The big news this week is that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released its proposed rules to restrict greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from existing power plants. The 645-page proposed rule will now undergo four months of formal comment, which the EPA must analyze before issuing final regulations in one year. Here are the key highlights: First, the EPA has proposed a 30% reduction in power sector GHGs by 2030 compared to 2005 levels. The 30% goal sounds ambitious, but the 2005 … [Read more...]
Climate change alters the legal landscape
I began working in the renewable energy industry in 1979 and I published my first reports addressing climate change (we called it “global warming” then) in 1990, but we have now entered a new era: climate change is altering the legal landscape. That means your organization has to pay attention to how the law is changing in this field. The big challenge is that it doesn’t always announce itself as “climate law.” Take Land use, for example: California communities must now assess the climate … [Read more...]