Environmental Law at the UW
Special Report on Climate Change
Editor: Professor Michael Robinson-Dorn, University of Washington School of Law
Western U.S. Climate Change Leaders Outline Plans at University of Washington Conference
Over 150 people attending the University of Washington's first annual Climate Change conference last Friday heard state, regional and local leaders outline plans for limiting carbon emissions in the next two years, whether or not the federal government enacts national legislation. Key portions of the program are reproduced in this week's edition of Environmental News, including presentations by Washington State Ecology Director Jay Manning, Climate Solutions President KC Golden, Weyerhaeuser Vice President Sara Kendall and Marten Law Group attorney Michael Lufkin. A complete DVD copy of the program and program materials are available from the UW Law School by contacting the CLE office at .
Kicking off the program, Rep. Jay Inslee emphasized the speed with which Congress is moving toward enacting some form of national legislation to keep up with emerging state and regional climate change policies. Inslee and others emphasized the economic opportunities created by a shift away from coal and toward alternative fuels. Ecology Director Jay Manning mapped out a strategy for involving various stakeholder groups in the formulation of rules and/or policies implementing Governor Gregoire’s Executive Order No. 07-02 and the Western Regional Climate Action Initiative signed by five Western Governors last week. Local leaders, including KC Golden (Climate Solutions), Dennis McLerran (Puget Sound Clean Air Agency), Jim Lopez (King County) and Jill Simmons (City of Seattle) summarized some of actions taken by local governments in Puget Sound since 2000 to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and mapped out strategies for achieving further reductions, especially from the transportation sector.
Terry Tamminen, an advisor to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and former Director of California EPA addressed key provisions of California’s climate change legislation, including the first economy-wide cap on greenhouse gas emissions (AB 32) and state greenhouse gas performance standards (SB 1368). Devra Wang of the Natural Resources Defense Council spoke to some of the early action measures under discussion in California, including low carbon fuel standards, alternative fuel requirements, HFC emission reduction measures and diesel emission reduction measures. She also discussed interim rules for new and existing power plants. Diane Wittenberg, President of the California Climate Action Registry, explained the mechanics of carbon emission registration and trading. Angus Duncan, President of Portland-based Bonneville Environmental Foundation, discussed lessons learned from Kyoto and the European Union, and described voluntary CO2 markets in the US, such as the Chicago Climate Exchange. Sean Clark of the Climate Trust discussed the offset market, and gave examples of projects that his group uses to offset carbon emissions (including emissions associated with the UW conference, which were offset).
The afternoon session featured a spirited legal debate between two prominent lawyers, Seattle’s Steve Berman and Jeffrey Smith of Cravath, Swaine and Moore in New York. Berman presented a mock opening argument in a future shareholder suit against corporations who had failed to warn investors of the adverse impact of their carbon emissions on stock price. Smith gauged how well-settled principles of corporate securities law would address suits like the one Berman described.
Closing out the session, a group of corporate “early adapters” discussed how their companies are addressing the changing regulatory and economic landscape. Weyerhaeuser’s Sara Kendall described her company’s voluntary greenhouse gas reduction commitment. Alcoa’s Lee Califf discussed the United States Climate Action Partnership, a group of major corporations (including Alcoa, GE, Duke Energy and others) and environmental groups who recently called on Congress to establish a mandatory, national, economy-wide and market driven approach to climate protection. Scott Steinmetz of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Co., discussed how traditional tools of risk management (premium increases, market withdrawal, exclusionary language) and non-traditional insurance products (“green” building coverage) are being used by the insurance industry. Finally, David Hawk, former Energy Director of the J.R. Simplot Co., discussed possible sources of greenhouse gas reductions and credits in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors.
An editorial appearing the day after the conference in the Seattle Times called it “an opening volley … in the energy revolution,” and wrote that the Law School “could hardly pick a better topic for continuing education.” Environmental News will continue to follow developments in this area.
