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Showing 6 results

Douglas Kysar

Professor of Law

Douglas Kysar | April 20, 2011

American Electric Power v. Connecticut: The Good News

Cross-posted from ACSblog. In one of the most, er, hotly anticipated cases of its term, the Supreme Court yesterday heard arguments in the climate change nuisance suit of Connecticut v. American Electric Power. From the beginning of this litigation, pundits have questioned the plaintiffs’ decision to seek injunctive relief gradually abating the defendants’ greenhouse gas […]

Douglas Kysar | March 24, 2011

As the VSL Turns…: In Value of a Statistical Life Debate at EPA, Moral Decisions Hide Behind Technical Jargon

A report yesterday from Inside EPA offered a fascinating overview of the agency’s struggle to update the way it assigns dollar values to the suffering and premature death that its regulations prevent. Seriously, as far as economic esoterica goes, this stuff is riveting. What’s more, your life may depend on it. Currently, EPA values each statistical human […]

Douglas Kysar | December 6, 2010

SCOTUS Grants Cert in AEP v. Connecticut; Why the Threat of Tort Liability Should Remain as Part of the Balance of Powers

The Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari in the case of American Electric Power Co. v. Connecticut, a common law nuisance suit seeking an order compelling large electric utility companies to reduce their contributions to global climate change. At issue will be a variety of doctrines – such as standing and political question – that nominally […]

Douglas Kysar | September 27, 2010

Bad Times for Good Government

This post looks at two recent books by CPR Member Scholars in the context of the BP disaster and other recent regulatory failures: The People’s Agents and the Battle to Protect the American Public, by Rena Steinzor and Sidney Shapiro Facing Catastrophe: Environmental Action for a Post-Katrina World, by Robert R. M. Verchick Does the […]

Douglas Kysar | February 5, 2010

The State of the Cost-Benefit State: What We Can Expect from Sunstein, ‘Nudge,’ and OMB on Regulatory Impact Analysis

This week the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released its annual report to Congress on the costs and benefits of federal regulatory programs. For the policy wonks among us, the most intriguing part was a section on recommendations for reform of the OMB regulatory review process. Here we find hints of what […]

Douglas Kysar | September 5, 2009

Lomborg Plays Economist-as-Philosopher-King on Climate Change

Prominent environmental commentator Bjorn Lomborg is at it again, this time convening a blue ribbon panel of five economists to assess the relative merits of different possible methods for addressing climate change.  As reported by Reuters Friday morning, Lomborg’s panel concluded that “‘climate engineering’ projects, such as spraying seawater into the sky to dim sunlight, […]