Grist | Topics | 74 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 25 of 74
Page:1 2 3
Headline	Author	Published	Section
Office of Management and Censorship Committee hears testimony from whistleblower on EPA dealings	Kate Sheppard	22 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Jason Burnett, the former associate deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency who resigned last month over the Bush administration's unwillingness to address greenhouse-gas emissions, provided more details to a Senate panel Tuesday about how top White House officials worked to quash new regulations on greenhouse gases. Appearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, Burnett shared with senators some of the behind-the-scenes ne ...
Topics: Congress, Muckraker, news, politics, regulation, US EPA, US Senate (all these topics)

Matt Yglesias is making sense	David Roberts	22 Jul 2008	Gristmill
On Republican gas price demagoguery: [Anti-density zoning and minimum parking mandates] are regulatory barriers to solving our energy problems every bit as much as the ban on offshore drilling is. And conservatives are against regulation, right? Except the anti-drilling regulation is good for the environment and for coastal economies whereas anti-urbanist regulation is economically inefficient and environmentally destructive. Naturally, conservatives have chosen ...
Topics: energy, oil and gas drilling, politics, regulation, urban planning (all these topics)

Howdy, Ontario A big addition to the Western Climate Initiative	Eric de Place	21 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Ontario officially joins the Western Climate Initiative as a full partner. Sweet. Some Americans may not fully realize the significance of this. So for my fellow Yankees (and with apologies to readers north of the border) ... Ontario is the California of Canada in the sense that it has more people and economic activity than any other province. On the other hand, Ontario is the Michigan of Canada in the sense that it has a huge auto manufacturing base. And yet Ontari ...
Topics: regulation, greenhouse-gas emissions, climate change mitigation, climate, Canada (all these topics)

Connecting the dots A simple regulatory fix to the coming power crisis	Sean Casten	18 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Our electric regulatory model is broken. It preferentially deploys expensive power sources before cheap ones. It compares the variable costs of dirty fuels to the all-in costs of clean fuels and deludes itself into thinking that the dirty, expensive power is economically advantaged. It places the interests of utility shareholders above the interests of other potential investors in our power grid, massively skewing capital allocation, even while it insulates utility in ...
Topics: energy, energy efficiency, renewable energy, regulation, economy (all these topics)

Input on outputs New white paper provides more details on output-based standards	Sean Casten	18 Jul 2008	Gristmill
For those of a policy-wonk bent. For those who simply loved my earlier post on output-based standards for greenhouse gas control and have been thirsting ever since for more details (I know you're out there!). For those who wait eagerly at their mailbox waiting for the current issues of electricity policy magazines to arrive ... Yea, verily, I bring you this [PDF]. A white paper just published in The Electricity Journal, providing much more detail than was appropria ...
Topics: climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, regulation (all these topics)

Fighting the full court press Cost-benefit analysis can help environmentalists battle offshore drilling	Guest author	15 Jul 2008	Gristmill
The following is a guest post from Richard L. Revesz, dean of New York University School of Law, and Michael A. Livermore, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Regulation at New York University School of Law. They are co-authors of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health, published in May 2008 by Oxford University Press. ----- In the last few weeks, two major barriers to renewed off ...
Topics: Congress, energy, oil, oil and gas drilling, politics, regulation (all these topics)

Down the Interstate Court strikes down federal clean-air rule that would have actually cleaned air		11 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 10:33 AM on 11 Jul 2008 One of the rare Bush administration clean-air policies favored by enviros has been struck down by a federal appeals court. The Clean Air Interstate Rule would have required 28 Eastern states to reduce soot-causing, smog-forming emissions that easily spread on the wind. The U.S. EPA estimated that the rule would prevent 17,000 premature deaths per year, tens of thou ...
Topics: air pollution, Department of Justice, insanity, news, politics, regulation, US EPA (all these topics)

Water We Supposed to Do? Lag in water-pollution enforcement traced to muddled court decision		08 Jul 2008	News
Posted at 2:58 PM on 08 Jul 2008 The U.S. EPA has neglected to pursue hundreds of potential violations of the Clean Water Act because of regulatory uncertainty, according to an internal memo. The lack of clarity stems from a 2006 Supreme Court ruling that left plenty up in the air about the types of waterways and wetlands that fall under EPA jurisdiction. The confusion has had "a significant impact ...
Topics: news, politics, regulation, US EPA, water pollution, wetlands (all these topics)

A fuel's errand Republican House members ask EPA to scale back ethanol mandate	Kate Sheppard	02 Jul 2008	Gristmill
More than 50 Republican representatives sent a letter [PDF] to the Environmental Protection Agency last week urging the agency to lower the mandate for ethanol production in response to both the recent flooding in the Midwest and drought in the South. They argue that one-third of the country's corn crop will be used for ethanol to meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, and while the weather this year will cause a decrease in supply of corn, the RFS will increase demand ...
Topics: biofuels, Congress, energy, ethanol, Muckraker, news, politics, regulation, severe weather, US EPA (all these topics)

