Month: February 2012

Stopping High Speed Sprawl

California Governor Jerry Brown has doubled down on his support for the state’s proposed high speed rail system, despite the uncertainty about how to pay for it and growing public opposition.  But who can blame him?  If the rail system does get built, it will be the defining infrastructure project in the state for generations …

CONTINUE READING

Exploring Policies to Promote Local Renewables

Last July, California Governor Jerry Brown held a conference, hosted by the Luskin Center at UCLA, to launch his initiative to achieve 12,000 megawatts of local renewable energy projects in California by 2020.  Local renewables, often called distributed generation, are projects no larger than 20 megawatts located close to customer demand. Berkeley Law’s Center for …

CONTINUE READING

The Delta 101: Of Levees, Canals & Whiskey

Nearly four out of five Californians do not know what the Delta is, according to a January 2012 poll.  That’s 78 percent of the population.  And 86 percent of southern Californians have never heard of it.  Yet, 25 million people and 3 million acres of farmland rely on the Delta for at least a portion …

CONTINUE READING

Inconceivable!

During the Fukushima nuclear crisis, government officials and industry representatives said that the tsunami that struck the reactors was “beyond our imagination,” thus excusing the failure to consider such a risk in the planning process. As it turns out, there had been warnings about this possibility, but the risks were ignored. The reactor was situated …

CONTINUE READING

Previewing a VERY Big Week for Environmental Law in the Courts

UPDATE: The Associated Press reports that late Sunday, February 26th, U.S. District Court Judge Carl Barbier announced a one-week postponement of the trial in the BP oil spill case that had been scheduled to begin the next day.  The postponement is reportedly due to substantial progress that has been made in marathon settlement talks that …

CONTINUE READING

Is Richard Epstein Autistic?

Delightfully so!  Here is Adrian Vermuele (no secret Kenyan Muslim socialist he) in The New Republic, reviewing Epstein’s latest: Many scholars have offered withering critiques of the Epstein program, but there is little sign that the arguments of the critics have been heard and considered. Epstein’s latest book targets the administrative state as the enemy …

CONTINUE READING

“Developing Nations Can’t Afford Environmentalism”

At least that’s what you hear a lot from some environmental skeptics.  Because poor countries are so desperate for economic growth and to lift their people out of poverty, they cannot be expected to protect their environment.  (You hear that from a lot for developing nations, too). They might want to take a look at …

CONTINUE READING

U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Montana’s River Ownership Claims

The U.S. Supreme Court has issued its decision in PPL Montana v. State of Montana, a fascinating case that combines the colorful history of the American West, the issue of the public’s access to state waterways, and a dispute over hefty royalties claimed to be owed the State of Montana for unpermitted use of public …

CONTINUE READING

Peter Gleick, the Heartland Institute, and Scientific Ethics

  The Heartland Institute is a climate denial shop well-funded by fossil fuel interests and standard right-wing extremist foundations, which has underwritten attacks on climate scientists and has plans to disrupt authentic climate science education in K-12 classrooms.  Peter Gleick is one of the most respected scientific researchers in the world, who has done extremely …

CONTINUE READING

Legal Planet Takes Over the Yale Law Journal

Along with Dan, I also have a response to the Ewing/Kysar paper at YLJ Online.  (For those of your keeping score at home, two out of three commissioned responses were Legal Planet bloggers: we win!). It should surprise no one that while Dan’s is elegant and technical, mine is cranky and dyspeptic.  Here’s the abstract: This …

CONTINUE READING

TRENDING