CleanLaw: Recent Episodes
HLS Environmental & Energy Law Program
The Harvard Law School Environmental & Energy Law Program influences policy discussions about environmental, climate, and energy issues. The EELP offers robust legal analysis and practical governance solutions that will move these discussions forward.
EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks talks with EELP Senior Attorney Erika Kranz about the Trump administration’s efforts to stop or delay offshore wind development. They discuss the industry’s complex permitting regulatory environment, the challenges the administration’s actions have faced in court, and what’s at stake for the future of clean energy. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/CleanLaw-Episode-115-Offshore-Wind-Development-Under-Trump.pdf
Professor and EELP Founding Director Jody Freeman and Professor Richard Lazarus talk with three HLS students about what drew them to environmental law, their experience at the Emmett Environmental Law Center, including working at EELP and in the environmental law and policy clinic, favorite courses, and what life at HLS is really like. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/CleanLaw-114.pdf
Policy Clinic, about the recent decision to exempt oil and gas exploration and development in the Gulf of Mexico from complying with the Endangered Species Act.The administration has invoked a never-before-used national security provision to bypass the Endangered Species Committee's normal, process-intensive exemption procedure. Andy and Erika break down how the Act usually works and why this maneuver is so legally extraordinary. They discuss why the administration's litigation-focused explanation is surprising, how this approach short-circuits potential action by courts and Congress, what may happen with legal challenges to this exemption decision, and what it may mean for endangered species protections in the Gulf. Note: Andy's views are his own.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CleanLaw-EP113-Transcript.pdf
EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Sue Biniaz, former Principal Deputy Special Envoy for Climate at the US State Department and lecturer at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs. For nearly three decades, Sue served as the United States’ lead climate lawyer and climate negotiator. Together, Jody and Sue break down the significance of the recent US announcement to withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. They explain what the UNFCC does, the domestic and international legal implications of withdrawal, and what this move—along with the earlier withdrawal from the Paris Agreement—means for US credibility on the global stage. They also look ahead, exploring how climate progress can continue beyond the UNFCC and Paris, and the need to develop bipartisan consensus for durable climate actions. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/CleanLaw-EP112-Transcript.pdfLegal and Practical Implications of the U.S. Withdrawal from the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change by Sue Biniaz and Jean Galbraith https://www.justsecurity.org/128687/implications-us-withdrawal-unfccc/
EELP director of State and Regional Climate Policies Dale Bryk talks with Jamie Van Nostrand, recent chair of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, the entity that oversees investor-owned electric and gas utilities. Together, they dive into the regulatory frameworks that govern utilities, how those rules drive utility investments, and what that means for consumer energy bills in the transition to clean energy. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/CleanLaw-EP111-Transcript.pdf
What does it take to electrify a cold-weather state? Maine is leading the nation in home electrification, with more than 150,000 heat pumps installed and counting. Efficiency Maine Trust executive director Michael Stoddard joins EELP’s Abby Husselbee to talk about how Maine’s independent approach, simple program design, and partnership with small businesses are transforming home heating and cutting emissions.
EELP's Hannah Perls speaks with environmental justice pioneer Charles Lee, former director of EPA's Office of Environmental Justice and principal author of the landmark 1987 report, Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, and now a visiting scholar at Howard University School of Law, and Sean Moriarty, former deputy commissioner with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. They discuss the growing field of cumulative impacts analysis and how states are increasingly using this tool in permitting and other programs to advance meaningful protections for overburdened communities across the country. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/CleanLaw_EP109-Transcript.pdf Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States: https://www.ucc.org/what-we-do/justice-local-church-ministries/efam/environmental-justice/environmental-ministries_toxic-waste-20/ New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Environmental Justice Archives: https://dep.nj.gov/ej/archive/#meeting-20210624 EELP's EJ Tracker page on EPA's cumulative impacts efforts: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/epa-released-interim-framework-for-advancing-consideration-of-cumulative-impacts/ National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's State-of-the-Science and the Future of Cumulative Impact Assessment report: https://www.nationalacademies.org/our-work/state-of-the-science-and-the-future-of-cumulative-impact-assessment The New School Tishman Environment and Design Center's Cumulative Impacts Dashboard map of EJ laws: https://www.tishmancenter.org/cumulativeimpacts
EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Solomon Hsiang, Professor of Global Environmental Policy at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. They speak about EPA's recent proposal to repeal the agency's 2009 Endangerment Finding, and dig into the legal and scientific arguments offered by EPA. They discuss whether the Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA already answers some of these legal questions and the state of the science on climate change: what we knew in 2009 when EPA first made its Endangerment Finding, and how our understanding has continued to improve.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CleanLaw_EP108-Transcript.pdfeelp.law.harvard.edu
In this special crossover episode of CleanLaw and Shift Key, Heatmap's weekly podcast on decarbonization and the shift away from fossil fuels, EELP’s Founding Director Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Shift Key hosts Robinson Meyer, the Founding Executive Editor of Heatmap News, and Jesse Jenkins, Professor of Energy Systems Engineering at Princeton University. They discuss the Trump administration's proposed finding that that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are not dangerous pollutants and the potential for EPA to soon surrender its ability to regulate heat-trapping pollution from cars and trucks, power plants, and factories. They also talk about whether Trump gambit will work, the arguments that the administration is using, and what it could mean for the future of U.S. climate and energy policy. Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/CleanLaw_EP107-Transcript.pdf
In the second of this two-part series, EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with William Reilly, EPA Administrator under President George H.W. Bush, and Christine Todd Whitman, EPA Administrator under President George W. Bush. They discuss their time at EPA including efforts to simultaneously advance environmental protections and economic growth. They also discussed the consequences of current changes to the agency under the Trump administration, including the loss of scientific expertise, and they highlight current career opportunities for people dedicated to public service.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CleanLaw_EP106-Transcript.pdf
In the first of this two-part series, EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator under President Obama and the White House National Climate Advisor under President Biden. They discuss Gina's time at EPA, including the agency's mission to safeguard public health and the environment through actions that rely on robust science, technology, data, and policymaking expertise. They also review current actions by the Trump administration and discuss how private and nonprofit stakeholders and federal and state policymakers can work together to make progress on climate change and other environmental justice and public health issues.Transcript (PDF): https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CleanLaw_EP105-Transcript.pdf
EELP attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Andrew Mergen, faculty director of Harvard’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about the latest updates to the National Environmental Policy Act, including new agency implementing procedures, the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Eagle County, and amendments included in the One Big Beautiful Bill recently passed by Congress. They talk about what these changes mean in practice for project developers, impacted communities, and the environment.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/CleanLaw_EP104-Transcript.pdfLinks:NEPA overview https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/nepa-overview/ NEPA Regulatory Tracker page https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker/nepa-environmental-review-requirements/NEPA after Eagle County decision https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/the-future-of-nepa-and-federal-permitting-after-eagle-county/CEQ's template and agencies' procedures https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/decoding-agencies-new-nepa-procedures/"Energy emergency" declaration https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/the-trump-administrations-aggressive-anti-regulatory-pro-fossil-fuel-directives/
EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Andrea Joy Campbell, and Vernice Miller-Travis, Executive Vice President and Environmental Justice Lead at the Metropolitan Group. They discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal environmental justice and equity programs, funding, and priorities, and what those changes mean for critical infrastructure, toxics-free housing, access to clean air and clean water, and more. They also discuss what states and community-based organizations are doing in this moment to safeguard public health and environmental protections in Massachusetts and nationwide.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw_EP103-Transcript.pdfLinks:Multi-State Guidance Concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Employment Initiatives, from 16 state attorneys general, Feb. 13, 2025 https://www.mass.gov/doc/multi-state-guidance-concerning-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-employment-initiatives/download Toxic Wastes and Race in the United States, a report from the United Church of Christ’s Commission for Racial Justice, 1987 https://www.ucc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/ToxicWastesRace.pdfSearchable map of facilities invited by EPA to apply for presidential exemptions from air pollution limits, compiled by EDF, April 30, 2025 https://www.edf.org/maps/epa-pollution-pass/
In this episode, EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Carrie Jenks, EELP's executive director and Ari Peskoe, director of EELP's Electricity Law Initiative. They discuss President Trump's most recent executive orders on climate, energy, and the environment and what they are watching for as agencies begin to implement the administration’s directives to roll back environmental regulations; challenge state energy and climate policies, and revitalize the coal industry.Transcript available here: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw_EP102-Transcript.pdf
Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe and EELP Fellow Eliza Martin discuss their new paper, Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers are Paying for Big Tech Power. As Amazon, Google, Meta, and other technology companies try to secure electricity for their new data centers, electric utilities are expanding their systems to serve them. Because utility companies profit by building infrastructure, serving data centers is a lucrative opportunity that is incentivizing utilities to offer attractive rates to Big Tech companies. Ari and Eliza discuss how rate-setting processes can shift utility costs among ratepayers and explain how rate structures, as well as contracts between utilities and data centers, could be transferring Big Tech’s energy costs to the public.Transcript https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/CleanLaw_EP101-Transcript.pdf Read the paper https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/extracting-profits-from-the-public-how-utility-ratepayers-are-paying-for-big-techs-power/
EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus, Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and Carrie Jenks, executive director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program. They discuss the Trump administration’s actions to date on climate, energy, environment, and natural resources and break down which actions have an immediate effect, what will take time, and what they will be watching for, including actions affecting the federal workforce. They also discuss why the practice and study of law matter now more than ever.Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/CleanLaw_EP100-Transcript.pdfOur analysis of the Trump administration's initial executive orders https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/trumps-environmental-and-energy-executive-orders-initial-insights-and-what-were-watching/Our rollback resources https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/topic/rollback-resources/Our Regulatory Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker-type/regulatory-tracker/Our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/tracker-type/environmental-justice-tracker/
EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with speaks with Debbie Chizewer and Nick Leonard about environmental justice lawyering, including leveraging Title VI of the Civil Rights Act on behalf of frontline communities. Debbie Chizewer is a managing attorney with Earthjustice based in Chicago, where she leads the organization's Midwest litigation strategy. Nick Leonard is the executive director of the Great Lakes Environmental Law Center based in Detroit, which provides legal representation to communities across Michigan. This is the second episode in a 2-part series on Title VI.Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/CleanLaw_EP99.pdfLinks mentioned in episode: Episode I in this series https://soundcloud.com/user-995691545/ep-9860-years-of-title-vi-of-the-civil-rights-act-part-1-la-v-epa Great Lakes Environmental Law Center https://glelc.org/Earthjustice Midwest Office https://earthjustice.org/office/midwestCARE v. EPA, No. 4:15-03292-SBA (N.D. Cal.) https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/114.20order20032030202018.pdf US Ecology Agreement between Michigan EGLE and Complainants https://www.sierraclub.org/sites/default/files/2024-08/title-vi-use-north-2024-08-29-title-vi-complaint-agreement-complaint-no-20-001-d-use-north-final_.pdf
EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Olatunde Johnson, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Professor Johnson and Hannah discuss the history and evolution of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a crucial legal tool for the environmental justice movement. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked EPA and the Department of Justice from enforcing their Title VI rules prohibiting actions that disparately impact communities of color in the state of Louisiana, and now those rules are at risk of being struck down nationwide. This is the first episode in a 2-part series on Title VI.Transcript at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/CleanLaw_EP98.pdf Links mentioned in show:Louisiana v EPA - https://earthjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/2024.08.22-cain-judgement.pdfOur podcast on the "Quagmire Quartet" Suite of Supreme Court Decisions Undermine Administrative Law -https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/cleanlaw-suite-of-supreme-court-decisions-undermine-administrative-law/ Petition for Rulemaking on Title VI from Republican-led Attorneys General - https://www.myfloridalegal.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/epa-title-vi-comment-final.pdf Response to Petition for Rulemaking from Environmental Justice and Civil Rights Groups - https://www.nclc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/2024.09.04_Letter_Title-VI-Response-cover-letter-executive-summary-response-letter.pdf Democratic AGs’ Response to the Petition for Rulemaking - https://stateimpactcenter.org/files/AG_Actions_NY_Response_FL_Rulemaking_Petition_9.5.24.pdf Olatunde C. Johnson, Lawyering That Has No Name: Title VI and the Meaning of Private Enforcement, 66 Stan. L. Rev. 1293 (2014). - https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/faculty_scholarship/1094/
EELP senior staff attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Andy and Sara discuss the origin and evolution of presidential authority to designate national monuments under the Antiquities Act, how Congress and the courts have responded to these designations over the act’s 118-year history, present day legal challenges to the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments, and what could be ahead for monuments in the Supreme Court.Transcript here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/CleanLaw_EP97-final.pdf
In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Jody and Andy break down what they call the “Quagmire Quartet” of recent Supreme Court decisions that overturn the Chevron doctrine and undermine administrative agencies. They discuss the new challenges that federal agencies will face as they work to protect the public, the ways in which the Supreme Court has centralized power in the judiciary, how courts can continue to uphold important federal rules, and why they have hope.Transcript available at http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP96-transcript.pdf
California has had a pivotal role in creating US clean car and clean air regulations under multiple administrations. In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Mary Nichols, former Chair of the California Air Resources Board and California's Secretary for Natural Resources, as well as former Assistant Administrator for EPA's Office of Air and Radiation. They discuss California's role in driving car and air emissions regulation, how automakers and market forces have evolved since the 1970s, and what may happen in the coming years under either election outcome.Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Mary-episode-95.pdf
Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Claire Wayner, senior associate at RMI's Carbon-Free Electricity program, and Casey Baker senior program manager at GridLab. They discuss how the utility industry thinks about building new high-voltage transmission lines and how FERC Order No. 1920 attempts to push the industry to develop more transmission to accommodate new, clean sources of electricity while maintaining a reliable and affordable power system.Transcript (pdf): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP94.pdf
Hannah Perls, EELP Senior Staff Attorney, and Deanna Moran, vice president of healthy and resilient communities at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, walk through some of the surprising ways that law and policy drive adaptation decisions in Massachusetts and beyond, including state and local building codes, design standards and risk disclosures, how to make our utilities more resilient without forcing ratepayers to bear the costs, and permitting. We also dig into current advocacy efforts for a wicked resilient New England.Show notes:Conservation Law Foundation report on The Massachusetts State Building Code & Climate Change https://www.clf.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/CLF_ClimateCodeReport_2019.pdfEnvironmental Law Institute report on State Protection of Nonfederal Waters: Turbidity Continues https://www.eli.org/sites/default/files/files-pdf/52.10679.pdfAn Act Promoting Climate Safe Buildings https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/SD18An Act Relative to Electric Utility Climate Resilience and Microgrids https://malegislature.gov/Bills/193/SD786Follow Deanna on X/Twitter demoran18Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw_EP93.pdf
The Endangered Species Act, which turned 50 years old on December 28, 2023, has been described as one of the most potent environmental law statutes ever enacted. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, discuss the initial bipartisan support for the act, the Supreme Court cases that shaped its implementation, and the success of the law in protecting numerous species. They also talk about how the Endangered Species Act could be improved and the risks that it may face in the future.Quotes“… I spent 33 years litigating the Endangered Species Act. As my colleagues who are still at the Department of Justice can attest, litigation in this space is often very frustrating. There are bad cases, there are bad outcomes, but I think by any measure, we ought to understand we should step back at this 50th anniversary and say congrats to that Congress, congrats to President Nixon. This is really a powerful statute.” —Andrew Mergen [39:19]“That’s the fabulous thing about this law. It’s not an anthropocentric law. It’s a biocentric law. It’s a law which recognizes the responsibility that humankind has to all species on our planet. So it’s not a law which is saying, ‘This is really important for the economy.’ No, it’s a law that’s saying, ‘This is important for our spirit, this is important for who we are.’” —Richard Lazarus [30:12]“So you need to have ways to actually have the statute provide incentives for private landowners to actually maintain the habitat, not view the statute as a threat to economic viability.” —Richard Lazarus [43:07]“When the wolves were put back onto the landscape in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem, the Nez Perce tribe played an important role in that. We now see with the California condor the Northern California tribes playing an important part in the re-establishment of those populations, and that is a plus and a really important part of the future of the act.” —Andrew Mergen [45:45]Transcript (PDF): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-EP92.pdf
In this episode Harvard Law professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, Chair of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s Oil and Gas Executive Committee, Riley Duren, CEO and Founder of Carbon Mapper, Peter Zalzal Distinguished Counsel and Associate Vice President of Clean Air Strategies at Environmental Defense Fund, and EELP’s Executive Director, Carrie Jenks.They discuss international and domestic efforts to reduce methane emissions, the Global Methane Pledge from COP 26, the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter from COP 28, the Biden administration’s recently released final methane rule for the oil and natural gas sector, the technology innovation that is making it increasingly possible to detect methane leaks, and the climate benefits of focusing on methane.Transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-91-transcript.pdf
Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Staff Attorney Hannah Dobie about Ari’s new article about power sector governance, Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate’s Control. They discuss how FERC’s legal authority shapes regional governance, how independent decisionmaking by Regional Transmission Organizations is compromised by utilities and other incumbent firms, and why this is holding back the industry’s innovative potential. Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-90-transcript-RTO.pdfAri's paper is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control/Show notes with graphic mentioned at 23:15 https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2023/11/cleanlaw-replacing-the-utility-transmission-syndicates-control-hannah-dobie-interviews-ari-peskoe-about-his-new-article-in-energy-law-journal/
Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling and Jack Ewing, a New York Times business reporter who writes about the auto industry and electric vehicles. Jody, Kevin, and Jack discuss the three cases currently before the D.C. Circuit about how agencies set vehicle standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve fuel efficiency. They also discuss the United Auto Workers strike, the economics and supply chain considerations for manufacturing electric vehicles, and how each may affect the Biden administration’s climate policy for the transportation sector.Transcript here:http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-89-transcript.pdf
Harvard Law professor and EELP’s founding director Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, director of Harvard Law’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about a case the US Supreme Court will hear this fall, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which petitioners have asked the Court to overrule the Chevron doctrine—a legal doctrine that governs when a court should defer to an agency’s interpretation of a law. The case arises under the Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, which authorizes requiring commercial fishing vessels to carry onboard observers, but the statute doesn’t specify that the fishermen should pay for those observers.
