A Warning to Local Planners in California
If Proposition 45 is passed, you may get blindsided by projects you cannot stop. You may want to prepare yourself.
A lot of the debates over BACA, the Cal Chamber supported initiative to fundamentally change CEQA (Proposition 45 on the ballot) focus on the initiative’s impacts on CEQA. But from a local government and planning perspective, I would argue that far more important are the sweeping vested rights provisions in the initiative. As I noted in prior analyses, the vested rights provisions in the initiative apply to all state and local laws in California, not just CEQA. O...
CONTINUE READINGTwo Wins from this Legislative Session — Awaiting Newsom
As Gov. Gavin Newsom’s term ends, these two bills present an opportunity to promote ratepayer affordability.
It’s September, and that means another legislative session has come to an end here in California. With it came some welcome news for those of us who have been following California’s efforts to avoid wasteful spending on new natural gas infrastructure. Two important bills, AB 2313 (Berman) and SB 1359 (Stern), both passed the legislature this session, and now await the governor’s signature. We covered AB 2313 before on this blog, and even released an en...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia — The Resilient State. Really.
In the midst of a historic heat wave, the state's power grid has so far passed with flying colors
Remember rolling blackouts in California? At least at this point, they appear to be a thing of the past. Earlier today, I noticed a tweet from Cody Hill, who refers to himself as a "batteries and clean energy infrastructure developer," pointing to a rather stunning development. Despite a massive heat wave that has put more stress on California's power grid (downtown Los Angeles set a record 105 degrees yesterday), there have no reliability problems and no price spikes...
CONTINUE READINGMore on BACA and data centers
Considering the arguments in a recent op-ed arguing Prop 45 does not cover data centers
A key issue in the debate over the Cal Chamber of Commerce CEQA initiative (BACA, or Proposition 45 on the ballot) is whether it includes data centers as the types of projects that are eligible for the CEQA exemptions and vested rights provisions in the initiative. I’ve written about why they may well fall within the scope of BACA. There’s an op-ed to the contrary (available here). It’s well written, and if Proposition 45 passes, I expect this to be the argu...
CONTINUE READINGGood News from Turkmenistan! Bad News from the UN
The Drain is a roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — this week, like most weeks. The UN Environment Programme’s new report, “Limiting Overshoot: Navigating exceedance of 1.5°C and pathways toward return” was simultaneously big news and yet met with stony silence in many quarters of the media. The report narrates what it means that we're entering an era of 1.5°C overshoot and highlights the choices that remain available. IMO this summary of the UN r...
CONTINUE READINGThe Dim Outlook for Trump Energy Dominance
About the best he can hope for in the long run is to maintain the status quo.
Despite Trump's efforts to boost the industry, the economic outlook for the U.S. fossil fuel industry is mixed at best, with natural gas as the one possible bright spot. Trump's vision of enemy dominance doesn't seem to he in the cards. U.S. oil is seeing a future of declining U.S. and global demand for gasoline and diesel, with U.S. production also remaining stagnant. The future for natural gas production is looking rosier given increasing energy demand and possible ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Legal Planet Guide to Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County
UCLA Law experts explain everything you need to know about Suncor v. Boulder as the climate case heads to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court hears oral arguments on October 5, 2026 in Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County. The plaintiffs in this case are local governmental entities in the State of Colorado that face substantial and rising costs to mitigate the impacts of climate change in the form of heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and floods: The Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County, and the City of Boulder. The defendants are Exxon Mobil Corporation ...
CONTINUE READINGWord on The Street
The Wall Street Journal’s news coverage of EVs is surprisingly positive.
You might expect the Wall Street Journal to take a dim view of electric vehicles, given the paper’s conservative slant. You’d be wrong. The Journal’s news coverage, which is less ideological than its opinion page, tells us something important. In a newspaper designed for businesspeople, electric vehicles are taken very seriously. That’s good news for all kinds of reasons, including prospects for investment. Let me start with three stories that came out in ju...
CONTINUE READINGThe National Security Scam
Just about everything gets labeled an emergency or national security threat these days. The courts may be starting to catch on.
National security claims are popping up all over. Pete Hegseth axed protections for endangered species in the Gulf of Mexico, claiming that any impediment to oil drilling threatens national security. A California oil pipeline gets to operate despite state law because, supposedly, the national defense requires that oil. The Army Corps has fast-tracked hundreds of permits because of a so-called energy emergency that endangers national security. Courts must not inte...
CONTINUE READINGJudge Smacks Down EPA’s Attempt to Revoke Six of California’s Waivers
She calls EPA's legal arguments Orwellian.
Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia is having none of EPA's shenanigans in the agency's most recent attempt to revoke four of California's waivers to cut pollution from vehicles. On Wednesday, Howell issued a preliminary injunction -- accompanied by a stinging opinion - ordering the agency to withdraw its decision to reclassify the waivers as rules. Judge Howell also denied EPA's motion to dismiss California's lawsuit. ...
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