International Priorities

Last week I attended an international seminar put on by Baker and McKenzie attorneys.  This firm has lawyers all over the globe.
There were some interesting take aways.  The global recession has impacted every country.  Many thought that a slow down in adopting new environmental laws, particularly on climate change, would then follow.  That seems logical [...]

Alberta’s Oil Sands, what do you know about them?

The oil sands in northern Alberta, Canada, provide a rich source of crude oil.  The oil lies close to the surface and can be extracted by surface mining or in situ extraction.  This provides a huge source of the United States’ oil, plus being a huge Canadian industry.  But it is not without controversy.  Critics [...]

Carbon Credits, what can we learn from Europe?

Europe had had a cap and trade system for four years.  The economic downturn has made the carbon credits less valuable, which might be fulfilling the law of unintended consequences which we so often see in environmental law (a law meant to accomplish a “good thing” ends up having another side effect that is contrary).  [...]

Canada Climate Change Legislation

In the absence of federal legislation in both the United States and Canada, the states and provinces have been forming regional groupings and “agreeing” to impose local legislation by certain target dates.  This has taken the form of a northeast initiative, midwest initiative and western initiative.  If the United States takes federal action before the [...]