Jody and Andy talk about how the Supreme Court might cabin or overrule the Chevron doctrine, and what the case might mean for other environmental regulations and federal regulation more broadly.
Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-88-transcript-8-23-2023.pdf
Quotes:
"The Chevron case involved a reading by the Environmental Protection Agency in the Reagan administration that was actually helpful to business, and allowed them some flexibility in updating facilities without having to get new permits under the Clean Air Act. Those were the facts of Chevron. It was viewed as a flexibility-enhancing interpretation, a deregulatory, business-friendly interpretation." –Jody Freeman [6:00]
"I think that the folks who are advancing an anti-administrative state agenda are just worried that Congress has created a pretty robust environmental statutory regime, a pretty robust human health and safety regime, and the agencies are proceeding in good faith to implement Congress's goals there. I think that at this point in the game, folks who are anti-regulatory would rather detooth the professional staff in those agencies rather than abide by what really does appear to be a neutral doctrine on its face." –Andy Mergen [29:20]
"This is a profoundly important tool for the lower courts, to get their handle on issues that they’re confronting every day from agencies. It’s a really, really important framework for promoting stability and rule of law values. I think we would lose a lot if we were overturning Chevron." –Andy Mergen [48:10]
"Even if you overturn Chevron, you can't avoid the fundamental problem, which is that Congress is giving agencies a job to do, and they need to have some flexibility interpreting their mandates" –Jody Freeman [53:55]
EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls talks with Susan Crawford, the John A. Riley clinical professor at Harvard Law School, and Michelle Mapp, an Equal Justice Works law fellow at the ACLU of South Carolina and former CEO of the South Carolina Community Loan Fund, about Susan's most recent book, Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm.
Quotes:
“Charleston is everything about America sort of distilled: enormous growth, enormous focus on profit, a deep rootedness in our history of racism and now facing a lot of pressures from both the water and from development.” —Susan Crawford (9:31)
“... [W]e have just refused to even begin to have these conversations as a community, as a state, or as a country. But they're conversations that we must have because whether we choose to put our head in the sand or not, the water is coming, the hurricanes are coming, these weather events are coming as we are already seeing in our country.” —Michelle Mapp (36:20)
“We have to elect people who are capable of looking beyond their short-term plans and their short-term success in office to think about the long-term survival of this country.” —Susan Crawford (41:09)
Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-87.pdf
Harvard Law School Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Law Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sackett v. EPA.
They discuss how the Court’s reliance on a dictionary definition of waters will drastically limit Clean Water Act protections: severely shrinking what qualifies as covered wetlands and streams, and as a result, enfeebling the federal government’s ability to protect the larger water bodies the act still clearly covers. With a deep dive into the history of the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court’s prior decisions, and the science of watersheds, they put into context how the Sackett decision flies in the face of what Congress intended when it passed this landmark legislation.
Quotes:
“[I]f the Court uses a continuous surface water connection test, which is what they're moving towards, to traditional navigable waters required for wetlands, more than 50% of wetlands in some watersheds would no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act. With respect to streams: Ephemeral and intermittent streams would not be jurisdictional waters and thus more than 90% of stream length, in some watersheds, would no longer be protected by the Clean Water Act.” —Steph Tai [6:50]
“… [W]e don't have to guess what the purpose of the Clean Water Act is, it's the very first section of the act, section 101, it says its purpose is to preserve the biological, physical, and chemical integrity of the nation's waters. That is the purpose of the statute. And unfortunately, what the court is done here, it's made it impossible to do that both to those waters that are now no longer covered themselves, which are important, and because their connection to the waters the court says are covered. So all sets of those waters will no longer be effectively protected by the statute. And when Congress did this in 1972, they did it deliberately. They deliberately decided we needed a national law, a comprehensive law. They deliberately defined the term navigable waters to mean waters of the United States as a broad term, and the accompanying legislative history said, we're doing that deliberately. We want to tap into the full scope of Congress's power under the Commerce Clause. So, they were intentionally not making this depend on traditional notions of navigability. And that's been the sort of the settled law. And now the court has turned back the clock.” —Richard Lazarus [13:45]
“I felt a sense of disappointment there wasn't a dissent that really took the majority to task and chimed in about the danger of the Thomas-Gorsuch approach and view of the Commerce Clause... [L]urking here in the Thomas-Gorsuch concurrence is a very radical view of the Commerce Clause and what Congress can do and what it means for environmental law more generally.” —Jody Freeman [42:50]
“There is a real tone and tenor and attitude of real disdain for the enterprise of the agencies in these cases. For the job the government has been given by Congress in these statutes, a sense of the government is the enemy. The government imposes and impinges on liberty. There's a line in the Alito opinion, Richard, that says the Clean Water Act is a ‘potent weapon’ and it has ‘crushing’ consequences. Not, ‘there's a mission.’ Congress gave the agency a mission to protect the waters of the United States.” —Jody Freeman [55:08]
Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-86-final.pdf
Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and University of Wisconsin Madison Professor of Law Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court's recent decision in Sackett v EPA.
They discuss how the Court’s reliance on a dictionary definition of waters will drastically limit Clean Water Act protections: severely shrinking what qualifies as covered wetlands and streams, and as a result, enfeebling the federal government’s ability to protect the larger water bodies the act still clearly covers. With a deep dive into the history of the Clean Water Act, the Supreme Court’s prior decisions, and the science of watersheds, they put into context how the Sackett decision flies in the face of what Congress intended when it passed this landmark legislation.
Transcript (PDF): http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-86.pdf
EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hanna Perls, Executive Director Carrie Jenks, and Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe break down recent changes to federal permitting passed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, aka the debt ceiling bill, which President Biden signed on June 3rd.
Mentioned link: https://www.epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2023/5/federal-actions-to-improve-project-reviews-for-a-cleaner-and-stronger-economy Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-85.pdf
Executive Director Carrie Jenks and EELP’s Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe discuss the Supreme Court’s recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision. Ari explains how this case about a California law regulating sales of pork products will help insulate state clean energy laws from certain types of legal challenges.
