Pollution & Health
Texas’s Unsuccessful (And Self-Defeating) Defiance of EPA
Texas has lost another round of its battle to halt EPA regulation of greenhouse gases — this time involving its effort to drag its feet on implementation of the regulations even if it could not undo them. The effect of Texas’s action is that it lost the ability to help shape how the rules apply …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Retrospective Greening of Bill Clinton
Last week, the EPA building was renamed for Bill Clinton. This a bit ironic — not that he was anti-environmental, but the environment wasn’t exactly his top priority. As you may recall, Clinton’s guiding philosophy was expressed by the motto, “It’s the economy, stupid.” There’s no reason to think he has any particular passion about …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Bush Ozone Standards and the D.C. Circuit
In an unsigned opinion released today, the D.C. Circuit largely upheld the Bush Administration’s revision of the air quality standard for ozone. The opinion can safely be described as dull reading, but it provides some guidance to EPA about the current round of standards revision that is now underway. The law requires EPA to set …
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CONTINUE READINGClearing Up the Standing Mystery in the Biomass Case
In a post last week, I expressed puzzlement about the D.C. Circuit’s failure to discuss standing in Center on Biological Diversity v. EPA, which involved EPA’s decision to delay greenhouse gas regulations for facilities burning biomass. The question of standing in climate change cases has been controversial, so this mystery sparked extensive discussion among environmental …
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CONTINUE READINGMy New Book: Fundamentals of Environmental Economics is Published
On Amazon, I’ve published a $2 environmental economics book. I priced it low to try to disrupt the environmental economics textbook business and to try to lure people to read it. This book can easier just be read as a “normal book” or can be used as a funky textbook for a class related …
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CONTINUE READINGCelebrity Lobbying as an Impediment to Increasing Center City Density
The NY Post reports that “Top Chef” Padma Lakshmi opposes NYU’s plan to “densify” The Village. I have already reported that Matthew Broderick opposes the plan. Permit me to quote the authoritative NY Post: “The famed cookbook author and onetime Indian supermodel wore a white summer dress as she slipped into one the last …
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CONTINUE READINGThe D.C. Circuit’s Sleeper Decision in CBD v. EPA
Before I even get to the majority opinion in Center for Biological Diversity v. EPA, a quick word about the concurring opinion by Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh may be the most outspoken conservative on a court composed almost entirely of Republican appointees. So what he has to say about climate change is really noteworthy: In …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy Hide the Congressional Research Service’s Reports from the Public?
Q: Is there anything connected with Congress that actually works these days? A: Yes, the Congressional Research Service and the General Accounting Office. A key difference between these adjuncts to Congress, however, relates to public accessibility. The Congressional Research Service can be a really valuable resource, but their reports can be difficult to locate. Unlike …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA and the Social Cost of Carbon: Part II
This is Part II of a two-part series of posts discussing Eric Posner’s critiques of the role of cost-benefit analysis in climate regulation. In Part I of this post series, Rhead described the social cost of carbon concept, discussed the Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) recently updated social cost of carbon estimate of $38 …
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CONTINUE READINGEPA and the social cost of carbon
This is Part I of a two-part series of posts discussing Eric Posner’s critiques of the role of cost-benefit analysis in climate regulation. The social cost of carbon (SCC, for policy wonks) represents the cost, in today’s dollars for the harm of emitting a ton of carbon dioxide equivalent gas into the atmosphere. Recently, the …
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