Regulatory Policy
New California Report on State Climate Policies Released
Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee Recommends Focus on Transportation, Affordability, Allowance Banking, Allowance Supply and the Effects of Overlapping Policies in the Regional Electricity Market
The California Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee released its annual report yesterday making recommendations about California climate policy. I serve as the Vice Chair of the committee and as the Speaker of the Assembly’s appointee. Our report makes five recommendations: that the state focus on the affordability of its carbon policies, with special concern about …
Continue reading “New California Report on State Climate Policies Released”
CONTINUE READINGPride Goeth Before a Fall
Trump thinks he can tell courts how to interpret NEPA. He’s wrong.
White House has just released its proposed revisions to the rules about environmental impact statements. The White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) simply does not have the kind of power that it is trying to arrogate to itself. The proposal is marked by hubris about the government’s ability to control how the courts apply the …
Continue reading “Pride Goeth Before a Fall”
CONTINUE READINGRevolt of the Captive Scientists
Trump’s Scientific Advisory Board Slams Proposed EPA Rules
Trump has appointed most of the members of EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), many of them selected from industry. That effort to stack SAB in favor of deregulation apparently wasn’t a complete success. In draft reports issued this week, the SAB scathingly criticized those efforts and even went so far as to give a nod …
Continue reading “Revolt of the Captive Scientists”
CONTINUE READINGBright Spots of 2019 (Yes, there were some!)
A bad year in many ways, but with promising signs for the future.
It’s been a tumultuous and often grim year in terms of environmental protection. The Trump Administration continued its onslaught against environmental protection, completing major regulatory rollbacks. Nevertheless, there were some rays of sun through the darkening clouds. State Initiatives. Progress as the state level continued, as it has throughout the Trump Administration. New York State …
Continue reading “Bright Spots of 2019 (Yes, there were some!)”
CONTINUE READINGThreat Assessment: The Supreme Court & the Environment
The current bench is tilted against environmental regulation. It could get worse.
In September, Take Back the Court issued a study entitled, “The Roberts Court Would Likely Strike Down Climate Change Legislation.” In my view, that’s too alarmist. But the current conservative majority definitely will be an obstacle to aggressive use of government regulation. That could hold true well into the 2030s, depending on who leaves the …
Continue reading “Threat Assessment: The Supreme Court & the Environment”
CONTINUE READINGGifts We Receive Daily
Our everyday gifts: a livable climate, clean water and air, and biodiversity.
This is a time of year when by religious tradition or secular custom, many people exchange gifts. It’s worth remembering that we also reach receive daily gifts in the form of what economists call public goods. I thought it might be worth reposting some Holiday Season musings on that subject. After all, the holiday season …
Continue reading “Gifts We Receive Daily”
CONTINUE READINGThe Decade in Review
Like many humans, the Twenty-First Century’s teenage years were stormy.
“It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.” That pretty much sums up the ten years from January 2010 to January 2020. As the decade began, Barrack Obama was in the White House and the Democrats controlled Congress but were one vote short of a filibuster-proof majority in the House. Under …
Continue reading “The Decade in Review”
CONTINUE READINGClimate Change, Ozone Depletion, and the New York Times
The Montreal Protocol offers lessons for climate change, but not a role model
In an extended piece yesterday, The New York Times editorial board wrote that “The World Solved the Ozone Problem. It Can Solve Climate Change. The same tools that fixed the ozone hole — science, innovation and international action — can address.” Although the editorial was mostly correct, it missed what I believe to be the …
Continue reading “Climate Change, Ozone Depletion, and the New York Times”
CONTINUE READINGYes, It’s That Time of Year Again
If you read Legal Planet, you know why the work we do matters.
There couldn’t be a more important time for the work we do, given the urgency of the climate crisis and the ongoing policy disaster in D.C. Like everyone else, I’m sure you find fundraising appeals annoying. That’s why we hardly ever do them on Legal Planet. But twice a year doesn’t seem like too much …
Continue reading “Yes, It’s That Time of Year Again”
CONTINUE READINGGreenhouse Gas Regulations Under the Clean Air Act Are Doomed
Will Kavanaugh Use the Major Questions Doctrine or the Non-Delegation Doctrine to Scrap Them?
The Democratic candidates all have bold plans to attack climate change but face an obvious problem: Congress. Unless the Democrats take the Senate and the Presidency while retaining the House, and unless the Democrats abolish the filibuster, it’s hard to imagine Congress passing comprehensive climate legislation (and even then getting legislation through will be a …
Continue reading “Greenhouse Gas Regulations Under the Clean Air Act Are Doomed”
CONTINUE READING