Pollution & Health
The Ryan Consumption Tax and the Environment
One of the interesting elements of Paul Ryan’s budget plan is the proposal for an 8.5% consumption tax to replace the corporate income tax. Consumption taxes, like the European VAT, have well-known pluses and minuses, described in a Brookings discussion. They are appealing to economists because they encourage saving. As the European example shows, they …
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CONTINUE READINGPublic Health and the Changing Electicity Mix
The electricity mix has changed dramatically, as discussed by my colleagues from the Haas School recently. The following chart tells the tale: Notice that the blue line (coal) is diving, while the orange line (natural gas) is picking up the slack. The change seems to be due to the rapid decline in gas prices. The …
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CONTINUE READINGDrive a Stake Through Ethanol’s Heart!
Okay, that’s even worse than a mixed metaphor: that’s a Friedmanism. But it still applies today. Reuters reports: Two U.S. governors asked the United States government on Tuesday to waive this year’s mandate for making ethanol from corn, adding pressure on it to relieve meat producers from high corn prices spurred by the worst drought …
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CONTINUE READINGCruz, Fischer and Mourdock: Three Tea Party Senate Candidates Versus the Environment.
Tea Party candidates defeated less extreme conservatives in three GOP Senate nominating contests. Their environmental views are ultra-Right Wing. These candidates should be right on your wavelength — if you think that there’s a plan for U.N. world domination, that EPA should be gutted or abolished, and that climate change is a deliberate hoax by …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornians and the Environment: PPIC’s New Survey Results
The Public Policy Institute of California this week released the results of its 12th annual “Californians and the Environment” survey. PPIC, a non-partisan think tank, always seems to be generating thought-provoking and cutting-edge scholarship focusing on the nation-state of California. Its latest environmental survey, based on recent polling of 2500 Californians, continues that tradition. The …
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CONTINUE READINGDon’t Knock EPA’s Knack for NAAQS
On Tuesday, the D.C. Circuit decided American Petroleum Institute (API) v. EPA, an interesting case dealing with nitrogen oxide (NO2) levels. The standard is supposed to include a margin of safety.Under the Clean Air Act, EPA sets National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for airborne substances that endanger human health or welfare. EPA set such …
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CONTINUE READINGWhat’s New on the Seven Seas?
The scientific journal Nature reports on two recent research findings. One is bad news. I think the other is good news, but not everyone will agree. The first report (the bad news) is a reminder that ecological harm is a cumulative process: The [new] study suggests that the cold weather was the first of three …
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CONTINUE READINGHealth and Superfund
I belatedly happened across an interesting paper by Michael Greenstone. The Abstract summarizes the key finding: We are the first to examine the effect of Superfund cleanups on infant health rather than focusing on proximity to a site. We study singleton births to mothers residing within 5km of a Superfund site between 1989-2003 in five …
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CONTINUE READINGThe FDA Bans BPA in Baby Bottles
The details are reported here. Such bans on specific production inputs raise interesting economics issues related to “technology forcing” and industrial competition. I am an optimist that there are many different ways to make a relatively low cost baby bottle. In a a world with 7 billion people, if somebody can figure out a low …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia releases proposed rule to implement streamlining of environmental review for new California infill developments
As part of an effort to create more walkable, livable communities that reduce vehicle miles traveled and the greenhouse gas emissions that those vehicles generate, California is removing barriers to infill development. Our governor and legislature are trying to create communities of homes and retail businesses that are closer together and closer to public transit. …
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