Cross-cutting Issues

379 posts

8th Circuit rules Minnesota can’t proscribe purchase of electricity from new coal-fired power plants, judges disagree as to why

Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow As round after round has passed in the political and legal struggle at the federal level over regulating sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, states have rushed in to try to fill the void. Minnesota sought to do so in 2007 when it passed the […]

Massachusetts Supreme Court Orders State to Go Much Further in Reducing GHGs

The Columbia Environmental Law Clinic wins a critically important case involving the regulation of greenhouse gas emissions in Massachusetts. Today, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court released a unanimous decision ordering the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to take additional measures to implement the 2008 Global Warming Solutions Act. Specifically, […]

Increasing Number of Investigations into Fossil Fuel Industry’s “Disinformation Campaign”

In recent months, there has been a growing succession of actual and proposed investigations into fossil fuel companies, and their purported collaborators, over whether these groups lied to the public or investors about the risks of climate change. The investigations come amid a series of reports that the fossil fuel […]

Upstream and Downstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Fossil Fuel Production and Transportation: New Working Paper Examines Scope of Federal Analysis Required under NEPA

The Sabin Center has recently posted a working paper, Downstream and Upstream Greenhouse Gas Emissions: The Proper Scope of NEPA Review.  The paper was co-authored by Executive Director Michael Burger and Associate Director and Fellow Jessica Wentz and will be published in the Fall 2016 edition of the Harvard Environmental […]

Cities Across the U.S. Support Clean Power Plan in Amicus Brief

by Michael Burger and Justin Gundlach This morning the Sabin Center filed an amicus brief in support of EPA’s Clean Power Plan on behalf of a coalition of local government representatives including the National League of Cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayors, and 54 U.S. cities, counties, and mayors. (Check […]

BOEM Ignores Downstream Emissions and Social Cost of Carbon in EIS for Outer Continental Shelf Leasing Program

Jessica Wentz Associate Director and Fellow Yesterday, the Bureau of Ocean and Energy Management (BOEM) released the Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (DPEIS) for the 2017-2022 Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program. The DPEIS accounts for the impacts of climate change on program activities. It does not, […]

The Supreme Court Stay of the Clean Power Plan and the Paris Pledges

Michael B. Gerrard Faculty Director The Supreme Court’s unprecedented, unexpected and unexplained action yesterday staying implementation of the Clean Power Plan is one of the most environmentally harmful judicial actions of all time. However, the damage it does to the United States’ ability to meet its Paris pledge is less […]