Climate Change
Another Scary Election (But Not Here)
An election next Sunday has implications for the entire planet.
I hate to give you something else to freak out about in our current Age of Anxiety, but there’s a very worrisome presidential election next Sunday. No, I haven’t completely lost it – the presidential race isn’t here, it’s in Brazil. The election pits a dangerous populist against a highly competent but colorless Establishment candidate. …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Stays Upcoming Juliana Trial
Chief Justice Roberts’ Order a Major Win for the Trump Administration
The presently-constituted U.S. Supreme Court doesn’t seem to care for climate change litigation or regulation. On Friday the Supreme Court took the extraordinary step of freezing pending discovery and the scheduled October 29th trial date in the closely-watched Juliana v. United States litigation. In a brief order, Chief Justice Roberts stayed all district court proceedings …
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CONTINUE READINGModernizing the Grid
Utilities are spending billions of dollars to make the grid more reliable and sustainable.
In my last post, I talked about how Obama’s Clean Power plan was the right response to a changing grid. The grid is in the process of changing even more. Itwas designed for some relatively straightforward tasks. The main power plants, mostly burning coal (but sometimes natural gas or nuclear energy), ran day and night. …
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CONTINUE READINGLet’s Make A Deal
What Should Environmentalists Give Up – and Demand – For A Carbon Tax?
A nice editorial from the Los Angeles Times about the proposed carbon tax being offered by some Republicans under the front group Americans for Carbon Dividends, most notably former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz. Exxon-Mobil is even throwing $1 million into the effort — chump change for such a corporate behemoth. The Times …
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CONTINUE READINGComments on proposed ESA rule changes
Law professors submit detailed comments on proposed changes to regulations that implement the Endangered Species Act
I’ve posted earlier about proposals by the Trump Administration to make significant changes to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, some of the most substantial revisions to those regulations since they were overhauled in the early 1980s. A group of environmental law professors (including me) submitted comments on those proposed rules last month, with …
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CONTINUE READINGA Potentially Important Climate Change Court Ruling in the Netherlands
A Dutch environmental organization surprisingly won its novel climate change lawsuit when the government appealed.
Although I am in the midst of a series of blog posts (1, 2, 3) regarding novel technologies in the recent special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), I take a brief detour to report on a court ruling in the Netherlands regarding climate change. Although I am skeptical of its impact …
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CONTINUE READINGGetting Kavanaugh’s Vote to Uphold Climate Change Regulation
Environmentalists Have a New Secret Weapon
Not for nothing was Brett Kavanaugh referred to as “Voldemort” by Center for Biological Diversity counsel Bill Snape: he is quite hostile to environmental regulation and will freely rewrite statutes to constrict EPA authority. But now environmentalists have a new ace up their sleeves: The price of beer could rise sharply this century, and it …
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CONTINUE READINGAnother Possible Means To Keep Global Warming Within 1.5 Degrees Celsius
Did the IPCC bury the lede regarding solar geoengineering?
In my previous posts on the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), I described how models assume the use of uncertain negative emissions technologies at very large — if not impossible — scales in order to keep global warming within 1.5 or two degrees Celsius (1, 2; see also my colleague Julia …
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CONTINUE READINGBattle for the Senate: The Lone Star State
Is Texas in play? The environmental stakes are high.
Texas is a late addition to my list of key Senate races. It’s still not clear how genuinely Texas is in play, but it’s surprising that we’re even asking the question. Here’s what we know about the candidates and the environment. Ted Cruz (R). Cruz managed to get a 0% score from the League of Conservation …
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CONTINUE READINGNegative Emissions Technologies in the New Report on Limiting Global Warming
The new Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report on 1.5°C warming relies heavily on negative emissions technologies.
Last week, I described how the scenarios expected to keep global warming within the 2°C target, which was internationally endorsed in the Paris Agreement, had to assume the use of negative emissions technologies at very large scales. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an international assessment body, downplayed this essential fact in its most recent major report, …
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