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

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

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

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. 

CONTINUE READING

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

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

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

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

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

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

TRENDING