The Investors' Climate March: Divestment & Reinvestment
Momentum continues to build as investors and fund managers develop and implement policies and investment guidelines favoring sustainability and clean energy, and disfavoring -- and in certain cases...
View ArticleDAYS OF FUTURE PASSED…OR PAST
November 1967: The Moody Blues release their second album, Days of Future Passed, said to be an influential work of the countercultural, psychedelic era. May 2014: Wolverine goes back in time to rally...
View ArticleWhat’s Next for EPA’s Next Generation Compliance Initiative?
If you want a sense of emerging developments likely to impact the business community it is important to keep an eye on pronouncements from EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance (OECA). OECA is...
View ArticleThe Clean Power Plan: NOT Exactly What the Statute Tells EPA To Do
As most followers of this blog know, EPA proposed its “Clean Power Plan” for existing electric power plants under the Clean Air Act (CAA) in June 2014. And just this week (March 31), the Obama...
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EPA Is Not an Expert in Determining Electric System Reliability
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals just reversed and remanded EPA’s rule allowing backup generators to operate for up to 100 hours per year as necessary for demand response. It’s an important decision...
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Do Climate Change and Same-Sex Marriage Have Anything in Common?
Recent events have me pondering this question.Most notably, in two court decisions last week, courts ordered the State of Washington and the government of the Netherlands to take more aggressive action...
View ArticleDUTCH COURT: NETHERLANDS MUST DO MORE TO REDUCE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
On June 25, 2015, The Hague District Court in the Netherlands issued an order and opinion requiring the Netherlands to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by...
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Chicken Little Cannot Compare to the Opponents of the Clean Power Plan
On Wednesday, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed the latest effort to stay EPA’s Clean Power Plan before it has even been promulgated in the Federal Register. The Court simply stated that...
View ArticleIs It Time To Re-Think Additionality?
Many organizations have announced voluntary greenhouse gas emission reduction goals by which they aim to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases despite the absence of any legal requirement to do...
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What Do Opponents of the Clean Power Plan and the Oklahoma Sooners Have In...
So the Clean Power Plan has been published in the Federal Register. For those who cannot get enough, you can find all of the important materials, including EPA’s Technical Support Documents, on EPA’s...
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Some Hard Truths About Addressing Climate Change
Last week, the Boston Globe had an op-ed by Joshua Goldstein and Steven Pinker concerning some “Inconvenient truths for the environmental movement.” I’m sorry to say that I agree with pretty much...
View ArticleParis to Earth: Act Locally Within a Global Framework
Paris—In the run-up to the Conference of the Parties to the Climate Change Convention, a short humorous video, “Earth to Paris,” was widely viewed. It was a call to delegates for take serious action...
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Promises, promises: how legally durable are Obama's climate pledges?
As part of a global agreement on climate change, the US has pledged, among other things, to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26%-28% compared to 2005 levels by the year 2025. But opponents...
View ArticleAre Obama’s Climate Pledges Really That “Legally Durable”?
In his December 16 ACOEL post Professor Robert Percival concludes that President Obama’s Paris GHG reduction pledges are most likely “legally durable.” Two of his key points: (1) EPA’s Clean Power...
View ArticleWHY, WHY DO I LOVE PARIS
The Paris Agreement resulting from the COP21 Climate Conference was extraordinary, far better than any of the pundit “experts” expected (indeed most were predicting gloom and doom until the very last...
View ArticleLegal Implications of the Paris Agreement for Fossil Fuels
The Paris Agreement on climate change reached on December 12, 2015 has a heavily negotiated sentence that, when closely read, seems to call for the virtual end of fossil fuel use in this...
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Does the Paris Agreement Provide EPA With Authority Under the CAA To Impose...
In a very interesting article, Michael Burger of the Sabin Center and his co-authors suggest that, following the Paris climate agreement, § 115 of the Clean Air Act provides authority for EPA to...
View ArticleEPA Has Surprisingly Broad Authority to Regulate GHGs
Our friend Seth Jaffe wrote a very interesting blog on January 20, “Does the Paris Agreement Provide EPA With Authority Under the CAA to Impose Economy-Wide GHG Controls? Count Me Skeptical.” It took...
View ArticleCap and Trade Is Alive and Well in New York State
New York participates in the cap-and-trade system operated by 9 northeastern and mid-atlantic states known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that limits carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from...
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EPA and DOJ Cannot Sugarcoat This: SCOTUS Stays the Clean Power Plan
Yesterday, the Supreme Court stayed EPA’s Clean Power Plan rule. No matter how much EPA and DOJ proclaim that this says nothing about the ultimate results on the merits, the CPP is on very shaky...
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