Politics
PACE Advocates Keep Piling On FHFA
The hits keep coming. As I’ve been chronicling, the Federal Housing Finance Administration’s decision to effectively destroy the energy efficiency and renewable energy financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) is inviting serious legal and political blowback. First, California Attorney General Jerry Brown sues the feds, and now Sonoma County, the Sierra Club, and …
Continue reading “PACE Advocates Keep Piling On FHFA”
CONTINUE READINGEnergy storage is key to the success of renewables in California
UPDATE: The bill summary linked below from the California Energy Storage Alliance actually summarizes a former version of the bill. The current bill version, linked below and here, is the best source now. The current version imposes no percentage mandate on utilities. Thanks to Ethan Elkind for pointing that out. UCLA Law and Berkeley Law recently …
Continue reading “Energy storage is key to the success of renewables in California”
CONTINUE READINGSenate Fails to Act So What’s New in the World of Geoengineering?
With the depressing news that the Senate will not go forward on a climate bill, I thought it worth revisiting a question I posed a year and a half ago: is geoengineering inevitable? If we assume that U.S. leadership is crucial to cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent over the next forty years, and …
Continue reading “Senate Fails to Act So What’s New in the World of Geoengineering?”
CONTINUE READINGAdios, Federal Climate Change Legislation
We hardly knew ye (in the Senate, anyway). Reports indicate that Senate Democrats will be scaling back their energy legislation to a bill that addresses oil well leaks and energy efficiency, but nothing on carbon emission more generally. In many ways, the failure of comprehensive energy reform can be traced to two things: 1) health …
Continue reading “Adios, Federal Climate Change Legislation”
CONTINUE READINGTen Lessons from the Financial Reform Bill
It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a bill to get cloture in the Senate. Nevertheless, when something is important enough, the Senate can overcome its paralysis and pass legislation. BUT the legislation will be greatly weakened in the process. Bismarck didn’t go far enough when …
Continue reading “Ten Lessons from the Financial Reform Bill”
CONTINUE READINGGOP Will Filibuster the PACE Bill, Unless…
A prediction: the Republicans will filibuster Mike Thompson’s bill concerning PACE once it gets to the Senate. At this point, the Republicans (led by Senator Mitch McConnell, pictured right) are simply uninterested in principles or policy. That’s particular true in the shadow of the upcoming midterms: stopping the bill will simply be another way to …
Continue reading “GOP Will Filibuster the PACE Bill, Unless…”
CONTINUE READINGIndia Puts US Climate Policy to Shame
While US policymakers — particularly Republicans and those in coal states — are busy complaining about developing countries not capping their carbon emissions, New Delhi is busy actually doing something about climate change. Two weeks ago, India instituted a tax on coal, instituting a form of carbon tax that talented advocates (such as the good …
Continue reading “India Puts US Climate Policy to Shame”
CONTINUE READINGTravel Is Broadening–2010 Edition
Having just returned from a trip to Northern Europe, a couple of experiences resonate with me that, I hope, are worthy of sharing here. The first relates to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, British Petroleum, and the distinct ways in which BP’s role and responsibility for the spill are viewed, depending on one’s geographical roots. …
Continue reading “Travel Is Broadening–2010 Edition”
CONTINUE READINGClassic Villaraigosan Environmental Policy
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was in Los Angeles today, announcing an official EPA finding that Compton Creek, a portion of the Los Angeles River, is a “navigable water” of the United States. This finding means that Compton Creek can receive the protection of the Clean Water Act: most prominently, it means that any attempts to …
Continue reading “Classic Villaraigosan Environmental Policy”
CONTINUE READINGFHFA strangles PACE clean energy financing program
Yesterday, the Federal Housing Finance Administration, the agency that regulates bankrupt mortgage insurers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, issued a letter effectively destroying the promising energy efficiency and renewable energy financing program called Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE). I blogged about Fannie and Freddie’s lender letters on the PACE program a few weeks ago. PACE …
Continue reading “FHFA strangles PACE clean energy financing program”
CONTINUE READING