Mentioned links: https://statepowerproject.org/ Transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-84.pdf
EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and EELP's executive director, Carrie Jenks speak again with Jay Duffy, litigation director at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Jody, Jay, and Kevin recently joined CleanLaw to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision about the Obama Administration’s Clean Power Plan, and now, with Carrie, talk about EPA's recently proposed greenhouse gas regulation for the power sector and their views on how EPA's approaches were shaped by both the Supreme Court’s decision, West Virginia v. EPA, and Congress’s enactment of the Inflation Reduction Act.Transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-83-Power-Sector-Rule-Jody-Jay-Kevin-Carrie.pdf
EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Dr. Carolyn Kousky, associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Sean Hecht, who is the managing attorney of Earth Justice's California Regional Office. They discuss the past, present, and future of disaster insurance, including the role that governments can play in helping design insurance markets that not only redistribute climate related risk, but can help mitigate that risk in an effective and equitable way. Carolyn and Sean are just speaking for themselves and not on behalf of their current or former organizations.Transcript available here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-82-Disaster-Insurance-Past-Present-Future-with-Hannah-Perls-Carolyn-Kousky-Sean-Hecht.pdf Mentioned links:Carolyn Kousky, Understanding Disaster Insurance: New Tools for a More Resilient Future (2022): https://islandpress.org/books/understanding-disaster-insuranceSean Hecht, Climate Change and the Transformation of Risk: Insurance Matters, 55 UCLA L. Rev. 1559 (2008): https://www.uclalawreview.org/pdf/55-6-3.pdfCarolyn’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs: https://www.banking.senate.gov/hearings/reauthorization-of-the-national-flood-insurance-program-improving-community-resilienceThe California Insurance Commission’s Sustainable Insurance Roadmap: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumers/180-climate-change/The-Sustainable-Insurance-Roadmap.cfm
Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, a former senior executive at EPA who oversaw the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks in US history. Jody and Chet analyze EPA's most recent proposal to update greenhouse gas emission standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles and discuss how the implementation of those standards might be impacted by subsidies and incentives in the infrastructure bill and the Inflation Reduction Act and future litigation.Mentioned links:Episode 65, Clean Car Rules with Jody Freeman and Chet France https://soundcloud.com/user-995691545/65clean-car-rules-with-jody-freeman-and-chet-france?si=db9f227fa1424e34a1a30e322212c7e1&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharingEDF Joins Dozens of Other Leaders to Defend EPA’s Clean Car Standards in Court: https://www.edf.org/media/edf-joins-dozens-other-leaders-defend-epas-clean-car-standards-courtTranscript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-81-Journey-to-the-electrification-of-the-transportation-sector-.pdf
Executive Director Carrie Jenks speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus about his recently released book, The Making of Environmental Law, Second Edition. In this long-awaited update, Professor Lazarus describes how environmental law has developed over the last two decades and explores new challenges for the field, including the shifting role of the judiciary, long overdue efforts to achieve environmental justice, and addressing climate change.Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-80-The-Making-of-Environmental-Law-April-2023.pdf
Carrie Jenks and Hannah Oakes Dobie talk about EPA’s latest regulation to address interstate ozone pollution, the “Good Neighbor Plan.” They discuss how the rule’s new design features will refine EPA’s longstanding air transport program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. You can read more about the 2023 “good neighbor plan” in the link below.This podcast was recorded on April 3, 2023. On April 5, EPA issued its pre-publication version of the proposed Mercury Air Toxics Standards that Carrie mentions in her discussion about upcoming power sector rules that might impact the timing for installation of emissions control technologies. Read the transcript: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-7-the-Good-Neighbor-Plan-for-Interestate-Ozone-Pollution.pdfAcronyms in this episode: CAIR (Clean Air Interstate Rule), CSAPR (Cross-State Air Pollution Rule), FIP (Federal Implementation Plan), NAAQS (National Ambient Air Quality Standards), SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction controls), SNCR (Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction controls), SIP (State Implementation Plan)
Senior Staff Attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Hannah Perls talk about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They discuss the regulatory and legal implications of the derailment, including who is in charge of the response and the different roles that federal agencies play. They also discuss the cleanup order issued by EPA and possible federal reforms to railroad safety regulations.You can find a transcript of this episode here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-78-East-Palestine-Sara-and-Hannah.pdf
In our first CleanLaw Quick Take, our Executive Director Carrie Jenks and Staff Attorney Hannah Perls walk through the latest updates on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hannah explains how the US Army Corps of Engineers' announcement about its upcoming draft environmental impact statement might affect the future of the pipeline, and how litigation between the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Army Corps got us to this point. Carrie and Hannah also review the Tribe's concerns in that litigation, what will happen after the draft environmental impact statement is released, and how other federal actions might affect what's in the Army Corps' draft. You can stay updated on the Dakota Access Pipeline on our Regulatory Tracker Page. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/09/dakota-access-pipeline/ Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-77-DAPL-QT-with-Hannah-and-Carrie.pdf CleanLaw Quick Takes are mini episodes where our staff break down a current topic in environmental or energy law in ten minutes or less. These episodes are designed for general audiences as well as practitioners.
Recent HLS graduate Lowry Yankwich speaks with Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions rule for oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf. This rule is intended to protect workers and prevent oil spills, and is part of the reforms instituted since the Deepwater Horizon tragedy. Lowry and Chris discuss the arc of this rulemaking through the Obama, Trump, and Biden presidencies, and Chris explains its technical and legal aspects. You can stay updated on this rule on our BSEE Regulatory Tracker page https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/05/bsee-blowout-preventer-and-well-control-rule/ Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-76-Lowry-and-Chris.pdf
Carrie Jenks, our executive director, speaks with Kyle Danish, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Dan Zimmerle, the director of the Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University. They discuss EPA's recently released supplemental proposal to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector, and how the regulatory framework EPA has proposed is designed to enable the use of advanced technologies to better detect and therefore reduce emissions. You can read more about EPA's proposed rule in our white paper EPA’s Supplemental Methane Proposal—A Comprehensive Regulatory Framework to Encourage Use of Advanced Technologies and Significantly Reduce Methane Emissions. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2022/11/epa-supplemental-methane-proposal/ Here's the link to a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-Carrie-Dan-and-Kyle.pdf
EELP Legal Fellow Abby Husselbee speaks with Cory-Ann Wind, the Program Manager of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Cory has worked for ODEQ for over 29 years, the last 12 in fuels, transportation, and climate policy. Abby and Cory discuss clean fuel standards and their benefits, Oregon’s program and history, prior legal challenges to their programs, and some lessons learned. Here's the link to at transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-Cory-Ann-and-Abby.pdf
Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari’s work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to enable the clean energy transition.Links they discuss include:The Electricity Law Initiative’s Comment on FERC’s proposed rule on long-term regional transmission planning responds to FERC’s proposal to reinstate rights of first refusal and discusses the benefits of retaining competitive transmission development.Comment is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-ELI-RM21-17-NOPR-Comment.pdf FERC rule is here https://elibrary.ferc.gov/eLibrary/filedownload?fileid=2fae9f65-2968-cdf2-94ba-804ef7300000 ELI's comments on FERC oversight of transmission rates proposes new oversight mechanisms, including an independent transmission monitor, designed to protect consumers from inefficient transmission investments. Link is here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/AD22-8-AriPeskoe-PreTechConStatement.pdf At around 30 minutes, Ari mistakenly says that Congress’ 2021 infrastructure law provides $5 billion for resilience and reliability investments. The law actually provides more than $10 billion for such investments.Here's the link to at transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-Ari-transcript.pdf
Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Rebecca Bratspies at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and founding Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, which works with community groups seeking to obtain full and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. They discuss recent environmental justice legislation (EJ) in New York, and what these legislative wins mean for environmental regulation and overburdened communities in the state. Prof. Bratspies also speaks about the Center’s EJ comic book series and her work with Renewable Rikers, a campaign to transform the Rikers Island correctional facility into a renewable energy center.Center for Urban Reform and EJ comics are here https://cuer.law.cuny.edu/ Renewable Rikers is here https://www.renewablerikers.org/Here is a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-R-Bratspies-transcript.pdf
Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of HLS, speaks with Roger Martella, GE's Chief Sustainability Officer. They discuss GE’s recent sustainability commitments and how the company is tackling its operational and downstream emissions across the aviation, public health, and power sectors.
A note for our listeners – this episode was recorded before Congress passed of the Inflation Reduction Act.
For a transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-71-Roger-Martella-and-Lowry-Yankwich.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, Sara Levy, and Hannah Perls
Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Greg Dotson, an associate professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and recent Democratic chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jody and Greg discuss the climate and clean energy provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act and the potential implications for clean energy development and addressing climate change.
For a transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Greg-Dotson-IRA.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, Sara Levy, and Hannah Perls
EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman speaks with Jay Duffy, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling, about what the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA means for their clients and the potential implications for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector.
For a transcript of this episode see here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-Jay-Kevin-WV-v-EPA-part-2.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Professors Jody Freeman and Richard Lazarus and EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA. They break down the majority decision, concurrence, and dissent, and discuss how the major questions doctrine could affect EPA regulations addressing greenhouse gases and other key regulatory priorities for the Biden administration.
For a transcript of this episode see here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-Richard-Carrie-WV-v-EPA-part-1.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Harvard Law professors Jody Freeman and Richard Lazarus discuss the Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA. The Court's decision in this case will address the scope of EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, potentially impacting future EPA rules.
For a transcript of this episode see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Richard-WV-v-EPA-transcript.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
EELP Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Joel Scata, a Water and Climate Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he works on clean water and climate change adaptation policy solutions. They discuss the ins and outs of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which, for the past fifty years, has helped define floodplain development by issuing federally-backed flood insurance policies to property owners and renters, and setting baseline building, land use and floodplain management criteria. However, many argue the program has failed, accumulating billions of dollars in debt and subsidizing risky development. In this episode, Joel and Hannah review the program’s history, the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) latest reforms including Risk Rating 2.0, and what challenges remain if the NFIP is to help communities adapt to a climate changed world.
