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Climage Change Law

Dedicated to the fast emerging legal and strategic corporate challenges posed by climate change with respect to natural resources, environmental compliance, energy, project development, and business law.
By James Holtkamp, Andrew Irvine, Ocean Munds-Dry, Matthew Droz, and Robert Wing

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Last Entry: September 23, 2009 at 13:35:00

Appeals Court Reinstates Climate Change Injury Claims

Posted on September 23, 2009
On September 21, 2009, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit handed down a decision reversing a lower court's dismissal of claims brought against several major electric utilities seeking to abate CO2 emissions from power plants owned by...

EPA Releases Proposed Endangerment Finding on Emission of Greenhouse Gases

Posted on April 17, 2009
EPA released today its much-anticipated proposed endangerment finding for greenhouse gas (?GHG?) emissions from new motor vehicles and engines in response to the U.S. Supreme Court?s April 2, 2007, decision in Massachusetts v. EPA. The proposed finding is issued under...

EPA Publishes Proposed Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule

Posted on April 13, 2009
EPA published today a 285-page proposed rule to require reporting of greenhouse gases (?GHGs?) from all sectors of the economy. The proposed rule will require reporting of GHG emissions from sources representing approximately 85 to 90 percent of the greenhouse...

University of Utah Appoints James Holtkamp to the Board of Institute for Secure and Clean Energy

Posted on March 23, 2009
The University of Utah appointed Holland & Hart attorney James Holtkamp to the Advisory Board for Institute for Secure and Clean Energy. As a member of the Advisory Board, Holtkamp will help guide the ISCE and make suggestions on how...

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Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rules Proposed by EPA

Posted on March 12, 2009
On March 10, 2009, EPA released its long-awaited proposed rule requiring reporting of greenhouse gas (?GHG?) emissions from sources representing approximately 85 to 90 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. The proposed rule was, required by...

CO2 Controls for Power Plants Now? A Good Idea?

Posted on February 02, 2009
As you may know, one of the immediate issues being discussed and litigated in the area of climate change is the imposition of CO2 controls on the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico simply by interpreting the existing Clean...

Costs, Benefits, and Desert Rock

Posted on January 29, 2009
One of the immediate issues being discussed and litigated in the area of climate change is the imposition of CO2 controls on the Desert Rock power plant in New Mexico by way of interpretation of the Clean Air Act. For...

The Colorado Carbon Fund - Project C

Posted on November 18, 2008
By Tasha Newland Project C, or the Colorado Carbon Fund, is a voluntary carbon offset program developed by the Colorado Governor?s Energy Office (?GEO?). Project C was initiated by the GEO in August 2008 and offers high quality, verified carbon...

Proposed Actions Involving GHGs Not Subject to ESA Consultation

Posted on October 13, 2008
On October 3, 2008, the Department of the Interior (?DOI?) issued a Solicitor?s Opinion concluding that proposed actions involving the emission of greenhouse gases (?GHGs?) do not meet the ?may affect? threshold set forth in the regulations implementing the Endangered...

Cap-and-Trade Arrives in the West: Western Climate Initiative Releases its Initial Design Recommendations for Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reductions

Posted on September 25, 2008
By Giji JohnSeptember 25, 2008 On September 23, 2008, the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) issued its ?Design Recommendations for the WCI Regional Cap-and-Trade Program? (available at www.westernclimateinitiative.org). WCI?s Design Recommendations are intended to effect its stated goal of reducing WCI...

Costa Rica ? A Small Country With A Big Vision

Posted on September 08, 2008
I am sitting on a veranda on the slopes of Rincon de La Vieja Volcano in Costa Rica, about 45 miles south of the border with Nicaragua. We are in the midst of a protected conservation area administered by the...

EPA Releases Proposed Carbon Sequestration Regulations

Posted on July 17, 2008
On July 15, EPA Administrator Steven Johnson signed a proposed rulemaking package, which would regulate geologic sequestration of carbon dioxide under the Underground Injection Control (?UIC?) Program of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The proposed rules would create a new...

