Publications – Page 5 – Emmett Clinic

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Endangered Species Act

Comments on Petition of Pacific Legal Foundation, et al., for Rule-making under the Administrative Procedure Act

On June 6, 2018, the Clinic submitted comments to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service opposing a petition from the Pacific Legal Foundation to establish regulatory definitions for the terms “species” and “subspecies” under the Endangered Species Act. The Clinic’s comments, on behalf of several eminent biologists, explain that the proposal is inconsistent with the use of those terms in the scientific community.

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Climate Change

Comments on Proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule, 83 Fed. Reg. 42,986 (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0283)

On October 26, 2018, the Emmett Clinic submitted comments opposing the EPA’s proposed Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient Vehicles Rule because the proposed rule would weaken the current greenhouse gas emission and fuel economy standards for passenger cars and light trucks, and would exacerbate the severe economic, environmental, and public health harms to the United States attributable to climate change. The Clinic filed the comments on behalf of itself; Dr. Michael Oppenheimer, the Albert G. Milbank Professor of Geosciences and International Affairs at Princeton University and Director of Princeton University’s Center for Policy Research on Energy and the Environment; and Dr. Philip B. Duffy, President and Executive Director of the Woods Hole Research Center.

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Climate Change

Comments on Proposed Rule: Emission Guidelines for GHG Emissions from Existing Electric Utility Generating Units; Revisions to Emission Guideline Implementing Regulations; Revisions to New Source Review Program (ACE Rule), 83 Fed. Reg. 44,746 (Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0355)

On October 31, 2018, the Emmett Clinic filed comments urging the EPA to withdraw the proposed ACE rule because the Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) for the proposed rule is deficient and takes steps that artificially and unreasonably skew the cost-benefit analysis to favor the proposed rule. The Clinic submitted the comments on behalf of itself and a number of signatories with backgrounds in economics, public health, and environmental law and policy (including lead authors on reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former senior level advisors in the White House National Science and Technology Council, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the State Department).

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Defense of Science

Comments on Proposed Dept. of Interior Natural Resources Planning and Development Document Records Schedule, Control No. DAA-0048-2015-0003

On November 26, 2018, the Emmett Clinic filed comments on behalf of itself and other environmental and natural resources law clinics, research librarians, and nongovernmental organizations regarding the Proposed Department of the Interior Natural Resources Planning and Development Document Records Schedule. The Clinic urged the agency to reject the Proposed Records Schedule and to revise it to ensure the ability of the public to access federal records under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions CCS

Comments on Proposed Rule: Review of Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units, 83 Fed. Reg. 65,424 (Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2013–0495)

March 18, 2019, the Emmett Clinic submitted comments in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposal to roll back greenhouse gas emissions standards for new power plants by eliminating the requirement that new coal plants use CCS. The Clinic’s comments explain that CCS is both technically and economically feasible for new coal-fired plants, and that the CCS mandate should be expanded to cover a greater percentage of emissions and to include new natural gas plants.

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Clean Air Act

Comments on National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal-Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units – Reconsideration of Supplemental Finding and Residual Risk and Technology Review, 84 Fed. Reg. 2670 (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2018-0794)

On April 17, 2019, the Clinic submitted comments on behalf of a group of leading scientists in opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to rescind the finding underlying its regulation of mercury and other toxic air pollutant emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Comments on Regulations and Other Agency Actions Aquaculture

Comments on IRIS Assessment Plan for Methylmercury (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials) [EPA/635/R-18/292] (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-ORD-2018-0655)

On May 6, 2019, the Emmett Clinic submitted comments on the Environmental Protection Agency’s IRIS Assessment Plan for methylmercury on behalf of a group of scientists led by Professors Philippe Grandjean of the T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Elsie Sunderland of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Statutes, Ordinances, and Guidance CCS

The CCS Liability Act of 2010

This proposed federal statute establishes a detailed liability framework for carbon capture and sequestration to provide certainty, assuage public concerns, and remove barriers to CCS projects.

White Papers CCS

The Summary Report of the Expert Workshop Addressing CCS Liability, Oversight, and Trust Fund Issues

Released in October 2010, the summary report represents a synthesis of the main points and arguments that emerged from the discussion at the Clinic’s June 21, 2010, expert workshop on CCS liability, oversight, and trust fund issues.

