In the News

Many scientists are worried about certain greenhouse gas “feedback loops” that could lead to rapid and irreversible climate change. But if the world delays on a climate change agreement it will be political feedback loops we should be nervous about. Only by creating a strong international agreement soon, while international cooperation is at a historic high, can we hope to avoid both the greenhouse gas feedback loops and the spiral that could stop us from doing anything about them.

8.5.09 : Coverage of IPI’s vehicle fuels petition to EPA.

A US think-tank has called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to introduce a cap-and-trade programme targeting transport emissions, rather than wait for Congress to overcome its internal disputes. New York University School of Law’s Institute for Policy Integrity (IPI) petitioned EPA administrator Lisa Jackson last week to “quickly” propose and adopt rules for a cap-and-trade programme, with an auction mechanism, to control emissions from fuels used in motor vehicles, non-road vehicles such as tractors, and aircraft.

The focus of the hearing was how the Senate can improve the allocation of the carbon allowances, which are likely to be worth more than $100 billion per year. Dallas Burtraw, a senior economist at Resources for the Future, testified on how Waxman-Markey will hit American’s pocketbooks. Through his research, Burtraw found that the bill does a pretty good job of protecting the poorest 20% and the richest 10% of Americans. But everyone in the middle ends up bearing the brunt of the costs.

A group sponsored by New York University Law School petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency July 29 to develop an emissions cap-and-trade system to control greenhouse gas emissions from motor fuels. According to the Institute for Policy Integrity, the petition it filed is the first to ask EPA to limit greenhouse gas emissions from motor fuels.

The Institute for Policy Integrity, a nonprofit advocacy arm of the New York University School of Law, filed a 29-page petition (pdf) to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson outlining the reasons why she already has the authority to set up a cap-and-trade system to curb greenhouse gases from motor vehicle fuels, nonroad vehicles and aircraft. Michael Livermore, the group’s executive director, called the document a “friendly petition” designed to nudge the Obama administration into regulatory action on climate change, a move that could also spur action on Capitol Hill.

If climate change legislation doubles as a plan to avoid a fiscal crisis back home, there will be a new powerful constituency behind a yes vote—an unusual marriage of convenience between state budget offices and environmentalists that may be the key to getting ACES over the hump.

Immediately after word came out that Sonia Sotomayor was the President’s pick for the Supreme Court, the environmental community (this author included) immediately went searching for the green angle. We found it in one decision: Riverkeeper v. EPA, which was seized upon as proof of Judge Sotomayor having a modicum of green cred. However, in a new Huffington Post piece Richard Revesz (dean of the NYU School of Law) and Michael Livermore (executive director of NYU’s Institute for Policy Integrity) think the green community might be reading too much into things.

Be careful about reading too much into Sonia Sotomayor’s environmental leanings from one cost-benefits case, warn Richard Revesz and Michael Livermore in the Huffington post: “Some environmentalist have seized on the Riverkeeper opinion as proof that Sotomayor bleeds eco-green, while industry is afraid that she is insensitive to the costs imposed by green regulation. But both sides are misreading the Judge’s opinion.”

Obama is going to start facing many more similar choices. Because the Mass. v. EPA ruling dealt with cars and light trucks, regulating those sources was naturally the first on the list. But this is only the first step. There are petitions on aircrafts, marine vessels, and fuels collecting dust that will need to be wrestled with. The President’s legal obligation to deal with these petitions will likely force additional greenhouse gas regulations into the pipeline in the near future.

The question of the cost of climate change legislation has rightly emerged as a major theme of the debate on the Hill. Most recently, Charlie Rangel, Chairman of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee announced last week that he would insist on using auction revenues to reimburse American families for increases in energy prices.