Regulation Archives - Page 119 of 127

Regulation

Cars, Obama and Climate Change

There’s big news coming out of Washington and Detroit this week about the fate of U.S. automakers. Rumors surfaced yesterday that G.M. will furlough its U.S. factories for most of the summer due to declines in auto sales. And the Obama Treasury Department is said to be pressuring Chrysler to prepare for bankruptcy, to be filed as …

Continue reading “Cars, Obama and Climate Change”

Flexing Obama’s administrative muscle (& a victory on home furnaces)

Just after the election, the environmental group Earthjustice published a list of six easy things the Obama administration could do to help the environment. On the list was the suggestion that Obama back off from defending Bush-era failures to ramp up the efficiency of home furnaces–a topic that sounds narrow but has remarkable implications for saving …

Continue reading “Flexing Obama’s administrative muscle (& a victory on home furnaces)”

Nanopolicy Bumps in California

California continues to lead the way nationally on nanotechnology regulation, despite some bumps along the way. Most recently, the Department of Toxic Substances Control issued a request for information regarding analytical test methods, fate and transport in the environment, and other relevant information from manufacturers of reactive nanometal oxides. Substances covered include aluminum oxide, silicon …

Continue reading “Nanopolicy Bumps in California”

Climate Change and Environmental Impact Statements

Government agencies are struggling with how to fit climate change into the process of environmental review. At one level, this is a no-brainer. Greenhouse gases contribute to climate change, and climate change is the biggest environmental impact of all. But as always, the devil is in the details.

Oh What A Difference A President Makes

We’re not even 85 days into the Obama Administration and yet the signs of environmental change are all around us. The EPA announced today its formal determination under the Clean Air Act that greenhouse gases are pollutants that endanger public health and welfare. This is only the latest in a string of announcements that show just how quickly Obama is …

Continue reading “Oh What A Difference A President Makes”

Low-hanging carbon

I’m looking forward to hearing Scripps climate scientist Veerabhadran Ramanathan speak at an event next week in Los Angeles, and I hope he’ll talk about black carbon, which many are calling the low-hanging fruit of the climate change problem. Black carbon is the fine black soot that’s generated by carbon combustion, these days mostly from traditional cookstoves and …

Continue reading “Low-hanging carbon”

The (Environmental) Wealth of Nations

Costa Rica is taking seriously the idea that national wealth does not solely consist of physical or financial assets but also of environmental goods and natural resources. As Thomas Friedman explained in yesterday’s column: “More than any nation I’ve ever visited, Costa Rica is insisting that economic growth and environmentalism work together. It has created …

Continue reading “The (Environmental) Wealth of Nations”

NEPA and terrorism

To what extent does the Nuclear Regulatory Commission have to consider the threat of terrorist attack in the environmental analysis it undertakes for nuclear power plant licensing decisions? A March 31 decision from the Third Circuit, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, creates a circuit split on that question. In the …

Continue reading “NEPA and terrorism”

Customer Impacts From Waxman’s Cap & Trade? Let’s Not Exaggerate

In Wednesday’s New York Times, Felicia Barringer reports on pocketbook concerns related to the Waxman-Markey carbon cap and trade proposal as expressed by parishioners at St. Louis’ Greater Mount Carmel Baptist Church. The article contains the following statement, attributed to a representative from the local electric utility: “Jaime Haro, Ameren UE’s director of asset management …

Continue reading “Customer Impacts From Waxman’s Cap & Trade? Let’s Not Exaggerate”

Cleaning Up the Bush EPA’s Dry Cleaning Rule

The Washington Post reported that EPA “is reconsidering whether to compel dry cleaners to phase out a cancer-causing chemical used in tens of thousands of operations nationwide.” In 2006, the Bush Administration issued an air toxics rule for professional dry cleaners using perchloroethylene in which it tightened technology requirements, but refused to phase out use …

Continue reading “Cleaning Up the Bush EPA’s Dry Cleaning Rule”

Trump’s Replacement for Project 2025: The “Other” MAGA Plan

It’s not Project 2025, but the “America First Agenda” is worse in some ways.

California Pulls Back On Sustainable Aviation Fuels

Air Resources Board abruptly withdraws proposal to mandate low-carbon jet fuel

The Harris-Trump Debate and Environmental Policy

In the ABC News debate, both candidates were asked directly, “What would you do to fight climate change?” Fracking and energy policy got most of the focus.

The Ins and Outs of Kennedy’s Environmental Positions

His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.

Assessing the First Decade of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act

You’re Invited to “10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card”–A Conference at U.C. Davis Law School on 9/6

Clean Air and the Turbocharged Shadow Docket

Guest Contributors Sean Donahue & Megan Herzog write that coal advocates offer troubling new grounds for the Supreme Court to stay EPA’s carbon pollution standards.

The Tragedy of Indifference

This election will have huge consequences for climate change. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to matter that much at the polls.

The Zombie Myth of Job-Killing Regulations

Some ideas never die, no matter how much evidence piles up against them.

Community Solar: The Systemwide Benefits

The debates over community solar program design are fascinating sites of struggle over which values should drive decision-making.

Community Solar: Local and Individual Benefits

Community solar offers a rich case study for how a diverse range of values can be integrated into the traditionally narrow scope of public utility commission decision-making.

Regulation

TRENDING

As it turns out, you can hate BOTH government regulation and Trump’s assault on the “deep state.”

A survey of sponsorships across six major league sports leagues in the U.S. reveals more than 60 deals with high-polluting companies.

The Emmett Clean Energy Law & Leadership project will build a bridge between the existing expertise of UCLA’s energy law scholars and policymakers.

China seems to have leap-frogged the U.S. on clean energy. We need to catch up.

The Juliana plaintiffs make a final effort to resurrect their case.

Who will shape federal climate and energy policies? The answer remains too close to call.

Those races get a lot less attention than elections for the Senate, but they’re equally important.

Program Design Elements Can Produce More Equitable, Durable, and Successful Projects

Upcoming U.C. Davis Law Review Symposium To Provide Interdisciplinary Focus On Threatened Western U.S. Lakes

In the ABC News debate, both candidates were asked directly, “What would you do to fight climate change?” Fracking and energy policy got most of the focus.

It’s not Project 2025, but the “America First Agenda” is worse in some ways.

Air Resources Board abruptly withdraws proposal to mandate low-carbon jet fuel

In the ABC News debate, both candidates were asked directly, “What would you do to fight climate change?” Fracking and energy policy got most of the focus.

His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.

You’re Invited to “10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card”–A Conference at U.C. Davis Law School on 9/6

Guest Contributors Sean Donahue & Megan Herzog write that coal advocates offer troubling new grounds for the Supreme Court to stay EPA’s carbon pollution standards.

This election will have huge consequences for climate change. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to matter that much at the polls.

Some ideas never die, no matter how much evidence piles up against them.

The debates over community solar program design are fascinating sites of struggle over which values should drive decision-making.

Community solar offers a rich case study for how a diverse range of values can be integrated into the traditionally narrow scope of public utility commission decision-making.