What does BACA do? Part II
Proposed CEQA ballot initiative would override all other state environmental law.
This is a second in a series of blog posts on the California Chamber of Commerce's proposed ballot initiative amending the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The first blog post is here. The CEQA initiative proposed by the California Chamber of Commerce has some reassuring words about its nature and scope. First, proposed new Section 21014(a) states that the initiative “does not diminish the authority of any public agency to approve or disapprove an es...
CONTINUE READINGDissecting EPA’s Endangerment Repeal: Series Wrap-Up:
Here’s what you need to know to understand the upcoming legal battles.
Yesterday was the last of five Legal Planet posts on EPA’s repeal of the Endangerment Finding, which EPA based on legal arguments claiming that it has no power to regulate vehicle emissions of greenhouse gases. The series began with a quick overview of the issues. The remaining posts focus on three topics: (1) the reasons that EPA was right to issue the Endangerment Finding in the first place in 2009; (2) the legal precedents supporting the Endangerment Finding; and ...
CONTINUE READINGWhat does the Building an Affordable California Act do?
Proposed ballot initiative from Cal Chamber of Commerce to change CEQA could have broad implications.
The California Chamber of Commerce is currently collecting signatures for an initiative that would substantially change the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Given the Chamber’s resources, I think it’s likely they will get enough signatures to qualify the initiative, which means either the legislature cuts a deal with the Chamber to enact legislation and take the initiative off the ballot, or it goes before the voters this fall. So a thorough evaluatio...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Ratepayer Protection Pledge: More BS on Electricity Prices
In his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” from technology companies.
Last night, in his State of the Union address, President Trump announced a new “ratepayer protection pledge” from technology companies as his latest effort to respond to rising electricity prices across the country. In his brief remarks on the pledge, the President said that it “obligated” the technology companies to provide for their own power, including building their own plants, so that “no one’s prices” would go up—and in some cases would go dow...
CONTINUE READINGThe Tangled Web of the Boulder v. Suncor Cert Grant
Pass me some aspirin. Attorney General Rob Bonta might want some, too.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to take up the Boulder v. Suncor Energy case, one of the growing set of state-law nuisance and consumer protection cases filed by states and municipalities against fossil fuel companies for harms from climate change. The Court will review the Colorado Supreme Court's decision to allow the case to proceed past a motion to dismiss. For a few reasons, we're in for a real ride on this one. In this case, Boulder County alleges tha...
CONTINUE READINGHas Trump Actually “Driven a Dagger Through the Heart” of Climate Policy?
Lee Zeldin
Don’t jump to conclusions based on the Administration’s spin operation.
In announcing the repeal of the EPA Endangerment Finding, EPA head Lee Zeldin said, “we are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion.” It's odd to see the word "religion" used as a pejorative by an Administration that spends so much time demanding religious freedom. But of course, Zeldin knows perfectly well that the endangerment finding was based on science, not religion . Putting aside the phrasing, is he right in substance? Has the...
CONTINUE READINGMore Pesticides Please!
Trump’s 'Toxics First' Agenda continues with a new executive order mandating the production of glyphosate . . . as a matter of national security!
Late last Wednesday, sandwiched between all of the news about the repeal of the endangerment finding and the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Trump tariffs, the White House issued a new Executive Order invoking a Korean War era statute, the Defense Production Act of 1950, to ensure that chemical companies can continue to manufacture a dangerous pesticide without having to worry about liability. In keeping with President Trump’s infatuation with his emergency power...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Happens to State Regulation if the Endangerment Findings are Gone?
Answer: State authority wouldn’t suffer from the change and might expand in some ways.
If the Trump EPA successfully repeals the endangerment findings for vehicles and stationary sources, states will be the only resort for climate action. A key question is how the repeals would impact state power relating to carbon emissions. The bottom line answers are: (1) the impact on state power to regulate tailpipe emissions seems unclear but could be positive; (2) there would be no effect on state power to regulate stationary sources like power plants; (3) plain...
CONTINUE READINGPolitical Extinction Risk
Species may be vulnerable not just to changes in climate or habitat, but also to changes in politics
Conservation biologists have long studied many different kinds of risks to endangered species: Risks from climate change, or from habitat fragmentation, or from having small populations for extended periods of time. But there is another key component of risk that has not been analyzed yet, but may matter as much or more to many endangered species: political risk. That risk – what we call “political extinction risk” – remains generally unstudied and unexamined...
CONTINUE READINGThe Tariff Decision and the Major Questions Doctrine
The scope of the doctrine is even more confused now than before.
The tariff decision is good news in terms of checking arbitrary presidential actions, but the opinions fell short in one important area. A key argument against the tariffs was based on the Major Questions Doctrine (or MQD). That doctrine applies whan a government action has “vast political and economic significance” (whatever that means). If the government claims that Congress gave it the power to take such an action, it must point to clear statutory language....
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