Climate Change
Dueling Orders and Lots of Confusion in AB 32 Case
Yesteday, I described a California Court of Appeals order lifting the injunction preventing the California Air Resources Board (CARB) from implementing its cap and trade program. The order was apparently issued last Friday afternoon. Even in this age of instantaneous communication, however, apparently neither the Superior Court judge in the case, Earnest H. Goldsmith, nor the lead …
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CONTINUE READINGAssessing the British Ecosystem
The British government has issued a new report assessing the value of the U.K. environment. The assessment is based on an economic evaluation of ecosystem services. For instance, the report found that: • The benefits that inland wetlands bring to water quality are worth up to £1.5 billion per year to the UK; • Pollinators …
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CONTINUE READINGOil and Food
Today’s NY Times has two unusually interesting pieces, one on food and the other on oil. The article about food examines the difficulty of feeding an expanding and more affluent world population in the face of climate change: A rising unease about the future of the world’s food supply came through during interviews this year …
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CONTINUE READINGTough Political Choices On Climate Are Hardly Unique to U.S: The Case of Germany and Nuclear Power
German Chancellor Angela Merkel made headlines this week when she announced that the country would phase out its nuclear power plants by 2022. The Fukishima nuclear crisis in Japan led Germany to review its reliance on nuclear power and the result of that review was Merkel’s decision to shut down the country’s existing plants. Here’s …
CONTINUE READINGEPA Tackles Climate Adaptation
For the first time, EPA has addressed the issue of climate change adaptation in a letter from Administrator Lisa Jackson. The contents of the letter are not startling: mostly instructions to carry out existing policies or government recommendations on climate change. Two points are worth noting, however. First, the Administrator directs the agency to produce …
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CONTINUE READINGWaiting for Connecticut v. AEP
I like New York in June. The Supreme Court, not so much. June is when the Court finishes up its term and releases any decisions still pending. This year, that means we will soon get a ruling on Connecticut v. AEP, the public nuisance climate case, which was argued in April. Just so you can keep score at home, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Endangerment Litigation
I’ve just spent some time reading the initial briefs in the D.C. Circuit on the endangerment issue. They strike me as much more political documents than legal ones. A brief recap for those who haven’t been following the legal side of the climate issue. After the Bush Administration decided not to regulate greenhouse gases under …
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CONTINUE READINGA Friendly Note to Richard Muller
Richard Muller is a Berkeley physicist who has expressed skepticism over the integrity of some climate science. For example, he suggested that the famous hockey stick might be a distortion because the only sources with temperature readings that go back far enough in time might be located near heat sources. Not surprisingly, climate deniers and their political …
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CONTINUE READINGAB 32 alive and well after final order issued in AIR v. ARB, the EJ challenge to California cap and trade
On Friday afternoon, Judge Goldsmith of the California Superior Court issued his final order in the case pitting environmental justice advocates against the State’s Air Resources Board on the issue of cap and trade (order available here). We’ve written a lot about the case and about the values conflicts underlying it (see here for access …
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