Regulatory Policy
Unanswered Questions About Cost-Benefit Analysis
We have only fragmentary evidnece about how CBA actually functions in government decision-making.
Considering that people have been debating cost-benefit analysis at least since Reagan mandated its use in 1981, you would think we would have the answers to some basic questions about how it works. Yet we have very fragmentary information, generally based on the perspevtives of people at the agencies or in the White House Office …
Continue reading “Unanswered Questions About Cost-Benefit Analysis”
CONTINUE READINGIs Socialism Good for the Environment?
The answer is: “Sometimes yes, sometimes not so much.”
Some of the people who are most fervent about the environment these days describe themselves as socialists. But is socialism actually a good thing for the environment? That seems like a significant question in a political context where people on both sides are throwing around the word “socialist” so much, so I decided to see …
Continue reading “Is Socialism Good for the Environment?”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia groundwater management, science-policy interfaces, and the legacies of artificial legal distinctions
By Dave Owen and Michael Kiparsky
One of the many noteworthy features of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) is that it requires local government agencies to consider and address the effects of groundwater management upon interconnected surface water. That requirement is an important step towards rationalizing California water management, which has long treated groundwater and surface water as separate resources. …
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Campaign to Gag Activist Shareholders
His recent executive order tries to “protect” oil companiy management from smart climate planning.
Exxon management was not pleased when shareholders forced them to produce a report on how climate change would impact their business. In May, Exxon is facing another shareholder vote on whether to form a climate change committee on the Board of Directors and whether to disclose how sea level rise will impact its investments on the …
Continue reading “Trump’s Campaign to Gag Activist Shareholders”
CONTINUE READINGHappy Tax Day!
It’s the perfect time to talk about a carbon tax.
Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes once said that taxes are the prices we pay for a civilized society. A carbon tax, if we ever get one, might turn out to be the price we pay for a sustainable planet. I’m not wedded to it as a tool for cutting carbon, and I don’t think it would …
Continue reading “Happy Tax Day!”
CONTINUE READINGCleveland, City of Light, City of Magic
Newspaper Layoffs Claim The Plain Dealer’s Energy Reporting
On Tuesday, I wrote about the demise of local newspapers nationwide and in particular the collapse of the Cleveland Plain Dealer, arguing that universities need to fill the gap of quality journalism. I also suggested that this is an environmental issue, as it is local newspapers’ coverage of the environment that often drives the conversation. …
Continue reading “Cleveland, City of Light, City of Magic”
CONTINUE READINGTrump Administration’s Cold Water War With California Turns Hot
Feds’ Curious New Lawsuits Against State Water Board Likely Just the Opening Litigation Salvo
When it comes to California water policy, the federal-state relationship has always been both strained and challenging. That intergovernmental tension harkens back at least to the Reclamation Act of 1902. In section 8 of this iconic federal statute that transformed the American West, Congress declared that the federal government “shall proceed in conformity with” state …
Continue reading “Trump Administration’s Cold Water War With California Turns Hot”
CONTINUE READINGA Contingency-Based Framework to Support Drought Decision Making
Part 4 in a Series on Improving California Water Rights Administration and Oversight for Future Droughts
In my last post, I outlined actions the State Water Resources Control Board (Board) can take to improve its future drought response capabilities. Our core recommendation is for the Board to bring greater predictability, timeliness, and effectiveness to water rights administration and oversight during droughts by proactively developing a contingency-based framework to support its drought …
Continue reading “A Contingency-Based Framework to Support Drought Decision Making”
CONTINUE READINGEconomists vs. Environmentalists: Time for Deténte?
You don’t have to love economics to see it as a possible ally.
Cost-benefit analysis has long been the target of environmentalist ire. But one lesson of the Trump years has been that economic analysis can be a source of support for environmental policy — it is the anti-regulatory forces who have to fudge the numbers to justify their actions. Most energy and environmental economists are aghast at …
Continue reading “Economists vs. Environmentalists: Time for Deténte?”
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Adopts New, Welcome Wetlands Protection Rules
State Fills Void Left By Trump Administration’s Weakening of Federal Wetlands Standards
This week California’s State Water Resources Control Board adopted important new rules to protect the state’s remaining wetlands resources. Enacted after over a decade of Board hearings, workshops and deliberation, those rules are overdue, welcome and critically necessary. Their adoption is particularly timely now, given the Trump Administration’s wholesale assault on and erosion of federal …
Continue reading “California Adopts New, Welcome Wetlands Protection Rules”
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
