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New and Notable Additions

LPDD July Newsletter

New External Resources

modelclimatelaws.org is being continually updated with new, external legal resources. Below is a selection of recently added resources:

  • Model Municipal Zoning Ordinance on Community Composting: This new model, prepared and published by NRDC and ELI, is a template ordinance that can be adapted by a municipality to establish community composting as a permissible land use. The model provides language addressing five basic zoning district categories: commercial and industrial (in which community composting is zoned by right as a primary use); agricultural (by right as an accessory use); and residential and mixed use (conditional use). The model also sets specific standards that are necessary to obtain a conditional use permit and lays out other relevant provisions to regulate community composting as a land use, such as prohibited feedstocks. Where applicable, the model also requires that community composting be included in a municipality’s comprehensive or master plan.
  • New York and New Jersey Eye Warehouse Emissions: In recent days, both New York and New Jersey have advanced legislation aimed at cleaning up warehouse operations, as the growing sector contributes steadily more to local air pollution and climate change. New York's proposed Clean Deliveries Act directs the state to review emissions related to large warehouses and requires warehouse operators to choose from an array of actions to minimize pollution. The legislation commissions a review of emissions from all e-commerce warehouses exceeding 50,000 square feet, which must then adopt an air emissions reduction and mitigation plan. Such a plan may rely on acquiring zero-emission vehicles and charging infrastructure, installing solar panels and/or batteries on-site, alternative transportation modes, or the payment of additional fees. At the time of this writing, the Clean Deliveries Act has passed the State Senate is waiting for a vote in the Assembly .... Meanwhile, New Jersey's recently introduced S3546 takes a similar tack, forcing owners of warehouses larger than 50,000 square feet to reduce emissions via similar methods, including purchasing zero-emission trucks, using zero-emission forklifts and other equipment, installing solar generators and shifting some loads from trucks to light vehicles or ferries.
  • Denmark sets first carbon tax on livestock: Denmark is set to become the first nation to impose a greenhouse gas tax specifically on livestock emissions. In 2030, a fee of 300 Danish crowns ($43.60 USD) will be charged to farmers per ton of CO2-e created by livestock. The fee is set to rise to 750 crowns ($109 USD) by 2035. Deductions built into the tax scheme will, however, make the effective tax rate just less than half of these sticker prices. In the first two years of the tax, proceeds will be returned as a transition support pool to help the green transition of the industry. Handling of these proceeds will be revisited in 2032.
  • ADVANCE Act Pushes Nuclear Permitting Forward: The Accelerating Deployment of Versatile, Advanced Nuclear for Clean Energy Act ("ADVANCE Act") was passed by Congress in June as part of the Fire Grants and Safety Act. The ADVANCE Act aims to streamline the permitting process for advanced reactors, grow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s workforce, promote the development of fusion energy technology and improve the process for exporting nuclear technologies to international markets, among other priorities. The bill includes a provision to broaden the scope of the NRC’s mission statement to ensure licensing does “not unnecessarily limit” the benefits of nuclear energy to society.
  • Minnesota's Energy Permitting Reform: The Minnesota Energy Infrastructure Permitting Act, signed in May, consolidates and reforms Minnesota’s review and permitting process for energy generation, storage, and transmission projects. Broadly speaking, the legislation overhauls Minnesota’s energy infrastructure permitting processes, consolidating previously distinct pathways, streamlining review timelines, and modernizing the state’s environmental review. It also imposes congestion study and reporting requirements on entities that own more than 750 miles of transmission lines in Minnesota, and directs the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to issue a standard order that governs the upgrade process for congested circuits.
  • Michigan Law Protecting Distributed Energy from HOAs:  A Michigan law passed in June will prohibit HOAs in the state from banning rooftop solar and other energy-efficiency updates, like heat pumps, electric vehicle chargers, and even clotheslines. Under the law, homeowners will no longer be required to seek approval from their HOA before getting solar. HOAs will be required to adopt a solar energy policy explicitly stating any standards they wish to impose -- but those standards can’t reduce the electricity production of the system by more than 10 percent or raise the total cost of an installation by more than $1,000.
  • Colorado Funds Transit with New Fees: Colorado recently enacted two laws to fund greater transit options in the state: SB 24-230 establishes a new fee on oil and gas production to pay for increased transit service across the state, while SB 24-184 sets a new fee on rental cars to fund the construction of long-distance passenger rail throughout the state.

Spotlight on Equity: In May, R2E2 published a guide, Residential Retrofits for Energy Equity Playbook, designed as a tool for program administrators at community-based organizations and government offices seeking to establish, improve, or expand building energy upgrade programs for low- and moderate-income housing in their communities. The Playbook aims to help ensure that such programs are community led, easy to use, and able to accelerate equitable decarbonization across the country.

LPDD at Upcoming State Legislative Conferences

Building on our success at last year's National Conference of State Legislators, this year the LPDD project will be tabling at both the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators and the National Conference of State Legislators, each occurring in early August in Louisville, Kentucky. We will come armed with numerous examples of LPDD resources that can help legislators understand their options for reducing climate pollution in their states, and continue building the national network of legislators using our materials to inform their decarbonization efforts. If you'll be attending either of these conferences and would like to be in touch, send us an email.

In the News

Sometimes, we come across news stories that highlight the value of the resources we already promote at modelclimatelaws.org. Here are a few from the last month:

Get Involved!

Not sure how to support our work? Check out our Get Involved page to see the many avenues by which lawyers can join us, and get in contact!

This update highlights and summarizes recent additions to the Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization (LPDD) website, which houses actual and model laws addressing the causes of climate change in the United States.

The Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization Model Law Project (LPDD-MLP) is a pro bono effort to draft model laws for use by legislators at the federal, state and local levels to support their efforts to achieve deep reductions in fossil fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The project is based on recommendations from the groundbreaking book Legal Pathways to Deep Decarbonization in the United States (Michael Gerrard and John C. Dernbach, eds., 2019). The work is supported by Columbia University's Sabin Center for Climate Change Law and Widener University Commonwealth Law School’s Environmental Law and Sustainability Center. Dozens of law firms and individual lawyers are contributing to this pro-bono effort as drafters, peer reviewers or in reaching out to policymakers.

Our website, modelclimatelaws.org, contains over 80 model laws that are a starting place for discussion and collaboration among elected officials, non-profit groups, and the private sector for enabling the U.S. to address climate change by reducing U.S. GHG emissions to zero by 2050 or earlier. The site includes several Top 10 lists for some of the key categories, like electric vehicles, PUC’s, buildings and other topics as a short-hand introduction. In addition, the site references hundreds of other actions that states and other governmental bodies have taken to move towards decarbonization more rapidly. By providing policymakers the tools to achieve deep decarbonization, the Project will help achieve a restructuring of the energy economy, thus alleviating the worst effects of climate change, which are disproportionately suffered by marginalized communities, while providing such positive benefits as economic security, social equity, and environmental justice (EJ).

Please contact us to talk about getting involved in drafting and peer reviewing legislation, to provide suggestions and feedback on the drafts and to talk about how we can help you support your climate change efforts.

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