Politics

TRAIN Wreck!

From a political point of view, it’s really interesting to see this melding of special interest legislation with populist appeals to the economy. It’s a little discouraging to see these efforts to increase air pollution, however, if you or your family members happen to have asthma or other respiratory issues, or if you just care about the environment.

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Jobs & Regulation Revisited

Blake Hudson called my attention to a nice post on this subject at ProPublica.  The post has links to two very interesting documents. The first is to a Census Bureau report showing that hardly any employers attribute layoffs to regulatory burdens.  The other is to a very careful study by Dick Morgenstern, a highly respected …

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Arguing Climate by Analogy, or: Stupid Like a Fox

Bill Clinton says that Republican climate-change deniers make the United States “look like a joke”: “I mean, it makes us — we look like a joke, right?” Clinton said. “You can’t win the nomination of one of the major parties in the country if you admit that scientists are right?” Kathleen Parker, in a thoughtful …

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The Ozone Rule: What Sunstein Didn’t Say

On September 2, Cass Sunstein wrote a letter to Lisa Jackson about the ozone rule, “requesting” that EPA withdraw the regulation.  Beyond the fact that it was written at all, the letter is remarkable for its significant silences: Although the letter notes that the rule was based on science that is five years old, it …

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The Next Generation of Greenwashing?

  After my post concerning paper and plastic bags appeared, LegalPlanet was the recipient of a robo-comment from the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, an industry-backed group that I suggested was greenwashing bad forest practices.  SFI now says that it has cleaned up its act without ever acknowledging that the act was bad in the first place.  …

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Meaningful Parking Reform Dead in California (For Now)

AB 710, the eminently sensible parking reform bill, died a sad death in the State Senate during the last-minute frenzy on bills last week.  The bill would have prevented local governments from maintaining excessively high parking minimums for development projects located near transit stops, unless they can document a need for high parking requirements.  Of …

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CEQA and Infill: A Good Year in California

Yes, the last-minute CEQA bills that Rick detailed were controversial. Yes, the bills carving out an expedited process for a sports stadium and $100 million projects, as Eric discussed, make many people question the process. But for those who care about climate change and infill, these bills will likely lead to better environmental outcomes than …

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Major, Proposed CEQA Amendments Sent to California Governor Jerry Brown

In the waning hours of its just-concluded session, the California Legislature passed and sent to Governor Jerry Brown a package of bills that, if signed into law by Brown, will represent the most significant amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in many years.  I believe it’s likely Brown will approve some or all …

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A dangerous bill

California is known in the United States for its aggressive environmental laws, some of the most aggressive in the United States.  One of the key reasons for that reputation is the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).  CEQA is similar to the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in that it requires a public review of …

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Latest polling data on climate change and political parties

The Center for Climate Change Communication at George Mason University is out with its latest poll today, on “Politics and Global Warming: Democrats, Republicans, Independents and the Tea Party.”  The poll examines the difference in views among members of those four groups on a variety of climate- and energy-related topics. First thing to note is …

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