Climate Change
Why The Expiration Of The Payroll Tax Cut Hurts The Environment
As Congress wrangles over the expiration of the payroll tax cut at the end of this month, environmentalists should note that the impacts of the expiration go beyond economics. Some environmental goodies will die with the soon-to-expire package of tax benefits, barring congressional action. For starters, I received this message in an email from my …
Continue reading “Why The Expiration Of The Payroll Tax Cut Hurts The Environment”
CONTINUE READINGRethinking Job Searches for Environmental Lawyers
A couple of people have written to me wondering why I posted the RGGI job. It isn’t really a law or a policy position, they say: really more like a glorified administrative assistant. I don’t read it that way, but there are two ways to respond to the complaint, with the second one providing some …
Continue reading “Rethinking Job Searches for Environmental Lawyers”
CONTINUE READINGRGGI, RGGI, RGGI…..
As long as we’re at it, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative has posted an announcement for a potentially important job opportunity: RGGI, Inc. seeks to hire a program coordinator to support the implementation of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative effort of Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from the …
Continue reading “RGGI, RGGI, RGGI…..”
CONTINUE READINGHow Environmentalism Can Strengthen the Middle Class
At the end of an interesting and constructive piece, David Frum stumbles on the idea: [T]he U.S. needs to reconsider the way it finances Medicare and the Social Security retirement system. The payroll tax has become more and more important to U.S. finances since 1980. Before the crash, payroll taxes supplied almost 40% of all federal …
Continue reading “How Environmentalism Can Strengthen the Middle Class”
CONTINUE READINGThe Durban Outcome: End of CBDR?
I wasn’t in Durban for the last days of wrangling, so I missed some late nights, dramatic speeches, and unexpected alliances. ClimateWire has the best account I’ve seen of the last-minute drama (sub. req’d.: “How a Belligerent, Sleep-Deprived Crowd in Durban Arrived at Consensus”). Highlights include a ministerial-level “huddle to save the planet”; invocations of …
Continue reading “The Durban Outcome: End of CBDR?”
CONTINUE READING4 degrees warming here we come!
With the Durban COP17 negotiations concluded, there seem to be two lines of thought in the environmental community: Wow, that was better than expected. Our climate is really screwed. In this case, I think both (1) and (2) can be simultaneously true. For some summaries of what went down at Durban, check out CleanTechnica, Climate …
Continue reading “4 degrees warming here we come!”
CONTINUE READINGWhat REALLY Happened in Durban?
Dan wants to know, and he is right to ask. Fortunately enough, it’s a pretty easy question to answer. As far as I can tell, the delegates agreed to negotiate a treaty some time in the future. That is diplomatic-speak for kicking the can down the road. As I have argued for well over a …
Continue reading “What REALLY Happened in Durban?”
CONTINUE READINGIs EPA regulation of carbon dioxide anti-democratic?
There’s been a lot of noise from House Republicans (and others) about how EPA regulation of carbon dioxide under the Clean Air Act is somehow an end-run around Congress or anti-democratic. But it is neither.
CONTINUE READINGWhat Happened in Durban?
The outcome in Durban seems to be better than expected, although admittedly that’s partly because expectations were low. From the official press release: In Durban, governments decided to adopt a universal legal agreement on climate change as soon as possible, but not later than 2015. Work will begin on this immediately under a new group …
Continue reading “What Happened in Durban?”
CONTINUE READINGPotential for 2015 roadmap from Durban?
Reuters reports on a potential roadmap for future climate change action that is developing at COP17 in Durban. Under the EU plan, parties would agree to a road map that would lead to legally binding commitments for GHG emission reductions in 2015. Up to this point, the head of the U.S. delegation, Jonathan Pershing, had …
Continue reading “Potential for 2015 roadmap from Durban?”
CONTINUE READING