CleanLaw

Robin Just speaks with Caitlin McCoy about developments in the Keystone XL permitting process, now that President Trump has issued both a new permit for the pipeline and two new Executive Orders that relate to pipelines, and other infrastructure. Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-17-Robin-Caitlin-Keystone.pdf

Caitlin McCoy speaks with Sarah Light, Assistant Professor of Legal Studies and Business Ethics at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania about her article, Regulatory Horcruxes, in which she describes how regulatory programs can be split up among federal agencies, state agencies, and even private actors, and how that fragmentation can insulate programs from future deregulatory actions. Read Prof. Light’s article in the Duke Law Journal here https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3123814 Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-16-Caitlin-Sarah-Light-Horcruxes.pdf

How can business law better incentivize companies to take environmental consequences into account? In her latest article, Wharton Prof. Sarah Light, asks this question. EELP Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra spoke with her about her ideas. Read Prof. Light’s full article in the Stanford Law Review here https://www.stanfordlawreview.org/print/article/the-law-of-the-corporation-as-environmental-law/ Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/CleanLaw-15-Hana-Sarah-Light-Enviro-Business-Law.pdf

When we spoke with Kathy Fallon Lambert about the science that should be underpinning the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the Clean Power Plan replacement, she told us why scientists should not be afraid to do work that is "usable, useful, and used." So here's a ten-minute crash course on the benefits of policy-relevant science. Enjoy!

Joe Goffman speaks with Kathy Fallon Lambert of the Harvard School of Public Health about her recent studies, with a team of many other scientists, that highlight overlooked potential public health impacts of EPA’s proposed changes to the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards and the Clean Power Plan/Affordable Clean Energy Rule (if you want to go straight to the CPP/ACE discussion go to 27:15). Links to the mentioned studies here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/kathy-fallon-lambert-and-joe-goffman-discuss-mats-and-ace/ Transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Fallon-Lambert-and-Goffman-scrpt.pdf

With Gina McCarthy, Janet McCabe and Joe Goffman led the team that developed the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards. Hear them discuss the effects of a new proposal to remove the legal foundation of the rule, and what might happen next. Janet's recent paper on this is here https://www.jurist.org/commentary/2019/02/janet-mccabe-epa-mats-revision/ and our recent analysis of the rollback is here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/mats-cost-benefit-analysis-and-the-appropriate-and-necessary-finding/ Full transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw-12-Joe-Janet-MATS-rollbacks.pdf

Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter for the New York Times Eric Lipton speaks with Climate, Clean Air, & Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy about his recent special report, “This is Our Reality Now,” covering the environmental and public health impacts of the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda in four communities across the country. See the special report here https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/12/26/us/politics/donald-trump-environmental-regulation.html Full transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw-11-Caitlin-Lipton-NYT-degreg-coverage.pdf

Our Climate, Clean Air, & Energy Fellow Caitlin McCoy speaks with Sarah Winner, Staff Attorney of the Center for Coalfield Justice and Interim Executive Director of the Three Rivers Waterkeeper, about the proposed Clean Water Act rule on the revised definition of “Waters of the United States” and the potential implications of the new rule for stream and wetland protection. Full transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw-10-Caitlin-Winner-WOTUS.pdf

Staff Attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with our Executive Director Joe Goffman about the environmental legacy of George H. W. Bush. Joe shares his unique insider’s view as he reflects on one of the greatest contributions any president has made to public health and the environment. Full transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw-9-Hana-Joe-George-Bush.pdf

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe interviews Jesse Jenkins, a post-doctoral fellow at the Harvard University Center for the Environment. Ari and Jesse discuss fundamental principles of electricity market design and whether these principles will continue to apply to a low-carbon grid with high levels of wind and solar. Visit our website at https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/ Full transcript available here https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/CleanLaw-8-Ari-Jesse-Jenkins-Renewables-and-Electricy-Mkts.pdf