Biden Administration
The Drafting Puzzles of NEPA 2.0
In an effort to streamline NEPA, Congress may only have made parts of it incomprehensible.
Shortly after Biden signed the new NEPA rewrite as part of the debt ceiling law, I wrote a blog post about a major drafting glitch at the heart of the new provisions. Today, I’d like to follow up with more examples. This poor drafting could really hobble implementation of the new provisions. We live in …
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CONTINUE READINGThe New NEPA: A User’s Guide
The Debt Ceiling Law Rewrote NEPA. Here’s a map to the new statute.
The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed over fifty years. It created a new tool for environmental protection, the environmental impact statements, It also created the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), which issued guidelines of implementing NEPA in 1978. Lawyers will need to retool quickly because of recent changes. Here’s a roadmap …
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CONTINUE READINGNEPA and the Debt Deal
Will the permitting sections of the debt ceiling bill undermine environmental reviews?
Prior to the release of the text of the debt ceiling bill Sunday night, press reports had mentioned only a couple of provisions relating to environmental impact statements. It turns out there’s a lot more. The bill would make numerous changes in the statute governing impact statements, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA). …
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CONTINUE READINGDefault and the Environment
What are the environmental impacts of Uncle Sam’s failure to pay his debts on time?
A journalist asked me how a default might impact environmental law. As I thought about it, I realized that the answers were, “In one way, very little,” and “In another way, potentially a disaster.” The effects might not amount to much. Or we could be talking about multigenerational climate impacts. There’s a lot of uncertainty …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Biden Power Plant Rule and the Major Question Doctrine
The new rule has hardly any of the features that caused the Supreme Court to strike down the Obama rule.
We’ve already started to hear claims that the Biden power plant rule falls under the major question doctrine, which the Supreme Court used to strike down Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Are those claims plausible? Consider the aspects of the Clean Power Plan that the Supreme Court found objectionable. I’ve identified eight factors that the Court …
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CONTINUE READINGCan The Major Questions Doctrine Break The Debt Ceiling?
NAGE’s New Lawsuit Makes A Strong Case That It Can
Last week I argued that a lawsuit from a private party challenging the debt ceiling would be a good way to break the impasse between President Biden and GOP terrorists. Well, as it turns out, someone has done just that, although not on my account. This lawsuit is better than my idea, I think, because …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA’s Power Plant Rule is Not Bold. It’s What’s Required.
It’s important to remember the regulatory history—and the growing urgency—of limiting climate change-related carbon pollution from power plants.
Today’s the day for the long-awaited release of Environmental Protection Agency regulations to tackle planet-warming pollution by the nation’s power plants. (Read the announcement here and the full text here.) The EPA is proposing a new standard for fossil fuel-fired power plants to avoid 617 million metric tons of carbon dioxide through 2042. For weeks, …
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CONTINUE READINGHow to Solve the Debt Ceiling Standoff? Sue Janet Yellen
A lawsuit by a federal debtholder could take the terrorists’ bombs from them.
We are now just a few weeks away from the House GOP blowing up the world and national economy, with awful environmental consequences as well.. At this point, it’s quite obvious what their strategy is: crash the global economy, and then blame President Biden for it. They aren’t interested in a deal, as even the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Energy Transition and the Working Class
Is Biden right? Can we attack climate change while uplifting the lives of workers?
In most of the world, May 1 is International Worker’s Day. It celebrates the collective struggle of workers for better wages and working conditions. That made me start thinking about the efforts that have been made to unite climate action with the interests of workers. That has been a particular emphasis of the Biden Administration …
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CONTINUE READINGJob-Killing Rollbacks
The GOP debt ceiling bill is a dagger aimed at the American economy. (Not to mention the planet)
The debt ceiling bill passed by House Republicans would eliminate tax credits for new emissions credits for nuclear energy, renewable energy manufacturing, domestic sourcing of electric vehicle components, hydrogen production and extensions of the wind and solar production credits. It was a remarkable smackdown of American industry and, if enacted, a big win for foreign …
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