General
In the Cross Hairs
The Right has taken umbrage at some of the important work of environmental law professors and centers.
The fossil fuel industry and its conservative allies seem to have taken notice of the important work done by environmental law centers. Their response is to try to repress this valuable work. This is a backhanded acknowledgement that law schools are making a difference.This campaign has targeted some of the law schools with the most prominent environmental law programs. Climate scientists have long been the target of harassment and public attack. It appears that people who work on climate policy are now also in the crosshairs. What we’re seeing lacks the drama of other attacks on free speech and academic freedom. But it is capable of being no less harmful. McCarthyism writ small is still McCarthyism.
CONTINUE READINGHot Take on the Endangerment Repeal
It’s a tweaked version of arguments that the Supreme Court rejected in 2007.
EPA’s argument for repealing the Endangerment Finding is basically a rehash of legal arguments that were rejected by the Supreme Court in 2007. These arguments haven’t improved with age. Notably, EPA doesn’t dare contest the science.
CONTINUE READINGThe Winners and Losers of Superbowl LX
The Seattle Seahawks came out on top at Sunday’s big game, but consumers and the environment joined the New England Patriots in the “losers” column.
Like millions of others around the world, I spent Sunday eating fried foods, drinking sugary beverages, and enjoying the company of my friends while watching the opposite of a nail-biter of a game. As a fan of the Seattle Seahawks and a hater of the New England Patriots, I’ll admit that I was delighted with …
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CONTINUE READINGTrump Will Kill Climate Regulations, But How Exactly?
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
The Environmental Protection Agency will officially revoke what’s known as the endangerment finding tomorrow and in so doing try to erase the basis for virtually all that agency’s regulations cutting greenhouse gases. It’s not really a surprise — we’ve been waiting for this announcement for a year. But seeing the agency’s precise justification will help …
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CONTINUE READINGMaintaining California’s Environmental Leadership
California’s 2026 Gubernatorial Race
California will elect a new governor in 2026. The primary is June 2 and the top two candidates will face off on November 3. If you are in California, make sure you are registered to vote! This election comes as a pivotal time for California’s environmental leadership. California’s next governor must be ready to step …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Trump Administration is Squandering Our Natural Heritage
Proposed Endangered Species Act regulations are designed to stifle protections and provide developers even more power.
The world’s ecosystems have been subject to an increasingly dangerous cocktail of stressors from land and ocean over-development, invasive species, and pollution. But rather than stem the tide of these harms, the Trump administration has resurrected several regulatory changes to the Endangered Species Act designed to stifle species’ protections and provide land developers even more power to …
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CONTINUE READINGMilestones in State Climate Policy
The first efforts to clean up the grid date back forty years, but state climate policy really got moving at the turn of the century.
The federal government’s interventions in climate policy have been erratic, driven by political polarization and alternating control of the White House. In contrast, state governments have engaged in steady campaigns to reduce carbon emissions. Some people seem to think this has been a recent innovation, but it has now been ongoing for a generation. Here are some the key milestone along the way, closing with Trump’s pledge to bulldoze state policies that don’t fall in line with his priorities.
CONTINUE READING“Smog and Sunshine” Has a Release Date
And this “Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air” is now available for preorder.
My book, “Smog and Sunshine: the Surprising Story of How Los Angeles Cleaned Up Its Air,” will be released on April 7! It’s been a long time coming. My author page is here And you can find links to preorder my book by clicking here or here Here’s how UC Press describes the book: Los …
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CONTINUE READINGA Procedural Snarl in the Oil Patch
Can oil companies use World War II contracts to vault from state to federal court in cases about present-day coastal damage?
As a matter of common sense, however, it’s hard to see why oil production activities that would not otherwise be considered “federal” should change their statute because the producers also happen to own refineries — especially since in some instances it appears that all the oil from one of their fields might be going to a different refinery anyway. But textualist judges aren’t necessarily attended to common sense.
CONTINUE READINGVoices from a Climate Law Classroom
A snapshot of what tomorrow’s environmental law leaders are thinking
It’s been a rough week. For those of us in Los Angeles, we’re feeling the contours of the traumatic week we experienced exactly one year ago, when I watched neighborhoods burn from my local Trader Joe’s parking lot and when many thousands of us weren’t lucky enough to have even that distance. Other news piling …
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