Regulation
Major Policy Attacks on California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard and Why They’re Off-Target
Second in a Series About California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program
[Post co-authored by Ted Parson and Sean Hecht] In this post, we continue our discussion of California’s Low-Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), which we introduced in our post on October 4, 2018. Because it’s a prominent and ambitious policy that will reduce California’s reliance on petroleum-based transport fuels, it is unsurprising the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard has …
CONTINUE READINGA Global Standard for a Global Problem
Emmett Institute Submits Comment in Support of CARB’s Proposed Tropical Forest Standard
The Emmett Institute submitted a comment to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) yesterday in support of its proposed Tropical Forest Standard (“Standard”). If approved, this Standard would provide CARB a set of criteria to follow when determining whether to trade tropical forest offsets between California’s Cap and Trade Program and a foreign emissions trading …
Continue reading “A Global Standard for a Global Problem”
CONTINUE READINGPolitics, the Environment, and the Rural/Urban Divide
Rural areas have been home to regulatory skeptics. But there may be ways of changing that.
Is there an urban/rural split in America? Definitely so, in politics, demography, and economics — and on the environment. Consider this, from Dan Balz at the Washington Post: “in the 2,332 counties that make up small-town and rural America, [Trump] swamped his Democratic rival, winning 60 percent of the vote to Clinton’s 34 percent.” But Balz reports …
Continue reading “Politics, the Environment, and the Rural/Urban Divide”
CONTINUE READINGLet’s Make A Deal
What Should Environmentalists Give Up – and Demand – For A Carbon Tax?
A nice editorial from the Los Angeles Times about the proposed carbon tax being offered by some Republicans under the front group Americans for Carbon Dividends, most notably former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz. Exxon-Mobil is even throwing $1 million into the effort — chump change for such a corporate behemoth. The Times …
Continue reading “Let’s Make A Deal”
CONTINUE READINGComments on proposed ESA rule changes
Law professors submit detailed comments on proposed changes to regulations that implement the Endangered Species Act
I’ve posted earlier about proposals by the Trump Administration to make significant changes to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, some of the most substantial revisions to those regulations since they were overhauled in the early 1980s. A group of environmental law professors (including me) submitted comments on those proposed rules last month, with …
Continue reading “Comments on proposed ESA rule changes”
CONTINUE READINGThe Wild & Scenic Rivers Act Turns 50
Celebrating a Half Century of Protecting America’s Rivers–& Hoping for More River Conservation Ahead
1968 was an especially tumultuous year in modern American history. The nation endured the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy; then-President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection due to growing public dissatisfaction with the government’s conduct of the Vietnam War; and protests and riots consumed Chicago, Detroit, Washington, …
Continue reading “The Wild & Scenic Rivers Act Turns 50”
CONTINUE READINGProgressive Regulatory Reform
Suppose that, like conservatives, progreessives started thinking about reforming the regulatory system. What would that look like?
Until recently, you could be a very well informed American – a lawyer, even – without ever having heard of the Chevron doctrine. That has changed enough that last month the New Yorker had a “Talk of the Town” essay discussing Kavanaugh’s views of the Chevron doctrine. The reason for the attention to Chevron is …
Continue reading “Progressive Regulatory Reform”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Raises Its Ambition for a Low-Carbon Fuel Future
First in a Series About California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard Program
[Post co-authored by Sean Hecht and Ted Parson] California’s Air Resources Board (CARB) has just enacted new regulations that strengthen the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). The LCFS is a major component of California’s greenhouse-gas control strategy, but receives surprisingly little attention, compared to other policies like the statewide cap-and-trade system and the renewable …
Continue reading “California Raises Its Ambition for a Low-Carbon Fuel Future”
CONTINUE READINGMitigating Increased Driving Miles From New Projects Under CEQA
New Berkeley Law/CLEE report released today; Webinar discussion on Tuesday, October 30th
California law now requires developers of new projects, like apartment buildings, offices, and roads, to reduce the amount of overall driving miles the projects generate. Senate Bill 743 (Steinberg, 2013) authorized this change in the method of analyzing transportation impacts under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), from auto delay to vehicle miles traveled (VMT). …
Continue reading “Mitigating Increased Driving Miles From New Projects Under CEQA”
CONTINUE READINGThe Case for Co-Benefits
Ignoring co-benefits violates well-established legal principles.
The Trump Administration is moving toward the view, long popular in industry, that when it regulates a pollutant, EPA can consider only the health impacts of that particular pollutant – even when the regulation will also reduce other harmful pollutants. This idea is especially important in climate change regulation, because cutting carbon emissions almost always …
Continue reading “The Case for Co-Benefits”
CONTINUE READING