Power Flows: Understanding the Barriers to Electricity Transmission, with Catherine Hausman

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Andrew Waxman, an assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin, about carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), a technology that involves the capture and storage or reuse of carbon dioxide. Waxman discusses the application of CCUS technology for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and industrial facilities; the importance of the technology for achieving emissions-reduction goals; and the potential effects of the technology on local air pollution, particularly in communities along the US Gulf Coast. References and recommendations: “What are the likely air pollution impacts of carbon capture and storage?” by Andrew Waxman, HR Huber-Rodriquez, and Sheila M. Olmstead; https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4590320 “Special Report on Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage: CCUS in Clean Energy Transitions” from the International Energy Agency; https://www.iea.org/reports/ccus-in-clean-energy-transitions “City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America’s Highways” by Megan Kimble; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/711708/city-limits-by-megan-kimble/

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Amanda Giang, an assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, about considering equity in computational models of systems that are at the interface of people and the environment. Giang discusses the steps involved in adapting the models; weighing the benefits of granular, individualized data against considerations of personal privacy; the limitations of modeling and quantitative analysis; and the challenges of communicating with decisionmakers about the complexity and uncertainty of model results. References and recommendations: “Equity and modeling in sustainability science: Examples and opportunities throughout the process” by Amanda Giang, Morgan R. Edwards, Sarah M. Fletcher, Rivkah Gardner-Frolick, Rowenna Gryba, Jean-Denis Mathias, Camille Venier-Cambron, John M. Anderies, Emily Berglund, Sanya Carley, Jacob Shimkus Erickson, Emily Grubert, Antonia Hadjimichael, Jason Hill, Erin Mayfield, Destenie Nock, Kimberly Kivvaq Pikok, Rebecca K. Saari, Mateo Samudio Lezcano, Afreen Siddiqi, Jennifer B. Skerker, and Christopher W. Tessum; https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2215688121 “Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands” by Kate Beaton; https://drawnandquarterly.com/books/ducks/

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Catherine Hausman, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, about the costs of not building new electricity transmission lines, particularly in the Midwestern United States. Hausman discusses the benefits of additional electricity transmission for consumer electricity prices, emissions reductions, and electrification of the economy; the companies that may gain or lose revenue if more transmission is built; and how companies that stand to lose revenue from more transmission are preventing the construction of new transmission. References and recommendations: “Power Flows: Transmission Lines, Allocative Efficiency, and Corporate Profits” by Catherine Hausman; https://www.nber.org/papers/w32091 “Transmission Impossible? Prospects for Decarbonizing the US Grid” by Lucas W. Davis, Catherine Hausman, and Nancy L. Rose; https://www.nber.org/papers/w31377 “Dog Man” books; https://pilkey.com/series/dog-man “Golden Hill: A Novel of Old New York” by Francis Spufford; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Golden-Hill/Francis-Spufford/9781501163883 “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir; https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/611060/project-hail-mary-by-andy-weir/

In this week’s episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Daniel Farber, a professor of law at the University of California, Berkeley, about Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, a Supreme Court case decided earlier this summer that overturned decades of precedent set under a 1984 case that itself led to a legal principle, or doctrine, that people call the Chevron deference. The Chevron deference is a long-standing legal precedent that required courts to defer to the application of laws as interpreted by government agencies if the relevant statute was ambiguous and if the interpretation made by the agency was reasonable. Farber discusses the history of the Chevron deference, the legal arguments that the current Supreme Court justices asserted in the decision that overturned Chevron, and the implications of this decision for future environmental regulation and policymaking. References and recommendations: “Après Chevron, Judges Rule” blog post by Alan Krupnick, Joshua Linn, and Nathan Richardson; https://www.resources.org/common-resources/apres-chevron-judges-rule/ “The Regulatory Review” blog; https://www.theregreview.org/ “Legal Planet” blog; https://legal-planet.org/

This week, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from the Resources Radio archive while the team is on a break through the rest of August. We’ll be back in September with new episodes; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in. In this week’s episode rerun, host Margaret Walls talks with John D. Leshy, an emeritus professor at the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, about the history of public lands in the United States. Leshy discusses the legislation that enabled the creation and conservation of public lands, common myths about public lands, and how the government may open up public lands for mining or clean energy projects in the future. References and recommendations: “Our Common Ground: A History of America’s Public Lands” by John D. Leshy; https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300235784/our-common-ground/ “The Mining Law: A Study in Perpetual Motion” by John D. Leshy; https://www.routledge.com/The-Mining-Law-A-Study-in-Perpetual-Motion/Leshy/p/book/9781138951877 “End of the Megafauna: The Fate of the World’s Hugest, Fiercest, and Strangest Animals” by Ross D. E. MacPhee; https://wwnorton.com/books/End-of-the-Megafauna/

