is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Environmental Policy Initiative. The views expressed in this blog post are her own. Thirty years ago, Chevron v. NRDC set the standard for judicial deference to an agency’s statutory interpretation. In that case, the Supreme Court upheld EPA’s interpretation of Clean Air Act language. This month, …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Infill Backlash
It’s here, and it needs to be addressed
For environmental and economic reasons, we want jobs and people to move back to our cities. People living in cities pollute less because they don’t drive as much and tend to live in smaller homes. Economically, they can save a lot of money on transportation and energy costs, while thriving neighborhoods can create cultural and …
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CONTINUE READINGEmissions Trading and the Supreme Court
Advocates of cap-and-trade should find support from the Supreme Court’s opinion in the cross-state pollution case.
In a number of areas, including climate change regulations, a key question is EPA’s power to control compliance costs. A particularly important method is the use of cap-and-trade systems. For instance, there has been considerable discussion of whether EPA could authorize states to use cap-and-trade to control greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, as opposed …
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CONTINUE READINGJustice Scalia’s Puzzling Dissent
Justice Scalia’s dissent in EME Homer contains a number of unusual lapses in substance and tone.
As I’ve been studying the opinions in EME Homer, I’m increasingly struck by the oddities of Justice Scalia’s dissent. There was a flap last week about his blunder, later quietly corrected, in describing one of his own past opinions. But that’s not the only peculiarity of the dissent. As a quick reminder, EME Homer involved EPA’s effort to deal with interstate …
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CONTINUE READINGRichard Lazarus Formally Notified the Supreme Court of Scalia’s Error
Letter Led to Change in Dissenting Opinion
Who knew that the U.S. Supreme Court has a formal process for notifying it about errors in Court opinions? Richard Lazarus, the Howard and Katherine Aibel Professor of Law at Harvard and Supreme Court expert extraordinaire, that’s who. Turns out that after he discovered Justice Scalia’s error about Whitman v. American Trucking (see my earlier post of …
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CONTINUE READINGDan Farber Highlights Scalia Error in Homer Dissent, Dissent Gets Corrected
Legal Planet post noted error yesterday
Yesterday Dan pointed out that Justice Scalia had made a “cringeworthy” error in his dissenting opinion in EPA v. Homer. Scalia argued — in support of his claim that EPA’s interpretation of the provision of the Clean Air Act that governs cross-state air pollution was inconsistent with the plain language of the statute — that EPA …
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CONTINUE READINGMore About EPA’s Victory
The Court sensibly upheld EPA’s method of allocating responsibility between states, while Scalia wrote an unusually sloppy dissent.
As Ann has just written the Supreme Court’s decision today in the EME Homer case was a big victory for EPA and for air pollution control. In an opinion by Justice Ginsburg, the Court upheld EPA’s interstate transport rule. Ann focused on the potential implications of the decision for the other big environmental case pending before …
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CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: Supreme Court’s Decision Upholding Cross-State Air Rule Is Good Sign for Greenhouse Gas Rules
Huge victory for EPA in regulating air pollution that crosses state lines
The Supreme Court’s 6-2 decision issued this morning in EPA v. EME Homer, upholding the agency’s rule to control air pollution that crosses state boundaries, gives plenty of reason for optimism that the Court will also uphold EPA’s greenhouse gas rules at issue in a different case, Utility Air Regulator Group v. EPA. Both cases …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Path to 2050
Recent research shows that California can meet its 2050 climate goals at an affordable cost.
Could California make deep cuts in carbon by 2050 (80% below 1990 levels)? Are the economics feasible? Those are important questions for California, but they also have a lot to say about what’s feasible for the U.S. and other developing countries as a whole. Last December, UC Davis hosted a forum on the models that …
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