Best HLS Environmental Podcasts (2025)

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Ep108—What Science and the Law Say about EPA’s Authority to Regulate GHGs 53:00

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1M ago53:00

53:00

EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Solomon Hsiang, Professor of Global Environmental Policy at the Stanford Doerr School of Sustainability. They speak about EPA's recent proposal to repeal the agency's 2009 Endangerment Finding, and dig into the legal and scientifi…

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Ep107—Trump's Move to Kill the Clean Air Act's Climate Authority, Forever 1:05:47

2M ago1:05:47

1:05:47

In this special crossover episode of CleanLaw and Shift Key, Heatmap's weekly podcast on decarbonization and the shift away from fossil fuels, EELP’s Founding Director Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Shift Key hosts Robinson Meyer, the Founding Executive Editor of Heatmap News, and Jesse Jenkins, Professor of Energy Systems Engineering at Prince…

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EP106—Bipartisan Reflections on EPA’s Past, Present, and Future (Part II) 56:34

2M ago56:34

56:34

In the second of this two-part series, EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with William Reilly, EPA Administrator under President George H.W. Bush, and Christine Todd Whitman, EPA Administrator under President George W. Bush. They discuss their time at EPA including efforts to simultaneously advance environmental …

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EP105—Bipartisan Reflections on EPA’s Past, Present, and Future (Part I) 50:55

2M ago50:55

50:55

In the first of this two-part series, EELP's Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator under President Obama and the White House National Climate Advisor under President Biden. They discuss Gina's time at EPA, including the agency's mission to safeguard public health and the environment th…

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EP104—Breaking Down Recent Changes to NEPA from Agencies, Congress, and the Courts 44:53

2M ago44:53

44:53

EELP attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Andrew Mergen, faculty director of Harvard’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about the latest updates to the National Environmental Policy Act, including new agency implementing procedures, the Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Eagle County, and amendments included in the One Big Beautifu…

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EP103—The Future of Environmental Justice with MA AG Andrea Campbell and Vernice Miller-Travis 53:07

5M ago53:07

53:07

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with the Attorney General of Massachusetts, Andrea Joy Campbell, and Vernice Miller-Travis, Executive Vice President and Environmental Justice Lead at the Metropolitan Group. They discuss the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle federal environmental justice and equity programs, funding, and pri…

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Ep102—Unpacking the White House’s Legal Strategy for Attacking Environmental Protection 53:43

5M ago53:43

53:43

In this episode, EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Carrie Jenks, EELP's executive director and Ari Peskoe, director of EELP's Electricity Law Initiative. They discuss President Trump's most recent executive orders on climate, energy, and the environment and what they are watching for as agencies begin to impl…

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Ep 101—Who Will Pay for Data Centers’ Massive Power Bills? It’s Probably You. 36:47

6M ago36:47

36:47

Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe and EELP Fellow Eliza Martin discuss their new paper, Extracting Profits from the Public: How Utility Ratepayers are Paying for Big Tech Power. As Amazon, Google, Meta, and other technology companies try to secure electricity for their new data centers, electric utilities are expanding their systems to…

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Ep 100—Trump’s Bold Reversal on Energy and Climate Policy: ‘It’s a Lot’ 59:21

8M ago59:21

59:21

EELP founding director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus, Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, and Carrie Jenks, executive director of the Environmental and Energy Law Program. They discuss the Trump administration’s actions to date on climate, en…

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Ep 99—Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Part II: Environmental Justice Lawyering in Practice 42:12

10M ago42:12

42:12

EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with speaks with Debbie Chizewer and Nick Leonard about environmental justice lawyering, including leveraging Title VI of the Civil Rights Act on behalf of frontline communities. Debbie Chizewer is a managing attorney with Earthjustice based in Chicago, where she leads the organization's Midwest litiga…

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Ep 98—60 Years of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Part 1: LA v EPA 39:31

