Law and Environment
AUGUST 3, 2023
On July 31, 2023, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu signed an executive order ending the use of fossil fuels in new construction and major renovations of city-owned buildings. Covered buildings and projects will require heating, ventilation, air conditioning, hot water, and cooking systems that do not use fossil fuels.
Union of Concerned Scientists
APRIL 24, 2023
In an important win for climate accountability in the United States, the US Supreme Court decided that lawsuits filed in Colorado, Maryland, California, Hawai’i, and Rhode Island against fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, Suncor, and others will remain in state courts.
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Legal Planet
AUGUST 18, 2022
Production and combustion of fossil fuels imposes enormous costs on society, which the industry doesn’t pay for. The closest we’ve ever come to a carbon tax is a limited fee on methane emissions under the new IRA law. A more promising alternative might be a clean-up tax on the fossil fuel industry.
Legal Planet
FEBRUARY 22, 2024
How would environmental law look different and how might we be thinking about it differently? Instead, we would have understood that the root problem was the burning of fossil fuels in the first place. We would also have understood the link between energy law and environmental law much earlier. Download as PDF
Union of Concerned Scientists
JUNE 12, 2023
Since companies and policymakers do not want to pay a lot to ensure reliability, they both subscribe to the theory that the law of supply and demand will provide an adequate supply at a low cost. The same scenario has played out with the power plants that use fossil fuels, predominantly methane (“natural”) gas, delivered by pipelines.
Enviromental Defense
FEBRUARY 6, 2024
If passed into law, the bill would be a valuable step toward limiting misinformation about fossil fuels and countering greenwashing. The fossil fuel industry has a long and well documented history of denying climate science and funding advertising campaigns to greenwash oil and gas.
Union of Concerned Scientists
MARCH 30, 2022
Replacing fossil fuels with renewable energy from wind and solar will depend on upgrading the electric power grid, which is currently plagued by planning delays and gridlock. The 2021 law allows, but does not require, PJM to plan ahead because various fossil fuel plants must reduce and then cease emissions by a specific date.
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