For more information on this discussion you can see (links below) NRDC’s Climate Adaptation page, NRDC's & ASFPM's Petition for FEMA to update its NFIP Rules (Jan. 8, 2021), and NRDC’s Comments responding to FEMA’s Request for Information on the NFIP (Jan. 27, 2022). https://www.nrdc.org/issues/climate-adaptation https://www.nrdc.org/resources/nrdc-asfpm-petition https://www.nrdc.org/sites/default/files/comments-nfip-floodplain-mgmt-standards-20220127.pdf
To learn more about FEMA’s authority to integrate equity considerations into its programs, see EELP’s Report on Equitable Disaster Relief. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/10/equitable-disaster-relief/
Click here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hannah-and-Joel-Scata-transcript.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Our founding director Jody Freeman speaks with Chet France, who served as a senior executive at EPA and led the development of vehicle pollution standards at the agency, including overseeing, during the Obama administration, the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks. They talk about the development of the clean car rules, the stalled progress under the Trump administration, and the Biden administration's renewal and strengthening of the original standards. With President Biden’s ambitious goals for electric vehicles, the major auto companies’ pledges to produce an all-electric fleet, Congress’s funding of charging infrastructure, and the new EPA standards, Jody and Chet discuss how we are at a potentially transformational moment in the history of the Clean Air Act, the auto industry, and climate change.
A transcript of this episode is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Jody-and-Chet-Transcript.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of Harvard Law, speaks with Doug Christel, policy analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. They discuss the approval of the South Fork Wind Project, which is only the second commercial-scale offshore wind project to be approved in federal waters. The project is small but has garnered outsized attention particularly due to its potential impacts on Cox Ledge, an important fish habitat area. The two discuss possible impacts on fisheries from the South Fork project specifically, and wind development generally, and explore ways in which developers and government agencies are attempting to address and mitigate concerns raised by fishers. They put the South Fork project into perspective and show how it represents a significant milestone in the story of offshore wind development in the U.S. Note: at 34 minutes Doug questions his recollection of the micro-siting diameter for turbines, whether it's 500 feet or meters. He later confirmed it's 500 feet.
You can read more about the legal implications of this topic here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/11/the-implications-of-boem-decision-on-the-south-fork-wind-farm/
A transcript of this episode is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Doug-and-Lowry-transcript.pdf
Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kate Konschnik of Duke University about EPA’s recently proposed methane rules for new and existing oil and natural gas sources. They discuss some of the input EPA is seeking from stakeholders related to advanced technologies and how regulations could enable their deployment to achieve emission reductions.
You can learn more about this topic in our white paper, EPA’s Methane Proposal for the Oil and Gas Sector—A Strong Foundation to Reduce Methane Emissions and Regulatory Path for More. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/11/epas-methane-proposal-for-the-oil-and-gas-sector-a-strong-foundation-to-reduce-methane-emissions-and-regulatory-path-for-more/
Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-63-Kate-and-Carrie-Talk-Methane.pdf
Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Madison Condon, associate professor of law at Boston University who studies how climate change relates to corporate governance, market risk, and regulation. They discuss her research on how the market has failed to properly price climate risk and how the Securities and Exchange Commission might address that failure through new regulation. You can read Madison's paper here. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3782675
Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hana-and-Madison-Transcript.pdf
Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Kevin co-chairs the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what is at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trump Administration’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule for the power sector. They also discuss advice to new litigators.
Note: this episode was recorded on August 24th, the day the petitioners' replies were due.
Here is a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Carrie-and-Kevin-Discuss-ACE-Rule.pdf
Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmental injustice in the United States and beyond.
They also feature guest commentary from Tripti Poddar, a litigating attorney practicing in Delhi and Assam. She's also a consultant with legal empowerment organization called Nazdeek, based in Delhi, where she supports community-led advocacy and research on economic and social rights.
For a full transcript of this episode please see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-60-Hannah-Aminta-Tripti-Human-Rights.pdf
Links from the show: The Center for Economic and Social Rights' OPERA Framework https://www.cesr.org/opera-landing
Nazdeek https://nazdeek.org/
Our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ejtracker/
Our Biden 100 Days Report https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/bidens-first-100-days-of-climate-action/
Our Biden/Harris Administration Tracker https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/biden-climate-environmental-tracker/
Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-59-Ari-and-Brandon-Smithwood-on-Distributed-Energy-Business-Models.pdf
EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra and Fellow Hannah Perls talk about the progress of the Biden administration on climate and environmental priorities now that the first hundred days have passed. We originally posted this as a video, which you can view at the link below. See here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-58-Hannah-and-Hana-Assess-Biden-Progress-in-First-100-Days-1.pdf
Video link: https://youtu.be/EhvV80q8kx8
Other links we mention:
Tracking the Biden-Harris Climate Agenda https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/biden-climate-environmental-tracker/
Corporate Climate-Related Disclosure https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/climate-related-disclosure-and-financial-risk-management/
Rethinking the “One National Program” for Clean Cars https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/03/rethinking-the-one-national-program/
US Regulatory Barriers to an Ambitious Paris Agreement Commitment https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2021/04/us-paris-commitment/
And check out our extensive report on the first 100 days! https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/portfolios/environmental-governance/bidens-first-100-days-of-climate-action/
Sign up for our newsletter here https://tinyurl.com/43hyhzsb
EELP Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Naeema Muhammad and Elizabeth Haddix. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice.
Elizabeth is a Managing Attorney with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She previously was the Senior Staff Attorney at the University of North Carolina Center for Civil Rights where she led the center’s environmental justice docket from 2010 until 2017, when UNC eliminated the Center’s ability to represent clients, after which Elizabeth and the Center’s only other staff attorney, Mark Dorosin, formed the Julius Chambers Center for Civil Rights and continued to represent all their clients. In 2019, the Chambers Center became the Lawyers’ Committee’s only regional office.
This is the second episode in a 2-part series in which we look at environmental justice litigation in eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations. https://ncejn.org/ https://lawyerscommittee.org/
Full transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-57-Hannah-Naeema-Elizabeth-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI-pt-2.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
In this episode EELP Fellow Hannah Perls spoke with Naeema Muhammad and Alexis Andiman. Naeema is a life-long activist and the Organizing Co-Director of the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network, where she has worked for the past two decades leading state-wide campaigns and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Alexis Andiman is a staff attorney with the Sustainable Food & Farming Program with Earthjustice.
This is the first episode in a 2-part series in which we’ll look at some of the legal tools advocates are using to challenge the disparate impacts of pollution in environmental justice communities. In both episodes, we’ll be focusing on eastern North Carolina, where communities are challenging pervasive air and water pollution from industrial hog operations.
A full transcript of this episode is available at http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-56-Hannah-Naeema-Alexis-NC-Hog-Farms-Title-VI.pdf
For more on Naeema's and Alexis's work: https://ncejn.org/ https://earthjustice.org/about/offices/sustainable-food-farming
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Note: this episode was recorded in January, 2021.
In this episode our staff attorney Caitlin McCoy was joined by Justin Gundlach and Elizabeth Stein to discuss their recent article "Harmonizing States' Energy Utility Regulation Frameworks and Climate Laws. A Case Study of New York."
Justin is a senior attorney at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law. His work focuses on state-level energy and climate policy. And he's a coeditor of Climate Change, Public Health, and the Law, and the author of numerous publications and amicus briefs on legal and policy issues related to the impacts of energy use on climate and of climate change on infrastructure and public health.
Elizabeth is the lead counsel for energy transition at the Environmental Defense Fund. She engages in state proceedings to advocate for aligning energy policies with state climate policies. And she has a particular focus on reducing reliance on oil and gas in transportation and in the building sector. She's successfully developed and advocated for best practices in the electric system to make sure that the grid is resilient and supports sustainability and reliability. And an important part of her work of course is collaborating with state and local agencies.
A full transcript is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-55-Caitlin-Elizabeth-Justin-NY.pdf
CleanLaw Production Team: Robin Just, Andy Dolph, and Sara Levy
Ari Peskoe, speaks with Scott Hempling, adjunct professor at the Georgetown University Law Center about Scott’s new book, Regulating Mergers and Acquisitions of the U.S. Electric Utilities: Industry Concentration and Corporate Complication. Scott has also written about FERC’s review of utility merger applications in a 2018 Energy Law Journal Article entitled Inconsistent with the Public Interest: FERC’s Three Decades of Deference to Electricity Consolidation.
Note: we recorded this episode in early November, 2020.
See here for a full transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-54-Ari-and-Scott-Hempling-on-Electric-Utility-Mergers.pdf
In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Texas Tech Climate Center and Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science. Professor Hayhoe talks about the cutting edge science of climate change attribution, how she tries to help the public understand the reality of climate change by making it local, how best to assess and report the impacts of it, and why she is hopeful. Click here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-53.pdf
In this episode, our Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe speaks with Matto Mildenberger, assistant professor of political science at the UC Santa Barbara, about the politics of carbon pricing. Note - we recorded this episode in late October, prior to the presidential election.
This is a link to the article they discuss http://bostonreview.net/science-nature-politics/matto-mildenberger-leah-c-stokes-trouble-carbon-pricing
You can find a full transcript of this episode here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-52-Ari-and-Matto-on-Carbon-Pricing.pdf
In this episode, our executive director Joe Goffman speaks again with Cynthia Giles, our guest fellow and former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance. They discuss her ongoing work examining how well environmental rules do in ensuring compliance with pollution and waste reduction requirements, where they fail, and how to make sure they succeed.
