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Full-Text Articles in Law
Colorado’S Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act: Encouraging Conversion Of Coal Plants To Natural Gas, Jonathan Talamini
Colorado’S Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act: Encouraging Conversion Of Coal Plants To Natural Gas, Jonathan Talamini
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
The State of Colorado's recently-enacted Clean Air-Clean Jobs Act (CACJA) requires utilities to create plans that reduce NOx emissions by 70% at a specified portion of their coal-fired electricity generation facilities by the end of 2017. It allows utilities to use many different methods to achieve those reductions, but encourages and incentivizes the replacement of coal-based generation with natural gas. Utilities must seek approval for their plans from state agencies and must work closely with those agencies in designing the plans. This paper discusses the legal, political, and economic context for CACJA, and highlights the bill's advantages and disadvantages as …
Cap-And-Trade Under The Clean Air Act?: Rethinking Section 115, Hannah Chang
Cap-And-Trade Under The Clean Air Act?: Rethinking Section 115, Hannah Chang
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, addressing international air pollution, is widely-dismissed as a viable avenue for mitigation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) because of a misplaced assumption that National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) must be established for GHGs before Section 115 authority can be exercised for GHGs. This paper explores the statutory language and legislative history of Section 115 to refute this conventional view, and argues that Section 115 can play a role in facilitating the establishment of a cap-and-trade program for GHGs without the establishment of NAAQS for GHGs.
"It's Not Easy Being Green": Local Initiatives, Preemption Problems, And The Market Participant Exception, Michael Burger
"It's Not Easy Being Green": Local Initiatives, Preemption Problems, And The Market Participant Exception, Michael Burger
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
This Article considers whether the market participant exception should be interpreted to exempt local climate change and sustainability initiatives from the "ceilings" imposed by existing environmental laws and pending federal climate change legislation. In the decades-long absence of federal action on climate change, local governments – along with the states – positioned themselves at the forefront of climate change and sustainability planning. In fact, state and local actions account for most of the nation's greenhouse gas reduction efforts to date. Yet, front-running localities are being limited by a preemption doctrine that fails to account for both the motives behind their …
The Epa’S Proposed Transport Rule: Implications For Climate Change Regulation, Jessica A. Wentz
The Epa’S Proposed Transport Rule: Implications For Climate Change Regulation, Jessica A. Wentz
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
On July 6, 2010, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a Clean Air Act rulemaking to reduce sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from power plants in the eastern United States. If it survives legal scrutiny, the rule will impose a hybrid cap-and-trade program with state-specific SO2 and NOx emission budgets and limited interstate trading. This paper discusses the rule's requirements, how it compares to its predecessor (the Clean Air Interstate Act), the projected impact on air quality and public health, and implications for future climate change policy.
Preemption And Alteration Of Epa And State Authority To Regulate Greenhouse Gases In The Kerry-Lieberman Bill, Bradford Mccormick, Hannah Chang
Preemption And Alteration Of Epa And State Authority To Regulate Greenhouse Gases In The Kerry-Lieberman Bill, Bradford Mccormick, Hannah Chang
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
The recently-released discussion draft of the Kerry-Lieberman bill (KL), officially titled the American Power Act, contains numerous provisions that affect the role of states in addressing climate change as well as the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) authority under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Preemption has been the subject of intense debate and speculation since the passage of the Waxman-Markey climate bill (WM) in June 2009, and commentators have questioned whether KL’s preemption measures would (and should) have the effect of “a scalpel or a sledgehammer” on existing state and EPA authority. The following paper contributes to the discussion by summarizing …
Epa's Impending Greenhouse Gas Regulations: Digging Through The Morass Of Litigation, Gregory E. Wannier
Epa's Impending Greenhouse Gas Regulations: Digging Through The Morass Of Litigation, Gregory E. Wannier
Sabin Center for Climate Change Law
As the U.S. Congress has failed to pass meaningful climate legislation, the EPA has initiated a series of regulations under the Clean Air Act designed to recognize greenhouse gases as endangering human health and welfare, and set greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicle fleets and for major stationary sources. Unsurprisingly these efforts have been challenged in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. This paper discusses both the substantive and procedural issues surrounding the cases, all of which merit attention: in the absence of viable climate legislation these decisions will have important bearing on the extent to which the United States …