The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has added climate change to its biennial list of high-risk areas facing government operations. The report says the U.S. needs a better cross-government approach to a threat that’s creating huge financial exposure.

In his State of the Union address, Pres. Obama exhorted Congress to adopt a “bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change” and warned that if “Congress won’t act soon” he will direct his Cabinet to come up with “executive actions.” Various analyses of what the President's options might be are now being released.

In his State of the Union address, Pres. Obama exhorted Congress to adopt a “bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change” and warned that if “Congress won’t act soon” he will direct his Cabinet to come up with “executive actions.”

The EPA has released its Climate Change Adaptation Plan, and is now accepting comments on its draft plan, which calls for the agency to amend its operations, which could include promulgating new rules, to account for increasingly rapid global warming. The effort comes in response to a 2009 government-wide directive via President Obama's Council on Environmental Quality, requiring agencies to plan this year for future climate change.

The EPA has posted the second year of greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions data on its website, which provides public access to emissions data by sector, by greenhouse gas, and by geographic region such as county or state.

Various news sources preview what Pres. Obama’s energy and environmental policy could look like in his second term.

The Foundation strives to provide the public with the latest information on regulations and their impact on the economic competitiveness of Wisconsin and the nation. Three recent studies provide more information on the costs of cutting carbon emissions, the impact of regulations on the country’s competitiveness, and the projected number of retiring coal plants.

The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) have filed a petition with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) requesting the agency mandate that states include climate change assessments in their disaster response plans.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has dismissed a federal common law claim of public nuisance for global warming by greenhouse gases, ruling the common law was displaced by the comprehensive federal regulatory scheme of the Clean Air Act. Combined with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, this case all but eliminates the availability of public nuisance climate change claims.

Looking for the latest case law on climate change? The law firm Arnold & Porter maintains a comprehensive chart that displays US climate change litigation, covering pending as well as decided cases.

First signed in 1972 and last amended in 1987, the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement was recently amended by the United States and Canada in an effort to further protect the world’s largest surface freshwater system.

The EPA and the NHTSA have finalized standards that will increase average fuel economy requirements for cars and light-duty trucks to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. When combined with previous standards set for 2011-2016 models, this move will nearly double the fuel efficiency of those vehicles compared to new vehicles currently on the road. 

Administrative agencies continuously promulgate new rules and often do so quickly. Tracking the various proposed rules can be time-intensive and complicated. The Foundation’s Regulatory Calendar includes the dates of important steps in the rulemaking process for various rules we are following at the state and federal level.

The EPA has turned down a demand from U.S. environmental groups that it curb greenhouse-gas emissions from aircraft, ships, or other off-highway vehicles. The agency’s decision not to regulate nonroad engines, and its indefinite delay in regulating aircraft, comes in response to a 2010 lawsuit from an environmental coalition asking the EPA to address these types of pollution.

On June 1, a judge in the U.S District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed a lawsuit in which two environmental groups and five California teenagers sued the federal government requesting action on climate change via the government’s Public Trust authority.

In a recent interview with Rolling Stone Magazine, President Obama highlighted his intention to make climate change and environmental issues a centerpiece of his 2012 reelection campaign.

The Environmental Protection Agency will not lower the existing thresholds in its tailoring rule for stationary emissions sources to obtain greenhouse gas permits, the agency said in a proposed rule released February 27, 2012.

On February 22nd, the Federalist Society for Law & Public Policy Studies Madison, WI Chapter will host a lunch and CLE event titled EPA's Climate Change Regulations: Good Public Policy or Government Overreach? The discussion panel includes Prof. Jonathan Adler, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Business Law & Regulation at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law and Prof. Stephanie Tai, Assistant Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin Law School. The event will be moderated by Ellen Nowak, Esq., Commissioner of the Wisconsin Public Service Commission.

Mandated by the FY2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act, the EPA launched the GHG Reporting Program in October 2009, requiring the reporting of GHG data from large emission sources across a range of industry sectors, as well as suppliers of products that would emit GHGs if released or combusted. The first data reported under that rule has now been released to the public in an easy to use database.

The EPA’s online data publication tool allows users to view and sort GHG data for calendar year 2010, the first year data was collected under the mandatory rule, from over 6,700 facilities in a variety of ways—including by facility, location, industrial sector, and the type of GHG emitted. For example, the data set includes information on 136 GHG emitters in the state of Wisconsin.

The Environmental Protection Agency will develop and finalize multiple rules over the next several years that will dramatically impact the air, water, and energy regulatory climate. This unprecedented level of activity will be mirrored at the state level since each federal regulation will trigger the promulgation of state rules to implement the standards. Studies have shown these rules will have an impact on the overall economy, jobs, competitiveness, and energy costs.

Below is a brief summary of of the most recent action on the multitude of rules under promulgation as well as information on expected future actions.