State of the Planet

News from the Columbia Climate School

Tag: Environmental Protection Agency2

  • The Slow but Steady Progression Toward Environmental Sustainability

    The Slow but Steady Progression Toward Environmental Sustainability

    As 2017 ends and 2018 begins, many of us reflect on the year that has past and think about the year to come. In the United States we have had a year filled with disappointment but sparked by hope.

  • Responding to the Attack on Environmental Regulation

    Responding to the Attack on Environmental Regulation

    Last week, the new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt attacked his own agency in an address to the Conservative Political Action summit. The attack on environmental regulation by the head of EPA is a remarkable nightmare. Fortunately, in our federal system, state and local officials will be able to fill in if the federal government refuses…

  • Why Are Mines Still Polluting? The Money’s Not There

    Why Are Mines Still Polluting? The Money’s Not There

    Across the nation, abandoned mine sites continue to pollute the environment for decades as acid mine drainage flows into rivers and streams. A 1980 law was supposed to fix that, but lack of funding and enforcement have left the public stuck with the bill.

  • Leon Billings, Tom Jorling and the Origins of U.S. Environmental Law

    Leon Billings, Tom Jorling and the Origins of U.S. Environmental Law

    If you had the experience of hearing Leon Billings teach and tell stories, it is hard to believe his voice is no longer with us. He was a great American and an important figure in American environmental history.

  • New Rules to Hold Mining Industry Accountable for Cleanups

    New Rules to Hold Mining Industry Accountable for Cleanups

    A federal court has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that mining companies provide financial assurance that they can pay for any harm to the environment from their operations.

  • How Can Federal and City Governments Cooperate? The Case of Green Infrastructure

    How Can Federal and City Governments Cooperate? The Case of Green Infrastructure

    With support from the Earth Institute, writers Caswell Holloway, Carter Strickland, Michael Gerrard, and Daniel Firger recently published “Solving the CSO Conundrum: Green Infrastructure and the Unfulfilled Promise of Federal-Municipal Cooperation” in Harvard Environmental Law Review. The authors propose regulatory and policy reform to develop comprehensive, locally led infrastructure and sustainability initiatives that improve public…

  • A Major Legal Victory for Climate Science

    A Major Legal Victory for Climate Science

         Though most attention last week focused on the Supreme Court ruling upholding federal reform of the health-care system, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the most important judicial decision on climate change in five years.  That decision upholds the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases, and it…

  • The Slow but Steady Progression Toward Environmental Sustainability

    The Slow but Steady Progression Toward Environmental Sustainability

    As 2017 ends and 2018 begins, many of us reflect on the year that has past and think about the year to come. In the United States we have had a year filled with disappointment but sparked by hope.

  • Responding to the Attack on Environmental Regulation

    Responding to the Attack on Environmental Regulation

    Last week, the new EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt attacked his own agency in an address to the Conservative Political Action summit. The attack on environmental regulation by the head of EPA is a remarkable nightmare. Fortunately, in our federal system, state and local officials will be able to fill in if the federal government refuses…

  • Why Are Mines Still Polluting? The Money’s Not There

    Why Are Mines Still Polluting? The Money’s Not There

    Across the nation, abandoned mine sites continue to pollute the environment for decades as acid mine drainage flows into rivers and streams. A 1980 law was supposed to fix that, but lack of funding and enforcement have left the public stuck with the bill.

  • Leon Billings, Tom Jorling and the Origins of U.S. Environmental Law

    Leon Billings, Tom Jorling and the Origins of U.S. Environmental Law

    If you had the experience of hearing Leon Billings teach and tell stories, it is hard to believe his voice is no longer with us. He was a great American and an important figure in American environmental history.

  • New Rules to Hold Mining Industry Accountable for Cleanups

    New Rules to Hold Mining Industry Accountable for Cleanups

    A federal court has ordered the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ensure that mining companies provide financial assurance that they can pay for any harm to the environment from their operations.

  • How Can Federal and City Governments Cooperate? The Case of Green Infrastructure

    How Can Federal and City Governments Cooperate? The Case of Green Infrastructure

    With support from the Earth Institute, writers Caswell Holloway, Carter Strickland, Michael Gerrard, and Daniel Firger recently published “Solving the CSO Conundrum: Green Infrastructure and the Unfulfilled Promise of Federal-Municipal Cooperation” in Harvard Environmental Law Review. The authors propose regulatory and policy reform to develop comprehensive, locally led infrastructure and sustainability initiatives that improve public…

  • A Major Legal Victory for Climate Science

    A Major Legal Victory for Climate Science

         Though most attention last week focused on the Supreme Court ruling upholding federal reform of the health-care system, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued the most important judicial decision on climate change in five years.  That decision upholds the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases, and it…