Cynthia’s third installment of her series on Next Generation Compliance is now up on our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/09/next-generation-compliance-environmental-regulation-for-the-modern-era/
You can find a full transcript of this episode here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-51-Joe-and-Cynthia-Next-Gen-Compliance-3.pdf
In our 50th episode of CleanLaw, Erin Brockovich speaks with Caitlin McCoy about some of the major water issues in the U.S. today and what people can do to work toward better water quality in their communities and beyond. Their conversation covers community science, tips for effective advocacy, legacy water pollution issues, and the problems with current laws and regulations. Erin shares an inspiring message that we all have the power to demand better drinking water and smarter approaches to regulation. You can read more in Erin's new book, Superman's Not Coming. Click here for a transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-50-Caitlin-and-Erin-Brockovich-Supermans-Not-Coming.pdf
Robin Just interviews our former EELP Fellow Laura Bloomer about changes in the Department of the Interior under the Trump administration. Laura interviewed dozens of former DOI career staff, former political appointees, and natural resources and American Indian law experts and distills their insights in our newest white paper - link below. She breaks down how these changes have been implemented, and makes recommendations for a new administration to repair the damage. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/10/managing-public-lands-under-the-trump-administration-and-beyond/
In this episode Caitlin McCoy talks with Aladdine Joroff, clinical instructor and staff attorney at our Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about the recent decision by the Massachusetts Attorney General disapproving Brookline, MA’s law seeking to limit the use of natural gas in buildings, and comments the Clinic submitted on behalf of Mothers Out Front Massachusetts, arguing that Brookline’s law is a traditional exercise of municipal authority and could co-exist with state law.
See here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-48-Caitlin-Aladdine-Brookline-Gas-AD-Decision.pdf
You can find the links to the AG's decision and the Clinics comments, as well as a link to Caitlin’s recent white paper, The Legal Dynamics of Local Limits on Natural Gas Use in Buildings, here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/09/cleanlaw-caitlin-mccoy-and-aladdine-joroff-on-recent-mass-ag-decision-on-local-natural-gas-usage-laws/
"The progress is uneven. We are not cleaning the air in an even way for everybody."
In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman speaks with Francesca Dominici, Professor of Biostatistics, Population, and Data Science at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Co-Director of the Harvard Data Science Initiative.
They discuss her team’s state-of-the-art science that shows air pollution continues to be a public health threat and, links air pollution with increased coronavirus death rates. They also discuss her team’s recent study revealing that even as air quality improved overall between 2010 and 2016, it did not improve in Black communities.
Transcript of this episode here: http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-47-Joe-and-Francesca-COVID.pdf
In this episode Joe Goffman speaks with Sam Ricketts, senior fellow for Energy and Environment at the Center for American Progress and former climate director for the presidential campaign of Govrnor Jay Inslee. He now also serves as a co-founder of Evergreen, an organization created by Inslee campaign alumni to continue to deploy the policy, communications, and organizing tools of a political campaign in service to the climate movement.
They discuss Sam’s experience developing comprehensive climate change policy proposals, how he and his colleagues thought through the problems those they had to address, and how to think about the climate change policy proposals recently unveiled in the U.S. House of Representatives and by the Biden campaign.
Full transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-46-Joe-Sam-Climate-Change-Policies.pdf
Hana Vizcarra speaks with Kevin McClean, former Associate General Counsel for EPA’s Pesticides and Toxic Substances Law Office, about chemical substances regulation and implementation of the 2016 revisions to the Toxic Substances Control Act.
Transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-45-Hana-and-Kevin-McLean-TSCA-Lautenberg.pdf
Kevin's paper on TSCA after the Lautenberg Act here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/02/three-years-after-where-does-implementation-of-the-lautenberg-act-stand/
eelp.law.harvard.edu
Recorded on May 7, Joe Goffman speaks with Cynthia Giles, former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, about EPA’s rollback of environmental enforcement in a COVID-19 enforcement discretion policy issued at the end of March 2020.
This issue is still playing out: three lawsuits are pending about the March enforcement policy, and EPA has given some additional guidance on the subject. On June 29, 2020, EPA announced that it plans to end the COVID-19 enforcement discretion policy on August 31, 2020.
Transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-44-Joe-and-Cynthia-on-EPA-Covid-19-enforcement-discretion.pdf
More from Cynthia Giles here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/next-generation-compliance-environmental-regulation-for-the-modern-era/ and here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/11/podcast-with-cynthia-giles-epa-enforcement-of-oil-gas/
In this episode Ari Peskoe speaks with Leah Stokes, Professor of Political Science at UC Santa Barbara about state clean energy policies.
Transcript here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-43-Ari-and-Leah-Stokes-on-Interest-Groups-and-Utilities.pdf
https://www.leahstokes.com/ https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/
For a transcript of this episode see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Transcript-of-Ari-Pesko-on-FERC-filing-6-10-20.pdf
In this episode, Ari Peskoe, Director of our Electricity Law Initiative, describes a petition filed at FERC by a group calling itself the New England Ratepayers Association requesting that FERC find state-regulated net metering arrangements violate federal law and are therefore invalid.
If FERC were to grant NERA’s petition, utilities across the country would likely press state regulators to change the rules that have facilitated recent dramatic growth in rooftop solar.
We made this recording at a press event on June 10th, and these were Ari’s opening remarks. Read more, including our comment to FERC here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/06/electricity-law-initiative-files-comment-in-opposition-to-net-metering-petition/
Caitlin McCoy is joined by Bethany Davis Noll, Litigation Director at the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University Law School. They discuss the recently-finalized Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule, which weakens fuel economy and GHG standards for cars and light trucks. They share some insights into the rule and how it could be challenged. A transcript of this episode is available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-41-Caitlin-and-Bethany-vehicle-emissions-fuel-efficiency-rollbacks.pdf
See here for more of our work on the clean car rules https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/corporate-average-fuel-economy-and-ghg-emissions-standards/
In this episode Alex Griswold, a research associate at the Harvard University Center for the Environment, interviews Professor Jody Freeman, our founding director. They talk about the Trump era environmental rollbacks that are most troubling to Jody, and why she is still optimistic that we can do better. Full transcript of this episode available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-40-Jody-Alex-rollbacks-and-optimism.pdf
Joe Goffman interviews Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus about his new book, "The Rule of Five," which describes the drama, strategy, cast of characters, and, above all, the lawyering, by both the litigators and the Justices, that led to the seminal Supreme Court decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/39-Goffman-Lazarus-Transcript.pdf https://eelp.law.harvard.edu
For a transcript of this episode see here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/38-Goffman-Bloomer-Transcript.pdf
EELP Fellow Laura Bloomer speaks with our Executive Director Joe Goffman about how the Trump Administration is using regulatory rollbacks to advance new interpretations of the Clean Air Act that restrict EPA’s authority to address climate change and threaten the agency’s long-term ability to deliver needed reductions in air pollution.
Laura and Joe analyze four rulemakings: (1) the repeal of the Clean Power Plan and its replacement with the Affordable Clean Energy Rule, (2) the revocation of California’s preemption waiver for its greenhouse gas tailpipe emissions standards and its Zero Emissions Vehicle program, (3) the proposed withdrawal and replacement of the “appropriate and necessary” finding that underpins the Mercury and Air Toxic Standards, and (4) the proposed rescission of methane regulations for the oil and natural gas sector.
See here for links to the individual rules https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/03/cleanlaw-restricting-epas-authority-joe-goffman-and-laura-bloomer-talk-clean-air-act-rollbacks/
Please click here for a full transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hana-and-Alice-Hill-Transcript-Final.pdf
Hana Vizcarra talks with Alice Hill, senior fellow for climate change policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. A former judge and federal prosecutor, Judge Hill served as a special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director for resilience policy on the National Security Council.
They discuss her new book with Leonardo Martinez-Diaz, Building a Resilient Tomorrow, and her experience developing policy on national security and climate change and incorporating climate resilience considerations into federal decisionmaking.