11M ago39:31

39:31

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Olatunde Johnson, the Ruth Bader Ginsburg Professor of Law at Columbia Law School. Professor Johnson and Hannah discuss the history and evolution of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, a crucial legal tool for the environmental justice movement. Earlier this year, a federal judge blocked EPA and the…

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Monumental Decisions: The Antiquities Act and Presidential Authority 45:27

1y ago45:27

45:27

EELP senior staff attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Andy Mergen, Faculty Director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Andy and Sara discuss the origin and evolution of presidential authority to de…

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Ep 96—Suite of Supreme Court Decisions Undermine Administrative Law 58:42

1y ago58:42

58:42

In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor Jody Freeman speaks with Andy Mergen, faculty director of the Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic at Harvard Law School and former chief of the Appellate Section of the Environment & Natural Resources Division at the Department of Justice. Jody and Andy break down what they ca…

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Ep 95—The Road to Clean Cars and Clean Air: California's Pivotal Role 52:45

1+ y ago52:45

52:45

California has had a pivotal role in creating US clean car and clean air regulations under multiple administrations. In this episode, EELP Founding Director and Harvard Law Professor, Jody Freeman, speaks with Mary Nichols, former Chair of the California Air Resources Board and California's Secretary for Natural Resources, as well as former Assista…

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Ep 94—FERC’s New Approach to Improving Transmission Investment, Order No. 1920 59:09

1+ y ago59:09

59:09

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Claire Wayner, senior associate at RMI's Carbon-Free Electricity program, and Casey Baker senior program manager at GridLab. They discuss how the utility industry thinks about building new high-voltage transmission lines and how FERC Order No. 1920 attempts to push the industry to …

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Ep 93 — Wicked Resilient: Climate Adaptation in Massachusetts 54:29

1+ y ago54:29

54:29

Hannah Perls, EELP Senior Staff Attorney, and Deanna Moran, vice president of healthy and resilient communities at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston, walk through some of the surprising ways that law and policy drive adaptation decisions in Massachusetts and beyond, including state and local building codes, design standards and risk disclos…

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Ep 92 — The Endangered Species Act at 50: Potent Statute, Risky Future 46:26

1+ y ago46:26

46:26

The Endangered Species Act, which turned 50 years old on December 28, 2023, has been described as one of the most potent environmental law statutes ever enacted. Harvard Law Professor Richard Lazarus and Andy Mergen, director of the Harvard Law Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, discuss the initial bipartisan support for the act, the Supre…

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Ep 91—Global and US Methane Initiatives 1:01:17

1+ y ago1:01:17

1:01:17

In this episode Harvard Law professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Bjorn Otto Sverdrup, Chair of the Oil and Gas Climate Initiative’s Oil and Gas Executive Committee, Riley Duren, CEO and Founder of Carbon Mapper, Peter Zalzal Distinguished Counsel and Associate Vice President of Clean Air Strategies at Environmental Defen…

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Ep 90—Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate’s Control, Ari Peskoe & Hannah Dobie 47:58

2y ago47:58

47:58

Ari Peskoe, director of our Electricity Law Initiative, speaks with Staff Attorney Hannah Dobie about Ari’s new article about power sector governance, Replacing the Utility Transmission Syndicate’s Control. They discuss how FERC’s legal authority shapes regional governance, how independent decisionmaking by Regional Transmission Organizations is co…

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Ep 89—3 lawsuits on auto emissions, 1 UAW strike, and the EV transition 56:36

2y ago56:36

56:36

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington & Burling and Jack Ewing, a New York Times business reporter who writes about the auto industry and electric vehicles. Jody, Kevin, and Jack discuss the three cases currently before the D.C. Circuit about how agencies se…

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Ep 88: Loper Bright and the fate of Chevron with Jody Freeman and Andy Mergen 1:05:27

2y ago1:05:27

1:05:27

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s founding director Jody Freeman, speaks with Andy Mergen, director of Harvard Law’s Emmett Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, about a case the US Supreme Court will hear this fall, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, in which petitioners have asked the Court to overrule the Chevron doctrine — a legal doctrine tha…