EPA Climate Change ANPR Released

Posted on July 15, 2008
On Friday, July 11, the Environmental Protection Agency released an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (?ANPR?) seeking comment on a large number of issues concerning regulation of greenhouse gas emissions (?GHGs?) under the Clean Air Act (?CAA?). The ANPR was...

The Silent Elephant

Posted on July 14, 2008
In his book The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, eminent anthropologist Brian Fagan describes the period from about 800 to 1200 AD, in which a small increase in average global temperatures resulted in a...

Secretary Kempthorne Announces Listing of Polar Bear as Threatened Under the Endangered Species Act, But Attempts to Limit the Listing?s Role in Regulating Climate Change

Posted on May 14, 2008
Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne issued a news release today indicating he accepted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service?s (Service) recommendation to list the polar bear as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The news release is available at...

Beware of People With Agendas

Posted on April 22, 2008
Last week a major world leader outlined a series of policy steps to stop the increase in the emissions of greenhouse gases in his country and then to reduce those emissions. He suggested a timetable for doing so, and proposed...

EPA Seeks Comment on Draft Greenhouse Gas Report

Posted on March 14, 2008
On March 7, 2008, EPA published a Notice of Document Availability and Request for Public Comments on its "Draft Inventory of U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Sinks: 1990-2006". The final Report will be the latest in a series of annual...

Wyoming Leads Nation with Clean Coal Legislation: State First to Establish Carbon-Capture Regulatory Framework

Posted on March 06, 2008
On March 4, 2008, Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal signed into law two bills intended to resolve ownership and regulation issues associated with the underground storage of carbon dioxide. With the Governor?s signature, Wyoming became the first state to enact comprehensive...

Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute on Climate Change

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation is presenting a Special Institute on Resources Development and Climate Change on April 10-11, 2008 in Phoenix, Arizona. The Program Chair for this Special Institute is Holland & Hart attorney James Holtkamp, who will...

EPA Required to Develop Greenhouse Gas Emission Reporting Rules

Posted on February 14, 2008
On December 26, 2007, President George W. Bush signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2008 (H.R. 2764). The Act includes a simple one paragraph directive to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to publish a draft rule...

The Climate Registry: How Your Organization Can Get Involved

Posted on February 12, 2008
On February 4, 2008, The Climate Registry gave a presentation at the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to educate Colorado community members about the organization. The Climate Registry is a non-profit organization established by states, tribes, and provinces...

The Voluntary Carbon Market: Caveat Emptor No More?

Posted on December 19, 2007
Carbon credits have been much ballyhooed in the media of late. Everyone from Leonardo DiCaprio and Bank of America seems to have them. But even as the market for carbon credits grows, so does the skepticism about their authenticity and...

The King Is Dead - Long Live The King!

Posted on October 22, 2007
Earlier this week, the Kansas Department of Health and the Environment denied a proposed permit for the Sunflower Power Plant, citing the emission of uncontrolled CO2 as the primary reason. Other permits and proposed permits for coal-fired generation facilities are...

Peace With Nature in Costa Rica

Posted on October 17, 2007
On February 21st, I wrote in my entry, "The Ticos, Their Trees, and Climate Change" about Costa Rica and the avoided deforestation activities taking place there. On September 19th, I visited Costa Rica for what was an exciting culmination of...

The Low-Hanging Fruit Pie

Posted on July 25, 2007
Princeton University researchers have developed the "wedge model" for attacking climate change. Each wedge is a separate strategy for dealing with climate change. Although simplistic, the model illustrates the proposition that there is no single approach to mitigating man-made contributions...

The Gordian Knot is Not Quite Severed

Posted on May 17, 2007
The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion in Massachusetts v. EPA holding that the existing Federal law authorizes EPA to regulate greenhouse gases is neither surprising nor is it an unreasonable interpretation of the Clean Air Act. After all, in the last...

The Alien Tort Claims Act Will Never Be a Viable Vehicle for Addressing Global Climate Change

Posted on April 12, 2007
Talk of global climate change has swept the country and even the world. There is a growing consensus that time is running out and we, as citizens of this country, must take proactive steps to curb the emissions of greenhouse...