Halloween Hacks for a Warming Planet
Pretty or scary or brave? There’s a climate costume to suit all tastes and all ages.
Children will be roaming the streets tonight dressed as Superheroes, Princesses, and Evil Villains. But really, these invented figures can’t hold a candle to the real ones in our world. Consider Continuing an ancient tradition -- four years in a row! -- here are some possibilities for this year. Not fitting neatly into any category are the Ghosts of Climate Past, Present, and Future, reminding us of what we've lost, where we are, and what we risk. The Villains ...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Went Wrong with News Coverage of the LA Fires
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
When disaster strikes your town, you rely on journalists to help explain what happened and why. Last January, many of us in Los Angeles turned to The LA Times as unusual firestorms kicked up and ultimately destroyed parts of Altadena and Pacific Palisades. The LAT’s journalists and photojournalists did incredible coverage from lots of angles, and the paper did a public service by dropping its paywall. But there was also a problem: Very few of the stories, vid...
CONTINUE READING3 Lessons for a Regional Western Electricity Market
California is paving the way for the creation of an independent regional organization to oversee Western energy markets. It can learn from mistakes made in other regions.
In case you missed it among all the other news, the California legislature passed AB 825 in September (and Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it as part of the big energy package), paving the way for the creation of an independent regional organization to oversee Western energy markets. This presents a whole set of interesting challenges and opportunities after years of failed attempts. AB 825 builds on the work done by the West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative. Laun...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Groups and the New McCarthyism
The Administration's search for a vast leftwing conspiracy could ensnare some environmental groups.
The White House has said that a vast, left-wing network is radicalizing people and inciting violence across America. There is no evidence to support this. But the allegation could provide a pretext for investigating and harassing many progressive groups, environmental groups among them. This remains uncertain, but there are clearly grounds for concern. Environmental groups are not oblivious to the threat. Environmental organizations are beginning to take precautio...
CONTINUE READINGThe Roberts Court and the End of the Rule of Law
Photo by Jesse Collins, unsplash
The Great Enablers
Like most law school graduates, I believe in the rule of law and its central role in preserving and extending democracy. Sadly, despite protestations to the contrary, the Roberts Court has moved the country away from that concept, ignoring legal precedent, making up doctrines not referenced in the Constitution, abusing the shadow docket, turning the notion of status quo for preliminary injunctions on its head, and, most decidedly, casting aside a central tenet of the ...
CONTINUE READINGHow “Passive Virtues” Destroy the Constitution
Judicial restraint has become a license for dictatorship.
Never has the adage that A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words been more appropriate. Donald Trump has destroyed much of the federal government and much of the Constitution, so now he is destroying the White House – in this case, to build a horrific 90,000 square foot ballroom paid for by “private contributors,” who will expect favors in response. But it also points to the failure of one of the most celebrated mid-century legal theories – Alexander Bickel’s ce...
CONTINUE READINGManila Protests Over Environment Follow a Rich Tradition
Happy Filipino American History Month. Here’s a look at Filipino-led protests for environmental justice.
The Philippines made international news last month when several tens of thousands of protestors took over the streets of Manila to express their outrage over the government’s embezzlement of over a trillion Philippine pesos (approximately $17.6 billion USD) designated for flood control projects. Losing this amount of climate-designated funds to corruption would be problematic anywhere in the world, but it is particularly impactful in the Philippines, where the govern...
CONTINUE READINGThe Legal Barricades Protecting State Climate Policy
The general legal landscape favors state regulatory efforts.
Trump has included state climate policies on his enemies list. He’s going to find that they’ve got a lot more legal protection than many of his other targets. The Supreme Court, if anything, seems to lean a bit toward increasing current protections for states. And Congress has given state environmental and energy policies powerful defenses from federal overreach. There’s no question that Trump despises states that have the temerity to pursue their own climat...
CONTINUE READINGOur National Parks are Open — and Openly Threatened
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
“I’m still here working.” That’s what a park ranger at Yosemite National Park told me last Friday, as he made his rounds. Anyone who thinks they can flagrantly break the park rules during the government shutdown is in for “a rude awakening,” he said. Literally. He and other rangers have been using noise to wake up and disburse campers who put up tents where they’re not allowed. Yosemite is very much open for business. I was staying at a cabin in the ...
CONTINUE READINGGuess What? The Next 2 Weeks Are “National Energy Dominance Month”
October 17-31 has now been proclaimed to be an entire month, courtesy of Trump.
“National Energy Dominance Month.” So typical of Trump: a bungled exercise in foolish bravado. The “bungled” part is that he forgot to designate October as a special month until it was halfway over. The “bravado” saturates almost every sentence, combined with the fact that the blustering has no practical effect. And the “foolish” part is about bad energy policy and bad economics. Here's Trump, explaining what this Very Special Two-Week Month is all a...
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