Pollution & Health
Is TSCA Reform on the Way?
The Toxic Substances Control Act or TSCA (sometimes pronounced “Tosca,” like the opera) is one of the worst-written statutes of all time. It seems as if every section contains a cross-reference to another section, which in turn requires recourse to yet another sentence to be understood, making the statute completely opaque. A last-minute compromise, the …
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CONTINUE READINGSome Overdue Environmental Justice In Time for Shavuot
The Jewish festival of Shavuot, which begins at sundown this evening, commemorates the Israelites’ receiving of the Torah at Mt. Sinai. Shavuot is thus the paradigmatic lawyers’ holiday given its focus on law and justice. This connects nicely with the other two great pilgrimage holidays found in the Jewish Bible, giving us a trinity (so …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy it’s important that we know that we’re at 400 ppm of CO2
A major (and unfortunate) milestone has been crossed this past week. Measurements of atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide passed 400 parts per million, the highest in millions of years. Others have commented on how worrying this milestone is for the planet. But what I want to focus on here is how important it is that …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Insurance Industry Helps Us to Adapt to Climate Change
The NY Times reports that insurance rates are rising in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy for coastal communities. As I argued back in 2010 in my Climatopolis book, such “price gouging” is good! If insurance markets are competitive, then the rates that insurance companies charge households who seek home insurance will reflect the best …
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CONTINUE READINGAlberta, Open Sewers and the Keystone Pipeline
Al Gore raised the hackles of the Canadian government this week when he criticized the country’s large scale extraction of oil from the Alberta tar sands. The tar sand oil reserves are among the world’s largest but are particularly energy intensive to extract. That means that extracting oil that will then be burned will emit significantly …
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CONTINUE READINGChina’s New Environmental Courts
Pollution in China has been much in the news recently, from premature deaths caused by air pollution to news of thousands of dead pigs found in a Shanghai river. Could law help solve China’s environmental problems? My recent post on China Dialogue takes a look at what China’s new environmental courts have been able to accomplish so far.
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Justice, Metrics & California’s San Joaquin Valley
This week the California Environmental Protection Agency issued a disturbing but worthwhile report on environmental justice issues in California. That report confirms what many environmental justice advocates and state residents already assumed: that the San Joaquin Valley is–far and away–the most environmentally-challenged region of the state. According to the CalEPA press release accompanying the report, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Consequences of Carbon Cap & Trade
Behind a firewall, the WSJ has a tough editorial mocking Europe’s carbon trading. While I often agree with this page’s overall philosophy, this is a case where I sharply disagree with the unsigned authors. As everyone knows, a key part of life is making investment choices while facing uncertainty. Consider a European …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Miriam Seifter: The Environmental Dimension of American Trucking
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court heard argument in American Trucking Associations, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles, a case addressing the preemptive scope of the Federal Aviation Administration Authorization Act (FAAAA). Over at Scotusblog, I’ve discussed the two relatively technical questions presented in the case. The first asks whether two provisions in the Port of …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Sued Again Over Cap-and-Trade Program
Pacific Legal Foundation filed suit today against the state’s Air Resources Board on the grounds that the auction of allowances under California’s cap-and-trade program constitutes an unconstitutional tax. In the new suit, Morning Star Packing Company v. California Air Resources Board, PLF argues that a) the auctioning of revenues constitute a tax which b) requires …
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