Regulation
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Federal Preemption But Were Afraid to Ask
When is a state law preempted by a federal law on the same subject? This is a notoriously messy area of Supreme Court jurisprudence. For those interested in a quick introduction to the subject, I’ve written a paper that provides an overview of federal preemption law, which appears on the site of the Uniform Law …
CONTINUE READINGNinth Circuit affirms that ignorance is bliss
Lack of information is a continuing problem for environmental policy. In part, that’s unavoidable; we’ll never know enough about the world around us to be confident that we’re making the best choices. In part it is because potential regulatory targets control some needed information. And in significant part it’s because decisionmakers have a tendency to …
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CONTINUE READING“Cementing” the GOP’s Environmental Policy in Place
EPA’s cement rule would save roughly one life per year for every job lost. You have to wonder about the value systems of the folks who oppose the rule.
CONTINUE READINGThe “Rebound Effect” Falls Flat
Prompted in part by a recent article in the New Yorker, there’s been a lot of attention to the rebound effect lately. The theory is that increased energy efficiency in effect makes energy cheaper (as measured in cost per unit of benefit), so people actually consumer more energy. The empirical evidence is that this is …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Incoming Congressional Freshmen
Politico has a nice posting about the incoming freshman GOP in the House and their views on environment and energy issues. The bottom line: House Republican freshmen looking to make names for themselves on energy issues in the next Congress have some goals in common: Ramp up domestic energy production, roll back the Obama administration’s …
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CONTINUE READINGObama, the GOP, and the Environment
The NY Times has a Christmas Day editorial about the need for the President to take a strong stance in defense of EPA: Republicans in the next Congress are obviously set on limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority under the Clean Air Act to regulate a wide range of air pollutants — even if it …
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CONTINUE READINGWhite House scientific integrity guidelines — a long wait for not much
Early on in the Obama administration, promoting scientific integrity in government decisionmaking seemed to be a high priority. Less than 2 months after his inauguration, the President issued a memorandum giving the Office of Science and Technology Policy 4 months to “develop recommendations for Presidential action designed to guarantee scientific integrity throughout the executive branch.” …
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CONTINUE READINGA big news week for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta
This has been a significant news week for California’s delta. On Wednesday, California’s Natural Resources Agency endorsed a plan for a water tunnel system to bypass the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, coupled with a habitat restoration plan for the Delta. Bettina Boxall’s story in today’s Los Angeles Times has the details. Many environmental groups …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia designates new Marine Protected Areas
The California Department of Fish and Game has created a new network of state-designated Marine Protected Areas, as Tony Barboza reported today in the Los Angeles Times. This action, controversial because of its restrictions on fishing in the protected areas, begins to fulfill the promise of California’s decade-old Marine Life Protection Act. As this detailed …
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CONTINUE READINGBP spill lawsuit complaint and link to early analysis
Here’s the complaint in the newly-filed lawsuit the United States filed against BP today, which I summarized earlier in this post. And NRDC’s David Pettit has written an interesting blog post with some initial thoughts about timing and choice of defendants in the lawsuit.
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