Pollution & Health
Environmental Property Rights: Part II
The previous post in this series introduced the idea of environmental property rights. There are a surprising number of EPRs. A complete listing would include at least nine kinds of EPRs: In addition to the public trust doctrine and tradable permits (which were discussed in the first part of the series), here are seven more: …
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CONTINUE READINGLegislative response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster
What’s happening in Congress since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy and the gusher that followed? There have been a lot of hearings, and a lot of bills introduced. Several are moving ahead. One has become law, one has been passed by the full House, and two have been reported out of Senate committees. 1) Both houses …
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CONTINUE READINGDisturbing Video of Oil Spill Effects on Whales and Dolphins
[youtube=] This video contains some of the most compelling and disturbing footage I’ve seen of the Gulf oil spill. It demonstrates the vastness of the spread of oil; the effects on marine mammals including whales and dolphins; and the magnitude of the burning BP is doing to try to clean up the oil. The video …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy the San Fernando Valley Ruined Everything
Jonathan is right that the San Fernando Valley is trying its best to maximize the land use around its two subway stations, considering the slow pace of legalizing these developments. But part of my problem with the extension of the subway to the San Fernando Valley is not just the land use around the two …
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CONTINUE READINGEconomy v. Environment Directly at Issue in Lifting of Drilling Ban
As oil continues to gush into the gulf — more bad news on that front today — a federal judge with financial ties to the oil drilling industry has issued an injunction lifting the federal government’s moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf. The legal intricacies of the lifting of the ban, while interesting to …
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CONTINUE READINGFumigants Take Center Stage in California
I wrote previously about the strange story of methyl iodide, a chemical purposely used by researchers to cause cancer in labs, being proposed for use as a fumigant for strawberry production in California. The New York Times recently covered a legislative hearing by the California Senate Food and Agriculture Committee in which the members of an external scientific review panel lambasted California …
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CONTINUE READINGToxic Chemicals (3)
This is the third (and for now, the last) in a series of posts on toxic chemicals. Like the earlier two, it addresses a recent paper on the subject, This one, by Vermont’s Martha Judy and RFF’s Katherine Probst, is about “Superfund at 30.” Superfund — more officially the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Clean-up …
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CONTINUE READINGNewsHour Segment: Can Obama Require BP to Form an Escrow Fund?
Steve Yerrid, a Florida trial lawyers, and I discuss this with Ray Suarez on the NewsHour. Bottom line: the answer isn’t very clear, although OPA sec. 1005(a) does require BP to establish a process for “the payment or settlement of claims for interim, short-term damages” that might encompass an escrow and independent decision-makers. It will …
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CONTINUE READINGToxic Chemicals (1)
As it happens, I saw three new papers about toxics regulation at about the same time recently. Between the three, they give a clear picture about the U.S. stance on toxic chemicals. I’ll discuss the papers in separate posts this week. The first paper, by David Markell of FSU, the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Ocean Science Trust Releases Study Evaluating Alternatives for Decommissioning California’s Offshore Oil and Gas Platforms
Last week, the California Ocean Science Trust released a long-awaited study that synthesizes scientific and legal information to inform policymakers and stakeholders on alternative paths for the decommissioning of California’s offshore oil and gas platforms. 27 of these platforms operate off the coast of California, and eventually all of them will stop producing fossil fuel …
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