Making the Most of Cooperative Federalism: What the Clean Power Plan has Already Achieved

The fate of the EPA\u27s Clean Power Plan-the signature Obama Administration action to reduce greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions from existing power plants under the Clean Air Act-is uncertain at best given pending litigation and the opposition of President Donald Trump. Despite this uncertainty, the development of the Clean Power Plan provides an important case study of how rulemaking under a cooperative federalism statutory structure can prompt broad, beneficial policy engagement by states and stakeholders, even in a contentious regulatory action. In the development of the Clean Power Plan, active state and stakeholder engagement and an iterative process of trying on different compliance choices through the rulemaking process prompted policy-learning by state officials, spurred new interagency coordination, and developed new support for policy insights that would not have happened in a top-down rulemaking. It also led to the development of innovative opt-in regulatory structures that reduce interstate coordination burdens and facilitate use of diverse state energy policies. These insights further recent federalism scholarship, which shows that the dynamic, iterative process of cooperative federalism can produce public policy benefits missed by earlier analyses. They also show how the development of the Clean Power Plan will leave a lasting, positive contribution, regardless of whether the Clean Power Plan is implemented in its current form

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Transportation: Opportunities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic

The report finds that clean transportation policies could cut greenhouse gas emissions between 29 to 40 percent in the TCI region by 2030. A comprehensive implementation of state policies could result in net cost savings of up to $72.5 billion over 15 years for businesses and consumers, along with tens of thousands of new jobs and improvements in public health

State Innovation on Climate Change: Reducing Emissions from Key Sectors While Preparing for a New Normal

Climate change is a global phenomenon that is causing sea levels to rise, floods and droughts to become more severe, and countless other impacts. States are implementing many innovative initiatives that are helpful models for other state and federal action—catalyzing changes well beyond their borders. State and local governments possess important legal authorities in areas such as utilities regulation, infrastructure investment, and land use—governing important policies, programs and investments that have long-term consequences in the fight against climate change. More recently, states have begun to undertake efforts to prepare for the consequences of climate change—developing “adaptation plans” aimed at increasing resilience to extreme weather events, fires, and rising seas. Given the multiple causes and contributors to climate change, action at the state and local level is necessary—though clearly not sufficient—to address this global challenge. More comprehensive national policies are needed as well as successful international agreements that curb emissions. This article describes the efforts of states to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from two major sectors (transportation and electricity) and to prepare for the impacts of climate change. By examining state innovation, lessons can be shared with other states and the federal government to inform decisions regarding future national and international efforts to curb climate change and adapt to its consequences

New Mexico’s Renewable Portfolio Standard: Analysis of Existing Policy Design Elements and Compliance Obligations Beyond 2020

This white paper analyzes two elements of New Mexico’s current Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in advance of the state legislature’s consideration of an RPS expansion in the 2019 legislative session. First, the paper surveys key policy design elements of the current RPS, compares those elements to other state RPSs, and identifies “policy considerations” that may inform legislative or regulatory action. Among the findings from this part of the analysis are that: 1) other states have set much higher RPS targets; 2) that New Mexico’s RPS has uniquely restrictive cost-containment measures that limit cost impacts but also prohibit the full RPS goal from being met, especially the large customer cap, and 3) that New Mexico’s RPS has very ambitious resource diversity targets that are also rarely met by utilities due to the RPS’s reasonable cost threshold. The second issue the paper analyzes is whether the current RPS statute establishes an ongoing compliance obligation for utilities beyond its final target in 2020. The paper finds that when the target-setting provisions are read in light of the entire statute, the obligation likely does continue beyond 2020 for both investor-owned utilities and rural electricity cooperatives. The paper was developed for New Mexico First and the Utton Transboundary Resources Center as a follow-up analysis to issues identified in the New Mexico Energy Roadmap process. The Energy Roadmap was convened by the New Mexico Energy Minerals and Natural Resources Department (EMNRD)

