Environmental Law

In The News (September 15)

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

• Wall Street's woes spilled over into the European carbon market, as carbon futures dropped 4 percent on Monday and Lehman Brothers shut down its carbon desk after the bank went into bankruptcy protection, Reuters reports.
• But what about the ants? No word on that but France intends to put a tax on plastic cutlery -- like the kind universally on picnics -- to try to encourage consumers to buy more eco-friendly products, says this Reuters dispatch.
• Pressure continues to mount on the Securities and Exchange Commission to require better disclosure by companies of climate-change-related risks, this time relating to oil and gas development, including oil sands, from a statement from the group Ceres, and a blog entry by the group's leader. Climate Law Update previously has reported on related financial transparency efforts. 
• A promoter of offshore wind thinks government regulation is needed, as well as a thoughtful debate over the nation's energy policy, as told by a university professor in this article from The New York Times Magazine.
• Garbage power -- producing energy from methane gas in landfills -- is already bigger than solar energy in some parts of the country, reports The New York Times.
• Green building and sustainable development, all good for the environment, but they can also become part of the solution to inner-city crime and a means for getting even ex-convicts into the workforce, contends Newark's mayor, according to the Star-Ledger. 
• Sarah Palin, Republican vice presidential candidate and governor of Alaska, recently asked California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also a Republican, to veto a bill that would impose pollution-fighting fees on ships coming into California ports, reports the Los Angeles Times. 

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on September 15, 2008 (boomark / email).