Biden Administration
Reading the Tea Leaves: Biden’s and California’s Vehicle Regs at the D.C. Circuit
A leading environmental lawyer gives his perspective.
Transportation is now the source of 28% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, more than the electric power sector. The transportation sector is also a substantial source of nitrogen oxides and particulates, both of which are dangerous to human health. The Biden Administration has taken important regulatory actions bearing on these problems, with others in the …
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CONTINUE READINGPredictions of IRA’s Success Solidify
IRA’s early impacts have been dramatic, and there’s a consensus that it will bend the US emissions curve downward.
My last blog post looked at some of the steps taken to implement the Inflation Reduction Act. Confirming initial projections when the law was passed, models now predict that IRA will significantly cut emissions by 2030. The impact by 2035 is likely to be even greater. Despite the IRA’s substantial assist to emission cuts, we …
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CONTINUE READINGAngry About Stalled Progress on Fossil Fuels? Biden’s Not the Culprit.
Sorry, no president can single-handedly fix climate policy. And certainly not with this Supreme Court.
With Biden two-thirds of the way through his term in office, he seems to be catching a lot of flack from climate activists. On Sunday, thousands of angry demonstrators gathered to protest Biden’s U.N. visit. “If you want our vote if you don’t want the blood of our generations to be on your hands, end …
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CONTINUE READINGIRA Implementation: The State of Play
It’s not easy to get a handle on IRA implementation, but some agencies are off to a good start.
The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate program. You’d think it would be easy to get an analysis of the government’s funding efforts in its first year. It’s not. This seems like an unforced error to me. In political terms, this seems like a lost opportunity to showcase the government’s achievements; it’s also a …
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CONTINUE READINGVehicle Regulations on Trial
Three big cases in the D.C. Circuit will determine the fate of Biden’s vehicle regulations.
This week, the D.C. Circuit hears three cases challenging use of federal regulations to push adoption of electric vehicles and to allow California to forge path toward zero-emission cars. If all three cases go badly, the regulatory system would be disabled from playing a role in this area. This would be a huge setback, though …
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CONTINUE READINGBowing to the Inevitable
The Supreme Court declared open season on the nation’s streams and wetlands. New regs are the result.
On August 25, EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers (“the agencies”) issued a joint rule, which modifies their previous rule on federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act in order to conform with the Supreme Court’s Sackett decision. Sackett was a deeply misguided and harmful ruling — but it is nevertheless the law. The …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Contradictory Attacks on Biden’s Climate Programs
“Job Killing” or “Overheating the Economy” — Which Is It?
“Job-killing regulations” is a longtime conservative meme. That attack has now been joined by the claim that major new spending for clean energy is overheating the economy. The inflation claim is new, prompted by the passage of the 2021 Infrastructure law and the 2022 IRA. And if they were both right, the two problems would …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change is Finally Heating Up Politics – But Not in a Good Way
Pitting defence of our ‘way of life’ against climate policies is a recipe for division and inaction
Climate impacts are growing rapidly in this El Niño affected summer. Despite calls to declare a climate emergency, President Biden has responded only with new measures to help Americans cope with extreme heat. The measures announced include hazard alerts, improved prediction of heatwaves, funding for air-conditioning and cool centers for low income groups, and guidance …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Got 4 Minutes in the GOP Debate
Ron DeSantis is right: Stop asking candidates if they “believe in climate change” and ask them what they will do so we learn about their environmental deregulation agenda.
The topic of climate change got about 4 minutes of airtime during the first half of the first presidential primary debate held this week by Fox News. That’s actually a pleasant surprise when you think about it: human-caused global warming came up before Donald Trump’s indictments. In case you missed it, the full transcript of …
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CONTINUE READINGCars, Smog, and EPA
Over the past fifty years, EPA has overseen incredible reductions in auto pollution.
This is part of an occasional series of posts about the evolution of pollution standards. Today’s subject is pollution control for new vehicles, which have been known to cause smog since the 1960s. The history of these pollution standards is quite distinctive. At the high temperatures in internal combustion engines, some of the nitrogen in …
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