Climate Change
Why is GM using taxpayer funds to fight clean car progress?
Just back from a weekend conference where climate litigator Matthew Pawa gave a keynote address. He’s one of the lawyers who successfully defended California’s right to demand that automakers make cars that limit their greenhouse gas emissions, calling and cross-examining witnesses in a dramatic 2007 trial that put climate change science on the stand. In …
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CONTINUE READINGIt’s the Economy
The Western Business Roundtable doesn’t care for Cap and Trade (the politician’s tool of choice for reducing carbon emissions). In fact, it is hard to believe that the organization gives much weight to the climate challenge at all. The Roundtable, the website of which does not list its members, but describes them as including representatives …
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CONTINUE READINGAwaiting bad news on international fisheries
Early this month, I posted about WWF’s report on the dismal state of compliance with the FAO’s voluntary Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. Now Rebecca Bratspies notes on IntLawGrrls that FAO is scheduled to release its biennial report on the state of the world’s fisheries on March 2, and that “[t]he news is not …
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CONTINUE READINGMore (and better) climate adaptation research needed
The National Research Council has just issued a new study on the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The key conclusion: the current program does not effectively support societal response to climate change, in part because it is too focused on natural science to the exclusion of work on the human dimensions of climate change. The …
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CONTINUE READINGTwo Cheers for Clean Coal
I think it’s terrific that the Coen Brothers are making funny, effective ads against relying on “clean coal” as part of the US energy program. But I worry that the clean energy community is really missing the boat here. Clean coal research and development is absolutely crucial in fighting climate change not for us, but …
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CONTINUE READINGObama’s Progressive Tax and Energy Policy
Though the budget released yesterday by the Obama Administration was short on details, it was long on big pronouncements that fundamentally shift federal policy in important areas. On the climate change front, the budget for the first time reveals the administration’s thinking on how it would distribute money raised from allowances issued under a proposed …
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CONTINUE READINGJon Cannon To Be EPA Deputy Administrator
President Obama has nominated Jon Cannon, Professor of Law at University of Virginia, to be the EPA’s new Deputy Administrator, subject to Senate confirmation. Cannon has extensive experience in the federal government, including three years as the EPA’s General Counsel from 1995-98. In my view he’s a great appointment. His background gives him enormous experience, …
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CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Refugees
The Washington Post discusses eco-migration today: In Bangladesh, about 12 million to 17 million people have fled their homes in recent decades because of environmental disasters — and the low-lying country is likely to experience more intense flooding in the future. In several countries in Africa’s Sahel region, bordering the Sahara, about 10 million people …
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CONTINUE READINGObama on Transportation, Land Use and Energy Use
Stunning news from the White House: we actually have a US president who understands the connection between land use patterns and energy use. Obama’s stimulus bill was weak on spending for transit projects (as opposed to highway projects). But that was because it was a bill about jobs, and more highway projects just happened to …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Fire Next Time
Realclimate.org has an interesting post about the Australian wildfires: Although formal attribution studies quantifying the influence of climate change on the increased likelihood of extreme fire danger in south-east Australia have not yet been undertaken, it is very likely that there has been such an influence. Long-term increases in maximum temperature have been attributed to …
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