Her book https://www.alicehillresilience.com/ Our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/
For a full transcript of this episode click here. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ari-and-Joe-FERC-Transcript-Final.pdf
In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman interviews Electricity Law Initiative director Ari Peskoe about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's December, 2019 order on PJM’s capacity auction. You can see Ari's recent op-ed on this rule and a Twitter thread about Requests for Rehearing of FERC’s December 19 order at the following links https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/fercs-clean-energy-boycott-distorts-pjm-prices-and-discards-history/ and https://twitter.com/AriPeskoe/status/1220390750686412803
For a full transcript of this episode click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Ari-and-Jason-Burwen-Transcript-Final.pdf
Ari Peskoe talks with Jason Burwen, vice president for policy at the US Energy Storage Association. They discuss new electricity market rules that aim to pay storage resources for the value they provide to our energy system.
https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/cleanlaw-ari-peskoe-with-jason-burwen-on-electricity-markets-and-storage/
See here for a transcript of this episode. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Alex-Barron-and-Joe-Transcription.pdf
Our executive director Joe Goffman speaks with Smith College Professor of Environmental Science and Policy Alex Barron. Alex is a former senior official in EPA’s policy office and discusses his work with economists and other experts to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the economic models we use to analyze carbon pricing policies. See more about this episode and Alex's work here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2020/01/cleanlaw-joe-goffman-and-alex-barron-on-carbon-pricing-models/
For a full transcript of this recording please click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Samantha-Ross-and-Hana-Transcript.pdf
In this episode our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra talks with Samantha Ross, former Chief of Staff and Special Counsel at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and former Special Counsel at the Securities and Exchange Commission. They discuss the importance of assurance in strengthening public company sustainability and climate disclosures.
https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/
For a full transcript of this episode please click this link http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Laura-and-Gretchen-for-Publishing.pdf
In this episode our EELP Legal Fellow Laura Bloomer speaks with Gretchen Goldman, Research Director for the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists, about the Trump administration’s changes to EPA’s process for reviewing the national ambient air quality standards, or NAAQS. They discuss the importance of revising these standards to keep pace with current science, and the many ways in which Trump’s EPA is undermining the ongoing reviews of air quality standards for ozone and particulate matter.
As Gretchen says: "I think this stands to have a tremendous impact on people. EPA has for decades followed this robust science-based process to ensure that the public is protected from air pollution, and we're seeing the administration dismantle that in every way they can think of, and I think that's going to have consequences on people's health. If standards get weakened, if the standards fail to be tightened, when the science say that they should be, the air's certainly not going to get cleaner and it might get dirtier. And that's especially true under climate change where we know that increased heat and other factors increase some kinds of pollution like ozone."
This podcast was recorded before the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee met from December third to sixth. You will hear Gretchen mention the December meeting in the interview. Consistent with Gretchen’s insight, the Committee did not reach a consensus at their December meeting regarding whether or not the existing NAAQS for ozone and particulate matter adequately protect human health.
https://eelp.law.harvard.edu
Hana Vizcarra speaks with Erik Landry, SM ’18 and research associate in the MIT Office of the Vice President for Research. They talk about energy companies’ use of scenarios in climate-related financial disclosure and discuss his new white paper.
"In 2017, the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD), established by the G20 Financial Stability Board, provided a guiding framework and set of recommendations to promote that kind of consistency. However, the use of scenario analysis to describe the resilience of a company’s strategy, as recommended by the TCFD, still represents a significant challenge for companies. MIT, with its extensive experience in analysis of climate futures, saw this as an opportunity to shed some light on the task." Download the full MIT Report, Climate-Related Financial Disclosures: The Use of Scenarios, here http://news.mit.edu/2019/climate-financial-disclosures-1106
For a full transcript of this conversation please click here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Hana-and-Erik-Landry-Transcription-for-Website.pdf
Our website is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu
In this episode, Caitlin and Joe talk about their white paper on the Repeal of the Clean Power Plan and the Affordable Clean Energy Rule. They also discuss the litigation challenging the repeal and new rule, with updates including petitioners’ motion to hold the case in abeyance pending EPA's issuing the final New Source Review rule, which was initially included in the ACE proposal.
The other papers and podcast mentioned in this episode are listed on our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/11/cleanlaw-caitlin-mccoy-and-joe-goffman-on-the-affordable-clean-energy-rule/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Goffman-McCoy-ACE-Transcript.pdf
See here for a transcript of this episode http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Vizcarra-Keenan-Transcript.pdf Hana Vizcarra talks with Jesse Keenan, a social scientist and lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Harvard Kennedy School in Science, Technology and Public Policy.They discuss climate-related data, financing community development to encourage adaptation, and recent work about what drives coastal adaptation decisions that communities make. Jesse has several recent papers on these topics, which you can find on our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/11/cleanlaw-hana-vizcarra-interviews-jesse-keenan-on-climate-adaptation-and-finance/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Vizcarra-Keenan-Transcript.pdf
In this episode Joe speaks with climate economist Gernot Wagner about his latest paper (with co-authors) showing how climate-economic modeling can account not only for predicted damages linked to climate change but also for the uncertainty and risk associated with climate change. Gernot also talks about his work with the late Martin Weitzman, one of the most influential climate and environmental economists who ever lived. See Gernot's paper here https://www.pnas.org/content/116/42/20886 Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-28-Joe-Gernot-Climate-Economics.pdf
In this episode Joe Goffman, our Executive Director, talks with Kathy Fallon Lambert, Senior Advisor with The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Co-founder of the Science Policy Exchange. Kathy was part of a team of researchers who evaluated the Regulatory Impact Analysis for EPA’s Affordable Clean Energy rule, to determine whether it incorporates the best available information and whether its predictions are fully supportable. She and her colleagues also performed their own analysis using EPA data. Using more realistic assumptions than EPA used they found that EPA overstated the likely benefits of ACE and that ACE could lead to increased pollution in several states.
Kathy and Joe discuss EPA’s assumptions in the RIA, the impact of EPA’s current and expected changes to New Source Review that EPA failed to account for, and EPA’s inconsistency in calculating the benefits of reducing fine particle concentrations.
See the study here https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/carbon-standards-re-examined/ and visit our website to learn more here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-27-Joe-Kathy-ACE-MATS.pdf
In this episode our executive director Joe Goffman speaks again with Clean Air Task Force senior counsel Jonathan Lewis about biofuels. They discuss the 5 lessons policy-makers seeking to promote innovation can learn from the failure of the renewable fuel standard as a policy, why aviation is a critical transportation market to target for emissions reductions, and the low carbon fuel standards of California and British Columbia. Jonathan joined us in August for the first of this two part series. See CATF bioenergy work here www.catf.us/work/bioenergy/ and more of our work here eelp.law.harvard.edu Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-26-Joe-Jon-Lewis-biofuels-2.pdf
In this episode Joe Goffman, our Executive Director, talks with our Climate, Clean Air and Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy about part one of the clean car rule rollback. They discuss EPA and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s final rule, issued on September 19th, that preempts California’s greenhouse gas standards and withdraws California’s Clean Air Act waiver. See all our clean car work here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/corporate-average-fuel-economy-and-ghg-emissions-standards/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-25-Joe-Caitlin-Cali-Waiver.pdf
In this episode of CleanLaw Joe Goffman speaks with Clean Air Task Force senior counsel Jonathan Lewis about bioenergy. They discuss the history of biofuel mandates, the challenges of lifecycle analysis, the problems associated with land-use, the difficulty in meeting annual mandates, and talk about what US biofuel policy should really be focused on. At around the 30-minute mark the conversation moves from the transportation sector to power generation. In September we'll publish Part II of this conversation: a deeper discussion on the Renewable Fuel Standard program, and lessons we've learned from this policy. See CATF bioenergy work here https://www.catf.us/work/bioenergy/ and more of our work here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Joe-and-Jon-Biofuels-1-transcript.pdf
Robin and Hana talk about the legal landscape of offshore drilling, and the proposed rule changes and executive orders that may affect where and how oil companies operate. For more on our offshore drilling work and the associated executive orders see our podcast page here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/06/cleanlaw-robin-just-interviews-hana-vizcarra-on-offshore-drilling/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-23-Robin-Hana-Offshore-Drilling.pdf
Ari Peskoe talks to Matt Christiansen, legal advisor to FERC Commissioner Richard Glick, about the Federal Power Act and Matt’s recent article co-authored with Commissioner Glick about FERC and climate change. Ari and Matt discuss recent federal court decisions about Zero Emission Credits (ZECs) and what they mean for the future of state electricity policies. Then, Matt outlines his article and explains how FERC’s authority over interstate power markets and natural gas infrastructure siting relates to greenhouse gas reduction efforts. “FERC and Climate Change” is available on the Energy Law Journal’s website https://www.eba-net.org/assets/1/6/%5bGlick_and_Christiansen%5d%5bFinal%5d.pdf Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-22-Ari-Christiansen-FERC.pdf
Joe Goffman speaks with Bill Becker, former Executive Director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies. Bill and Mary Becker have just published a report on the Trump proposal to weaken vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards. They describe the effects this proposal will have on public health, state compliance with the Clean Air Act, and industry operations. In addition to increasing greenhouse gas emissions, other harmful emissions will rise, such as smog-forming pollutants, fine particles, and cancer-causing air toxins. The report is on our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/05/cleanlaw-joe-goffman-interviews-bill-becker-on-vehicle-emissions-standards-rollbacks-and-public-health/
