Indeck Energy files lawsuit challenging New York's authority to implement RGGI
Indeck Energy has filed suit against several New York state agencies over their participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon trading system between 10 Northeastern states designed to limit greenhouse gas emissions by power plants. Indeck Energy is the owner of Indeck-Corinth Generating Station, a combined-cycle natural gas plant in upstate New York. RGGI began its first compliance period on January 1, 2009. The Indeck lawsuit alleges that the agencies did not have authority from the New York legislature to implement the system. The complaint further alleges that the multi-state RGGI compact is unconstitutional without Congressional authorization. The complaint names Governor David Paterson, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, and the New York State Public Service Commission as defendants.
Continue Reading...Appeals pending for public nuisance climate change litigation
Appeals are pending in three cases with significant implications for tort-based climate litigation. Connecticut v. American Electric Power Company, Inc.; Comer v. Murphy Oil Co.; and California v. General Motors Corp. – all dismissed in district court on political question grounds – are pending in the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Circuits, respectively. As the legislative and executive branches mobilize to address climate change issues under the Obama administration, activity in the judicial branch may also impact the climate law landscape.
Continue Reading...Georgetown Law professor forecasts "A Climate Agenda for the New President"
After yesterday’s two Presidential Memoranda regarding the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 and the State of California Request for Waiver Under 42 U.S.C. 7543(b), the Clean Air Act it seems like someone in the Administration must have gotten a hold of Lisa Heinzerling’s recent Michigan Law Review commentary: A Climate Agenda for the New President. While encouraging the Obama administration to review and, where there is legal and scientific support, undo Bush Administration environmental policies, Heinzerling, a professor at Georgetown Law and Faculty Director of their Climate Resource Center, suggested an early focus on climate change: “the first order of business is to take action on climate change—the defining environmental issue of our time, and one for which the window of effective action is rapidly closing.”
Continue Reading...Obama directs EPA to reconsider denial of California waiver - enabling states to set stricter standards regulating vehicle greenhouse gas emissions
*Updated 1/27/09 - added link to text of memorandum.
President Barack Obama today issued a memorandum directing the EPA to reconsider a previous denial of waivers to California and at least twelve other states, allowing them to set auto emissions standards stricter than the current federal standard. The move would reverse a Bush administration decision denying California’s application for a waiver, and would open the door for stricter regulations in many other states. Some 17 states, including New York and Florida – accounting for up to 50% of the US population – have already adopted or are considering the stricter California standards, which require the EPA waiver of federal preemption in order to be enforceable.
Continue Reading...Two-Day Southwest Climate Conference to include panel on economic, policy and legal perspectives
Today the University of Arizona began a two-day conference entitled Adaptation to Climate Change in the Desert Southwest: Impacts and Opportunities. One of the final panels, scheduled on Friday, January 23 at 10:30 a.m. MST, is “Looking To The Future In View Of Past Experience: Economic, Policy And Legal Perspectives.” The panel will be moderated by University of Arizona Law Professor Kirsten Engel, and panelists include: Vicki Arroyo, Executive Director, Georgetown State and Federal Climate Resource Center, Georgetown University Law Center; Dan Farber, Sho Sato Professor of Law; Director, Environmental Law Program, University of California at Berkeley Boalt College of Law; Dr. V. Kerry Smith, W.P. Carey Professor of Economics at Arizona State University; and Mike Young, Executive Director and Research Chair, Water Economics and Management, The Environment Institute, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.
A live stream of the conference can be viewed online.
Continue Reading...New Jersey publishes draft plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
On December 15, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) published for public comment an ambitious plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, followed by a further reduction of emissions to 80% below 2006 levels by 2050. The draft entitled “Global Warming Response Act Recommendations Report” was authorized by the New Jersey Global Warming Response Act of 2007. The plan emphasizes three core programs – the New Jersey Energy Master Plan, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and the New Jersey Low Emissions Vehicle program – to deal with the largest green house gas producing sectors: transportation and energy.
Continue Reading...Sunflower Electric seeks oral argument on preliminary injunction regarding air quality permit for coal-fired power plant
Sunflower Electric Power Corp. of Kansas has asked the US District Court for the District of Kansas to allow a hearing on its request for a preliminary injunction in Sunflower's $1.5 billion lawsuit against the state. Sunflower filed the lawsuit last month (Sunflower Electric Power Corporation v. Sebelius) claiming that Kansas Department of Health and Environment (“KDHE”) officials had violated Sunflower's rights to equal protection and to conduct interstate commerce by denying Sunflower's application for an air quality permit for two coal-fired plants in western Kansas. The lawsuit seeks $1.5 billion in damages and an injunction to prevent the state from considering carbon dioxide emissions in future proceedings in connection with Sunflower's application for an air quality permit for the coal-fired energy plants.
Continue Reading...Around the Web (1/8/2009)
A roundup of recent news and articles from around the web relevant to climate change law and litigation.
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