By Patrick Woolsey, CCCL Intern Federal agencies have begun to incorporate consideration of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions into the environmental impact statements (EISs) which they are required to produce under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). However, agencies have developed widely varying procedures for addressing the topic, as […]
By Adam Riedel, CCCL Associate Director Environmental impact statements (EISs) should analyze the potential for energy efficiency to reduce the adverse impacts of new projects, to make the projects smaller, or to provide more benign alternatives. The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and its state counterparts require EISs for major […]
By: Kathleen Kline, Intern On June 19, the California Court of Appeals upheld the Superior Court’s decision dismissing a challenge to the state Air Resources Board (CARB or Board) by environmental justice advocates. Appellants, led by the Association of Irritated Residents (AIR), claimed the scoping plan CARB developed to reduce […]
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 […]
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 […]
By Rose Winer, Intern The severe heat wave that blanketed the U.S. mid-Atlantic and Northeast at the end of last week indicates a trend of heat-related climate change impacts that will intensify over the next century, according to the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). […]
By Sarah Goldmuntz, Intern New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced on June 13, that building owners will receive over $100 million in loans to switch to less polluting heat oil. The new funding, provided by various banks including Chase, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Hudson Valley Bank and the Community […]
By Katee Kline, Law Intern On June 12, 2012, North Carolina’s Senate passed, by a vote of 34 to 11, a bill forbidding the use of sea level rise predictions which incorporate the expected impacts of climate change in the creation of any state or municipal policy. Though the state’s […]