Program News - September 23, 2021
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We are excited to be back in the EELP offices at Harvard Law School. This summer we updated our trackers to assess the Biden administration’s progress on its climate and environmental justice goals, released our analysis of EPA’s clean cars standards, and our Electricity Law Initiative filed comments with FERC on advancing state clean energy policies in interstate markets. As EPA considers regulatory approaches to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, we are exploring key design questions and implementation with federal and state stakeholders. We’re also evaluating the legal frameworks that Congress is exploring for clean energy legislation and assessing potential financial regulations for climate disclosures. To support us in these efforts, we are looking forward to working with our student RAs on all these projects. We’ve got some information for students at the end of this newsletter on how to get involved as an RA and about our welcome reception with the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, the Harvard Environmental Law Review, and the Harvard Environmental Law Society on October 1st.
Thank you all for subscribing, we look forward to sharing our work with you this year.
Carrie Jenks, Executive Director
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By Carrie Jenks and Hana Vizcarra
On August 5th, EPA released its proposed revisions to the light-duty vehicles GHG emissions standards—a significant step on the path toward electrification and meaningful greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. EPA’s proposed rule for model years 2023-2026 seeks to make up for lost gains under the Trump administration, with emissions reductions even beyond those the Obama-era standards would have achieved. Paired with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, released on September 3rd, it also aims to chart a path to more substantial adoption of electric vehicles.
In this piece, we summarize the most significant changes from the Trump-era standards, discuss how EPA is designing it to withstand legal challenges, and how this rule fits into the Biden administration’s broader policy goals. Read our analysis here.
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Electricity Law Initiative
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The Electricity Law Initiative urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to reject generation companies’ and trade associations’ arguments that it must leave in place market rules that hamstring state clean energy policies. At issue in the proceeding is a proposal filed by PJM that seeks to undo FERC’s December 2019 order imposing market rules that make clean energy more expensive. Read our full comment here.
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Legal Fellow Hannah Perls has created a tool to track the Biden administration’s progress in implementing its environmental justice goals. This tracker is designed to provide up-to-date information on the administration’s environmental justice commitments and progress made on those commitments. We have agency-specific updates as well as information about the administration’s whole-of-government initiatives, including Justice40 and the Climate & Economic Justice Screening Tool. See our Federal Environmental Justice Tracker here.
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Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling and co-chair of the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what's at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trump Administration’s Affordable Clean Energy Rule for the power sector. They also discuss advice to new litigators. Listen here or read here.
Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, an instructor at Harvard Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmental injustice in the United States and beyond. They also feature guest commentary from Tripti Poddar, a litigating attorney practicing in Delhi and Assam. Tripti is also a legal consultant with a legal empowerment organization called Nazdeek, which is based in Delhi, where she supports community-led advocacy and research on economic and social rights. Listen here or read here.
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"Ahead of its self-imposed deadline to become fossil fuel-neutral by 2026, the University has engaged its researchers and industry climate leaders to identify and invest in projects that demonstrate how to credibly reduce emissions while also benefiting human health, social equity, and the planet, such as large-scale solar or wind renewable energy, according to the Harvard Presidential Committee on Sustainability. The University will study these projects to document their intended impacts and refine tools and resources that other large organizations, cities, and countries could benefit from to scale solutions for a fossil fuel-free future"
The Presidential Sustainability Committee was created last year, and and was initially co-chaired by Rebecca Henderson, John Holdren, and Katie Lapp. Professor Freeman, EELP's Founding Director, will co-chair the committee this year with Professor Mike Toffel, Senator John Heinz Professor of Environmental Management at Harvard Business School.
Welcome Selena!
We are excited to introduce you to our newest staff member, Selena Wallace, our program administrator. Prior to EELP, she worked as an Environmental Research Coordinator at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Before working at Harvard, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Philippines working on mangrove habitat restoration and fisheries management. Welcome to the team!
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Student Opportunities and Events
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We’re seeking HLS student research assistants to help with projects involving federal environmental and climate regulations, environmental justice, and climate resilience efforts this fall. We have multiple positions available for students to work with our attorneys to track and analyze the Biden administration’s regulatory and environmental justice efforts and research legal issues related to them. We also need help with a project that will inform potential climate resilience efforts in Boston, and a project on climate-related financial risk, among others. If you’d like to apply, please send your resume and a one-paragraph statement of interest to Selena Wallace at swallace@law.harvard.edu.
The Beagle/HLS Fellowship at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) provides graduating HLS students and recent alumni with a two-year funded litigation position at NRDC. The Fellowship was established by a generous gift to Harvard Law School by the Beagle Foundation that was created by Joy Covey ’89. The purposes of the Fellowship are to create a two-year job at NRDC for a recent HLS graduate (the “Fellow”); to provide training and supervision for the Fellow; to enhance the Fellow’s lawyering/litigation skills; and to promote the Fellow’s interest in pursuing a career in nonprofit litigation and environmental law. To learn more about this fellowship and how to apply click here. Applications are due September 30th.
HLS students, please join us and the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Harvard Environmental Law Review, and Environmental Law Society to learn about environmental law options at HLS and to celebrate the new academic year. We'll be meeting Friday October 1st from 4-6pm on the Caspersen 2nd floor patio (rain location Milstein East C). Food and drink will be provided. RSVP here.
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