Environment & Energy

Our planet faces unprecedented environmental challenges, threatening ecosystems, species, coastal communities, and all too often, human life itself. Heading the list of threats is climate change, with its promise of drastic environmental, economic, and cultural upheaval. But we also face persistent problems of air and water pollution, toxic wastes, cleaning up the Chesapeake Bay and other Great Waters, and protecting natural resources and wildlife.

Central to the environmental health of the nation and the planet is decreasing our dependence on energy derived from burning fossil fuels. Our continued reliance on these sources is literally endangering the planet's ability to sustain life as we know it. Yet many policymakers, with the financial and rhetorical support of energy companies bent on making a profit at the cost of the planet's health, continue to resist desperately needed reforms. Read about CPR’s work protecting the environment in reports, testimony, op-eds and more. Use the search box to narrow the list.

Mercury and the DEQ: trading our health for economic gain

Mercury and the DEQ: trading our health for economic gain, by Daniel Rohlf

Type: Op-Eds (Sept. 5, 2009)
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Author(s): Dan Rohlf

Comments on Endangered Species Act Consultation Rules

Comments on Endangered Species Act Consultation Rules, supporting withdrawal of Bush administration "midnight rule" weakening enforcement

Type: Letters to Agencies (Aug. 3, 2009)
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Author(s): Mary Jane Angelo, Holly Doremus, Dan Rohlf, James Goodwin

CPR Perspective: Carbon Capture and Geologic Sequestration

Carbon Capture and Geologic Sequestration involves capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from power generation and industrial processes, transporting the CO2 to an area with suitable geology, and injecting it into deep geologic formations, sequestering the CO2 underground for hundreds to thousands of years. Geological formations suitable for CO2 sequestration include oil and gas fields, saline aquifers, and deep coal seams. The goal is to avoid the atmospheric release of CO2 by sequestering the captured CO2 emissions approximately one kilometer underground.

Type: Reports (July 1, 2009)
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Author(s): Alexandra Klass

CPR Perspective: Environmental Justice and Climate Change: Incorporating Environmental Justice into Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Programs

A well-designed cap-and-trade program could increase incentives for alternative energy and for new emissions-reduction technology. Traditional regulations generally take a facility’s basic production technology as a given and then impose rate-based emission reduction requirements in light of that production technology. In contrast, a cap-and-trade program would put a price on carbon and, if the price signal is successful, would create an ongoing incentive to reduce overall emissions. An effective trading program could give facilities incentives to use less carbon-intensive energy sources and production technologies, not simply reduce end-of-the-stack emissions to comply with a set standard.

Type: Reports (July 1, 2009)
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Author(s): Alice Kaswan