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Viewing all publications in Environmental, Energy & Climate Justice
  • Building a Foundation for Sustainable Infrastructure Cover

    Building a Foundation for Sustainable Infrastructure

    Barriers to Infrastructure Development and Federal Policy Solutions

    Most categories of American infrastructure—from transportation and water systems to public school buildings and electricity meters—are in dire need of modernization, and climate change is compounding this challenge. Our report provides policy recommendations at each stage of the infrastructure lifecycle, from project planning and analysis, through financing, construction, and maintenance. We explain how a realigned approach to infrastructure can boost the economy while addressing threats from climate change and prioritizing social equity goals.

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  • Enhancing the Social Benefits of Regulatory Review Cover

    Enhancing the Social Benefits of Regulatory Review

    Rethinking OIRA for the Next Administration

    In recent years, federal leadership has distorted the practice of regulatory analysis and has eroded the integrity of the government’s regulatory review structure as coordinated by the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). The result has been a torrent of deregulatory actions that have worked against the best interests of the American people and their health, safety, environment, and financial well-being. Our report details the path forward on regulatory review, which is to first surgically excise recent distortions, and then to reaffirm the best principles and practices from the past, while adding key corrections and enhancements. Implementing the reforms recommended in this report will refocus OIRA on helping agencies once again use regulations to maximize net social welfare.

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  • Making the Most of Distributed Energy Resources Cover

    Making the Most of Distributed Energy Resources

    Subregional Estimates of the Environmental Value of Distributed Energy Resources in the United States

    This report provides a new set of hourly E-Values for the whole United States, broken down into 19 subregions, using an open-source reduced-order dispatch model. The patterns uncovered by these estimates can help policymakers design economically efficient DER policies to reduce air pollution from electricity generators.

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  • A Pileup Cover

    A Pileup

    Surface Transportation Market Failures and Policy Solutions

    Surface transportation market failures, including greenhouse gas emissions, local air pollution, traffic congestion, and traffic collisions, generate billions of dollars in economic harm every year. Guided by economic principles, this report outlines several options for reforming U.S. surface transportation that account for technological, institutional, and political realities. It also highlights the unequal burden of market failures in the transportation sector and discusses policy solutions that can help lead to more just outcomes.

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  • Weakening Our Defenses Cover

    Weakening Our Defenses

    How the Trump Administration’s Deregulatory Push Has Exacerbated the Covid-19 Pandemic

    The failure of the federal government to adequately safeguard the health, environment, and economy of the United States with efficient regulatory protections is not a new phenomenon. For over three years now, the Trump administration has systematically delayed, undermined, and erased key regulations that protect our health, our environment, our workplaces, our living conditions, and our economy. The steady erosion of regulatory safeguards has severely compromised our baseline defenses against Covid-19.

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