Pollution & Health
A New Feast for Environmental Policy Wonks
The Winter 2013 issue of the always-invaluable Journal of Economic Perspectives is just out, and it is a treasure for environmental policy people. It features a symposium on tradeable pollution permits, with contributions from among others William Pizer and Robert Stavins. It not only reviews the history of tradeable permits in air pollution, but also …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s AB32 as a Field Experiment
In modern academic economics, many scholars are running field experiments. I can point you to researchers such as John List of University of Chicago or Esther Duflo of MIT. In this 8 minute video, I sketch the simple economics of why it is very important for someone to run this field experiment for learning how …
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CONTINUE READINGThe NAACP and the Politics of Race and Regulation
There’s a bit of a kerfuffle going on about the NAACP’s defense of over-sized soft-drinks. In an amicus brief challenging New York City’s new ban on the super-size, the NAACP (joined by the Hispanic Federation and an association of Korean grocers) takes a surprisingly libertarian stance against government regulation. It laments that the ban is …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Rise of the Low Carbon Consumer City
Matthew Holian and I have just released a new NBER Working Paper. The “big idea” is that similar to a REESE’S Peanut Butter Cup we merge together two separate economics literatures. Glaeser and I have written about low carbon cities in the United States and China. Glaeser has published on “consumer cities” and …
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CONTINUE READINGDeadly spike in Beijing’s air pollution
This graph shows recent air quality monitoring data (PM 2.5) from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. As the New York Times noted, this spike—seen as a thick haze in the city—has been described as “postapocalyptic.” Thanks in no small part to the Clean Air Act, we have thus far avoided the need to walk around …
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CONTINUE READINGHow certification could reduce the environmental impacts of marijuana farms
This article from the LA Times (a few weeks old) highlights an emerging environmental problem in California – and presumably, elsewhere around the country: The negative impacts on water quality and availability and habitat from marijuana farms. Farms often use enormous amounts of water to grow their crops, without getting the necessary permits for diverting …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court haiku blues
Who knew there was a Supreme Court Haiku Reporter? Here’s its analysis of the LA County Flood Control District case decided earlier this week (h/t Megan Herzog): The flow of water No discharge of pollutants Within same river –which, I have to say, I find pretty disappointing. In response, I offer my own. Not quite …
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CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court overturns Ninth Circuit decision that held L.A. County Flood Control District liable for stormwater pollution in a poorly-reasoned, but narrow, decision
Today, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council. I’ve blogged about this case before, noting that the Supreme Court’s grant of review in this case was based on a completely mistaken premise. (If you’re unfamiliar with the case, the linked post explains in …
CONTINUE READINGDeconstructing Today’s Supreme Court Arguments in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center
Legal Planet colleague Holly Doremus did an excellent job last week of previewing today’s U.S. Supreme Court arguments in Decker v. Northwest Environmental Defense Center, a potentially important case involving the scope of USEPA’s point source permit jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act. But given the results of those arguments and a major, late-breaking regulatory …
CONTINUE READINGThe strange saga of how Los Angeles County’s stormwater pollution ended up in the Supreme Court
Tomorrow, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Los Angeles County Flood Control District v. Natural Resources Defense Council. This case involves a lawsuit by clean-water advocates to require our County Flood Control District to take responsibility for ensuring that polluted stormwater doesn’t impair our local water quality in two local rivers. The Ninth …
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