What’s the Future for Multi-Day Fines in Environmental Criminal Cases? The...
The Supreme Court ruled today, in Southern Union v. United States, that juries must decide facts supporting the imposition of criminal fines. To this non-criminal lawyer (in more ways than one, I...
View ArticleDevelopments on the Massachusetts Legislative Front: The Governor Signs the...
This morning, the Governor signed S. 2395, An Act Relative to Competitively Priced Electricity in Massachusetts. The bill has a number of important provisions, but a substantial part of the thrust of...
View ArticleRGGI’s Sweet 17th: Cumulative Proceeds Top A Billion Dollars
Last week marked the 17th Auction in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The number of bidders who went through the process of qualifying to participate in the auction is the lowest it has...
View ArticleBan the Bottle or Preserve Our Liberty? Concord Bans the Sale of Certain...
This may not be the most earth-shattering stories reported in this space, but it is a Massachusetts story, and the rhetoric surrounding the issue is sufficiently noteworthy that I thought I would, er,...
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Another Nail in the Public Nuisance Litigation Coffin: The 9th Circuit...
On Friday, in Native Village of Kivalina v. ExxonMobil, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals may have sounded the death knell for public nuisance litigation concerning the impacts of climate change,...
View ArticleAccidental Success? Even Without National Climate Policy, US Emissions May...
In 2009, at the international climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark, President Obama pledged that the US would reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 17% below 2005 levels by 2020. Since then, national...
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The Actual to Projected Future Actual Test: When Does EPA Get to Review...
On Thursday, in United States v. DTE Energy Company, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals revived EPA’s enforcement action against DTE energy for alleged NSR violations at DTE’s Monroe Power Plant. As the...
View ArticleBoston Joins the Building Disclosure Bandwagon: Ordinance Will Require...
On May 8, the Boston City Council approved an ordinance requiring building owners to report annual energy and water use. The final ordinance is slightly different from the one about which we posted in...
View ArticleCity of Arlington v. FCC: Did the Supreme Court Just Expand the Scope of...
On Monday, in City of Arlington v. FCC, the Supreme Court made clear that agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes are entitled to deference even where they involve questions relating to the scope...
View ArticleWhich Comes First, Innovation or Regulation?
Two seemingly unrelated stories in Wednesday’s trade press got me thinking – always dangerous – about the relationship between regulation and innovation. The first story, from Daily Environment...
View ArticleMaking Economic Arguments to Reduce GHG Releases: Senator Markey Releases a...
Two years ago, when I participated in a D.C. fly-in with a renewable energy group, we were instructed not to use the words “climate change.” Instead, we were told to focus on “growing the clean energy...
View ArticleThe Atomic Energy Act Preempts Vermont’s Efforts To Close Vermont Yankee:...
Last week, in Entergy v. Shumlin, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals largely struck down Vermont’s efforts to close Vermont Yankee. Although three separate Vermont statutes were at issue, and Entergy...
View ArticleThe Final Nail In the Coffin on EPA’s Enforcement Initiative Against Historic...
Only last month, the 7th Circuit ruled that alleged violations of the Clean Air Act’s PSD requirements are not ongoing. On Wednesday, in United States v. EME Homer Generation, the 3rd Circuit agreed....
View ArticleEPA May Rely — In Part — on Projects Funded Under the Energy Policy Act to...
As those following EPA’s efforts to promulgate NSPS for greenhouse gas emissions from new fossil fuel-fired electric generating plants know, EPA has come under fire for basing its proposal on...
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Still Using Economic (and Safety) Arguments to Reduce Greenhouse Gas...
As I noted last year, there has been a concerted effort on the part of those fighting climate change to emphasize economic issues in connection with their policy proposals. That post concerned Senator...
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More Than (You Thought) You Ever Wanted To Know About Waters Of The United...
Over the past few months, I worked with a number of colleagues from the American College of Environmental Lawyers to provide the Environmental Council of the States with a balanced review of the...
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Superfund Rant For a New Congress
So the new Congress will be controlled by the GOP. The House and Senate will consider various bills to reign in EPA authority. Here’s one relatively modest suggestion for congressional consideration:...
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Conservative Support for a Carbon Tax? Hope Springs Eternal
I have long thought that the best argument for market-based approaches to climate change mitigation was the clunkiness of the alternative. However much time EPA has spent trying to make the GHG...
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If Congress Wants to Limit EPA’s Discretion, Perhaps It Should Do a Better...
Earlier this week, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected both industry and environmental group petitions challenging EPA’s determination of what is a solid waste in the context of Clean Air Act...
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The Baker Administration looks to Hydropower to meet GHG goals
The Baker Administration announced on July 9 that it filed a bill for sourcing long-term hydroelectric power in the Commonwealth. Hydroelectric power currently provides a small portion of electricity...
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