While the US government has specified targets for moving the United States to net zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and outlined procedures for achieving this goal, implementation takes place at state and local levels. At those levels there is considerable diversity, so much so that solutions at the national level are problematic. Global Peace Services, USA (GPS), an independent, Washington DC-based, NGO dedicated to searching for solutions to conflicts, views this situation as especially serious because of the outsized role that the United States plays. What the US does or does not do in this field affects not only the US but the whole world. You are invited to attend and participate.
The first step towards finding a solution to this problem is to understand how this diversity manifests itself. In this forum we will do this by focusing in depth on three situations that are emblematic of the overall problem: developments in Illinois, which, although it used to be a coal state, has recently passed legislation that aligns itself with national and international goals, the history of energy policy in West Virginia which has not done anything of the kind and seems determined to maintain the predominance of coal; and efforts on the part of several State Attorney Generals to use the federal court system to limit EPA’s ability to tell them what they can and cannot do so far as GHG emissions are concerned.
Jennifer Walling, Executive Director of the Illinois Environmental Center, will call on her many years of experience helping develop the legislation called the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA) that supports implementation of national policy.
James Van Nostrand, Director, Center for Energy & Sustainable Development, West Virginia University College of Law, will use his recently published book, The Coal Trap. How West Virginia was left behind in the Clean Energy Revolution as a basis for his presentation.
Howard Learner, Executive Director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center, who has been involved in many major environmental law cases, will discuss the Supreme Court decision in the W.Va. vs EPA case.
Ronald Ridker, an environmental economist and GPS board member, will serve as moderator and ensure that there is plenty of time for discussion and audience participation.
To join the forum, click on the following address (no preregistration is required): https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81190669180?pwd=b3hMWFRZZlJpbTF6NHlVN0dHRFVBQT09.
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