February 29, 2020 Newsletter

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February 29, 2020

Revesz’s Brief, Insights on CFPB Supreme Court Case
The Supreme Court recently heard a Trump administration-backed challenge to the constitutionality of the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Richard Revesz’s piece in The Regulatory Review describes the key elements of the case, Seila Law v. CFPB, and outlines his amicus brief, which defends CFPB’s structure and explains how the government’s argument has dangerous implications for presidential power over independent agencies.
Conference on Corporate Climate Risk
An increasing number of financial experts caution that markets are not accurately incorporating climate change-related risks into asset prices. Together with NYU Stern’s Volatility and Risk Institute, we are hosting a conference on Wednesday, April 1st, that will focus on what can be done to better evaluate and disclose how climate risk affects corporations and financial markets. To learn more about the conference, see the speaker lineup, and RSVP, visit our event page.
Carbon Pricing Event (Video Available)
Earlier this week, we co-hosted an event in Washington, D.C., that explored carbon pricing in wholesale energy markets. FERC Commissioner Richard Glick gave opening remarks, and other experts and policymakers from around the country shared their insights on ongoing initiatives, legal issues, and stakeholder dialogue. You can watch video of the conference here.
Commentary: Carbon Capture Credits Need Better Oversight
The federal government has doled out as much as $1.3 billion in tax credits to fossil fuel companies for capturing carbon pollution and storing it underground—but most of that carbon hasn’t been registered in a monitoring program, as required by law. Some of it may never have been stored in the first place. Derek Sylvan and Christopher Allen’s op-ed in Politico examines the recently expanded tax credits that aim to boost the nascent carbon capture industry. They argue that the IRS must reinforce serious monitoring requirements when issuing long-awaited rules, in order to ensure carbon capture technology’s role as a practical climate tool.
In The News: Deregulation Efforts, Offshore Drilling, Clean Car Standards
A new article in The Economist details how the president has used the Office of Management and Budget to carry out his policy agenda. Richard Revesz discussed how OMB’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has played an especially central role in the administration’s deregulatory efforts, distorting cost-benefit analysis by weighing broader indirect costs and ignoring various benefits.

The federal regulator for the offshore oil industry overruled its own experts in favor of weaker regulations. Revesz spoke with The Wall Street Journal about the agency’s rollbacks, noting that the agency made a political decision to ignore—and perhaps cover up—the guidance of staff engineers.

A piece in The Atlantic took an in-depth look at the Trump administration’s attempt to quash Obama-era car pollution rules. Jack Lienke helped explain the shortcomings and outright failures of the analysis underlying the rollback: “If you shut out the people who know what they’re doing, this is what you get.”

Amy Klobuchar recently told FiveThirtyEight that her favorite statistic was how often Trump agency actions have been overturned, so FiveThirtyEight pulled up our tracker for the details. Agencies have lost in court or backed off their plans over 90 percent of the time, while typical administrations see a loss-rate of about 30 percent.
Book Talk with Richard Cordray on March 24th
On Tuesday, March 24th, Policy Integrity is hosting a book talk and reception for Richard Cordray’s Watchdog, which details how strong consumer protections can benefit individuals, safeguard the marketplace, and establish a new baseline of economic fairness. Cordray, who served as the first director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will discuss the book and related consumer protection questions with Richard Revesz. You can find more details on the event here.
Revesz Discusses State Climate Action at Yale Conference
Richard Revesz spoke at Yale’s 2020 New Directions in Environmental Law Conference. As part of a panel on State Coalitions for Climate Action, Revesz discussed with Massachusetts’ Environmental Protection Commissioner and a former EPA regional administrator, among other experts, how states have been working in the absence of federal directive. Here’s more information on the panel and conference.
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