Law Commons^™

An Analysis Of Senator Mcconnell's Letter Urging States Not To Comply With Epa's Clean Power Plan, Daniel Selmi

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

On numerous occasions Senator Mitchell McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, has attacked the upcoming Clean Power Plan regulations that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is scheduled to issue in June of this year. Most notably, on March 19, 2015, he sent a letter to the National Governors Association urging the governors of all fifty states not to prepare state plans in response to those regulations. In that letter he laid out what he termed his “serious legal and policy concerns” regarding the EPA proposal. The letter received wide publicity.

Daniel Selmi has written an essay analyzing legal statements made by …

Federal Implementation Plans For Controlling Carbon Emissions From Existing Power Plants: A Primer Exploring The Issues, Daniel Selmi

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Much has been made of late about EPA’s authority to develop federal implementation plans (FIPs) to achieve the state-based GHG emissions reduction targets the agency is preparing establish under Clean Power Plan. Led by Senator Mitch McConnell, objectors have loudly urged states not to submit plans at all. Instead, they have argued, states need not be concerned about EPA imposing FIPs on their states. In turn, EPA has announced that it will release a draft federal implementation plan this summer.

Since 1970, Section 110 the Clean Air Act has required EPA to implement a FIP if a state implementation plan …

States Should Think Twice Before Refusing Any Response To Epa's Clean Power Rules, Daniel Selmi

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

The date is approaching for EPA to finalize its rules for controlling carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants, and states are contemplating their responses to those rules. A number of commentators have recommended that states “just say no” to EPA and refuse to prepare state plans complying with the rules. Some states are considering bills and a few have enacted laws that would make it difficult for their state environmental agencies to prepare responses that EPA could accept. In turn, EPA has announced it will release a “federal implementation plan” (FIP) for states that fail to submit legally adequate …

Legal Tools For Climate Adaptation Advocacy: Clean Water Act Permitting And Funding Programs, Channing R. Jones

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

Climate change imperils the quality of water resources and aquatic ecosystems by introducing or exacerbating supply challenges and pollution threats. Existing legal frameworks, including permitting and grant programs, can incorporate climate change adaptation into the way we protect water. In particular, the Clean Water Act – the primary tool used nationwide to protect surface waters from pollutant discharges and fill activity – can be used to promote climate change adaptation in a number of ways.

The Clean Water Act was enacted in 1972 and amended in 1977 and 1987. The statute is principally administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, …

Climate Change In The Courts: An Assessment Of Non-U.S. Climate Litigation, Meredith Wilensky

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

In 2007 Arnold & Porter (later joined by the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School) compiled and proceeded to update a comprehensive collection of judicial decisions from U.S. courts concerning climate change. Largely drawing on that work, in 2012, Professor David Markell of Florida State University College of Law and Professor J.B. Ruhl of Vanderbilt University Law School published an empirical assessment of climate change litigation in the United States. Since 2011, the Sabin Center has maintained a compilation of climate change cases from outside the United States. Using the categorization methods employed in the Markell …

How Much Does The Existing Regulatory Patchwork Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions?, Justin Gundlach

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This paper offers an answer to the question, “What levels of greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions reduction do the constituent programs in the U.S.’s existing regulatory patchwork achieve?” Its answer represents an attempt to measure the same effect from eight regulatory interventions: EPA’s Prevention of Significant Deterioration program, as it is expected to operate following the Supreme Court’s UARG v. EPA decision in 2014; EPA’s Clean Power Plan; EPA’s renewable fuel standard; the federal Corporate Average Fuel Economy standards for light, medium, and heavy duty vehicles; the renewable electricity generation Production Tax Credit and Investment Tax Credit; the Regional Greenhouse Gas …