Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act

Law and Policy Rationales

Edited by Michael Burger, Executive Director, Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer-in-Law, Columbia Law School, US

Editor Michael Burger brings together a comprehensive assessment of how one statutory provision – Section 115 of the Clean Air Act, “International Air Pollution” – provides the executive branch of the U.S. government with the authority, procedures, and mechanisms to work with the states and private sector to take national climate action.

与教派对抗气候变化ion 115 of the Clean Air Act shows how a farsighted section of the Clean Air Act—the international air pollution provision—can provide the President with ample authority to achieve our global climate commitments, even in the absence of new legislation. Its carefully reasoned approach could be the basis for crafting an effective U.S. climate policy under existing law, and once again, make the United States a global leader in tackling the climate crisis.’
– John Podesta, Former White House Chief of Staff and Founder of the Center on American Progress, US

‘Produced by an all-star team of top environmental lawyers, Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act offers a detailed action plan and legal foundation for taking on climate change using the existing—but untested—Clean Air Act regulatory authority to address international air pollution. Creative, comprehensive, and detailed, this book could well become the go-to guide for those who want to see the United States reassert a leadership role in response to the build-up of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.’
– Dan Esty, Yale University, US

‘This volume is the most important book on U.S. climate law available today. Within its pages, the reader will discover a comprehensive and compelling analysis of how Section 115 of the Clean Air Act already empowers the Environmental Protection Agency to work with states to create a sensible national climate action plan in coordination with other countries. No president can justify failing to follow this book’s recommendations.’
– Douglas A. Kysar, Yale University, US

‘We owe a great debt to the renowned group of environmental lawyers who have brought us this careful and compelling account of how to use the Clean Air Act to confront the most important environmental issue of all time.’
– Lisa Heinzerling, Georgetown University, US

‘This book is about a little-known provision of the U.S. air pollution law. That provision may well be the last best hope for a future President to take action against climate change. This book provides a roadmap for that President to use.’
– Daniel Farber, University of California, Berkeley, US