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Ep 87: Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm 48:02

2+ y ago48:02

48:02

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hannah Perls talks with Susan Crawford, the John A. Riley clinical professor at Harvard Law School, and Michelle Mapp, an Equal Justice Works law fellow at the ACLU of South Carolina and former CEO of the South Carolina Community Loan Fund, about Susan's most recent book, Charleston: Race, Water, and the Coming Storm.Read…

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Ep. 86: Sackett v. EPA Decision — What the Justices Said and What this Means for Water 1:02:40

2+ y ago1:02:40

1:02:40

Harvard Law School Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus and University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor of Law Steph Tai about the US Supreme Court’s recent decision in Sackett v. EPA.They discuss how the Court’s reliance on…

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Ep 85: Quick Take — The Debt Ceiling Bill and NEPA Permitting Reform 19:44

2+ y ago19:44

19:44

EELP Senior Staff Attorney Hanna Perls, Executive Director Carrie Jenks, and Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe break down recent changes to federal permitting passed as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, aka the debt ceiling bill, which President Biden signed on June 3rd.Transcript: https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2…

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Ep 84: Quick Take — Good News for Clean Energy from the Supreme Court w/ Ari Peskoe and Carrie Jenks 20:38

2+ y ago20:38

20:38

Executive Director Carrie Jenks and EELP’s Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe discuss the Supreme Court’s recent National Pork Producers Council v. Ross decision. Ari explains how this case about a California law regulating sales of pork products will help insulate state clean energy laws from certain types of legal challenges.Transcrip…

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Ep 83: EPA's Proposed Power Sector Rules w/ Jody Freeman, Jay Duffy, Kevin Poloncarz, Carrie Jenks 1:06:31

2+ y ago1:06:31

1:06:31

EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and EELP's executive director, Carrie Jenks speak again with Jay Duffy, litigation director at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Jody, Jay, and Kevin recently joined CleanLaw to discuss the Supreme …

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Ep 82: Equitable Disaster Insurance & Climate Change w/Hannah Perls, Carolyn Kousky, & Sean Hecht 47:22

2+ y ago47:22

47:22

EELP senior staff attorney Hannah Perls speaks with Dr. Carolyn Kousky, associate vice president for economics and policy at the Environmental Defense Fund, and Sean Hecht, who is the managing attorney of Earth Justice's California Regional Office. They discuss the past, present, and future of disaster insurance, including the role that governments…

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Ep 81: Journey to the Electrification of the Transportation Sector w/Jody Freeman and Chet France 59:10

2+ y ago59:10

59:10

Harvard Law Professor and EELP's Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, a former senior executive at EPA who oversaw the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks in US history. Jody and Chet analyze EPA's most recent proposal to update greenhouse gas emissio…

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Ep 80: The Making of Environmental Law with Richard Lazarus and Carrie Jenks 21:30

2+ y ago21:30

21:30

Executive Director Carrie Jenks speaks with Harvard Law School Professor Richard Lazarus about his recently released book, The Making of Environmental Law, Second Edition. In this long-awaited update, Professor Lazarus describes how environmental law has developed over the last two decades and explores new challenges for the field, including the sh…

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Ep 79: The Good Neighbor Plan for Interstate Ozone Pollution with Carrie Jenks and Hannah Dobie 20:50

2+ y ago20:50

20:50

Carrie Jenks and Hannah Oakes Dobie talk about EPA’s latest regulation to address interstate ozone pollution, the “Good Neighbor Plan.” They discuss how the rule’s new design features will refine EPA’s longstanding air transport program to require power plants to reduce smog-forming pollutants. You can read more about the 2023 “good neighbor plan” …

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Ep 78—Quick Take: Legal issues from the East Palestine Train Derailment 9:16

2+ y ago9:16

9:16

Senior Staff Attorney Sara Dewey speaks with Hannah Perls talk about the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. They discuss the regulatory and legal implications of the derailment, including who is in charge of the response and the different roles that federal agencies play. They also discuss the cleanup order issued by EPA and possible federal…

