Regulation
Save Us From Ourselves
I often have conversations about climate change with those who believe that the crux of the problem lies with the individual. To put it somewhat differently, these individualists believe that we can’t solve the climate problem without individual change and that the possibilities for such change are all around us. People should use less electricity, take …
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CONTINUE READINGGot oil?
According to research compiled by the staff at The Oil Drum, we may have hit peak oil production in 2008. Many experts predicted that peak oil would happen sometime around now, although perhaps not for another decade or so. If this research is correct, then we should expect a corresponding decrease in the supply of …
CONTINUE READINGShouldn’t Conservatives Be Environmentalists?
It seems to me that the answer is yes, contrary to popular opinion. There are several varieties of conservatism, but in my view each of them should resonate with at least some aspects of environmental protection. Let’s start with social conservatives. What does it mean to have a “culture of life”? Shouldn’t it mean objecting …
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CONTINUE READINGRenewable Energy and Economic Stimulus: Better Luck This Time Around
The American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, better known as the economic stimulus package, throws 11 billion dollars at infrastructure development to support renewable energy, particularly improvement and expansion of transmission grids. It’s characterized as a win-win scenario, getting people back to work while smoothing the way for substantially less carbon-intensive energy generation. That’s quite a …
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CONTINUE READINGAn Invitation to Explore the Connections Between Constitutional & Environmental Law
These days, more and more of the most important environmental law disputes arise in the crucible of constitutional law. Preemption, the Dormant Commerce Clause, the foreign powers doctrine, constitutional principles of standing to sue and the separation of powers doctrine are all doctrines of constitutional law that have been invoked in much of the most …
CONTINUE READINGU.S. state insurance regulators take step toward addressing climate risk
I’ve spent some time over the past two years studying the relationship between the insurance industry and climate change. Yesterday there was an important development in this area: the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) , the group of state regulators that collectively regulate insurance in the U.S., adopted for the first time a requirement that large insurers …
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CONTINUE READINGWas it worth it?
Sometimes environmental litigation becomes strikingly divorced from the underlying facts that give rise to it. And sometimes the hardest fought litigation seems to have the least impact on what the parties are ostensibly fighting about. When that litigation creates bad precedents that are difficult to reverse, you have to wonder whether anything of value has …
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CONTINUE READINGTime for NMFS to lead on hatcheries
Demonstrating once again the importance of presidential elections and appointments, the 9th Circuit has upheld the National Marine Fisheries Service’s policy on considering hatchery fish in listing Pacific salmonids. (Hat tip: ESA blawg.) Hatchery fish can be a boon or a bane to salmon conservation. Because hatchery programs have emphasized production of fish for harvest, …
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CONTINUE READINGEd Glaeser Should Get Out More
Harvard’s Ed Glaeser has long been regarded as one of the most astute economists around: economics Nobel laureate George Akerlof thinks he’s a “genius.” But if he keeps writing posts like this, it will serve as evidence less about him and more about the collapse of economics as a serious profession. Glaeser and my UCLA …
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CONTINUE READINGNo wavering in waiver battle
No one is backing down yet in the multiple battles over California’s request for a Clean Air Act waiver to allow it to implement its rules limiting greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. EPA’s announcement that it would reconsider the Bush administration’s denial of that request was published in the Federal Register on March …
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