November 4, 2010
I reported on Tuesday that high speed rail was going forward in Wisconsin. I reported yesterday that the GOP was going to try to stop it. Now the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports:
The state Department of Transportation has told contractors on the high-speed rail line between Madison and Milwaukee to stop work on the federally funded project “for a few days,” in the wake of rail opponent Scott Walker’s victory in the governor’s race, Transportation Secretary Frank Busalacchi said Thursday.
November 4, 2010
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Mass. v. EPA and absent new federal climate legislation, the EPA has begun to create rules to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Now Greenwire is reporting that the new Congress may attempt to block EPA climate rules pursued under the Clean Air Act. The article states:
For the Republicans, the first order of business could be legislation to stop EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act. Supporters of measures to block EPA’s climate regulations say it is a foregone conclusion that the Republican-controlled House will pass such a bill during the next session. And in the Senate, where Democrats have spent the past two years bemoaning the rule requiring 60 votes to defeat a filibuster, that threshold appears to be the only thing that could stop such a measure from passing.
The article then provides this useful table. The key question is whether the Dems have 40 votes and the intestinal fortitude to use at least 40 votes to filibuster any attempts to stop the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases.
| From Greenwire:
Counting the ‘Ayes’ |
| Based on previous stances and the results of yesterday’s election, a measure to prevent EPA from regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act would be likely garner at least 57 votes in the Senate during the next session, close observers say. That number includes the entire bloc of 47 Republican senators, the eventual winner of the Senate race in Alaska and at least 9 Democrats who have already pledged their support for one or more proposal. They are: |
| Voted for Murkowski resolution (4) |
| Mary Landrieu (D-La.) Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) |
| Co-sponsored Rockefeller bill (6) |
| Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) Tim Johnson (D-S.D.) Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) Ben Nelson (D-Neb.) Jim Webb (D-Va.) |
| Critical newcomers (1) |
| Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) |
November 3, 2010
This could get ugly fast. Reports Marc Ambinder via Political Wire: “The GOP plans to hold high profile hearings examining the alleged ‘scientific fraud’ behind global warming, a sleeper issue in this election that motivated the base quite a bit.”
November 2, 2010
‘Rail deal quietly locked in‘ reports the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:
Just days before an election that could decide the fate of a planned high-speed rail line, state and federal administrators quietly signed a deal to commit the state to spending all $810 million of the federal stimulus cash allocated to the Milwaukee-to-Madison route, transportation officials confirmed Monday.
The unannounced weekend agreement frees outgoing Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle’s administration to sign contracts for much if not all of the work. That could hamstring efforts by Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and his fellow Republicans to kill the project and spend the money on something else if they take control of the governor’s office and either or both chambers of the state Legislature and Congress on Tuesday.
October 26, 2010
Control of the U.S. Senate is not the only thing at stake in the U.S. Senate race between Sen. Harry Reid (D) and the challenger Sharron Angle (R). With Nevada in play, so is the issue of whether nuclear waste will eventually be stored in Yucca Mountain, despite the President’s opposition to Yucca Mountain as a waste storage facility.
Writes Greenwire:
Nevada leaders hoping to stop the federal government from building a high-level nuclear waste dump at Yucca Mountain say they are counting on the re-election of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to keep pushing their case.
Reid is by far the most powerful and experienced member of the Nevada delegation opposing Yucca, said Bruce Breslow, the executive director of the Nevada Agency for Nuclear Projects. Breslow said the delegation “had no clout until Senator Reid became majority leader.” Without Reid, “other states would have built an expressway to Yucca Mountain.”
October 25, 2010
The Congressional Research Service has published “Environmental Laws: Summaries of Major Statutes Administered by the Environmental Protection Agency“
October 24, 2010
I’m thrilled to see that Vermont Law School’s own Adam Moser, our LLM Fellow in the US-China Partnership in Environmental Law, has sparked a blog post by Alex Wang, NRDC’s China program director, that has been picked up on Huffington Post. In response to a post by Moser that compared arguably divergent views on China’s actions (circus v. savior), Wang suggested there are two distinct issues in evaluating China’s efforts. “First, what is China doing to address its contribution to global climate change? Second, are these efforts achieving the reported levels of success?” I would suggest that there is a third question. Even if China’s efforts are achieving reported levels of success, given China’s rate of development and economic growth, might China’s greenhouse gases emission alone have the potential to lead to catastrophic climate events? If so, does this and should this influence our views about China’s energy efficiency efforts?
October 24, 2010
I really want to know more about this. This video, showing the use of Coke and Pepsi as a pesticide, is both fascinating and horrifying. For both environmental and public health reasons, I’m concerned by the amount the chemicals finding their way into our bodies and natural environment on a daily basis. Rumor has it that ‘Organic Coke’ is on the horizon, and from a marketing standpoint I’m not surprised. Pesticide residue limits on commodities are set by the FDA, but now I need to research the amount of pesticides that actually end up in finished processed products, especially drinks. Since the Organic Food Production Act is a production process statute (the organic label is not based on product testing for pesticide residue), I’d like to know the amount of pesticide in, for example, a bottle of organic juice versus conventional juice verus Coke/Pepsi.
October 24, 2010
See here.
October 21, 2010
Green Law posts:
Pace Law School proudly hosted its annual Gilbert and Sarah Kerlin Lecture on October 18, this year featuring renowned scholar James Salzman, the Samuel F. Mordecai Professor of Law and Nicholas Institute Professor of Environmental Policy at Duke University. His lecture, entitled What is the Emperor Wearing? A Critical Look at the Potential of Ecosystem Services for Environmental Protection, offered an insightful glimpse into the increasingly popular field of payments for ecosystem services (PES). Using the New York City drinking water supply system as an historic example of the economic potential of natural capital, Professor Salzman described the many ways in which mechanisms designed to incorporate ecosystem services may be institutionalized and strengthened. Perhaps more importantly, he skillfully identified many of the factors preventing the more widespread appreciation for these services – from market failures to institutional impediments.
Given the rapidly deteriorating state of ecosystems and natural environments throughout the global community – and the associated loss of invaluable economic and environmental services – Professor Salzman’s remarks were timely and broadly applicable. While conscious of the limitations and theoretical problems inherent to the PES model, Professor Salzman convinced us of its usefulness as a framework for assessing and integrating environmental priorities into our societal structures.
To listen to this impressive lecture in its entirety, please click here.
JASON J. CZARNEZKI 