Climate Change
U.S. Agricultural Policy, Climate Change, and Existing Legal Authority
New research from Berkeley Law finds that the U.S. Department of Agriculture can act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is much in the news these days, as it implements the massive and always-controversial farm bill, works to improve access to national forests, strives to enhance the U.S. position in international agriculture markets, and wrestles to contain this season’s extensive wildfire activity. What is less obvious to many is …
Continue reading “U.S. Agricultural Policy, Climate Change, and Existing Legal Authority”
CONTINUE READINGWater and Climate Change, Backwards
Will Conserving Water Contribute to Global Warming?
All of us (except Republicans and adherents of Movement Conservatism) know that climate change is dangerous for rising temperatures, but also because of its effects on other natural resources. Most significantly, it is hardly news that increasing and variable temperatures will reduce, for example, the Sierra snow pack and cause greater evaporation, eventually leading to …
Continue reading “Water and Climate Change, Backwards”
CONTINUE READINGHydrogen “Fool” Cells Vs. Electric Vehicles
The debate over the best clean vehicle technology
California recently committed to spending $50 million on 28 public hydrogen fuel cell charging stations, throwing gasoline (bad pun) on the fire of a growing debate: electric vehicles vs, hydrogen fuel cells as the carbon-free vehicle technology of the future. California policy makers seem to think it may be both, based on their spending to …
Continue reading “Hydrogen “Fool” Cells Vs. Electric Vehicles”
CONTINUE READINGBack in the Fast Lane
New Pritzker Brief from UCLA Law on Making Public Transit Work
Fellow blogger Ethan Elkind has spent a lot of time researching the history, politics, and future of transit in California. Earlier this year he published Railtown, a fascinating portrait of the fight over development of the L.A. Metro rail system, revealing the degree to which that development has been driven by good old-fashioned politics and even intrigue …
Continue reading “Back in the Fast Lane”
CONTINUE READINGMining for Votes In Coal States: Paul Ryan On Climate Change
Whatever you think of his budget proposals, his climate views are irresponsible.
For years, Paul Krugman has been decrying Paul Ryan’s reputation as a reputable analyst of budget issues. That’s not my area of expertise, and I’m agnostic on that issue. But Ryan’s views about climate change don’t bespeak serious thought about the issues. The Christian Science Monitor reports that last Ryan spoke about climate change in …
Continue reading “Mining for Votes In Coal States: Paul Ryan On Climate Change”
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger John Nagle: The Clean Air Act Applies to Greenhouse Gases Because of What Congress Said, Not Because of What Congress Intended
A Reply to Megan Herzog
In my recent CNN op-ed and in her previous post, Megan Herzog and I agree that the Supreme Court has properly interpreted the Clean Air Act (CAA) to apply to the emission of greenhouse gases. We just disagree about the correct manner in which to reach that conclusion. Judges and scholars generally favor an originalist …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change Adaptation Strategy: Can California Do More?
Is Increased Reliance on the Public Trust Doctrine an Essential Part of Effective State Adaptation Policy?
I often tell students in my Climate Change Law and Policy course that adaptation–that is, how we can best adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change–is the poor stepchild of the debate over greenhouse gas emissions and climate change. By that I mean that climate change mitigation (i.e., how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions) generates far more …
Continue reading “Climate Change Adaptation Strategy: Can California Do More?”
CONTINUE READINGA Response to John Nagle: The Clean Air Act as a Whole Supports Climate Regulation
Debating the Relationship between the Healthcare Fight and Climate Regulation
Last week, conflicting federal court decisions regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, commonly known as the ACA or “Obamacare,” set the nation abuzz. In Halbig v. Burwell, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulation providing federal subsidies to low-income taxpayers who purchase health insurance through a …
CONTINUE READINGCongressman Waxman Tells FERC: Read UC Berkeley’s Climate Change Study
Henry Waxman urges FERC to act on greenhouse gas emissions.
In a Congressional hearing this morning, Congressman Henry Waxman had a rare chance to face all five sitting members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) at the same time to talk about climate change. He took the opportunity to point out UC Berkeley’s recent report on FERC’s authority under existing law to reduce greenhouse …
Continue reading “Congressman Waxman Tells FERC: Read UC Berkeley’s Climate Change Study”
CONTINUE READINGGeneral Permits and the Regulation of Greenhouse Gases
The Supreme Court ignored a major option for effective regulation
Author’s Note: The following post is co-authored by Eric Biber and J.B. Ruhl, the David Daniels Allen Distinguished Chair of Law and the Co-Director of the Energy, Environment, and Land Use Program at Vanderbilt Law School. It is also cross-posted at Reg Blog. Reg Blog, supported by the U Penn Program on Regulation is an …
Continue reading “General Permits and the Regulation of Greenhouse Gases”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
