Trump Administration
Trump’s Legal Challenges to the California’s Car Deal
Is there any legal basis for the Trump Administration’s actions?
Prompting rage by President Trump, California and several carmakers entered a voluntary agreement on carbon emissions from new cars that blew past the Administration’s efforts to repeal existing federal requirements. Last week, the Trump Administration slapped back at California. Although there’s been a lot of editorializing about that response, I’ve seen very little about the …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Spite War Against California and the Automakers Ramps Up
Threatening letter, investigation in addition to waiver revocation
Today in the Trump spite wars against California and the four auto manufacturers, we learn that the threat to revoke California’s waiver was only the first salvo from the administration. As I blogged last night, the Administration is considering revoking California’s federal waiver to issue pollution standards for cars without simultaneously rolling back tough auto …
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CONTINUE READINGRumored White House Move to Revoke California’s Waiver Is Trump’s Revenge Against the State
Move Motivated by Spite, Not by Policy Considerations
A White House official today confirmed to Politico that the Administration is considering revoking California’s permission (called a “waiver”) to set its own greenhouse gas emissions and zero emission standards for cars and light trucks. Rumors are that the waiver revocation could happen as early as tomorrow. The news in this announcement is that the …
CONTINUE READINGCost-Benefit Analysis and the Next President
If it’s Trump, we’ll see more of the same. But what if a Democrat wins?
Under executive orders dating back to Reagan, regulatory agencies like EPA are supposed to follow cost-benefit analysis in making decisions. Under the Trump Administration, however, cost-benefit analysis has barely even served as window-dressing for its deregulatory actions. It has launched a series of efforts to prevent full counting of regulatory benefits, as well as committing …
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CONTINUE READINGA Rule to Revoke California’s Waiver?
Why an action to revoke the waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars program could be the Administration’s worst move yet.
A couple of weeks ago, the New York Times reported that in the midst of growing “disarray” around the rollback of the Obama-era fuel economy and greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions standards, “Mr. Trump went so far as to propose scrapping his own rollback plan and keeping the Obama regulations, while still revoking California’s legal authority …
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CONTINUE READINGAnd the Survey Says…
How to interpret and utilize “environmentalist” poll results showing widespread support for environmental protection
As most of us know by now, environmentalism in the United States has increasingly become a politically polarizing topic. A Gallup poll from March 2018 revealed that only 42% of surveyed individuals consider themselves to be “environmentalists,” a figure which has decreased over time from the early 1990s: Interestingly, however, this shift in identity for …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate of Opinion
What do Americans think about climate change and environmental regulation?
Public opinion has been moving toward greater acceptance of the realities of climate change and the need for action. According to an April report by the Pew Charitable Trust, over half of Americans think the environment should be a priority for the next President, and over forty percent say that for climate change. Both figures …
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CONTINUE READINGAnti-Science Climate Denialists Must Be Behind the Methane Rollback
Reducing Methane is a Really Smart Climate Solution With Fast Results
Dan and Ken have offered quick takes on why the latest Trump assault on the environment is inexplicable — as they note, the oil industry doesn’t need or want a rollback of rules that regulate methane emissions, and the compliance costs to industry are tiny. So what is the point of gutting a rule to …
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CONTINUE READINGHelter Skelter
Even for deregulators, the latest rollback makes no sense.
The Washington Post reported this morning that EPA is getting ready to roll back yet another Obama Administration climate regulation — this time, one regulating natural gas leaks. I wanted to add a brief postscript to Ken Alex’s post on this. What struck me most immediately was the sheer economic weirdness of making this rollback …
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CONTINUE READINGFor the Love of Carbon
Understanding Trump’s Drive to Ramp Up Carbon Emissions
Libertarians may oppose government regulation on principle, and to some extent that stance explains the Trump Administration’s environmental and energy policies. But the Trump Administration clearly views the fossil fuel sector as something more than another overly-regulated industry. Instead, expansion of this particular industry is seen as something good in itself. Thus, the Administration not …
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