Directly below, I’ve posted an issue brief whose purpose is to investigate the constitutionality of EPA’s Clean Power Plan, a subject that has been at the center of a lively public debate between Harvard Professors Laurence Tribe, Richard Lazarus, and Jody Freeman. While undoubtedly edifying, this professorial skirmish has occurred on a conceptual basis that is largely removed from the nuts and bolts of how the Clean Air Act actually works in practice. In the working paper that follows, my intention is to fill this analytic lacuna by exploring the constitutionality of the Clean Power Plan against a backdrop of how the rule would be implemented in the real world. Specifically, I address the constitutionality of EPA’s range of statutory options to effectuate the Clean Power Plan in a State that refuses to comply with the rule.
Investigating the Constitutionality of EPA's Clean Power Plan
Wish I had posted this on April 1st, but the good news just popped into my in-box last night.
Over at CO2Science.Org, Craig Idso reviews two extensive studies of the impacts of rising carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations on trees in the Northern Hemisphere.
First, Idso reviews Soulé and Knapp (2015), a study of the growth and water-use efficiency of ponderosa pine and Douglas fir trees in the U.S. Forest Service’s Northern Rockies region since 1850.
The two researchers “collected tree-ring data from 14 different locations, from which information they were able to determine yearly changes (from AD 1850 to the present) in basal area increment (BAI) and intrinsic water-use efficiency (iWUE), the latter of which parameters they derived from yearly stable carbon isotope ratios (δ13C) of the trees’ annual layers of new-wood production.” Note: BAI means the area of a tree-trunk cross section at ground level.
What did Soulé and Knapp find? Both species experienced “exponentially increasing iWUE rates during AD 1850-present, suggesting either increased net photosynthesis or decreased stomatal conductance [i.e. decreased moisture loss via the stomatal pores of needles and leaves], or both.” In addition, “both species experienced above-average BAI in the latter half of the 20th century despite no favorable changes in climate.” The increase in BAI was observed “at all sites, suggesting a pan-regional effect.” Idso helpfully provides a chart illustrating the gains in water-use efficiency and growth.
Ah, but surely in Europe, where enlightened statesman demand draconian cuts in CO2 to save the biosphere, things are different. Nope.
[click to continue…]
Judicial review of EPA’s Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (a.k.a., the absurd “Utility MACT”) has run a course all the way to the Supreme Court. The case is Michigan v. EPA; briefs and a transcript of oral arguments may be found here at the invaluable SCOTUSblog.
The issue at hand is: “Whether the Environmental Protection Agency unreasonably refused to consider costs in determining whether it is appropriate to regulate hazardous air pollutants emitted by electric utilities.”
Below, I’ve posted the briefest of recaps (ignore the following paragraph if you are already up to speed): [click to continue…]
At a March 4 Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) committee hearing, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) queried EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy about climate change impacts, global temperatures, and climate models. McCarthy opined that droughts and storms are becoming more frequent worldwide, but had no data to back up her opinion when Sen. Sessions cited conflicting evidence.
In addition, although apparently unaware of the growing divergence between climate model predictions and observations, McCarthy was confident it is irrelevant to EPA’s assessment of climate change risks (i.e. the scientific rationale for the administration’s climate policies). She did, however, promise to provide written answers to Sen. Sessions “within a few days.” See 1:30-6:17 of this video clip.
On April 1, Sessions and three other EPW Republicans (Inhofe of Oklahoma, Wicker of Mississippi, and Barrasso of Wyoming) sent a letter reminding McCarthy of her promise and stating their questions in more detail.
Citing the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assessment and other information, the Senators challenge McCarthy to substantiate her views with respect to drought, storms, global temperatures, and the accuracy of climate models.
Sen. Sessions’s press release, which includes the text of the letter, follows. [click to continue…]
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