Pollution & Health

Field Notes from India: Climate Adaptation from the Ground Up

Two days with climate educators in Ahmedabad, India changed my understanding and appreciation of climate resilience.

I spent last week in New Delhi, participating in the conference, India 2047: Building a Climate-Resilient Future. Academics, civil society, and government officials were divided into groups focusing on science, health, labor, and the built environment. It was fascinating to explore the daunting challenges India will face as many of its regions confront daily temperatures …

CONTINUE READING

Regulatory Rollbacks: What to Expect

A replay of 2017? Or maybe something more radical?  You can probably guess the answer.

Repealing and replacing existing environmental regulations will have a lower priority in this iteration of the Trump presidency – it will often be easier to just ignore the existing regulations or eliminate the regulators rather than the regulations. When it does rollback regulations, the administration will probably take more extreme legal positions and will be more likely to make constitutional arguments against environmental regulation.  

CONTINUE READING

Dissecting the Attacks on the Endangerment Finding

EPA has identified four different arguments against the endangerment finding. None have merit.

In late 2009, EPA made a formal finding — often called the Endangerment Finding —that greenhouse gases may endanger human health and welfare.  Undaunted by the overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of that finding, the Trump EPA plans to reconsider that finding.  Few independent observers believe EPA will succeed, but the issue is important enough to warrant a close look. Here’s a deep dive.

CONTINUE READING

Legal Safeguards Against Deregulation

Congress was aware that there could be a backlash against environmental standards. It took precautions.

If it could, no doubt the current Administration would be happy to have the same polluted air and water–and energy-wasting appliances)– that we had fifty years ago. Thanks to the anti-backsliding aspects of environmental law, however, they can’t really achieve that. The best they can generally do is to get rid of recent regulations that haven’t gone into effect yet.

CONTINUE READING

Make America’s Environment Filthy Again

Lee Zeldin

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has launched a full-scale attack on climate, air and water pollution.

In what is one of the most mind-boggling press releases ever to come out of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Lee Zeldin today declared that he wants to make America’s air and water dirty again and to make the planet still warmer. He announced 31 actions that will obliterate protections for cleaner air, cleaner water, …

CONTINUE READING

Making Polluters Pay for Climate Consequences

A protest sign

A pair of new bills introduced in the California State Legislature would create a climate superfund. Here’s how it would work. 

The dramatic increase in extreme weather events has been wreaking havoc on states across the country, from devastating fires, floods, and droughts to rising sea levels. As a member of the Board for the American Red Cross Pacific Coast Region, I have seen firsthand how the organization is responding to twice as many climate-related disasters …

CONTINUE READING

The Top-Ten Lower Court Decisions on Environmental Law

Don’t let the headlines deceive you. It’s not just the Supreme Court that shapes environmental law.

The Supreme Court tends to get all the attention, but for every Supreme Court opinion on environmental law there are probably fifty opinions in the lower federal courts. Collectively, the lower courts have done fat least as much to shape the law than the Supreme Court’s occasional interventions. 

CONTINUE READING

Why Isn’t Hydrofluoric Acid Banned at Oil Refineries?

Rep. Maxine Waters with a "Ban MHF" banner.

The Torrance Refinery Action Alliance and Rep. Maxine Waters have renewed calls to ban hydrofluoric acid at SoCal refineries. Here’s why and how that could work.

On the morning of Feb. 18, 2015, pent-up gases at ExxonMobil’s refinery in Torrance triggered an explosion so powerful it registered as a magnitude 1.7 earthquake and sent industrial ash over entire neighborhoods. It’s been called the near-miss disaster that most people have never heard of. But that near miss is raising new calls to …

CONTINUE READING

The Trump Administration Is Trying an End Run Around Revoking California’s Car and Truck Rules

Zeldin’s actions face a major problem: the Congressional Review Act doesn’t apply to California waivers.

Last Friday, EPA’s Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a new and unprecedented way to try to prevent California from implementing its ambitious program to move toward 100 percent zero emission vehicles. This time around, the Trump Administration is trying a new tactic.  Rather than revoking EPA’s decision (called a waiver) to allow California’s program to move …

CONTINUE READING

All the President’s Men

The people occupying environment and energy positions will be anti-regulatory and pro-fossil fuel.

There will be a lot of dramatic fireworks on Day One of Trump’s second term, literally and figuratively. Yet his ability to achieve his agenda will depend on the people he’s chosen to run the government.  His energy and environment picks will follow the party line of expanding fossil fuels.  Yet they may not be as extremist as their predecessors in the first Trump Administration or as some of Trump’s advisors.

CONTINUE READING

Join Our Mailing List

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

TRENDING