Climate Law Blog

The Environmental Law Institute (ELI) has published a new book on Next Generation Environmental Compliance and Enforcement, edited by SCCCL Associate Director Jessica Wentz and GW Law School Associate Dean of Environmental Studies LeRoy Paddock.  The book examines various opportunities to harness new technologies and management strategies in order to promote voluntary compliance with environmental laws […]

By Alyssa Kutner, Summer Legal Intern                       On June 30, 2014, the Environmental Protection Agency released a new Policy Statement on Climate Change Adaptation, building on the last policy statement released by the EPA in June 2011. In the statement, the EPA has developed a […]

By Alyssa Kutner, Summer Legal Intern There has been a lot of discussion and press around the EPA’s new Clean Power Plan, which is intended to reduce CO2 emissions from existing power plants by 30% from 2005 levels by 2030. The EPA proposed this plan on June 2nd under its Clean Air Act §111(d) authority, which […]

By Yeein Lee, Summer Legal Intern On Thursday May 29th, the eleventh biennial conference on key and emerging environmental issues in the EPA Region 2 area was held at Columbia Law School. This teeming conference consisted of four panels, each on separate yet correlated environmental topics around New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico and the […]

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 […]

By Ifeoma Anunkor, Summer Legal Intern Carbon pollution harms the economy much more than the federal government previously estimated, according to the Interagency Working Group on Social Cost of Carbon. While researchers continue to look for ways to reduce carbon emissions without harming the economy, the new guidance on the social cost of carbon strengthens […]

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.