Energy
Does the New Climate Law Expand Regulatory Authority?
It’s not the game changer some people think, but IRA could help in several ways.
There’s been a lot of recent talk about whether the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) indirectly overrides West Virginia v. EPA. The answer to that is probably “no.” However, some IRA provisions will help lawyers defend certain regulatory actions. IRA may also have an important framing effect when courts are considering the reasonableness of agency actions. …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Inflation Reduction Act and California Offshore Wind
There May Be Workarounds for Delays in Offshore Wind Created by IRA Section 50265
Various measures in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), signed into law on August 16, 2022, create new momentum for offshore wind in California. However, as with all things in life, it’s never that simple. In this case, the IRA ties offshore wind (OSW) leases to offshore oil and gas auctions and prevents OSW leases from …
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CONTINUE READINGA Three-Prong Attack on Carbon Emissions
A trio of new laws will power the energy transition.
Passage of IRA was clearly a big deal, with nearly $380 billion devoted to climate and other environmental issues. But IRA is only one of the three big climate bills passed in the ten months. The three represent a concerted effort to accelerate the energy transition. The earliest was the Infrastructure Act last November. In …
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CONTINUE READINGMaking Fossil Fuels Pay for Their Damage
A carbon tax doesn’t seem to be in the cards. Maybe a clean-up tax would fare better.
Production and combustion of fossil fuels imposes enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn’t pay for. I want to talk about some options for using the tax system to change that. One option, a tax on carbon dioxide emissions, gets the most attention but seems politically impossible. The closest we’ve ever come to a …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Side Deal
How would the Manchin-Schumer deal on permitting impact the environment?
To get Manchin’s vote for the $379 billion in environmental spending in the IRA bill, Schumer and other congressional leaders had to agree to support Manchin’s efforts to speed up the permit system. At this point, all we have is a one-page list of permitting changes that would form the basis of a new bill. …
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CONTINUE READINGIRA’s Impact
The new law is a Big Deal. Or more precisely, a REALLY Big Deal.
IRA, the Inflation Reduction Act, is clearly the biggest climate legislation ever passed in the United States. The law will provide $379 billion in subsidies to clean energy in the form of direct payments and tax credits. Subsidies aren’t the ideal way to cut emissions, because it’s impossible to target them to the precise behavioral …
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CONTINUE READINGA Great Day for Climate Policy
A short video explainer of why passage of the IRA bill is such a big deal.
We all have something to celebrate with the House passage of the IRA on Friday. Getting it passed required some difficult compromises, but the bill represents a major step forward. Because of the Mar-a-Lago search, it hasn’t gotten nearly as much attention as it deserves. If you don’t have time for a lot of details, …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy We Can’t Wait
In climate policy, delay is deadly.
There are a lot of complaints about the very real flaws in the Inflation Reduction Act, tied with arguments that we should wait until we can do something better. In climate policy, however, waiting is dangerous. We’ve already delayed far too long. Further delay means having to cut emission much more rapidly to make up …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Major Money Doctrine
Senate passes biggest climate legislation ever.
In June, the Supreme Court trimmed EPA’s power to regulate greenhouse gases. The Court used the “Major Question Doctrine,” which says that issues of “vast political and economic significance” must be decided by Congress. Senate Democrats gave their response on Sunday: the Major Money Doctrine. They passed the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which provides over …
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CONTINUE READINGTaking A Data-Driven Tour of Air Pollution Law
After Half a Century, What Do We Really Know about the Impacts of the Clean Air Act?
Earlier this year, a team of economists published a retrospective paper on the Clean Air Act. It surveys the economic literature to find out what the data tells us about emission trading systems, the effects of pollutants, and effects of imposing tougher regulatory requirements in areas that failed to meet national air quality standards. Some …
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