Our public debate about policy to combat climate change sometimes seems limited to a choice between trading and taxes. Yet, there are other tools of governance that could be more actively examined. The problem of global warming is so big that we should be actively pursuing a "full-toolbox" approach of doing everything we can, and considering how each strategy can be synergistically implemented in concert with other strategies.

Editors' Summary

Among the complex aspects of the recently passed Waxman-Markey climate change legislation (H.R. 2454) is its formula for distributing emission allowances. Beyond the sectoral allocation of free allowances for the first few years of the cap-and-trade system's operation, what else does the bill entail for allowance allocation?

Editors' Summary

Climate change legislation and rulemaking will present fertile ground for judicial inquiry. Specifically, the courts can expect to field challenges to the scope of EPA authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act, the scope of state authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, and citizen access to the courts to seek damages, challenge projects, or enforce climate regulations. Ideally, Congress will decide many of these issues in forthcoming legislation, but one can expect many more to fall to the federal courts to resolve.

Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary

In the coming months, U.S. companies that sell their shares on public stock exchanges will be filing annual reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In part, those SEC filings aim to allow investors to see the company's prospects from management's perspective. In their filings, management describes developments it sees on the horizon that have the potential to affect their companies' operations--and profits.

Editors' Summary

Editors' Summary

Conventional wisdom suggests that the future of coal-fired power generation—from which the United States derives roughly one-half of its power—depends in no small part on the realization of geologic sequestration of carbon emissions in underground formations (for more on this, see Climate Change Deskbook §1.2.3.1.2). Two recent proposals by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) bring this issue to the fore: the Agency’s prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) tailoring rule and its geologic sequestration well rule.