Environment

A coal-burning power station can be seen located next to a lake on the outskirts of Beijing (REUTERS/David Gray).

Article

A Realistic Timetable for Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under the Clean Air Act

September 26, 2013, Philip A. Wallach

Philip Wallach writes that the regulations likely to be produced under the Clean Air Act will be inefficient; the act, written for very different purposes, provides a singularly unsteady basis for climate change policy. Even putting aside those concerns, and assuming that EPA in Obama’s second term (and beyond) fully commits itself to regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, there is likely to be a huge delay before any policy could be meaningfully implemented.

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In the News

The State Department report will make it much harder for Obama to justify rejecting the Keystone project. Still, it has become a highly visible and emotionally charged symbol of an often diffuse issue, and it is where many leading environmental organizations have chosen to draw the line.
March 14, 2013, William A. Galston, The New Republic
Interview | NPR's The Diane Rehm Show

Environmental Outlook: Air Pollution In China

March 5, 2013, Kenneth G. Lieberthal
In the News

There's going to be a demand for revenue, essentially, for the United States government to close its budget deficit over the coming years, and a carbon tax is one way where there's a possibility of taxing so-called bad CO2 emissions and off setting that with tax reductions on capital or income and this could have a positive effect of improving effiency and stimulating economic growth.
November 30, 2012, Joshua Meltzer, Sky Business
In the News

But the discussion in the United States is different now, even from a month ago. [Hurricane Sandy] demonstrated to a large part of the country that we are certainly vulnerable to the kind of events we might see under climate change. People see now that it is related it to our national security.
November 28, 2012, Nathan Hultman, Los Angeles Times
Interview | E&E TV's OnPoint

The Government Rationale on Energy Efficiency is Flawed

July 17, 2012, Ted Gayer
In the News

I'm frankly quite uninspired by the new thematic approach to Rio+20. It's very incrementalist and it's not really thinking about the big environmental goals, which is what do we really need to do about energy and environment over the next 50 years.
June 15, 2012, Nathan Hultman, The Guardian
In the News

...[O]ne big challenge for anyone who's proposing geoengineering methods is how to even begin to explain this to the general public, and then begin to make this credible.
June 2, 2012, Barry Rabe, The Huffington Post
Podcast

@ Brookings Podcast: Fracking and Prospects for Energy Security in North America

April 27, 2012, Charles K. Ebinger
Expert Q & A

What the Next President Should Do on Climate Policy

April 20, 2012, Ted Gayer
Expert Q & A

Better Energy and Environmental Policy

January 24, 2012, Ted Gayer