New This Thanksgiving: Toxic Turkey
Losing the farm to PFAS, or losing PFAS on the farm?
As Americans gather to celebrate the harvest’s bounty, there are few revelations about our food supply more distressing than the 2024 news that sewage-derived fertilizer has contaminated millions of acres of U.S. cropland with toxic PFAS chemicals. Marketed as “biosolids” that enhance soil productivity, the voluminous outputs from wastewater treatment plants have poisoned productive lands from the Northeast to the Midwest to the South, rendering many farms’ meat,...
CONTINUE READINGOne Bright Spot to COP29 in Baku
The outcome of this year’s U.N. climate conference was depressing. But there was some notable news regarding global methane emissions commitments.
Some have described the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP29) in Baku as “challenging,” “ineffective,” and “disappointing.” On the one hand, global greenhouse gas emissions have reached an all-time high, and the temperature for 2023 is the highest ever recorded. On the other hand, President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement again. Meanwhile, President Javier Milei withdrew the entire Argent...
CONTINUE READINGWhat does the election mean for the EV transition?
Slower, less certain, and less equitable–with a new focus on local leadership
The election of Donald Trump and a Republican Congress poses a direct threat to environmental protection and climate policy across the board, including destructive agency heads, reduced clean energy funding, abandoned international agreements, and more federal judges openly hostile to science-based regulation in service of public and environmental health. It’s a bleak outlook from any angle. What does it mean for the electric vehicle transition? A quick refresh...
CONTINUE READINGEven in Dark Times, There are Still Reasons to be Thankful
The election was largely a disaster. But we’ve also seen some positive developments.
Trump’s triumphant return to power promises to be a disaster for environmental protection, casting a pall over all else. Even so, if you’re someone who cares about energy and environment, there are some things to be thankful for this year Here are a few. Falling prices of renewable energy. Solar photovoltaic costs have fallen by 90% in the last decade, onshore wind by 70%, and batteries by more than 90%. Clean energy investment. The International Energy A...
CONTINUE READINGCPUC Should Set a Date for Closing Aliso Canyon
A proposed decision on the gas facility gives too much deference to SoCalGas regarding the future of gas demand and misses an opportunity to set a clear mandate.
The Aliso Canyon gas storage facility blowout in 2015-16 was the largest methane gas leak in the history of the United States. In addition to the climate effects from the methane leakage — 109,000 metric tons, the equivalent of burning over 1 billion gallons of gasoline — there were tremendous health impacts on neighboring communities and even throughout California. In 2019, Governor Gavin Newsom called on the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to acce...
CONTINUE READINGNEPA and Loper Deference
The CEQ regulations will continue to receive deference. The question is how much.
When the Court overruled Chevron, one effect was to raise a crucial question about how courts should apply NEPA. For decades, courts have deferred to regulations issued by the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ). The basis for that deference was a bit fuzzy, but now it is much fuzzier. This is a technical issue but one with far-reaching consequences for how NEPA operates. It's also an issue that is likely to be raised in the oral arguments in a current Suprem...
CONTINUE READINGThis Big Oil Sponsorship Just Got Dirtier
The Dodgers do business with a company that’s been polluting LA neighborhoods — and the climate — for years. Now, Phillips 66 faces federal charges of illegal wastewater dumping.
The Los Angeles Dodgers’ most prominent sponsor — Phillips 66, which owns 76 gas — was just indicted for violating the Clean Water Act by allegedly dumping hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater from its Carson oil refinery into the LA County sewer system. The details are spelled out in a six-count indictment against the Houston-based company returned by a federal grand jury. “If convicted of all charges, Phillips 66 would face a statuto...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Politics and Electoral Realignment
Some deep-seated dividing lines in U.S. politics seem to be eroding, with potential implications for climate policy.
There is a growing evidence that U.S. political alignments are shifting. Basically, Democratic support has eroded in core cities , a bit among Black voters, and more among Latino voters. These trends have been offset by the movement of some groups of white voters and suburban voters to the Democrats. The net result was to give Republicans a small edge in the election, though it was hardly a massive wave. The changes are probably most dramatic in terms of social cl...
CONTINUE READINGWhat’s Making this COP Especially Difficult?
Notes from COP29 in Baku, where the subject of real money, U.S. politics, and other tricky factors are converging.
My UCLA colleagues Ted Parson, JP Escudero and I just returned from Baku. Most of our work there related to side talks on advancing methane regulation (and our UCLA project on that topic), but we also got a sense of how the central negotiations were unfolding. As the New York Times and others are reporting, Week 1 talks did not go well. Here are the core difficulties impeding progress according to folks we spoke with on the ground there. First, the central topic o...
CONTINUE READINGA To-Do List For Biden
The clock is ticking, but there's still time for a few important last things.
Biden has a little over two months left in office. There are some important things he can do in the meantime to protect the environment from the next administration. Here are a few of the most important efforts. Get as many judges as possible through the Senate. There are currently 48 judicial vacancies. Biden needs to get as many of them as possible filled because the courts will be hearing a lot of environmental cases. Spend as much clean energy funding as po...
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