El descubrimiento de los sentidos en la literatura de Uwe Timm

Im folgenden Beitrag wird der Versuch unternommen, die Aufwertung der sogenannten niederen Sinne im Werk Uwe Timms darzustellen. Zwar betont Timm immer wieder, dass das Bild den Ausgangspunkt für sein Erzählen bildet, doch die „niederen Sinne“ spielen in seinem Erzählduktus eine ebenso bedeutende Rolle. Indem er sich auf autobiografische Erfahrungen und das kollektive Gedächtnis bezieht, kreiert er ein multisensorisches Weltbild. Haptik kommt in verschiedenen Formen zum Ausdruck: als Tastsinn (im erotischen und ökonomischen Kontext), Gleichgewichtsinn und Temperatursinn (Erfahrungen der Heimkehrer, die in russischer Gefangenschaft waren). Geschmack und Geruch werden trotz ihrer Flüchtigkeit als Träger nicht nur des individuellen sondern auch des kollektiven Gedächtnisses dargestellt. Durch die Einführung der „niederen“ Sinne unternimmt Timm eine kulturwissenschaftliche Rekonstruktion der Gegenwart und Vergangenheit.The article is an attempt to portray the important role of so-called lower senses (smell, taste and touch) in the works of Timm. Despite the writer’s claims that it is the picture that is the starting point for writing a story, the perceptions of lower senses are the essential part of the narrative flow. By referring to his own experiences as well as to the collective memory Timm constructs a multi-sensory image of the world. The haptic sense is represented in its different instantiations as a sense of touching (in the erotic and economic sense), a sense of balance or a sense of cold (German soldiers’ recollections of imprisonment in Soviet camps). The senses of smell and taste, despite their transient nature, are the reservoirs of both individual and collective memory. Introducing lower-level senses to Timm’s literary works serves, thus, the purpose of reconstructing the past and the present within the culture-related paradigm.El artículo intenta representar el importante papel de los llamados sentidos inferiores (tacto, olfato y gusto) en la obra de Uwe Timm. Aunque, según Timm, el punto de partida de su narración es la imagen, sin embargo, los “sentidos inferiores” desempeñan un papel igual de significativo en el flujo narrativo. Refiriéndose a experiencias autobiográficas y a la memoria colectiva, Timm crea una visión del mundo multisensorial. El sentido háptico se expresa de formas diferentes como sentido del tacto (en un contexto erótico y económico), como sentido del equilibrio y de la temperatura (experiencias de soldados que regresan de campos rusos de prisioneros). Los sentidos del gusto y del olfato, a pesar de su volatilidad, están representados no solo como portadores de la memoria individual, sino también de la colectiva. Mediante la introducción de los sentidos “inferiores” Timm lleva a cabo una reconstrucción científico-cultural del presente y del pasado

Greening the Old New Deal: Strengthening Rural Electric Cooperative Supports and Oversight to Combat Climate Change

New Deal cooperatives succeeded in electrifying rural America when for-profit utilities would not. Today, however, rural electric cooperatives are lagging behind when it comes to meeting the challenge of climate change. Cooperatives have collectively been slower to embrace the shift to low-carbon electricity than for-profit and municipal utilities and have served as a drag on state and federal clean energy and climate policies. This is partially because of the structural differences between cooperatives and other utilities, but also because of a weak and underdetermined federal and state regulatory structure. A few cooperatives in Colorado and New Mexico are seeking to lead the charge to a low-carbon electricity system, but they are finding themselves stymied by their own power supply cooperative. Drawing on insights from organization, public choice, and energy regulation theories, this Article argues that institutional incentives at power supply cooperatives inhibit prudent resource planning in a time of climate change. It concludes that cooperatives need significant changes to state and federal regulatory structures to counter these factors. These changes include subjecting power supply cooperatives to rigorous integrated resource planning requirements and providing state utility commissions oversight over power supply contract buy-out fees. It also includes reconsidering the wholesale electricity rate structure between power supply and distribution cooperatives

State Sequestration: Federal Policy Accelerates Carbon Storage, But Leaves Full Climate, Equity Protections to States

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—the UN’s expert science panel—has found that limiting climate change to prevent catastrophic harms will require at least some use of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) unless the world rapidly shifts away from fossil fuels and reduces energy demand. There is significant uncertainty, however, about the level of lifecycle GHG reductions achievable in practice from varying CCS applications; some applications could even lead to net increases in emissions. In addition, a number of these applications create or maintain other harms, especially those related to fossil fuel extraction and use. For these reasons, many environmental justice advocates have strongly opposed the deployment of CCS applications. The recently-enacted Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) supercharges incentives for CCS, providing tax credits that bring CCS application near estimated costs of deployment. But neither the IRA nor other federal laws create a comprehensive framework to regulate CCS. Against this backdrop, U.S. states implementing climate policies will likely play a key role in determining whether and in what circumstances CCS is deployed in the U.S. This Article describes these state-federal dynamics and concludes by identifying climate and equity issues that “leadership’ states should consider and potential legal tools that can be used to address those considerations