This week, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from the Resources Radio archive while the team is on a break through the rest of August. We’ll be back in September with new episodes; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in. In this week’s episode rerun, host Kristin Hayes talks with Jason Samenow, weather editor for the Washington Post and one of the leaders of the Post’s Capital Weather Gang. They discuss the intersection of climate change and weather, with a particular focus on how meteorologists communicate with the public about climate change in a scientifically rigorous way and how that communication has evolved alongside climate science. Samenow and Hayes also talk about the increasing number of extreme weather events that have been occurring both globally and in the Washington, DC, area. References and recommendations: Climate Central; https://www.climatecentral.org/ World Weather Attribution; https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/ Penn State Weather Camps; https://weather-camp.outreach.psu.edu/ Lenticular clouds; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lenticular_cloud Mammatus clouds; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mammatus_cloud Kelvin-Helmholtz clouds; https://scied.ucar.edu/image/kelvin-helmholtz-clouds Snowmageddon 2010; https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/02/05/remembering-s-snowmageddon-images-scenes/ Eye on the Tropics newsletter by Michael Lowry; https://michaelrlowry.substack.com/ “The Weather” song by Lawrence; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9TYHOARDFI

This week, we’re rebroadcasting an episode from the Resources Radio archive while the team is on a break through the rest of August. We’ll be back in September with new episodes; in the meantime, enjoy this throwback and poke around the archive at Resources.org for more topics you might be interested in. In this week’s episode rerun, host Daniel Raimi talks with Kelly T. Sanders, an associate professor at the University of Southern California. With her coauthors, Sanders published a series of studies on air-conditioning use in southern California, with a focus on who does (and does not) have access to cooling on hot days. This work, which touches on issues of energy and environmental justice, has big implications for managing climate change in the decades to come. References and recommendations: “Utilizing smart-meter data to project impacts of urban warming on residential electricity use for vulnerable populations in Southern California” by Mo Chen, George A. Ban-Weiss, and Kelly T. Sanders; https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab6fbe/meta “Growth: From Microorganisms to Megacities” by Vaclav Smil; https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/growth “These Truths: A History of the United States” by Jill Lepore; https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393357424

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with David Spence, a law professor at the University of Texas at Austin, about Spence’s new book, “Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the US Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship,” which was released today. Spence discusses reasons that climate and energy have become such divisive topics in US politics, including the partisan state of Congress and the modern media environment, and strategies to help build support among voters for climate action and temper polarization across the political spectrum. References and recommendations: “Climate of Contempt: How to Rescue the US Energy Transition from Voter Partisanship” by David B. Spence; https://climateofcontempt.com/ “Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World” by Katharine Hayhoe; https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Saving-Us/Katharine-Hayhoe/9781982143848 Deep canvassing idea from Joshua Kalla and David Broockman; https://news.berkeley.edu/2020/06/26/want-to-persuade-an-opponent-try-listening-berkeley-scholar-says/ “The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea” by Jack E. Davis; https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/jack-e-davis

In this week’s episode, host Daniel Raimi talks with Caroline Noblet, an associate professor at the University of Maine, about the risks and negative impacts of forever chemicals on the environment and human health. “Forever chemicals” refer to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), which are a group of synthetic chemicals with extremely durable chemical bonds that have become dangerously common in water systems, consumer goods, agricultural production, and manufacturing facilities. Because PFAS chemical bonds do not break down easily, forever chemicals stick around for long periods of time. Noblet discusses policy solutions to decrease existing water contamination due to forever chemicals and limit future exposure to these chemicals, while accounting for geographic and economic differences across communities; new rules mandating the testing of public water systems for certain PFAS chemicals; and the economic implications of efforts to clean up and reduce exposure to forever chemicals. References and recommendations: “Dark Waters” film; https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9071322/ “Natural Capital” by Dieter Helm; https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300219371/natural-capital/

In this week’s episode, host Margaret Walls talks with Amy Bowers Cordalis, cofounder and principal of Ridges to Riffles Indigenous Conservation Group, about efforts to remove four dams on the Klamath River in California and Oregon. Cordalis discusses her experience growing up on the Klamath River as a member of the Yurok Tribe, the ecological damage to the Klamath River Basin and the Yurok Tribe that has been caused by the dams and nearby agricultural production, and the process that led to the removal of the dams. References and recommendations: “Undammed” video with Amy Bowers Cordalis; https://www.patagonia.com/stories/undammed/video-148718.html “Treaty Justice” by Charles Wilkinson; https://uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295752723/treaty-justice/ “The Water Remembers” by Amy Bowers Cordalis; https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/amy-bowers-cordalis/the-water-remembers/9780316568951