Category Archives: Climate Change

U.S. Supreme Court Narrows Greenhouse Gas Rules: What It Means for the U.S. Climate Agenda

By: James Coleman

PDF Version: U.S. Supreme Court Narrows Greenhouse Gas Rules: What It Means for the U.S. Climate Agenda

Case Commented On: Utility Air Regulatory Group v Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), USSC No. 12–1146 (June 23, 2014)

On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a portion of the United States’ first regulations for greenhouse gas emissions from industrial sources. The Court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may not apply its “Prevention of Significant Deterioration” (PSD) program to new industrial sources on the basis of their greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, EPA can only regulate greenhouse gas emissions from new sources that are already subject to the PSD program because they emit other pollutants.

Continue reading →

Bishop Tutu: His Challenge to the Legal Profession on the Morals and Ethics of Climate Change

By: Kathleen Mahoney

PDF Version: Bishop Tutu: His Challenge to the Legal Profession on the Morals and Ethics of Climate Change

Conference Commented On: As Long as the Rivers Flow: Coming Back to the Treaty Relationship in our Time, Fort McMurray, AB, May 31-June 1, 2014

I was privileged this past weekend to hear Desmond Tutu speak at a conference on climate change and treaty rights in Fort McMurray Alberta (see the program here). His remarks were directed at climate change in general and the Alberta oil sands development in particular. He clearly made the link between carbon emissions from the oil sands and climate change. He then situated the issue of climate change squarely in a moral and ethical dimension. He argued that consideration of this dimension must play a central role in legal and policy decisions about responses here in Canada and around the world.

It is clear that Tutu’s ethical and moral concerns touch on fundamental rights and the very nature of justice and equity. Distributive justice, compensatory justice, procedural justice and human rights are all implicated. We heard from many speakers at the conference that in the Canadian context, First Nations bear the brunt of resource development when their treaty rights, food sources, water and cultures are compromised by climate change and environmental damage.

Continue reading →

EPA’s New Power Sector Climate Rules: A Brewing Political and Legal Storm

By: James Coleman

PDF Version: EPA’s New Power Sector Climate Rules: A Brewing Political and Legal Storm

Proposal Commented On: United States Environmental Protection Agency proposal for cutting power plant greenhouse gas emissions

On June 2, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed requiring all fifty states to adopt greenhouse gas controls for their existing power plants. And EPA went further, proposing that, together, states would have to cut U.S. power sector emissions by 30% by 2030.  (You can see a chart of how much each state would have to cut here.)

These rules face strong political and legal opposition and will not go into action until 2020 at earliest. Their ultimate fate will depend on whether President Obama’s administration stands behind them, whether the public elects a new President that supports them, and whether the courts agree that EPA has authority to cap state greenhouse gas emissions. Their immediate impact is twofold: 1) it tells other countries that there’s a chance the U.S. could commit to strong greenhouse gas rules at 2015 negotiations in Paris; and 2) it sets the stage for an epic political and legal struggle over energy policy in the United States. Many nations, including Canada, are eager to see what will result.

Continue reading →

Alberta Reviews Compliance with the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation

By Ana Maria Radu

PDF Version: Alberta Reviews Compliance with the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation

Document Commented On: 2012 Greenhouse Gas Emission Reduction Program Results

In November 2013, Alberta released the review of 2012 compliance results with the Specified Gas Emitters Regulation, Alta Reg 139/2007 (SGER). Alberta was the first Canadian province to develop legislation regulating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The SGER requires established facilities (i.e. facilities existing in 2000) that emit more than 100,000 tonnes of GHGs a year to reduce their emissions intensity by 12% below a baseline established between 2003 and 2005. Relative to business as usual, the 2012 compliance review shows that the results have been less than stellar.

Continue reading →

Linking the California and Québec Emissions Trading Schemes

PDF Version: Linking the California and Québec Emissions Trading Schemes

Agreement Commented On: Agreement Between the California Air Resources Board and the Gouvernement Du Québec Concerning the Harmonization and Integration of Cap-and-Trade Programs for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In late September 2013, California and Québec signed an agreement to link their carbon emissions trading schemes effective January 1, 2014.  This is the first linkage under the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) – a regional collaboration between British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Québec, and California to establish a carbon reduction and trading scheme that is intended to produce an overall 15% reduction from 2005 level carbon emissions by 2020 amongst the participating jurisdictions. (For more detail on the WCI see here). Alberta is notably absent from the WCI.

Continue reading →