Clean Air Act

N.Y. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand answers Grist’s questions on the Kerry-Boxer bill 1
Posted 3 weeks, 1 day ago New York's new senator is a strong proponent of climate change legislation and has a unique set of concerns about it, reflecting the interests of her state. She answers our questions by video.
It begins...

The big stories out of Tuesday’s Senate hearing on Kerry-Boxer 3
Posted 3 weeks, 4 days ago Tuesday's hearing of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee -- the first of three days of hearings on the Kerry-Boxer clean energy bill -- didn't contain any big surprises. As Keith Johnson notes, Senators generally played their appointed roles. There are four stories out of today that seem notable.
Investors and companies should pay attention to the service industry that’s emerging to meet these massive new demands for information.

You can only manage what you measure 0
Posted 1 month, 1 week ago A decade ago, health-conscious consumers forced manufacturers to list nutritional information on food packages. We’ll soon be able to make buying decisions based on carbon content too - - taming our waistlines and “waste lines” at the same time.
Everybody calm down

What the EPA announcement did (and did not) say 17
Posted 1 month, 3 weeks ago The EPA made an announcement today that lots of folks seem to be misinterpreting as "proposed regulations on power plants." That's not what they are.
Sen. Ben Cardin answers Grist’s questions on public transit and mountaintop removal mining 0
Posted 2 months ago Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), who boasts close to a perfect score from the League of Conservation Voters, has become a key player on green issues in the Senate and an important voice against mountaintop-removal mining. He was kind enough to answer a few of our questions.
Everything old is nuisance again

Connecticut v. AEP: Public nuisance ruling may boost chances of EPA CO2 regulations 1
Posted 2 months ago The Second Circuit's recent decision in Connecticut v. AEP, in which a coalition of state attorneys general sued electric power producers to cap and then reduce their carbon emissions, allows the public nuisance case to proceed and gave the environmental plaintiffs virtually everything they wanted. A few aspects of the case stand out (aside from the obviously correct decision that a common-law tort suit is not a nonjusticiable political question). Most importantly, the Court's holding on "displacement," i.e. whether the Clean Air Act "displaces" the common law suit, actually makes EPA regulations somewhat more likely.
With bunnies!

Everything you always wanted to know about EPA greenhouse gas regulations, but were afraid to ask 10
Posted 2 months, 1 week ago

Two years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the EPA has the authority and the obligation to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. At a stroke, the politics of climate change were changed. The choice was no longer between legislation or no legislation -- it was between legislation or regulation. One way or another, climate pollution would be controlled by a federal program.

Most experts agree that EPA regulations will be complex and somewhat unwieldy. Industry believes they will be onerous and expensive. Conventional wisdom, at least initially, was that fear of regulation would drive utilities and manufacturers to the bargaining table, changing the dynamic in Congress. EPA was supposed to play the role of the big, silent goon in the corner, tapping his baseball bat in his hand.

That theory isn't holding up too well.
Original sin

The Clean Air Act story: back to the beginning 2
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
In David Roberts' story about Henry Waxman's long struggle to strengthen the Clean Air Act (part one, two), some important lessons were unavoidably overlooked, because Waxman inherited, struggled with, and never did manage to remedy a serious architectural flaw embedded in the original 1970 version of the law.
Policies can work in strange ways

Environmental regulation affects technological change 1
Posted 3 months, 2 weeks ago
Whether the policy domain is global climate change or local hazardous waste, it’s exceptionally important to understand the interaction between public policies and technological change in order to assess the effects of laws and regulations on environmental performance.
The Waxman Report, part two

Do the Clean Air Act battles contain lessons for the fight over climate legislation? 6
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
The other day I recounted the fascinating story of how Henry Waxman and his allies in the House spent a decade working to defend and strengthen the Clean Air Act. Waxman has reportedly said that those curious about the current climate/energy struggle should study the CAA fight.

So what lessons can be learned? And do they apply today?
The Waxman Report, part one

Henry Waxman’s decade-long fight to improve the Clean Air Act 7
Posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Rep. Henry Waxman is the chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee and coauthor of the ACES bill passed by the House in June. Naturally, political observers are curious about his thoughts on the fight to pass climate/energy legislation this year, but in media interviews he tends to be careful, measured, and fairly abstract. He doesn't do his work in public.

It turns out, however, that Waxman has offered a fairly clear guide to his thinking, and even told us where to find it: it's in chapter five of his new book, The Waxman Report: How Congress Really Works.
Get the lead out, chapter 3

EPA to review 2008 Bush action on lead emissions 1
Posted 4 months ago
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson has decided she'll take another look at monitoring of car battery recyclers, concrete kilns and power plants that spew dangerous lead emissions.
More climate strategy innovation from outside the envelope

MoveOn’s Masterful Move 5
Posted 4 months ago
Most every major advance in civic climate action has originated outside the envelope of U.S. climate politics as practiced by major environmental organizations and funders.
MoveOn up

MoveOn asks members whether it should launch major campaign to strengthen climate bill 8
Posted 4 months, 3 weeks ago
The progressive activist group MoveOn is trying to rally its 5 million members behind an aggressive campaign to strengthen the climate and energy bill that passed the House last week.
Environmental groups urge Pelosi to toughen bill 0
Posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago
The Sonia also rises

Obama Supreme Court pick has small but solid record on environmental rulings 4
Posted 5 months, 4 weeks ago
Obama has officially selected Sonia Sotomayor as his nominee to the Supreme Court, and if confirmed she will be the first Latin American and only the third woman to sit on the highest court in the land. The hot topic of conversation surrounding her nomination is affirmative action, but over in Gristland, we're wondering, just how green is she?
Is the Clean Air Act designed to regulate GHGs?

House Democrat defends OMB memo source 1
Posted 6 months, 1 week ago
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Committee on Small Business, defends the SBA Office of Advocacy over the OMB memo and says the Clean Air Act is not designed to take on greenhouse gases.
No need to cave yet

Obama could create a cap-and-trade system without Congress 4
Posted 6 months, 4 weeks ago
In a report released today, the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law found that if push comes to shove, Obama could create a cap-and-trade system on his own, complete with auctions and the ability to sign an international agreement.