Energy
A New Energy Project at UCLA Law
The Emmett Clean Energy Law & Leadership project will build a bridge between the existing expertise of UCLA’s energy law scholars and policymakers.
You don’t have to look beyond the front pages of newspapers, or beyond rooftops in your neighborhood to know that we are in the midst of a clean energy revolution, with renewable energy technologies dramatically decreasing in price and increasing in availability. These technologies promise to reduce energy cost burdens for households, as well as …
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CONTINUE READINGChina, Climate, and Clean Energy
China seems to have leap-frogged the U.S. on clean energy. We need to catch up.
In 2023, China accounted for about 60% of the world’s additions of solar and wind power, and of electric vehicles. The U.S. will need to make a major effort to catch up. Otherwise, we risk being shut out of important global markets and giving China an opening to influence developing countries.
CONTINUE READINGElectric Shared Mobility:
Program Design Elements Can Produce More Equitable, Durable, and Successful Projects
Shared mobility—an umbrella term for any transportation mode shared among multiple passengers—has the potential to accelerate transportation electrification, air quality, and greenhouse gas reduction goals, meet the needs of underserved communities that most lack mobility access, and advance broader mobility equity goals. CLEE’s report, Electric Shared Mobility: California Lessons Learned for Equity in Program Design, …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Ins and Outs of Kennedy’s Environmental Positions
His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.
Working through his website seemed to reveal a broad effort to combine distrust of government and big business), belief in free markets, and valuing nature and the land for their own sakes. Kennedy offers an unusual blend of Sixties “back to the land” environmentalism with Tech Bro libertarianism.
CONTINUE READINGWhat Would Climate Policy Look Like Under One-Party Conservative Rule?
You only need to look at Texas or Florida for the answer: a complete erasure of climate action.
This is not to say that unified control of the federal government by the hard right would entirely halt the progress of clean energy. Just that, if Florida and Texas are any guides, they would do their best to make that happen and to maximize use of what Trump has called the liquid gold under our feet.
CONTINUE READINGJustin Pidot: Manchin’s Latest and Last Run at Promoting Fossil Fuels through a Permitting Reform Bill
His proposal is a bad deal on climate and an afront to environmental justice
Last week, Senator Manchin unveiled his latest permitting bill, negotiated with Senator Barrasso and set to be marked up by the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources on Wednesday. After recently completing a 3 ½ year stint as general counsel at the White House Counsel of Environmental Quality, I recognize that continuing to improve …
CONTINUE READINGThe D.C. Circuit and the Biden Power Plant Rule
The court’s denial of a stay is very good news for EPA
The D.C. Circuit frequently denies stays, but this ruling was notable for three reasons: It allows an important climate change regulation to go into effect; it clarified an important legal doctrine; and it has a good chance of being upheld on appeal.
CONTINUE READING35 Major Climate Initiatives Under Biden
By any measure, it has been an eventful four years for climate policy, with billions in spending and many major regulations finalized. Here’s a timeline of the Top 30 actions.
In light of President Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race yesterday, we thought it was appropriate to update this piece about the climate legacy of the Biden-Harris Administration. In his four years in office, Donald Trump rolled back essentially every existing federal policy to limit climate change. The picture under the Biden Administration has …
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CONTINUE READING(Energy) Independence Day
A post in which I surprise readers — and myself — with strong praise for George W. Bush.
The only way to achieve energy independence is to achieve independence from fossil fuels. That’s not something we can achieve overnight, but the closer we come, the better — for our health, our national security, and the world.
CONTINUE READINGEPA’s New Power Plant Rules Have Dropped. What Happens Next?
Media battles. Lawsuits. Stay requests. And political mayhem.
The release of Biden’s new climate regulations for power plants will unleash a maelstrom of legal and political battles. One key question: Will the Supreme Court short circuit the litigation process by staying the rules.
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