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  • Let’s Make This Clean Energy Marriage (and Fossil Fuel Divorce) Work

    When states adopt commitments to use clean energy it often has the celebratory air of a new marriage. But making good on those commitments and leaving fossil fuels behind also requires a messy divorce from longstanding legal frameworks. In all of the states that have committed to transitioning to clean energy — and away from fossil fuels — the laws embodying the new commitment generally don’t repeal other, older laws that enable or even encourage consumers to continue getting their energy from fossil fuels.

  • Nuclear Power, Climate Change Adaptation, and Good Governance

    Considering additional information about interactions with climate change means that some reactors’ licenses might not be extended. But this reversal supports the viability and social license of the U.S.’s nuclear fleet, thereby helping to preserve a crucial zero-emissions resource for the power sector.

  • How a Proposed Department of Labor Rule Would Help Protect Retirement Savings From Climate Risk

    Should retirement plan managers be able to consider climate change and other financially relevant environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors in their decisions? A recent analysis of public comments found overwhelming support for a proposed rule from the Department of Labor (DOL) affirming their ability to consider these factors. ESG factors, including climate change, can affect risk and return for all types of investments, not just ESG-labeled funds. 

  • Fast and Furious: Understanding the Rush of Vehicle Pollution News

    You may have noticed quite a few headlines recently about EPA, NHTSA, cars, trucks, waivers, model years, and lawsuits. It’s worth breaking down this flurry of activity, all of which seeks to address vehicle emissions. Here, I’ll clarify the current status of the five separate proceedings happening right now, and offer a preview of what’s to come.

  • Congress’s Bright Idea to Promote Efficient Lightbulbs

    Incandescent bulbs offer basically no advantages to consumers, and their high electricity demands make them worse for the climate and environment as well. The Biden administration's proposed lightbulb efficiency standards would create enormous value for society, including consumer cost savings and reduced climate pollution.

  • $48 Billion and Counting: What EPA’s Methane Rule Offers to Society

    The Methane Rule addresses a market failure to create enormous value for society. Although EPA calculates virtually all conceivable costs of the rule and calculates only one monetary benefit, it still finds that the monetary benefits exceed costs — by $48 billion.

  • Not So Major Questions: Clarifying the Regulatory History Behind Key Claims in West Virginia v. EPA

    Despite West Virginia's attempts to revise regulatory history in West Virginia v. EPA, a major Supreme Court case on the scope of EPA's ability to regulate greenhouse gases, the agency has long regulated air quality by relying on tools such as emissions trading and generation shifting, writes Dena Adler.

  • Regulatory Comments and the Major Questions Doctrine

    The U.S. Supreme Court has rarely invoked the “major questions” doctrine to invalidate agency regulations. But without any regard for the Court’s jurisprudence, the Trump Administration routinely relied on this doctrine in service of its deregulatory assault on the administrative state. Courts should not rely on the number of public comments to assess the legality of regulations.

  • Major Questions, Major Problems

    Petitioners have asked SCOTUS to expand the rarely-used "major questions doctrine" to limit EPA's capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. Dena Adler explains why their argument poses major problems.

  • The WSJ Wouldn’t Print This Response to its Social Cost of Carbon Editorial

    This paper’s recent editorial inappropriately maligns the federal government’s valuation of the harm caused by climate pollution as politically motivated.