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Ep 77—Quick Take: The Dakota Access Pipeline with Hannah Perls and Carrie Jenks 9:24

2+ y ago9:24

9:24

In our first CleanLaw Quick Take*, our Executive Director Carrie Jenks and Staff Attorney Hannah Perls walk through the latest updates on the Dakota Access Pipeline. Hannah explains how the US Army Corps of Engineers' announcement about its upcoming draft environmental impact statement might affect the future of the pipeline, and how litigation bet…

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Ep 76—BSEE’s Proposed Offshore Oil Drilling Safety Regulations with Lowry Yankwich and Chris Eaton 34:01

2+ y ago34:01

34:01

Recent HLS graduate Lowry Yankwich speaks with Earthjustice attorney Chris Eaton about the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement's proposed Blowout Preventer Systems and Well Control Revisions rule for oil and gas operations in the Outer Continental Shelf. This rule is intended to protect workers and prevent oil spills, and is part of the …

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Ep 75—EPA’s Methane Regulations with Carrie Jenks, Kyle Danish, and Dan Zimmerle 32:35

2+ y ago32:35

32:35

Carrie Jenks, our executive director, speaks with Kyle Danish, a partner at Van Ness Feldman, and Dan Zimmerle, the director of the Methane Emissions Program at Colorado State University. They discuss EPA's recently released supplemental proposal to reduce methane emissions from the oil and natural gas sector, and how the regulatory framework EPA h…

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Ep 74—Oregon's Clean Fuel Standards with Abby Husselbee and Cory-Ann Wind. Album: CleanLaw 34:49

3y ago34:49

34:49

EELP Legal Fellow Abby Husselbee speaks with Cory-Ann Wind, the Program Manager of Oregon’s Clean Fuels Program in the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. Cory has worked for ODEQ for over 29 years, the last 12 in fuels, transportation, and climate policy. Abby and Cory discuss clean fuel standards and their benefits, Oregon’s program and h…

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73—Current Challenges and Opportunities for Electric Transmission, with Ari Peskoe and Hannah Oakes 35:58

3y ago35:58

35:58

Director of our Electricity Law Initiative Ari Peskoe spoke with Staff Attorney Hannah Oakes about electric transmission regulation and how it has disincentivized regional transmission build out. They discuss Ari’s work in recent FERC transmission proceedings, and how Congress, states, and utilities can help catalyze transmission development to ena…

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72-Legislating Environmental Justice in New York with Prof. Rebecca Bratspies and Hannah Perls 45:06

3y ago45:06

45:06

Hannah Perls speaks with Professor Rebecca Bratspies at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law and founding Director of the Center for Urban Environmental Reform, which works with community groups seeking to obtain full and meaningful participation in environmental decision-making. They discuss recent environmental justice legislation…

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71-Corporate Net Zero Committments: GE’s Roger Martella speaks with Lowry Yankwich 42:59

3y ago42:59

42:59

Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of HLS, speaks with Roger Martella, GE's Chief Sustainability Officer. They discuss GE’s recent sustainability commitments and how the company is tackling its operational and downstream emissions across the aviation, public health, and power sectors.A note for our listeners – this episode was recorded before Congre…

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70-IRA and its Clean Energy Implications with Jody Freeman and Greg Dotson 52:50

3y ago52:50

52:50

Harvard Law Professor and EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Greg Dotson, an associate professor at the University of Oregon School of Law and recent Democratic chief counsel to the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. Jody and Greg discuss the climate and clean ene…

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69-WV v. EPA Pt 2: Implications for Regulating the Power Sector J. Freeman, K. Poloncarz, & J. Duffy 44:03

3y ago44:03

44:03

EELP’s Founding Director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Jay Duffy, an attorney at Clean Air Task Force, and Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling, about what the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA means for their clients and the potential implications for red…

