Changes to Endangered Species Protection
Recently, Republicans in Congress proposed a series of changes to the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Their report recommends transferring more regulatory power to states and “curtail[ing] litigation from wildlife advocates”
In a recent issue of Resources magazine, Lynn Scarlett, Rebecca Epanchin-Niell, and Matthew McKinney write that while the ESA faces various challenges, it also “provides an effective framework to meet these challenges, particularly as efforts pivot away from a species-by-species approach and toward incorporating species protection within larger, landscape-scale efforts that use incentives to engage private landowners and nonprofit partners.” New strategies for increasing the effectiveness of the ESA were also discussed at this RFF First Wednesday Seminar (video available).
Carbon Tax Impact
New data released last week by the Australian government show that electricity emissions have dropped 7.6 percent since the introduction of a carbon tax in July 2012. Experts suggest that a greater emissions impact could be achieved if businesses believed that carbon pricing “was here to stay” and current carbon prices were increased.
RFF’s Anthony Paul, Blair Beasley, and Karen Palmer examined imposing a carbon tax on the US electricity sector and found that a lower tax “reduces emissions by reducing demand and through the substitution of gas for coal, whereas [a higher tax] induce[s] switching to wind and nuclear generation.” As current conversations about controlling power sector emissions in the US focus on regulations under the Clean Air Act, RFF’s Dallas Burtraw, Joshua Linn, Karen Palmer, and Anthony Paul also examine a variety of options that might be taken by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the states. While they identify various cost-effective options, they also point out that “flexible approaches that may be possible under the Clean Air Act in fact do introduce a shadow price on emissions.”
