Academia
UCLA Law Clinic Files Brief Supporting DC’s Clean Buildings Act in DC Circuit
Energy law experts explain local governments’ longstanding primary authority over local gas distribution and use.
Last Friday, UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic filed a DC Circuit brief in support of the District of Columbia’s Clean Buildings Act on behalf of 11 leading energy and environmental law professors: UCLA’s own William Boyd, Lincoln Davies at the University of Utah, Dan Farber and Sharon Jacobs at UC Berkeley, Alexandra Klass …
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CONTINUE READINGEscalating the War on Science
Now the National Academies are in the cross-hairs.
The National Academics of Science, Engineering, and Medicine are at the pinnacle of American science. Recently, President Trump President Donald Trump ordered a so-called suspension and debarment investigation into the National Academies for what a supposedly “fraudulent, biased, and misleading” report on climate change. The Academies, he said, are “run by Radical Left Dumocrats,” which is apparently more than enough reason to ban them from government funding.
CONTINUE READINGScreaming in the Wilderness
More is screaming needed.
It is no surprise that, in the past couple of weeks, the Trump Administration has moved to gut habitat protection under the Endangered Species Act, opening wilderness areas to mining and oil drilling, and to eviscerate Monument designation for most of two wilderness areas in Utah. Trump and his allies made their intentions clear in …
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CONTINUE READINGInforming Housing Policy Debates With The Latest Research
New CLEE “working paper” housing literature review
Housing is in short supply in states like California, leading to massive inequality, economic hardship, population loss, and climate impacts, as more residents live farther from job centers in climate-risky areas that require long commutes. Yet the debate around solutions to this problem, such as zoning and permitting reforms, are often colored by misinformation and …
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CONTINUE READINGLegislating Sunlight Reflection in Latin America and the Caribbean
UCLA’s ESI Project co-hosted a science-policy dialogue with Latin American and Caribbean parliamentarians.
In early June, UCLA’s ESI Project, in partnership with the Degrees Initiative, had the exciting opportunity to address the Parliament of Latin America and the Caribbean (PARLATINO), on the emerging issue of Earth system interventions, notably sunlight reflection or SRM. As an interparliamentary body with broad reach, PARLATINO is a forum for legislators from the …
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CONTINUE READINGLeft-NIMBYs Take Another Loss — And This One Is Really Embarrassing
The Urban Institute Study Loved By Supply Skeptics Goes Up In Flames
As I wrote last year, the Urban Institute produced a study purporting to show that land use reforms did not substantially increase housing production. I noted that the study has become very influential, particularly among Left-NIMBYs, who want to maintain strict land use controls but not acknowledge that such controls make housing more expensive (which …
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CONTINUE READINGProtecting Consumers in the Electric Vehicle Transition
Paul Hanaoka via Unsplash
UC Berkeley paper highlights opportunities for California to strengthen consumer protections in the EV transition.
Guest contributor Jackie Dall is a UC Berkeley School of Law student (J.D. Candidate, ’27) Personal vehicles are one of the most significant financial commitments American households make, providing mobility and access to economic opportunity in most communities. The electric vehicle (EV) transition is underway and has the potential to directly impact consumers through the entire …
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CONTINUE READINGScrap Yards, Scrapped Enforcement?
The City of Los Angeles’s regulatory tools exist to protect communities from metal recycling hazards—but they’re rarely invoked.
This post was co-written by UCLA Law student Kate Inman (J.D., 2026). Throughout California’s Senate District 20, roughly thirty scrap metal recycling facilities sit in the industrial corridors running alongside residential housing. For the working-class, majority-Latino communities living blocks away, the legal system has been slow to respond. Drive through Sun Valley or Pacoima on …
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CONTINUE READINGCan Sustainability Be Abundant, Safe, and Affordable?
Read and watch key takeaways from the UCLA Emmett Institute’s 2026 symposium on climate policy and affordability.
This month, the UCLA Emmett Institute explored the intersection of climate goals, affordability concerns, and environmental protections by hosting a symposium titled “Can Abundance Be Sustainable?” The all-day, public event at UCLA School of Law brought together academics, community advocates, policymakers, journalists, students and—not one but two—heads of utility regulatory bodies. The goal was to think deeply about the path …
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CONTINUE READINGOn the Bleakest Earth Day, Trust the Undercurrent of Resistance
The first Earth Day succeeded because of a decade of preparatory work. Here are the lessons for us in 2026.
The 56th Earth Day may also be the bleakest. Wave upon wave is crashing upon our system of ecological protections. But having spent years studying the full sweep of American environmental legal history, we can say with confidence: the bigger the wave, the stronger the undercurrent. First, at a time when advocates for the environment …
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