Changing Policy without Changing Law: Addressing Climate Change under the Clean Air Act

Authors

Philip Wallach, Governance Studies

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

3-20-2013

Publisher

Brookings Mountain West

Abstract

The evolution of our national climate change policy at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from the 1990s-2000s, is marked by a backdrop of congressional inaction. In 2007, litigation (Massachusetts v. EPA) required the EPA to re-interpret the Clean Air Act to also apply to greenhouse gases. This presentation will include a summary of the legal arguments in that case, and the narrow Supreme Court decision that supported the petitioners; a review of the legal and practical challenges emanating from this ruling; and consideration of the EPA's impact on continuing legislative debates. The speaker will explore the impact of this decision on policy making institutions and the role of a grid-locked legislature, the executive branch, and the courts, with a consideration of the meaning for American democracy.

Keywords

Clean Air Act (United States); Climatic changes – Government policy; Global warming – Government policy; History; United States. Environmental Protection Agency

Disciplines

Climate | Environmental Law | Environmental Policy

Streaming Media

Language

English

Comments

Greenspun Hall, UNLV Campus

File: 25 PowerPoint slides

Repository Citation

Wallach, P. (2013). Changing Policy without Changing Law: Addressing Climate Change under the Clean Air Act.
Available at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/brookings_lectures_events/50