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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the AEP v. CT Opinion

CPR Member Scholar Doug Kysar has a post over at Nature with more analysis on the Supreme Court's ruling this week in the American Electric Power v. Connecticut case. Writes Kysar:

The court went out of its way to emphasize that federal common-law actions would be barred, even if the EPA decides not to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions. In other words, the fact that the agency has authority under the Clean Air Act — even if it chooses not to exercise it — was enough, in the court's view, to cut the judiciary out of the equation, stating, "We see no room for a parallel track."

The problem with this is that the US system of limited and divided government is a web of interconnected nodes, not a row of parallel tracks. The courts should understand that part of judges' role is to prod and plea with other government branches, which may be better placed to address an area of societal need, but are less disposed to try.

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Ben Somberg | June 21, 2011

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in the AEP v. CT Opinion

CPR Member Scholar Doug Kysar has a post over at Nature with more analysis on the Supreme Court’s ruling this week in the American Electric Power v. Connecticut case. Writes Kysar: The court went out of its way to emphasize that federal common-law actions would be barred, even if the EPA decides not to regulate […]

Rena Steinzor | June 21, 2011

Keep Government’s Hands Off Our Food? Next Time You Read about an Outbreak of Salmonella or E. coli, Thank Jack Kingston (R-GA)

Manic House Republicans voted last Thursday to de-fund the implementation of a landmark law, passed just a few months ago, to strengthen Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) authority to police tainted food. Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), chairman of the House subcommittee that wrote the agriculture appropriations bill, announced on the House floor that the cuts were […]

Daniel Farber | June 20, 2011

Supreme Court Ruling in The American Electric Power Case

Cross-posted from Legal Planet. The Supreme Court decided the AEP case.  The jurisdictional issues (standing and the political question doctrine) got punted.  The Court said that the lower court rulings were affirmed by an equally divided court.  So far as I know, this is the first time that the Court has ever done that and […]

Matthew Freeman | June 20, 2011

Chamber of Commerce Gets the Law Wrong in its Argument to the White House Against Listing BPA as a Chemical of Concern

As part of its ongoing campaign to derail health, safety, and environmental regulations that it regards as inconvenient to industry, the Chamber of Commerce sent a letter earlier this month to Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the White Hosue Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, calling on him to push the EPA to suspend an initiative […]

Matthew Freeman | June 17, 2011

Administration Pandering to Anti-Regulatory Business Leaders Gets Cold Shoulder

The Washington Post reports today on the White House’s latest failed effort to extract political gain from the President’s misguided “regulatory look-back,” led with disturbing enthusiasm by Cass Sunstein, administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs. The story tells us a lot about the thinking of the man who controls access […]

Robert Verchick | June 12, 2011

Climate Change Meets the Little Mermaid

Copenhagen—Denmark’s famed “Little Harbor Lady,” or in English, “Little Mermaid,” has had her share of antics and perils. She’s been photographed by millions in Copenhagen’s harbor, carted off and shown at the 2010 World Fair in Shanghai, beheaded (several times), dynamited, splashed with pink paint, and enveloped in a Burqua. An environmental nerd for all […]

Yee Huang | June 10, 2011

New CPR Report Proposes Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation in the Puget Sound

The scope of climate change impacts is expected to be extraordinary, touching every ecosystem on the planet and affecting human interactions with the natural and built environment. From increased surface and water temperatures to sea level rise and more frequent extreme weather events, climate change promises vast and profound alterations to our world. Indeed, scientists predict continued […]

Matt Shudtz | June 9, 2011

EPA Pulls Back the Curtain on More CBI Claims Regarding Toxic Chemicals’ Safety

EPA announced Wednesday that staff from the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention are making good on a promise to give the public increased access to health and safety studies about the toxic chemicals that pervade our lives. I applaud EPA for their work. Until Congress reforms TSCA to free EPA’s hand in regulating toxic chemicals, […]

Ben Somberg | June 7, 2011

Pawlenty Attacks Government ‘Bureaucrats’ For Shower Efficiency Requirements Enacted by Congress, Signed by George H.W. Bush

How easy it is to make fun of those out-of-control, unelected government bureaucrats! The examples of their wild behavior are just so plentiful. Here’s Tim Pawlenty in his big economic speech this morning (prepared remarks, video): Conservatives have long made the federal bureaucracy the butt of jokes. And considering some of the bureaucrats in Washington, […]