Climate Law Blog

By Sascha Yim, Guest Blogger*  In the latest development in the country’s unfolding net metering battle, the Arizona Corporation Commission recently ruled that the state’s utility, Arizona Public Service (APS), could impose a $0.70 per kilowatt charge on solar customers beginning in 2014. The decision comes at a time when the future of net metering […]

Teresa Parejo Associate Professor of Law (Carlos III University) Visiting Scholar at the Center for Climate Change Law The EU ETS (European Union Emissions Trading System), the most important EU tool to fight against climate change, is now facing two challenges of great significance: 1. In October 2013, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Assembly agreed […]

Teresa Parejo Visiting Scholar at the CCCL Associate Professor of Law at Carlos III University (Madrid, Spain) The EU has a clear framework for its climate policy until the year 2020, based on the 20-20-20 targets (20% reduction of GHG emissions from 1990 levels; raising the share of the EU energy consumption produced from renewable […]

by Fiona Kinniburgh In 2011, France became the first country to ban hydraulic fracturing. Yet controversy over shale gas exploitation there has hardly subsided. Instead, industry pressure has ignited a new legal challenge over the 2011 ban, which natural gas producers allege violates the French constitution. As a consequence of the law, several companies’ permits […]

by Shelley Welton, Deputy Director & Fellow In what can only be interpreted as a major victory for California, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Wednesday, September 19 in Rocky Mountain Farmers Union v. Corey that the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) was neither discriminatory nor extraterritorial under the dormant Commerce Clause, reversing the district […]

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 Elizabeth Sheargold and Smita Walavalkar As U.S. coal exports increase and new infrastructure is proposed to improve access to markets in Asia, controversy has arisen regarding the scope of environmental review that should be carried out by government.  In particular, there is significant disagreement as to whether the end-use of exported coal and the […]

On August 21, CCCL released a new white paper that evaluates the legal workability and constitutionality of regulating imports into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or “RGGI” (for background on RGGI, the Northeastern states’ cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide, see prior posts). RGGI is currently in an exciting period of reform.  In February 2013, participating […]

By Allie Bollman, Summer Intern Numerous environmental groups, represented by attorneys from Earthjustice, have filed a lawsuit against the Export-Import Bank over the Bank’s approval of a $90 million loan guarantee in support of Xcoal’s mining, transport, and export of coal without preparing an environmental impact statement.  The lawsuit, filed July 31, argues that the […]

by Fiona Kinniburgh A release of methane expected to occur as a result of Arctic warming is projected to cost an extra $60 trillion in climate change impacts according to a study published in Nature last week. This figure falls just short of the total value of the output of the global economy in 2012, […]