Many thanks to the Harvard University Center for the Environment for their help with this podcast! Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-21-Joe-Bill-Becker-Clean-Cars.pdf
In this episode, our Climate, Clean Air & Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy speaks with Harvard Law student Michelle Melton about the proposed changes to the fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for vehicles. They discuss the lead up to and details of the proposed rules, and talk about ongoing and future litigation around these rules. We recorded this in early February, so there are references to recent events that are not so recent anymore, but the legal analysis remains the same as we continue to wait for the final rules. See more on our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/05/clean-law-caitlin-mccoy-talks-with-michelle-melton-about-vehicle-standards/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-20-Caitlin-Michelle-Vehicle-Standards.pdf
Ari Peskoe talks to Dr. Jacob Mays about capacity markets. Jacob explains why regional power markets adopted capacity markets and outlines his research on the connection between risk and power plant operating and capital costs. Jacob and his colleagues published a paper on this topic entitled Asymmetric Risk and Fuel Neutrality in Capacity Markets - https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3330932 Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-19-Ari-Jacob-Capacity-Markets.pdf
Ari Peskoe talks with Bill Hogan, Professor of Global Energy Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. After laying out fundamental principles of wholesale market design, Bill discusses the recent proposal filed by PJM about reforming price formation in its reserve market. Bill explains why the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission should find that prices in the market are currently unjust and unreasonable and how the proposed market redesign will result in a more efficient market. Bill and his colleague Susan Pope wrote a paper in support of PJM’s proposal - https://sites.hks.harvard.edu/fs/whogan/Hogan_Pope_PJM_Report_032119.pdf. Visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-18-Ari-Hogan-PJM.pdf
Robin Just speaks with Caitlin McCoy about developments in the Keystone XL permitting process, now that President Trump has issued both a new permit for the pipeline and two new Executive Orders that relate to pipelines, and other infrastructure. Check out our rollback tracker post on Keystone XL here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/02/keystone-xl-pipeline/ and visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/. Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-17-Robin-Caitlin-Keystone.pdf
Caitlin McCoy speaks with Sarah Light, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania about her article, Regulatory Horcruxes, in which she describes how regulatory programs can be split up among federal agencies, state agencies, and even private actors, and how that fragmentation can insulate programs from future deregulatory actions. Read Prof. Light’s full article in the Duke Law Journal here https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3123814 and visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Thanks to Harvard University Center for the Environment for their help with this podcast! Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-16-Caitlin-Sarah-Light-Horcruxes.pdf
How can business law better incentivize companies to take environmental consequences into account? In her latest article, Wharton Prof. Sarah Light, asks this question. EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra spoke with her about her ideas. Read Prof. Light’s full article in the Stanford Law Review here https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/the-law-of-the-corporation-as-environmental-law/ and visit our website here eelp.law.harvard.edu Thanks to Harvard University Center for the Environment for their help with this podcast! Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-15-Hana-Sarah-Light-Enviro-Business-Law.pdf
When we spoke with Kathy Fallon Lambert about the science that should be underpinning the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the Clean Power Plan replacement, she told us why scientists should not be afraid to do work that is "usable, useful, and used." So here's a ten-minute crash course on the benefits of policy-relevant science. Enjoy!
More Kathy and Joe Goffman's conversation on MATS and CPP/ACE here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/03/kathy-fallon-lambert-and-joe-goffman-discuss-mats-and-ace/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-14-Joe-and-Kathy-policy-relevant-science.pdf Our website https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/
Joe Goffman speaks with Kathy Fallon Lambert of the Harvard School of Public Health about her recent studies, with a team of many other scientists, that highlight overlooked potential public health impacts of EPA’s proposed changes to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the Clean Power Plan/Affordable Clean Energy Rule (if you want to go straight to the CPP/ACE discussion go to 27:15). More on this podcast, including a full transcript of this conversation and links to the studies here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2019/03/kathy-fallon-lambert-and-joe-goffman-discuss-mats-and-ace/. Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Fallon-Lambert-and-Goffman-scrpt.pdf
With Gina McCarthy, Janet McCabe and Joe Goffman led the team that developed the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Hear them discuss the effects of a new proposal to remove the legal foundation of the rule, and what might happen next. Janet's recent paper on this is here https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2019/02/janet-mccabe-epa-mats-revision/ and our recent analysis of the rollback is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/12/mats-cost-benefit-analysis-and-the-appropriate-and-necessary-finding/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-12-Joe-Janet-MATS-rollbacks.pdf
Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times Eric Lipton speaks with Climate, Clean Air, & Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy about his recent special report, “This is Our Reality Now,” covering the environmental and public health impacts of the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda in four communities across the country. See the special report here https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/26/us/politics/donald-trump-environmental-regulation.html and visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu Thanks to Harvard University Center for the Environment for their help with this podcast! Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-11-Caitlin-Lipton-NYT-degreg-coverage.pdf
Our Climate, Clean Air, & Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy speaks with Sarah Winner, Staff Attorney of the Center for Coalfield Justice and Interim Executive Director of the Three Rivers Waterkeeper, about the proposed Clean Water Act rule on the revised definition of “Waters of the United States” and the potential implications of the new rule for stream and wetland protection. Learn more about the rule here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2017/09/defining-waters-of-the-united-states-clean-water-rule/ and visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Thanks to Harvard University Center for the Environment for their help with this podcast! Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-10-Caitlin-Winner-WOTUS.pdf
Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with our Executive Director Joe Goffman about the environmental legacy of George H. W. Bush. Joe shares his unique insider’s view as he reflects on one of the greatest contributions any president has made to public health and the environment. Read more here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/12/what-environmental-protection-owes-george-h-w-bush/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-9-Hana-Joe-George-Bush.pdf
Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe interviews Jesse Jenkins, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Ari and Jesse discuss fundamental principles of electricity market design and whether these principles will continue to apply to a low-carbon grid with high levels of wind and solar. Visit our website at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-8-Ari-Jesse-Jenkins-Renewables-and-Electricy-Mkts.pdf
Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe interviews Phil Sharp - former Indiana Representative and chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee, director of the Institute of Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School, and President of Resources for the Future. Ari and Phil discuss the history of PURPA and its implications for climate change legislation. Thank you to the Harvard University Center for the Environment for helping with this podcast. Visit our website at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-7-Ari-Phil-Sharp-PURPA-40th.pdf
Joe Goffman, talks with Cynthia Giles, former Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance for the entire Obama Presidency. Cynthia and Joe talk about the Trump EPA’s enforcement policies, including a recent initiative focusing on the oil and gas industry, and the impact they have on air quality and public health. You can read key points here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/11/podcast-with-cynthia-giles-epa-enforcement-of-oil-gas/. This builds on our EPA Mission Tracker work, available at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/epa-mission-tracker/. Thank you to the Harvard University Center for the Environment for helping with this podcast. Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-6-Joe-Cynthia-EPA-rollbacks.pdf
Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe about FERC natural gas facility permitting. In July, 2018 ELI filed comments with FERC arguing that accounting for the economic risks and environmental harms of greenhouse gas emissions in a permitting proceeding is consistent with judicial precedent and Commission practice. http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/Harvard-Electricity-Law-Initiative-Policy-Statement-0725.pdf Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-5-Hana-Ari-FERC-gas-comments.pdf
Our executive director Joe Goffman interviewed Dr. Francesca Dominici recently to talk about public health, pollution, and science. Dominici is Professor of Biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Co-Director of the Data Science Initiative at Harvard University. Listen below, or scroll down to read key points from our interview on rollbacks and public health, new science on air pollution exposure, and the recent Trump administration proposal to suppress public health studies. Read more here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/07/podcast-with-francesca-dominici-on-air-quality-public-health-and-science/ or visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-4-Joe-Dominici-public-health-data-clean-air.pdf
We speak with Janet McCabe, former Acting Assistant Administrator for the EPA Office of Air and Radiation and current Assistant Director for Policy and Implementation at Indiana University’s Environmental Resilience Institute and a Senior Law Fellow at the Environmental Law and Policy Center. Read more here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2018/06/subverting-the-process-of-setting-health-based-air-quality-standards-eelp-interviews-janet-mccabe/ or visit our website here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/. Thank you to the Harvard University Center for the Environment for helping with this podcast. Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-3-Joe-McCabe-modifying-air-quality-standards.pdf
Harvard Law School's Environmental & Energy Law Program Executive Director Joe Goffman interviews Electricity Initiative Director Ari Peskoe about the DOE memo leaked in May, 2018. The memo discusses a "Strategic Electric Generation Reserve" and tactics to support uneconomic coal and nuclear plants. https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here http://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/CleanLaw-2-Joe-Ari-leaked-DOE-memo.pdf
Episode 1: Joseph Goffman's Harvard Kennedy School Regulatory Policy Program audio by HLS Environmental & Energy Law Program