"Taking the Legislative Temperature:" a Framework to Assess Climate Change Legislation
Writing at the Northwestern University Law Review's website, Victor B. Flatt of the University of Houston Law Center (who holds the A.L. O’Quinn Chair in Environmental Law, and also serves as director of the University's Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Center, the University of Houston Law Center) recently posted an article analyzing the goals of proposed federal policies addressing climate change. Particular questions he addresses include: " What Climate Change Effects are we Trying to Avoid?" and " Whom Are We Trying to Protect?" Professor Flatt also considers the viability of compensation as a legislative goal.
He notes:
Although there has been politicking on both sides of this issue, we have not yet defined a suitable framework for evaluating the legislation. In the case of climate change, it is particularly difficult to come up with a workable framework because of the scope and unusual complexity of the issue. In fact, because of its connection to so many different parts of the economy, the impact of climate change regulation is present in issues not necessarily characterized as climate change, such as automobile efficiency and other energy legislation.
. . . .
I will not attempt to devise a comprehensive framework with which to analyze the desirability of all legislation. But with respect to climate change, there are certain policy choices that must be debated. An analysis of these policy choices and their importance creates a common framework for discussion.
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