In the News

The Senate has a very important opportunity to improve the stimulus bill,’ Livermore said. ‘It must make sure this stimulus is a long-term dividend for the economy that keeps paying us back and isn’t just a flash in the pan.

A key component … is to ensure new building that is being generated by the stimulus package is not following the old way of doing business of excess energy consumption,” Michael Livermore, executive director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at the New York University School of Law, told reporters yesterday.

On Tuesday the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Entergy v. EPA, a case that pits environmentalists seeking strong clean water protections against industry and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. But beyond the basic facts of the case is the bigger issue of how to use cost-benefit analysis when setting environmental policy.

Detroit is in a free fall. Some say it’s their own doing by deciding to push big gas guzzlers rather fuel efficient cars. With that choice, the Big Three maximized their short-term profits but conceded the auto market of the future to foreign companies. There is plenty of blame to pass around. Executives made exceedingly poor investment decisions. Union officials were blinded by the good times and failed to protect their members’ future. An army of lobbyists was hired to protect the industry from tighter laws.

The next administration is certain to face intertwined crises on the economy, environment, and energy. There’s the prospect of a significant recession, coming on the heels of a shallow economic expansion that mostly benefited the wealthy. There’s the fact that the United States has gone years without taking any action on the great environmental challenge of our time.

Michael Livermore, Executive Director of the Institute for Policy Integrity on a new program to curb greenhouse gas emissions: The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative

The cap-and-trade greenhouse gas reduction program, which aims to hold carbon dioxide emissions steady through 2014 and then gradually reduce them, is widely viewed as a model for future programs around the globe.

“With the leadership vacuum in Washington, it has fallen to the states to take the lead on combating climate change,” said Richard Revesz, dean of the New York University School of Law and an expert on environmental law.

“Environmentalists applauded and industry lobbyists fretted as the state moved ahead Monday with plans to fight climate change, starting with greenhouse gases coming from electric power plants. . . . ‘With the leadership vacuum in Washington, it has fallen to the states to take the lead on combating climate change,’ said Richard L. Revesz, dean of New York University School of Law.”