Environmental Law

In The News (September 5)

By Dennis Pfaff and Kevin Livingston, Editors

• California's trend-setting energy and environmental laws are a noble but risky effort, according to a commentator who writes that while the statutes are serving to create a new economy, the rules may also be hamstringing some utilities and businesses -- from EnergyBiz. 
• A group of clean tech and high tech business executives have launched a new effort to support the candidacy of Democrat Barack Obama for president, reports CNET's Green Tech blog.
• Meanwhile, for a bit more disinterested take on the race for the White House, here's a parsing of the two major candidates' positions on environmental issues, from Reuters.
• In Australia, where a big debate is going on about carbon pricing, the country's top climate adviser is recommending an initial per-ton price of $16 (US), with only marginal early increases; it's an amount industry says is too tough but environmental groups condemn as too low, reports Reuters.
• Short-lived pollution, otherwise known as soot or black carbon, from Asian power plants and other sources in that part of the world could create summer hot spots in the central United States and southern Europe by mid-century, according to U.S. climate scientists, from another Reuters dispatch.
• In what might be a concession to industry pressure, the Spanish government will temporarily lift a cap on new solar power capacity above an earlier proposed level, according to New Energy Finance, via Clean Edge News.
• Northern California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company has launched a new demand response program intended to allow large businesses to conserve energy without significantly affecting business operations during peak demand times, according to a company press release. 
• A summer outbreak of typhus in Texas prompts a look at the possible connections between climate change and disease by the Austin Statesman-American.
• Despite some "breathless" speculation about the North Pole becoming an island, some key experts say some satellite observations are wrong -- for now -- but the future may see a "fully functioning" Arctic sea generating geopolitical tussles, muses Andrew Revkin in his Dot Earth blog for The New York Times. 
• The Environmental Protection Agency has tightened emissions standards for engines used by lawn mowers, boats and similar equipment, a move that could cut traditional pollutants as well as those blamed for climate change, reports the Washington Post.   

Full post as published by Climate Law Update on September 05, 2008 (boomark / email).