JASON J. CZARNEZKI

When I was a Guest Researcher at Uppsala University my colleagues informed me of their environmental law journal. The Nordic Environmental Law Journal (no. 2011:1) has now been published and may be downloaded for free from http://www.nordiskmiljoratt.se. This issue includes two articles related to the implementation of the water framework directive in the Nordic states. A third article discusses the energy performance certification (energideklarationen) as an instrument for more efficient energy use in existing buildings.

VTdigger.com has an article about whether ANR needs to review Vermont Yankee’s water discharge into the Connecticut River since the nuclear power facility has an expired state thermal discharge permit. Vermont Law School is prominently featured.

According to a [Connecticut River Watershed Council] press release, the Vermont Law School’s Environmental and Natural Resources Law Clinic (ENRLC) filed a petition on behalf of the CRWC in February.

The petition asked the state Agency of Natural Resources (ANR) to require Vermont Yankee to “operate its closed-cycle cooling towers to reduce thermal impacts as well as reduce fish mortalities from the intake structure.”

“The ANR should move quickly to issue a new permit that brings Vermont Yankee into compliance with the Clean Water Act and ends the practice of using the Connecticut River as a waste receptacle,” said Pat Parenteau, senior counsel for the ENRLC.

“David Prosser gained 7,582 votes in Waukesha County, after a major counting error of Brookfield results was detected, County Clerk Kathy Nickolaus announced in a stunning development this afternoon.” See here and here.

I am advising a student who will be interning at WWF-Hong Kong. In the process of filling out some paperwork, the travel document asks for “Marital Status.” You can check Married, Divorced, Separated, and Widowed…but you can also check “Bachelor/Spinster.” I don’t think she was happy about checking Spinster.

Who leads in the Wisconsin Supreme Court race? Who knows based on current reports? Kloppenburg by 204 votes? Prosser by 40? See here. Complicated recount very likely. See here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/us/politics/07epa.html

…Harvard’s Property exam in 1871. See pages 1-2.

http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/17936031?n=1&imagesize=1200&jp2Res=.25&printThumbnails=no

Yesterday, I live blogged the Wisconsin Elections. I went to bed at 1:04am with the Supreme Court race too close to call. I received an email at 1:15am that 8,000 absentee ballots in Milwaukee had yet to be counted, all votes were counted in Republican-dominated Waukesha & Washington counties, one third of vote from Dem Eau Clare county yet to be counted, and Wausau had yet to be counted (likely 50/50). This all favored Kloppenburg, and the Prosser campaign was described to me as “tense.”

Currently the race remains too close to call:

Supreme Court, 100% Reporting

Joanne Kloppenburg, 740,090, 50%

David Prosser (inc), 739,886, 50%

A recount is likely, as I now see no precincts outstanding. Read more here about the race, and the AP will not call the race.

OMB released “A Statement of Administration Policy” stating:

The Administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 910, which would halt the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) common-sense steps under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to protect Americans from harmful air pollution. H.R. 910 would also increase the Nation’s dependence on oil and other fossil fuels as well as contradict the scientific consensus on climate change.

If the President is presented with this legislation, which would seriously roll back the CAA authority, harm Americans’ health by taking away our ability to decrease carbon pollution, and undercut fuel efficiency standards that will save Americans money at the pump while decreasing our dependence on oil, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.

The underlines for emphasis are in the original.

As many know, I was a 2009-2010 Fulbright Scholar in Guangzhou, China. One of the highlights of living in Guangzhou was its fantastic subway system. The Institute for Transportation and Development Policy has now awarded Guangzhou the “2011 Sustainable Transport Award.” Congratulations.