Back draft The EPA documents the White House doesn't want you to see	Kate Sheppard	01 Jul 2008	Gristmill
Brad Johnson over at Wonk Room acquired a copy of the EPA's recommendations on regulating greenhouse-gas emissions that the White House has been trying so hard to hide. The documents give you a good idea why: EPA officials concluded that the benefits of new, tougher standards 'far outweigh their costs.' In fact, if gas prices stay in the range of $3.50 a gallon, 'the net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion' through 2040 if fuel efficiency standard ...
Topics: greenhouse-gas emissions, Muckraker, news, politics, regulation, US EPA, White House (all these topics)

White-Out House White House tries to keep EPA from showing how greenhouse gases could be regulated		30 Jun 2008	News
Posted at 12:29 PM on 30 Jun 2008 The White House is trying to block the U.S. EPA from releasing a document that shows how the Clean Air Act could be used to regulate greenhouse gases, reports The Wall Street Journal. The draft document, a formal response to a Supreme Court decision that greenhouse gases are pollutants and can thus be regulated under the Clean Air Act, must be OK'd by the White Hou ...
Topics: air pollution, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, jackassery, news, politics, regulation, US EPA, White House (all these topics)

Candy-shaped rat poison on its way out EPA gives manufacturers three years to adjust to new regulations designed to protect children	Fawn Pattison	30 May 2008	Gristmill
The U.S. EPA announced today that it would be tightening up the safety requirements on ten nasty rodenticides that are blamed for poisoning around 10,000 children -- mostly black and Latino inner-city kids -- every year. Those ten chemicals will no longer be available in the form of little pellets that look like candy, and that small children are so prone to stick in their mouths. The new rules will require non-agricultural users of rat poison to use it only inside tam ...
Topics: green living, health, parenting, regulation, toxics, US EPA (all these topics)

4.4 Cents and Sensibility Bay Area initiates first-of-its-kind fee on biz greenhouse-gas emissions		22 May 2008	News
Posted at 8:18 AM on 22 May 2008 Businesses in nine San Francisco Bay Area counties will pay 4.4 cents for every ton of greenhouse gases they spew, after the district air-quality board voted 15-1 Wednesday to approve the fee. Set to take effect July 1, the fee will affect more than 2,500 businesses; the district estimates that perhaps seven power plants and oil refineries will have to pay more tha ...
Topics: business, California, carbon tax, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, news, regulation, San Francisco (all these topics)

For Specious Skies EPA plans to loosen air-quality rules near national parks		16 May 2008	News
Posted at 11:45 AM on 16 May 2008 Photo: Wolfgang Staudt Call us crazy, but rewriting the Clean Air Act to ease the way for new coal plants near national parks seems to fly in the face of that whole "clean air" thing. But sure enough, the U.S. EPA plans to make a change allowing the government to calculate the average annual emissions of power plants near parks and wilderness areas, instead of tracking (and po ...
Topics: air pollution, coal, energy, jackassery, national parks, news, politics, regulation, US EPA (all these topics)

Cost-benefit environmentalism The green community should mend, not work in vain to end, cost-benefit analysis	Guest author	08 May 2008	Gristmill
This is a guess essay from Richard L. Revesz, Dean of New York University School of Law and co-author, with Michael A. Livermore, of Retaking Rationality: How Cost-Benefit Analysis Can Better Protect the Environment and Our Health, published this month by Oxford University Press. ----- Failing the cost-benefit test The R. Gallagher coal-fired power plant in Indiana emits over 50,000 tons of sulfur dioxide per year. Sulfur dioxide is a major component of partic ...
Topics: air pollution, coal, economy, environmental movement, politics, regulation (all these topics)

Air America Highlights from the American Lung Association's annual 'State of the Air' report	Frank O'Donnell	01 May 2008	Gristmill
It's become an annual spring ritual, but the American Lung Association's 'State of the Air' report -- essentially a report card on the country's air -- contains some valuable lessons. First is that we have seen progress in dealing with widespread air pollutants such as ozone, or smog, and fine particle soot. States with the most aggressive cleanup approaches, such as California, have seen the most improvement. But second, and equally important, we still ...
Topics: air pollution, health, legislation, regulation (all these topics)

Details matter: The New York Knicks as GHG policy Lieberman Warner criticism, Part 4	Sean Casten	01 May 2008	Gristmill
This is the fourth in a five-part series exploring the details of the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act. See also part 1, part 2, and part 3. I grew up in New York and was a die-hard Knicks fan. I can still remember the lump in my throat when I was at a Mets game in 1985 and the Diamond Vision announced that the Knicks had won the draft lottery, ensuring that they'd get Patrick Ewing and build a franchise around him. And yeah, they never won a title with him (da ...
Topics: climate, economy, energy, fossil fuels, greenhouse-gas emissions, regulation, sports (all these topics)

