Politics
It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again
Since opponents can’t seem to come up with any new arguments against climate change legislation, they seem determined to recycle the old, discredited ones. Here’s today’s example, straight from the GOP press release: Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif, today urged the Environmental Protection Agency to include several relevant studies in its …
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CONTINUE READINGHerein of Regulatory “Czars”
Some conservatives like Glenn Beck are now raising alarms about the power of “czars” within the Obama White House. Although the rhetoric is ridiculous, there is a serious question here. A long-term trend has been for Presidents to exert more centralized control over the bureaucracy, and as a practical matter that control has to be …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Legislature may decide L.A. football stadium can go forward, despite allegations of inadequate environmental review
Great minds may disagree about whether a new professional football stadium (or team, for that matter) would be good for Los Angeles. But a new last-minute bill that the California State Senate is considering today, which would eliminate further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act for a newly-approved stadium complex in the City …
CONTINUE READINGOne Thumb Up? Or Too Soon to Tell?
The Administration has received mixed reviews so far. The Washington Post said on Wednesday that: The White House’s main effort has been to undo several Bush-era policies on climate control, air pollution and the regulation of roadless forests. Those actions, combined with court decisions that have struck down other rules, have given President Obama a …
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CONTINUE READINGCass Sunstein Confirmed by Senate
To the dismay of some environmentalists, the Senate confirmed Cass Sunstein as “regulatory czar” today. An undeniably brilliant scholar, Sunstein is a long-time advocate of cost-benefit analysis as a check on overly zealous risk regulation. (Unfortunately, his views of regulation figured much less in the public debate than a frenzied campaign to mobilize hunters, gun …
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CONTINUE READING…in which I turn into a left-wing subversive
Glenn Beck has acquired his first (although surely not-to-be-last) scalp from the Obama Administration” CEQ Green jobs Coordinator Van Jones (whose appointment LegalPlanet noted in March) resigned his position Saturday night. I went to law school with Van, and while I am not a fan, I thought that letting him go would be an unwarranted capitulation …
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CONTINUE READINGMisinformed Attacks on the Law of the Sea
Objections to the Law of the Sea Treaty are based on specious arguments about sovereignty.
CONTINUE READINGThe Kennedy seat
It may be gauche to admit to worrying about this so soon after Ted Kennedy’s death, but the conversations have already begun: How much harder will it be to get to 60 votes on healthcare reform and, more relevant here, climate change legislation without his seat filled? Massachusetts procedures for finding a new senator, and …
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CONTINUE READINGMore on the Chamber of Commerce’s extraordinary demand for a “Scopes trial” on climate change
UPDATE: regarding the standard of judicial review of any on-the-record hearing (discussed below), see the comments: commenter Steve Taber disagrees with my initial analysis, and he may be right (though I don’t have time to look into it further today). ORIGINAL POST: Holly has written a thoughtful post discussing the meritlessness and cynicism of the …
CONTINUE READINGRep. Waxman, Sen. Pavley, and Mary Nichols talk climate change
For those of you interested in the relationship between federal climate legislation and California’s landmark global warming laws, tune in tomorrow 10am-noon PDT for a public forum at UCLA. It will be live webcast here, and yes, we are apparently even twittering it. Rep. Henry Waxman will talk about his work in passing the American Clean Energy and …
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