Tag Archives: “But for causation”

Today’s ClimateWire (subscription required) contained a long summary of evidence that scientists are increasingly able to demonstrate that climate change is what we lawyers would call the “but for” cause of extreme weather events.  One of the most interesting is the recent paper “Explaining Extreme Weather Events of 2016:  From a Climate Perspective,” from the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society.  It looked at a number of extreme events and found – for the first time –

that some extreme events were not possible in a preindustrial climate. … More

On Monday, EPA promulgated amendments to its “Exceptional Events” Rule.  The rule is important, particularly in the Western states, and most particularly in connection with EPA’s latest iteration of the ozone NAAQS.  EPA’s most significant revision was to eliminate the requirement that state air agencies demonstrate that, “but for” the exceptional event, the state or relevant area would have complied with the applicable NAAQS.  The change is important for two reasons. … More