Environmental Law

In Other News (June 5)

Posted on June 05, 2008
A giant in the wind energy industry has proposed to build hundreds of wind turbines in New York as part of its attempt to gain approval from state regulators in its lengthy battle to purchase a power company, reports The New York Times. Kiribati, a low-lying Pacific atoll nation, already may be doomed by climate change, according to the country's president, who contends communities have already been resettled and crops destroyed by seawater, says this report carried by news...

Western Transmission, Solar Environmental Impacts, on Feds' To-Do List

Posted on June 04, 2008
Federal energy and land management officials have launched an effort to assess environmental impacts associated with booming solar developments in the Western United States.While that's going on new applications for projects located on the Bureau of Land Management's vast holdings will not be accepted until after the process is completed, the government announced recently...

In Other News (June 4)

Posted on June 04, 2008
Republican lawmakers were trying to scuttle the Lieberman-Warner climate change bill, warning of a huge new bureaucracy and other ills, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. Meanwhile, environmentalists chastised the GOP for forcing Senate clerks to read aloud the entire lengthy measure Federal energy officials have applied for a license to build a long-planned radioactive waste dump in Nevada that would serve the nation's nuclear power reactors, but leaders from the state vow renewed efforts to block it, according to this story from the Los Angeles Times...

Fighting Climate Change Could Boost Jobs, Say Enviros, Unions

Posted on June 03, 2008
With much of the debate over efforts to control climate change focusing on potential economic impacts, environmental and labor organizations Tuesday floated a new report that they portrayed as boosting the notion that green, particularly green energy, is good for workers...

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In Other News (June 3)

Posted on June 03, 2008
NASA Officials "reduced, marginalized or mischaracterized climate change science" information made available to the general public but an agency investigation finds such policies have been changed, reports The New York Times...

Lieberman-Warner Day: Maybe Next Year?

Posted on June 02, 2008
The U.S. Senate Monday  began tackling legislation to curtail the nation's heavy carbon footprint but signs pointed toward a tough go for the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (see also a summary of the bill). One of those negative signs: A veto threat from President Bush...

In Other News (June 2)

Posted on June 02, 2008
Beetles are bad for trees and as the climate changes, the insects may thrive and alter Canada's forests forever, according to a story in the Ottawa Sun. Ethanol, once viewed as a "license to print money," now appears to be at a crossroads, as a result of rising corn prices and jitters among government officials and Wall Street, reports the Chicago Tribune...

Energy Department Says U.S. Saw Big Growth in Wind Power

Posted on May 30, 2008
There have been consistent indications that wind power is taking off in a big way in the United States and elsewhere. But a new assessment produced by the U.S. Department of Energy still came up with some impressive statistics showing the extent of the wind rush...

In Other News (May 30)

Posted on May 30, 2008
In California, the California Public Utilities Commission has named Frank Rich Lindh, an attorney with Pacific Gas and Electric Company, as the agency's new general counsel. In the past, Lindh had served as general counsel for a gas pipeline company and as an appellate attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission...

Climate Change Effect, Cause Evidence Compiled in Exhaustive Report

Posted on May 29, 2008
The newest  in a recent series of federal reports on the potential effects of climate change is perhaps the most comprehensive to date, and predicts wide-ranging challenges for human society and natural systems, including the spread of certain diseases...

In Other News (May 29)

Posted on May 29, 2008
The nation's first comprehensive ocean planning law, which among other things will regulate the placement of renewable energy projects such as wind farms, has been signed by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, reports the Boston Globe. Representatives of the five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean have adopted a declaration intended to reduce tensions over the likelihood that global warming will open northern waters to shipping, energy extraction and other activities, reports The New York Times...

Rep. Markey, House Climate Leader, Introduces New Bill

Posted on May 28, 2008
There's a (sort of) new climate change player on Capitol Hill.U.S. Rep. Edward J. Markey (pictured), a leading voice for some time in Washington on the subject of greenhouse gas reductions, announced Wednesday he would introduce a "revolutionary" climate change bill that appears to be the most aggressive measure yet put before Congress...

In Other News (May 28)

Posted on May 28, 2008
Global warming poses a serious threat to the Great Lakes and Congress needs to pay for restoring the huge bodies of fresh water now, says a new report cited by the Detroit Free Press. The "circus" that is the Exxon Mobil shareholders meeting includes consideration of shareholder proposals, including one that would set limits on greenhouse gases, as reported by the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital...

Government Reports See Climate Change, Carbon Effects Ongoing

Posted on May 27, 2008
A sobering new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasts the future of a warming planet where crops are more likely to fail, but weeds might thrive, livestock would perish in the summer heat, and droughts would become more frequent in parts of the country...

In Other News (May 27)

Posted on May 27, 2008
The updated version of the Lieberman-Warner bill to curtail United States greenhouse gas emissions is scheduled to hit the floor of the Senate on June 2, although it is unlikely to become law this year, according to this look at the legislation from Reuters...