Me on a podcast	David Roberts	29 Apr 2008	Gristmill
I am on this week's podcast from PolticalAffairs.net. I'll confess when the PA guy called me I didn't know it was a record of 'Marxist thought online,' but hey, let a thousand flowers bloom. As it happens I was talking about a market-based carbon policy, kind of an odd subject for a Marxist podcast, but it was fun. If you listen closely, you can hear me stirring my lunch on the stove as I talk. Multitasking might explain why I was talking so damn slowly. It sounds like ...
Topics: carbon trading, climate, climate science, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics, regulation, shameless self-promotion (all these topics)

Cold CAFE Governors rally against dirty Bush car plan	Frank O'Donnell	25 Apr 2008	Gristmill
Nothing brings together diverse groups like a common threat. And governors in environmentally progressive states are getting used to banding together against the Bush administration. Now they've done it again, to protest the 'cynical' effort by the Bush Department of Transportation to take away the right of California to set tougher greenhouse gas standards for cars (and the right of other states to adopt the California standards). The latest assault on stat ...
Topics: Arnold Schwarzenegger, climate, Department of Transportation, fuel efficiency, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics, regulation (all these topics)

How Does Your Garden Grow? Ontario plans to ban garden pesticides		23 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 1:14 PM on 23 Apr 2008 Photo: Laura Gibb The province of Ontario plans to ban the sale and use of garden pesticides. The legislation would keep lawn-owners in Canada's most populous province from using more than 70 chemicals present in more than 300 products. Critics cry double standard, though, as Ontario's golf courses, farms, and forests would be exempt from the ban. If approved, Ontario's pesticide regulations will ...
Topics: Canada, gardening, green living, news, regulation, toxics (all these topics)

At Lung Last Smog can kill, says report		22 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 2:57 PM on 22 Apr 2008 Short-term exposure to smog is clearly linked to premature deaths, a National Academy of Sciences report has concluded. Some Bush administration officials have claimed that the link between ground-level ozone and health is, well, hazy: when the U.S. EPA was determining acceptable air standards for ozone last month, officials in the Office of Management and Budget claimed there was "considerable uncertainty" of a ...
Topics: air pollution, health, news, ozone, politics, regulation (all these topics)

Start Your Engines Feds set fuel-economy benchmarks for automakers		22 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 11:14 AM on 22 Apr 2008 Federal regulators will propose benchmarks Tuesday for automakers to hit on their way to reaching a fuel-economy requirement of 35 miles per gallon by 2020. Auto fleets will have to average 27.8 mpg by 2011 and 31.6 mpg by 2015 -- a more aggressive timetable than was required by Congress. That's 35.7 mpg for passenger cars in 2015 (new cars averaged 31.3 mpg last year) and 28.6 mpg for light truc ...
Topics: business, cars, climate, fuel efficiency, news, politics, regulation (all these topics)

By Our Power Combined California utilities scuffle over cap-and-trade		21 Apr 2008	News
Posted at 8:42 AM on 21 Apr 2008 California is well aware that reducing greenhouse-gas emissions is easier said than done. The state's attempts to craft an effective cap-and-trade system are causing infighting among public utilities and their privately owned counterparts. Public utilities, which source more of their power from coal, protest that they're going to end up paying out the nose to the state and seeing the money red ...
Topics: business, California, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, greenhouse-gas emissions, news, politics, regulation, state politics (all these topics)

Collins misoverestimates Bush NYT columnist gives president too much credit on climate, which ain't hard	David Roberts	19 Apr 2008	Gristmill
New York Times columnist Gail Collins begins today's piece with a glaring error. She says: Didn't know we had any goals for curbing global warming? Where were you in 2002 when the president put us on the road toward reducing the growth of greenhouse gas emissions by 18 percent by 2012? Now, Collins spends the rest of the column deriding that goal, and the new goal Bush announced on Wed., as she should: both goals are worth deriding. But that wasn't what Bush an ...
Topics: climate, George Bush, greenhouse-gas emissions, politics, regulation (all these topics)

Don't celebrate this holiday We need to be freed from gas, not the gas tax	Ryan Avent	17 Apr 2008	Gristmill
John McCain's proposal to institute a gas tax 'holiday' during the summer driving season is as clear an example of a pander as one is likely to see during election season, but its inclusion in a major economic policy speech suggests that this is no easily ignorable one-off. As Joseph Romm notes, any hope progressives might have had that the maverick, straight-talking conservative could bring some principle to the table on climate and energy issues has now gone out the win ...
Topics: energy, gas prices, John McCain, oil, placemaking, politics, public transportation, regulation (all these topics)

Page:1 2 3		Results 1 – 25 of 74

Stories About: regulation