Land Use

How do we decide what is a “Water of the United States”? Rapanos revisited

Ever since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinions in Rapanos v. United States in 2006, it has been unclear exactly how the U.S. is to go about evaluating which wetlands and tributaries of navigable waters are subject to federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act.  Until recently, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asserted federal …

CONTINUE READING

Why Does Larry Summers Want to Accelerate Climate Change?

I’ve never been a huge fan of Greenpeace: although I like much of the work they do, it has always seemed to me that they are more interested in headlines than the slogging work it takes to promote sustainability. But they had a great idea a few days ago: commission the respected private corporate consulting …

CONTINUE READING

Sweet and Sour Pork

Like any good observant lapsed Jew, I’m always on the lookout for tasty pork. But as Jonathan discussed on this blog, the highway pork in the stimulus bill is looking most unsavory — especially relative to the sweeter meats of public transit funding. No doubt, money for public transit agencies would go a long way …

CONTINUE READING

A Public Lands Agenda for the New Administration

Given the overarching issue of climate change, it’s probably unrealistic to assume that the question of how best to manage the nation’s public lands will be an immediate priority of the Obama Administration.  And the economic crisis currently confronting the U.S. likely pushes environmental issues off the top tier of the Administration’s priority list as …

CONTINUE READING

Gobama Bounce?

Two days ago, the Emmett Center hosted what we thought would be a tidy, manageable panel and “roundtable discussion” on SB 375, California’s new anti-sprawl law and the state’s latest legislative attempt to tackle GHG emissions from passenger vehicles.  In line with turnout to similar past events, we booked a room that holds 90 people …

CONTINUE READING

New Jungles for Old?

The New York Times has an interesting article about the growth of new forests as poor people abandon farms and move to the cities in less developed countries.  Carbon storage is complicated, so we don’t really know yet just how much effect this might have on climate.  But it’s obviously a very interesting development.

CONTINUE READING

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

TRENDING