Federal Climate Policy
Initial Thoughts on the Supreme Court Staying the Clean Power Plan
Short Answer: There’s Nothing Good to Say About it
The U.S. Supreme Court, in a 5-4 half-page order, dealt the Obama Administration a big blow today by preventing its Clean Power Plan from going into effect until the case can be heard on its merits. We know from the order that the Court split in the usual way, with the four more liberal members of the Court …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA Wins the First Round in Clean Power Plan Litigation
…But this is just the beginning—and the Supreme Court will have a say
As we reported last week, on January 21st, a D.C. Circuit panel denied Clean Power Plan opponents’ request for a “stay”—or temporary suspension—of the rule pending judicial review. Read the court order here. We have discussed the Clean Power Plan litigation at length on Legal Planet. As a quick refresher, the Clean Power Plan is …
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CONTINUE READINGDC Circuit Denies Stay of Clean Power Plan
The DC Circuit issued a judgment denying the request for a stay in the case challenging the Clean Power Plan, West Virginia v. EPA. The decision simply states that the petitioners failed to meet the “stringent requirements for a stay pending court review.” The court ordered the parties to submit a proposed briefing schedule by …
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CONTINUE READINGQuestioning the Questioners
Examining the role of moderators in Presidential debates
On Sunday night, the three remaining candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination took the stage in South Carolina for the third Democratic primary debate. I was pleased that one of the video questions of the night asked the candidates for their plan to address climate change. Although the Democratic candidates have discussed climate change policies …
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CONTINUE READINGWant an Economy-Wide Cap on U.S. Climate Emissions? Consider This Corner of the Clean Air Act
New report on Section 115 of the Act suggests an interesting post-Paris approach
A largely-untapped provision of the Clean Air Act authorizes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop and implement an economy-wide, market-based program to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions and achieve the Obama Administration’s Paris Agreement pledge, according to a report released today by several coordinating law school centers, including the Emmett Institute at UCLA. See …
CONTINUE READINGClimate Politics as a War of Attrition
Don’t expect a quick end to battles over climate policy. It could be a long war.
It may be a mistake to assume that opponents of climate policy will see the handwriting on the wall and gracefully give way to the inevitable. In politics, decisions are rarely made for all time, and agreements between opposing sides may not be enforceable. In such situations, game theorists have proposed war-of-attrition models for conflicts. In …
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CONTINUE READINGTop 10 Environmental News Stories of 2015
More goods than bad, but some of each.
Here are the top ten stories, at least as I see them: A Warming World. 2015 will almost certainly be the warmest year on record. This is one more confirmation of recent studies indicating that either there was no climate hiatus or it has ended. Saving Wetlands and Water Bodies. EPA and the Army Corp …
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CONTINUE READINGCOP 21 Battle over 1.5 Degree Global Target
The Contradictory Impulses in the Global Climate Negotiations
The Paris Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 negotiations are, not surprisingly, coming down to the wire with a number of contentious issues still unresolved. One issue that has surprised, impressed and puzzled me is the debate about whether the agreement should incorporate a goal that the global community work to limit temperature increases to …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Kate Konschnik: The Debate about EPA’s Authority to Regulate Carbon Pollution is a Lot of Things – But Not These Things
Kate Konschnik is the Director of Harvard Law School’s Environmental Policy Initiative. The views expressed in this blog post are her own.
Clean Power Plan challengers have asked the D.C. Circuit to stay the rule pending litigation. Today, industry and environmental groups supporting EPA will file their oppositions to this request. The stay motions included the charge that EPA may not use Section 111(d) at all to curb pollution from existing power plants. Dan Farber and I …
CONTINUE READINGShould the Court Stay the Clean Power Plan?
Opponents need to prove four things to get a stay. They may be unable to prove any of those.
Opponents of EPA’s landmark climate rule, the Clean Power Plan (a/k/a 111(d) regulation), are seeking to stay the effectiveness of the rule. A stay is a variety of preliminary injunction, and the Supreme Court laid down four requirements for such orders in Winter v. NRDC: “A plaintiff seeking a preliminary injunction must establish [1] that he is …
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