Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Columbia Law School

Series

2011

Fossil Fuels

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Law

Domestic Mitigation Of Black Carbon From Diesel Emissions, Hannah Chang Jan 2011

Domestic Mitigation Of Black Carbon From Diesel Emissions, Hannah Chang

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Black carbon, a component of soot and particulate matter, competes closely with methane as the largest anthropogenic contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Regulation of black carbon has been identified as an affordable, politically feasible, fast-action means to mitigate the warming temperatures caused by climate change. With an emphasis on domestic mitigation, this Article examines how emissions are controlled under the CAA and what EPA, states, and municipalities can do to mitigate black carbon emissions further.


Carbon Offshoring: The Legal And Regulatory Framework For Coal Exports, Daniel M. Firger, Robert Denicola, Katherine English, Daniel Raichel, Ross Wolfarth, Kennan Zhong Jan 2011

Carbon Offshoring: The Legal And Regulatory Framework For Coal Exports, Daniel M. Firger, Robert Denicola, Katherine English, Daniel Raichel, Ross Wolfarth, Kennan Zhong

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This report examines the legal and regulatory framework for U.S. coal exports, focusing in particular on the significant improvements in railroad and port infrastructure that will be necessary in order to boost the volume of overseas coal shipments to the degree anticipated by recent industry projections. While existing railroads and ports have the capacity to handle current coal export volumes, much more infrastructure will be needed to meet surging foreign demand. A wide variety of new construction projects are under consideration to expand capacity and relieve congestion. These range from double-tracking existing Class I railroad rights of way to dredging …


Shopping For State Constitutions: Unequal Gift Clauses As Obstacles To Optimal State Encouragement Of Carbon Sequestration, Nicholas Houpt Jan 2011

Shopping For State Constitutions: Unequal Gift Clauses As Obstacles To Optimal State Encouragement Of Carbon Sequestration, Nicholas Houpt

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Carbon capture and sequestration technology (CCS) could drastically reduce CO2 emissions from coal-fired power plants, thereby mitigating climate change. CCS, however, faces a difficult barrier to market entry: liability for the technology’s many long-term risks. States would like to alleviate this long-term liability problem to capture CCS’s social benefits. Some state constitutions, however, have provisions called “gift clauses” that prohibit giving aid to private parties. This Note argues that some state constitutions’ gift clauses prevent indemnification of private CCS developers. As this Note’s fifty state survey shows, other state constitutions allow indemnification. This asymmetry in constitutionally-allowed financial encouragement results in …


New York's Revived Power Plant Siting Law Preempts Local Control, Michael B. Gerrard Jan 2011

New York's Revived Power Plant Siting Law Preempts Local Control, Michael B. Gerrard

Faculty Scholarship

Taking most observers by surprise, the New York State Legislature on June 22, 2011, overwhelmingly passed The Power NY Act of 2011. Governor Andrew Cuomo signed it on Aug. 4. The new law revives Article X of the Public Service Law after a nearly nine-year hibernation. As before, the law creates a one-stop, state-led program for permitting electric generating facilities while preempting local requirements. But the new Article X differs from its predecessor in several important ways: It covers facilities as small as 25 megawatts (down from the prior 80 megawatts threshold), it has even more generous provisions for funding …