Climate Law Blog

On June 25, 2013, President Obama delivered a major speech on the topic of climate change. In it he outlined a broad policy agenda aimed at addressing the challenges posed by the changing climate. The agenda, detailed in The President’s Climate Action Plan, relies almost entirely upon executive powers; Congress is not even mentioned in […]

Meredith Wilensky, Associate Director & Fellow Columbia Center for Climate Change Law On October 15, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in response to six petitions requesting review of EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases. This post will address some basic questions to clarify the scope of the question accepted for review and the implications and potential […]

New CCCL Paper Analyzes Clean Air Act Flexibility CCCL has published a new white paper that summarizes our research into the permissibility of states pursuing an integrated, multi-pollutant, flexible approach to air quality planning.  More specifically, the non-profit Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) has recently proposed a new methodology, Integrated, Multi-Pollutant Planning for Energy and Air […]

by Shelley Welton, Fellow Although President Obama’s climate change speech on Tuesday, June 25 was relatively vague about the details of how carbon emissions from existing power plants would be regulated, the memorandum he issued to the EPA on that same day provides a few more interesting details.

By Casey Graetz, Intern On June 28, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) adopted regulations (6 NYCRR Parts 487 and 251) with two new important requirements for new and certain expanding major electric generating facilities in the state. First, Part 487 requires these facilities to conduct an environmental justice analysis that evaluates […]

By: Danielle Sugarman, Fellow On Tuesday, June 26, 2012, in a major victory for the environment and President Obama’s Administration, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit dismissed a series of challenges to EPA’s body of greenhouse gas regulation.  The cases, called Coalition for Responsible Regulation v. EPA, were brought by […]

By Shelley Welton, Deputy Director and Fellow The lawsuit of Alec L. and several other young climate change activists was dismissed by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia today. In Alec L. et al. v. Lisa P. Jackson et al., 11-cv-02235 (D.D.C. 2012), five teenagers and children joined the groups Kids vs. […]

by Daniel Firger Associate Director On April 11, 2011, petitioners in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, five private investor-owned utility companies, filed their reply brief. On the same day, the Solicitor General filed a separate reply brief on behalf of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), an electric utility owned by the federal government, as respondent supporting petitioners. These reply briefs […]

Gregory E. Wannier Deputy Director In the secondary round of activity regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from stationary sources, EPA has sought to establish permitting programs under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) section of the Clean Air Act, in conjunction with individual states through their State Implementation Plans (SIPs).  Recent EPA permit approvals and […]

Gregory E. Wannier Deputy Director CCCL recently released a report detailing options for implementing potential cap and trade regimes through federal-state partnerships under Section 111 of the Clean Air Act (§111).  This report, written jointly with the World Resources Institute, asserts that cap and trade regulations are legally defensible under certain circumstances, and that they […]