Regulatory Policy
Whose Benefits Count?
EPA is right to include climate impacts on foreign countries in its cost-benefit analysis of regulations.
When a regulation benefits people outside the U.S., should those benefits be counted? Or should a cost-benefit analysis include only positive and negative domestic impacts? As a recent paper by Ted Gayer and Kip Viscusi highlights, EPA has been counting the benefits of restricting carbon emissions for the entire world, not just the U.S. …
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CONTINUE READINGUpdate: U.S. Supreme Court Denies Review in California Low Carbon Fuel Standard Case
Justices Decline to Address Constitutionality of LCFS
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in closely-watched cases in which the constitutionality of California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) was being challenged. The LCFS is, in turn, an integral part of the state’s multifaceted strategy to reduce California’s aggregate greenhouse gas emissions as required under AB 32, the state’s landmark 2006 climate change …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard: Before the Supreme Court
Will the Justices Choose to Decide the LCFS’s Constitutionality?
You might think that the U.S. Supreme Court, having decided the Utility Air Regulatory Group v. EPA Clean Air Act case on Monday, was done for the current Term when it comes to environmental law and policy. Think again. Today the justices met in conference to decide whether to grant review in a large number of pending …
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CONTINUE READINGOil By Rail: Nine Things California Can Do to Increase Safety
While FRA Considers New Federal Regulations, States Can Ramp Up Prevention and Emergency Response
At a joint Senate and Assembly hearing last week on oil by rail safety in California, some lawmakers expressed frustration at slow federal action, and asked what California can do to increase public safety. My testimony focused on federal preemption issues, defining areas where the state can regulate, and those where it is preempted by …
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CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: U.S. Supreme Court Renders Split Decision in Major Climate Change Case
The U.S. Supreme Court today issued its long-awaited decision in Utility Air Regulatory Group v. Environmental Protection Agency, the justices’ third encounter with climate change law and policy. In a Solomonic ruling, the Court ruled that EPA lacks authority to require the operators of “stationary sources” of greenhouse gas emissions (power plants, factories, etc.) to obtain …
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Court Upholds State Water Board’s Broad Authority to Ban Unreasonable Uses of Water
Ruling is Especially Timely, Given California’s Ongoing and Severe Drought Conditions
I recently wrote about a then-pending court case in which California grape growers were challenging the State Water Resources Control Board’s limits on the growers’ diversion of water from California rivers and streams to provide frost protection for their grapes. That litigation is important because it goes to the heart of the Board’s authority under …
CONTINUE READINGEPA Is One of the (Relatively) Popular Kids
Despite all the attacks it has suffered, EPA has a better image than either political party. Not to mention Congress.
Republicans — especially the House GOP — often lambaste EPA. The phrase “jack-booted thugs” will stick in my memory a long time. A recent NBC/WSJ poll, however, shows EPA is actually one of our more popular institutions: %Positive %Negative Difference EPA 40 28 +7 Barack Obama 38 40 -4 Democratic Party 38 50 -2 Republican …
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CONTINUE READINGA Bailout By Any Other Name…
Weak environmental laws are another form of bailouts for private industry
Bailouts – the payment of public funds or resources to rescue or support a private enterprise – are politically very unpopular. The primary challenger who defeated Republican House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia excoriated Cantor for supporting big banks in the wake of the financial crisis. The bailout of banks after the crisis that …
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CONTINUE READINGCompiled Resources on the “Clean Power Plan” Proposed §111(d) Rule
All LegalPlanet resources on regulation of GHGs under 111(d), plus critical EPA resources and other valuable analyses
Today, EPA officially published the Clean Power Plan, the agency’s proposed rule to regulate power plant greenhouse gas emissions under Clean Air Act § 111(d), initiating a public comment period that will close on December 1, 2014. I have taken this as an opportunity to compile all of the various LegalPlanet resources on regulation of …
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CONTINUE READINGMick Jagger on Chemical Reform
Vermont’s new chemical program looks to be a mixed bag
Vermont just joined the posse of states taking chemical regulation reform into their own hands in the face of inaction in Congress. Last week the Green Mountain State enacted a new law covering chemicals in children’s products. (A children’s product is defined as “any consumer product, marketed for use by, marketed to, sold, offered for …
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