Regulation
Dissecting the Attacks on the Endangerment Finding
EPA has identified four different arguments against the endangerment finding. None have merit.
In late 2009, EPA made a formal finding — often called the Endangerment Finding —that greenhouse gases may endanger human health and welfare. Undaunted by the overwhelming scientific evidence in favor of that finding, the Trump EPA plans to reconsider that finding. Few independent observers believe EPA will succeed, but the issue is important enough to warrant a close look. Here’s a deep dive.
CONTINUE READINGLegal Safeguards Against Deregulation
Congress was aware that there could be a backlash against environmental standards. It took precautions.
If it could, no doubt the current Administration would be happy to have the same polluted air and water–and energy-wasting appliances)– that we had fifty years ago. Thanks to the anti-backsliding aspects of environmental law, however, they can’t really achieve that. The best they can generally do is to get rid of recent regulations that haven’t gone into effect yet.
CONTINUE READINGMake America’s Environment Filthy Again
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has launched a full-scale attack on climate, air and water pollution.
In what is one of the most mind-boggling press releases ever to come out of the Environmental Protection Agency, Administrator Lee Zeldin today declared that he wants to make America’s air and water dirty again and to make the planet still warmer. He announced 31 actions that will obliterate protections for cleaner air, cleaner water, …
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CONTINUE READINGTracking the Trump Administration
Rollbacks of Climate, Energy, and Environmental Policies and Investments
The first month of the Trump Administration has resulted in a dizzying flurry of actions and reactions. Many of us are wondering how to track the status of these actions, including the legal challenges to these actions. Luckily, a number of institutions are keeping track of the range of policy and legal actions that are …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump Shoves Economic Analysis and Science to the Curb
The MAGA agenda takes precedence over data and analysis.
If you were looking for data-driven regulatory policy, you’re not going to find it in this Administration. On the contrary, Trump has marginalized economic analysis and wants to bulldoze environmental science. Thus, we are likely to get policies that are bad for the environment without being cost-justified, while ignoring policies who environmental benefits outweigh economic costs.
CONTINUE READINGWhat can we learn from EU’s battery regulation?
New CLEE report with model policies to ensure a responsible EV battery supply chain
From cars and trucks to buses and trains, electric vehicles are playing an increasingly vital role in decarbonizing mobility and reducing oil dependence However, this transition brings with it a significant challenge: the immense pressure on battery supply chains. As demand for EVs increases, consumer countries will need to develop and implement policies that address the …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Trump Administration Is Trying an End Run Around Revoking California’s Car and Truck Rules
Zeldin’s actions face a major problem: the Congressional Review Act doesn’t apply to California waivers.
Last Friday, EPA’s Administrator Lee Zeldin announced a new and unprecedented way to try to prevent California from implementing its ambitious program to move toward 100 percent zero emission vehicles. This time around, the Trump Administration is trying a new tactic. Rather than revoking EPA’s decision (called a waiver) to allow California’s program to move …
CONTINUE READINGA Trumped-Up Energy Emergency
We have weathered past threats to energy security through democratic processes, not by executive fiat.
The Executive Order has fabricated an energy emergency and is doubly wrongheaded. First, as the statistics bear out, there is neither a domestic energy emergency nor an energy crisis. The U.S. has effectively secured energy independence. More significantly, Trump’s politically driven, fossil fuel-dependent energy portfolio is neither diversified nor economically sound.
CONTINUE READINGCrisis at DOJ’s Environment & Natural Resources Division
Guest contributors Sommer Engels, Andrew Mergen, and Justin Pidot write that dismantling ENRD will be disastrous for future administrations, the American people, and even for the Trump Administration.
The Environment and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) of the Department of Justice faces its most profound crisis since it was established in 1909. In a little over a week, the Trump administration has (1) reassigned four career managers (leading nearly half of ENRD’s sections) to the newly formed Office of Sanctuary Cities Enforcement; (2) placed …
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CONTINUE READINGAre Climate Pledges on Life Support?
A Q&A with Catherine McKenna, who led the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Expert Group on Net-Zero Commitments of Non-State Entities.
Catherine McKenna knows firsthand how to persist in the face of pushback on climate policies. She was Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change during the first Trump Administration, and she led negotiations of that country’s first national climate plan over intense oil industry opposition. “The oil sands sector and the politicians they sponsor aren’t just greenwashing a product,” …
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