Federal Climate Policy
The New NEPA Guidance
The new guidance on climate change is a step forward, though it could have been stronger.
The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) issued new guidance today on considering climate change in environmental impact statements. Here are the key points: Quantification. The guidance recommends that agencies quantify projected direct and indirect emissions, using the amount of emissions as a proxy for the eventual impact on climate change. The EIS should also …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Aviation Endangerment Finding
While we are watching the political conventions, EPA took an important step forward
Last Monday, EPA issued a formal finding that carbon emissions from commercial aviation endanger human health and welfare. Understanding the significance of the finding requires a little background. Section 231(a)(2) of the Clean Air Act directs the EPA Administrator to “issue proposed emission standards applicable to the emission of any air pollutant from any class …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Clean Power Plan — Low Cost, High Benefits
Despite claims by industry and conservatives, the CPP’s costs are completely manageable.
The Supreme Court’s stay of EPA’s Clean Power Plan was a surprise, and a questionable action on many grounds. It now seems clear that the stay — along with much of the political fuss about the CPP — was based on very questionable economics. In terms of the stay, a team of economists at Resources …
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CONTINUE READINGGaming Out Environmental Law: 2017-2019
The heavens or the abyss? Or somewhere in between?
What happens after November? A lot depends on who’s the next President, but the congressional elections also matter. Basically, a Trump victory would mean at least a rollback of much of Obama’s environmental legacy, and perhaps passage of the current House deregulatory agenda into law. A Clinton victory would be likely to preserve or strengthen the …
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CONTINUE READINGBush, Nader, and the Lost Years of Climate Policy
Actions by these two very different men set climate policy back eight years.
From 2001 to 2009, the US sat on its hands while the atmosphere filled with carbon. Much of that carbon came from the US itself, at six billion tons per year up to the 2008 crash. The story of how this came to pass is yet to be fully written. It is, in part, a …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump, Sanders Voters and Climate Change
If you need even one reason to vote for Clinton, climate change ought to suffice
I don’t pretend to understand the allure of Donald Trump. I am an unabashed supporter of Hillary Clinton. I appreciate that many people I know and respect are Bernie Sanders supporters. I am hoping that, once Clinton officially becomes the Democratic candidate for President, Sanders supporters will work hard to elect Clinton as President, even …
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CONTINUE READINGThis April Was the Cruelest Month (Or at Least the Hottest)
Once again, a global temperature record is broken.
For the seventh month in a row, the average global temperature set a new monthly record going back at least 136 years. Rutherford Hayes was President back then, the first electric street light was turned on, and Gladstone beat Disraeli. We’ve had 24 Presidents since then. In other words, that was a long time ago. As you …
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CONTINUE READINGUCLA Files Amicus Brief on Behalf of Electric Grid Experts in “Clean Power Plan” Case
Supporting EPA’s regulation of power-sector carbon emissions
Today, several of us at UCLA Law School’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment—me, Cara Horowitz, Sarah Duffy, & Ann Carlson—together with Professor William Boyd of University of Colorado Law School, filed an amici curiae brief on behalf of five electric grid experts in support of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s “Clean Power Plan” …
CONTINUE READINGClinton v. Sanders: Their Climate Plans in a Nutshell
Sanders wants a carbon tax. No surprise: Clinton is more incremental.
Sanders and Clinton have much richer discussions of issues on their website than their Republican rivals, perhaps reflecting different expectations for candidates in the two parties. Both Sander and Clinton have environmental views that are starkly different from the leading Republican candidates. But their views do differ from each other as well. Clinton has about …
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CONTINUE READINGBernie Sanders’ Position on the Clean Power Plan
His proposals would require withdrawing the rule and would increase its legal vulnerability
In an interview with Grist last week, Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders provided details about his views on the Clean Power Plan, the Obama administration’s rule to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. Sanders said two things of note: the first is that he would change the CPP to increase incentives for renewable fuels; the second …
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