In a new working paper, Executive Director Michael Burger presents a “Mitigation-Based Rationale for Incorporating a Climate Change Impacts Fee into the Federal Coal Leasing Program.” The paper makes several key points about the rationale for introducing such a fee, most notably, that the federal government has a duty to […]
Payal Nanavati Columbia Law School Class of ‘17 Climate change has already begun to force elements of the electric grid to operate in conditions materially different from those for which they were designed. Persistent high temperatures, heavy or reduced precipitation, extreme weather events, and sea-level rise can all affect grid […]
by Michael Choi, Summer Intern Last month, the United States delegation led international efforts to initiate a Hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) amendment to the Montreal Protocol at meetings which took place from July 15th-23rd. The Montreal Protocol, which was adopted on September 16, 1987, is an international agreement to phase out the […]
by Justin Gundlach Climate Law Fellow New York City’s Economic Development Corporation (EDC) is planning to implement a Citywide Ferry Service by adding five new routes to those already run by the East River Ferry. EDC anticipates several benefits from the Citywide Ferry Service: it will link neighborhoods that currently […]
by Michael Choi, Summer Intern On July 19th, the Obama Administration announced the commencement of the Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative to “increase access to solar energy and promote energy efficiency across the United States.” The initiative, which creates a partnership between the Departments of Energy (DOE), Housing and […]
by Michael Burger & Jessica Wentz On Tuesday August 2 the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) released its much-anticipated Final Guidance to Federal Agencies on the Consideration of Greenhouse Gas Emissions and the Effects of Climate Change in NEPA Reviews. The final guidance is largely the same as the revised […]
A July 2016 federal court decision has upheld Wyoming laws that impose criminal and civil penalties for collection of “resource data”[1] when the collection involves trespassing on private lands, even when the trespass is unintentional, and even when the trespass is incidental to the collection. The Wyoming legislature enacted these […]
By Michael Burger and Jessica Wentz Last month, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals issued two decisions upholding the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s environmental impact analysis for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals in Louisiana (No. 14-1249) and Texas (No. 14-1275). In both cases, the court rejected claims that FERC […]