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68-WV v EPA Pt 1: Breaking Down the Court’s Opinion: Jody Freeman, Richard Lazarus, and Carrie Jenks 51:10

3y ago51:10

51:10

Professor Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, Professor Richard Lazarus, and EELP Executive Director Carrie Jenks discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia v. EPA. They break down the majority decision, concurrence, and dissent, and discuss how the major questions doctrine could affect EPA regulations ad…

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67-Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Emissions and West Virginia v. EPA, What's Next? Freeman and Lazarus 57:03

3+ y ago57:03

57:03

Professors Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, and Professor Richard Lazarus discuss the Supreme Court case West Virginia v. EPA. The Court's decision in this case will address the scope of EPA's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector, potentially impacting future EPA rules.Transctipt: …

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66-Fixing the National Flood Insurance Program with Joel Scata and Hannah Perls 39:44

3+ y ago39:44

39:44

EELP Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Joel Scata, a Water and Climate Attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council, where he works on clean water and climate change adaptation policy solutions. They discuss the ins and outs of the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), which, for the past fifty years, has helped define floodplain develo…

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65—Clean Car Rules with Jody Freeman and Chet France 59:43

3+ y ago59:43

59:43

Our founding director Jody Freeman, who is also an independent director of ConocoPhillips, speaks with Chet France, who served as a senior executive at EPA and led the development of vehicle pollution standards at the agency, including overseeing, during the Obama administration, the first national greenhouse gas standards for cars and trucks. They…

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64—South Fork Wind Farm and Fisheries Management with Lowry Yankwich and Doug Christel 53:16

3+ y ago53:16

53:16

Lowry Yankwich, a recent graduate of Harvard Law, speaks with Doug Christel, policy analyst for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Greater Atlantic Regional Fisheries Office. They discuss the approval of the South Fork Wind Project, which is only the second commercial-scale offshore wind project to be approved in federal waters. …

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63—EPA's Proposed Methane Rules with Kate Konschnik and Carrie Jenks 40:34

4y ago40:34

40:34

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kate Konschnik of Duke University about EPA’s recently proposed methane rules for new and existing oil and natural gas sources. They discuss some of the input EPA is seeking from stakeholders related to advanced technologies and how regulations could enable their deployment to achieve emission reducti…

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62-How Does Climate Change Relate to Market Risk? With Hana Vizcarra and Madison Condon 29:16

4y ago29:16

29:16

Our staff attorney Hana Vizcarra speaks with Madison Condon, associate professor of law at Boston University who studies how climate change relates to corporate governance, market risk, and regulation. They discuss her research on how the market has failed to properly price climate risk and how the Securities and Exchange Commission might address t…

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61-Petitions to the Supreme Court of the decision vacating ACE with Kevin Poloncarz and Carrie Jenks 39:06

4y ago39:06

39:06

Our executive director Carrie Jenks speaks with Kevin Poloncarz, a partner at the law firm Covington and Burling. Kevin co-chairs the firm’s Environmental and Energy Practice Group, Energy Industry Group, and ESG Practice. Kevin and Carrie discuss what is at stake with the appeals to the Supreme Court of the D.C. Circuit decision to vacate the Trum…

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60-A Human Rights View of Climate Change, Aminta Ossom and Hannah Perls 46:07

4y ago46:07

46:07

Legal Fellow Hannah Perls speaks with Aminta Ossom, a Clinical Instructor at Harvard Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, where she focuses on equality, inclusion, and economic and social rights. They discuss how looking at environmental problems through a human rights lens can provide new insights and legal strategies for addressing environmen…

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59-Business Models for Distributed Energy Resources with Brandon Smithwood and Ari Peskoe 46:51

4y ago46:51

46:51

Our Electricity Law Initiative Director Ari Peskoe speaks with Brandon Smithwood, Senior Director of Policy at Dimension Renewable Energy. They talk about business models for development of small-scale renewable energy and storage systems. Please see here for a transcript of this episode https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Clean…