Offshore Energy Research Projects Could Get Green Light Soon

Posted on May 23, 2008
The power of the ocean likely will draw millions of people to the beaches this Memorial Day weekend and beyond, some of them perhaps thinking of power in a literal sense. Those would be the folks interested in the potential development of the marine environment as an energy source and they may soon see some new action from the federal government...

In Other News (May 23)

Posted on May 23, 2008
A federal rule exempting oil and gas projects from certain federal water pollution requirements was struck down by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a split decision Friday. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued over the regulation, asserted the decision would protect thousands of streams and waterways...

Ignoring Climate Change Carries a High Price, Environmental Group Says

Posted on May 22, 2008
There's been lots of debate on how much society would have to pay to combat the effects of climate change. Now, a new report puts a very big price tag on the potential cost of inaction.According to researchers at Tufts University, in a study commissioned by the Natural Resources Defense Council, the United States economy could suffer a 3...

In Other News (May 22)

Posted on May 22, 2008
Climate change legislation such as the Lieberman-Warner bill could be helping to drive interest in companies such as Calpine Corp., a big energy supplier that doesn't burn coal -- and which just received an unsolicited $11 billion bid from NRG Energy, says the Wall Street Journal's Environmental Capital...

Bay Area Air Pollution Regulators Approve First-of-its-Kind GHG Fee

Posted on May 21, 2008
Air pollution regulators in the San Francisco Bay Area on Wednesday overwhelmingly approved what is believed to be the first set of fees of their kind on greenhouse gas emissions, over the objections of oil industry and other business groups...

In Other News (May 21)

Posted on May 21, 2008
The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to override President Bush’s veto of the $307 billion farm bill, which contains provisions relating to alternative fuels, reports The New York Times. The House Wednesday passed a measure extending tax credits for wind, solar and other alternative energy sources on a 263-260 vote, says this statement from the House Ways and Means Committee...

Hoisting a Brew to Greener Businesses

Posted on May 20, 2008
Now, how about some news with relevance to the fight against global warming and other environmental ills that might be good enough to, say, warrant cracking open a celebratory cold one?On Tuesday, the Environmental Defense Fund, joining with the top executives of some companies with notable ideas on how to both save money and the planet, tried to inject some optimism into what can be a pretty ponderous (and sometimes scary and depressing) subject...

In Other News (May 20)

Posted on May 20, 2008
Environmental Protection Agency chief Stephen Johnson originally backed California's effort to set the nation's toughest limits on global warming-related vehicle emissions but backed off under pressure from the White House, according to a new congressional report cited by the San Francisco Chronicle...

Bear's 'Threatened' Designation Generates Heat from Polar Opposites

Posted on May 19, 2008
As far as Climate Law Update knows, no one has yet polled the polar bears on the U.S. Interior Department's decision last week to list them as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. But lots of other interested parties seem less than enamored with the action, and prepared to go to court -- albeit for quite different reasons...

In Other News (May 19)

Posted on May 19, 2008
Global warming is not to blame for a recent increase in hurricanes, according to a top scientist who previously warned about the meteorological impact of climate change, reports the UK's Telegraph. President Bush has signed a one-week extension keeping agriculture programs running, even as he has vowed to veto a farm bill passed by Congress last week, according to this Reuters report...

Enviros Strike Back on 'Deficient' Polar Bear Listing

Posted on May 16, 2008
Disgruntled environmental groups late Friday filed a flurry of new legal papers seeking to beef up what they characterized as the federal government's "legally deficient" protections for the polar bear announced earlier this week.The organizations -- the same groups that successfully pressured the Bush administration to list the animal as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act -- filed an updated federal court lawsuit, as well as other documents that could lead to even more legal claims in the future...

Minnesota Establishes 20 Percent Biodiesel Requirement

Posted on May 16, 2008
Midwestern states, including Minnesota and Missouri, are looking at different ways of boosting renewable energy use within their borders.Minnesota, under legislation recently signed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty (pictured), is generally requiring that all diesel sold in the state for use as engine fuel contain no less than 20 percent biodiesel by spring 2015...

In Other News (May 16)

Posted on May 16, 2008
Legislation that would renew billions of dollars in tax breaks for solar, wind, biomass and other renewable energy sources and extend a proposed new tax credit for ethanol fuels not produced from corn is advancing in the U.S. House, according to Reuters...

Catching the Wind: California Approves One of Nation's Biggest Contracts

Posted on May 15, 2008
California utility regulators Thursday approved what ranks as perhaps the biggest wind energy contract in the nation's history, a 1,500-megawatt deal involving Southern California Edison Company.The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to approve the agreement between Edison and Australia's Alta Windpower Development LLC that will sprout new capacity in the already active generating region in the Tehachapi area of Southern California (see PUC press release here; formal approval document here)...

In Other News (May 15)

Posted on May 15, 2008
A climate-change bill heading to the U.S. Senate could easily generate $3 trillion in value in the country by 2050, sparking a "wonky" debate over its particulars, reports Fortune magazine in an article picked up by CNN Money...

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