Pollution & Health

The House Takes Aim at EPA Regulation of Power Plant Pollution

Last week, the House passed HR 1582 on a 232-181 vote.  The law is designed to restrict EPA regulation of power plants, but the House also adopted an amendment that takes a swipe at environmental economists. HR 1582  is mercifully brief and to the point.  When EPA proposes a rule that would impose over $1 billion …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Big Data and the Renewable Revolution

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. Earlier this year, UCLA’s Center for Sustainable Communities launched an interactive energy map for energy use in most of Los Angeles.  It was a …

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Guest Blogger Ken Alex: Saving Electricity for a Rainy Day

Ken Alex is a Senior Advisor to Governor Jerry Brown and the Director of the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research.  The views expressed in this blog post are his own. We are making progress in two more key areas, although California, for now, is not in the lead.  Thanks to new developments and a …

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The Congressional Back Door Attack on California’s Environmental Programs

California’s Environmental Programs

Today’s Los Angeles Times reports on disturbing, broad-based efforts in Congress that threaten to eviscerate a host of California’s cutting-edge environmental initiatives, most prominently its “Green Chemistry” program. The saga begins with the California Legislature’s enactment of the state’s “Green Chemistry Initiative” (GCI) in 2008.  The overarching principle behind GCI is to mandate the design of chemical products …

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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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The 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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The 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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Clearing 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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My 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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Celebrity 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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