White Papers CCS

Proposed Liability Framework for Geological Sequestration of Carbon Dioxide

Released in November 2010, this working paper proposes a detailed liability framework for carbon capture and sequestration to provide certainty, assuage public concerns, and remove barriers to CCS projects.

White Papers Climate Change Adaptation

Climate Adaptation and Liability: A Legal Primer and Workshop Summary Report

The Clinic assisted in developing the legal content for this report from the Conservation Law Foundation and the Boston Green Ribbon Commission. The report focuses on how potential liability may advance or inhibit implementation of adaptation approaches, synthesizes the workshop discussions, and concludes with recommended next steps for addressing barriers to implementing adaptive solutions.

White Papers Climate Change Adaptation

Municipal Climate Change Adaptation and the Insurance Industry

This white paper, published in April 2012, examines ways in which municipalities such as the City of Boston can work with the insurance industry to promote climate adaptation.

White Papers Climate Change Adaptation

Legal Options for Municipal Climate Adaptation in South Boston

The Clinic issued this white paper in August 2011, as part of its ongoing collaboration with the City of Boston in the City’s climate adaptation planning. This paper analyzes legal options available to the City to respond to the effects of climate change, with a particular focus on the impacts of sea level rise in South Boston.

White Papers Offshore Oil and Gas

Recommendations for Improved Oversight of Offshore Drilling Based on a Review of 40 Regulatory Regimes

This white paper, published in June 2012, is the first step in a multi-semester project of the Clinic to make recommendations for the effective regulation of offshore drilling in the Arctic. Based on a review of 40 domestic and international regulatory programs in the areas of health, safety, environment, and finance, the paper identifies general program elements that would improve the regulation and oversight of offshore drilling.

White Papers Clean Water Act

Offshore Aquaculture Regulation Under the Clean Water Act

Released in December 2012 in collaboration with the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) and the Ocean Foundation, this paper posits that while offshore aquaculture is still a nascent industry, EPA can—and should—develop appropriate tools to establish adequate oversight of these facilities in federal ocean waters. In particular, the paper recommends that (1) EPA ensure that all offshore facilities that discharge into the ocean are considered point sources and must obtain a discharge permit; (2) improve the standards for offshore aquaculture facility permits to set numeric limits for all types of discharges; and (3) identify data needs and develop requirements for monitoring and reporting for all facilities in the ocean.

White Papers Aquaculture

Offshore Aquaculture Regulation Under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act

This June 2013 white paper reviews the applicability of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (MSA) to aquaculture and makes several recommendations for ways in which the National Marine Fisheries Service can better apply the MSA to minimize the environmental impacts of offshore aquaculture. This paper is also part of the ongoing collaboration with the Environmental Law Institute and the Ocean Foundation.

White Papers Solar

The Solar Property Tax Exemption in Massachusetts: Interpretations of Existing Law and Recommendations for Amendments

Released in July 2013, this white paper recommends the Massachusetts legislature remove confusion about tax incentives for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects, to enable more homeowners and business owners to install renewable energy. The paper reviews the sources of legal uncertainty and surveys the approaches taken by other states to exempt solar projects from property taxes.

White Papers Climate Change

Beyond the 2020 Plan: A Review of the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan

This report, published in August 2013, presents a dozen concrete suggestions to help the Commonwealth of Massachusetts achieve its greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals under the Global Warming Solutions Act. Suggested measures include promoting of electric vehicle use and promoting the transition to LED (light emitting diodes) public lighting both on municipal roads and on property managed by state agencies.

White Papers Offshore Oil and Gas

Suggested Indicators of Environmentally Responsible Performance of Offshore Oil and Gas Companies Proposing to Drill in the U.S. Arctic

This December 2013 report suggests a set of performance indicators for use to evaluate and predict the environmental performance of companies proposing to drill for oil or gas in the U.S. Arctic. In developing this suggested set of indicators, the Clinic attempted to address all aspects of offshore oil and gas operations in the Arctic, including exploration, drilling, production, and product transportation, and to cover both the risk of catastrophic accidents and environmental impacts that occur during the course of normal operations.

Amicus Briefs Defense of Science

Physicians for Social Responsibility v. Andrew Wheeler (D.C. Cir. No. 19-5104)

On August 22, 2019, the Emmett Environmental Law & Policy Clinic filed an amicus brief on behalf of former officials in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies in a case challenging former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s directive to exclude scientists who hold EPA research grants from serving on the agency’s scientific advisory committees.