September 2009 - Page 4 of 6

Month: September 2009

Herein of Regulatory “Czars”

Some conservatives like Glenn Beck are now raising alarms about the power of “czars” within the Obama White House. Although the rhetoric is ridiculous, there is a serious question here. A long-term trend has been for Presidents to exert more centralized control over the bureaucracy, and as a practical matter that control has to be …

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Delta blues

California’s legislature ended its session Saturday morning without doing anything to address the problems of the Bay-Delta, or more generally of the state’s dysfunctional water governance system. As Rick explained last month, water was at the top of the agenda this year for both the Republican Governor and the Democratic leaders of the legislature. This …

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Dunking the Big Apple

The IPCC considers it likely that climate change will increase hurricane intensity, and New York may be particularly vulnerable to flooding from hurricanes and other storms, as Climate Progress reports: Sea level may rise faster near New York than at most other densely populated ports due to local effects of gravity, water density and ocean …

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California Legislature may decide L.A. football stadium can go forward, despite allegations of inadequate environmental review

Great minds may disagree about whether a new professional football stadium (or team, for that matter) would be good for Los Angeles. But a new last-minute bill that the California State Senate is considering today, which would eliminate further environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act for a newly-approved stadium complex in the City …

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One Thumb Up? Or Too Soon to Tell?

The Administration has received mixed reviews so far. The Washington Post said on Wednesday that: The White House’s main effort has been to undo several Bush-era policies on climate control, air pollution and the regulation of roadless forests. Those actions, combined with court decisions that have struck down other rules, have given President Obama a …

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Mountaintop removal update: EPA may grow a spine

EPA today announced that it would review 79 pending applications for Clean Water Act section 404 permits for surface coal mining projects in Appalachia (hat tip: Coal Tattoo). This review is good news, and an indication that EPA may be developing a backbone with respect to the effects of mountaintop removal mining on the region’s …

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Wolf hunts can continue

A federal judge in Montana has refused to halt the hunting of gray wolves in Idaho and Montana, but has strongly suggested that the wolf was unlawfully delisted under the Endangered Species Act. In April, the US Fish and Wildlife Service removed the gray wolf in Idaho and Montana from the endangered species list. The …

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In Defense of Impact Men (and Women)

Full disclosure: I haven’t seen the new film documentary opening this weekend in LA and NY, “No Impact Man,” based on the nonfiction book of the same title, by Colin Beavan, that depicts his urban family of three trying — impossibly, of course — to shrink to nothing its environmental footprint, even going as far as to give up …

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Cass Sunstein Confirmed by Senate

To the dismay of some environmentalists, the Senate confirmed Cass Sunstein as “regulatory czar” today. An undeniably brilliant scholar, Sunstein is a long-time advocate of cost-benefit analysis as a check on overly zealous risk regulation. (Unfortunately, his views of regulation figured much less in the public debate than a frenzied campaign to mobilize hunters, gun …

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…in which I turn into a left-wing subversive

Glenn Beck has acquired his first (although surely not-to-be-last) scalp from the Obama Administration” CEQ Green jobs Coordinator Van Jones (whose appointment LegalPlanet noted in March) resigned his position Saturday night. I went to law school with Van, and while I am not a fan, I thought that letting him go would be an unwarranted capitulation …

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Can GoGreen Advance California’s Home Decarbonization Goals?

The state’s home energy financing program remains modest and needs to scale

Mobilizing Environmental Voters

People who care about the environment may not be voters. Can that be changed?

Little Hoover Commission Releases Flawed CEQA Report

The long-awaited report proposes sweeping exemptions and process changes—even though its own reasoning points in the opposite direction.

California Seeks to Protect Homes from Excessive Indoor Heat

Guest contributor Cassandra Vo writes that the state should do more to protect mobile homes dwellers from heat. Work by a UCLA Law Clinic on behalf of Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability points the way forward on inclusive heat resiliency standards.

Western States Should Opt In to Regionalized Electricity Markets

Guest contributor Kelly Cook writes that regionalization efforts present a low risk that federal control will threaten state authority.

Temporary Takings and the Adaptation Dilemma

Current law penalizes adaptation measures because of the risk of takings liability.

Judicial Deference to Agencies: A Timeline

Decisions about judicial deference to agencies on legal issues didn’t begin or end with Chevron.

How the ICC is Using International Criminal Law to Prosecute Suspects of Eco Crimes

Guest contributor Aria Burdon Dasbach writes that the International Criminal Court is in the process of weighing dozens of suggestions for how to go after global environmental crimes.

Climate Policy and the Audacity of Hope

The barriers are still huge — but we can also envision a path to success.

LGBTQ People Face Greater Climate Risks

A new study by the UCLA Williams Institute finds that LGBTQ people in same-sex couples are at greater risk of exposure to the harms of climate change compared to straight couples.

California Wins Major Clean Air Act/Climate Change Case in D.C. Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals Rejects Red States’ Challenge to California’s CAA “Waiver Authority”

U.S. Supreme Court Revisits, Tightens Regulatory Takings Limits on Land Use Regulation

California Homeowner’s Takings Challenge to County’s Traffic Impact Fee Heads Back to State Court

Power of the People: Environmental Advocacy in China

Several of China’s most prominent environmental advocates will join a keynote talk at UCLA Law on the role of civil society in addressing China’s global environmental impacts.

Filling in the Picture: The Latest From Kennedy about Climate

Here’s what Kennedy says about his campaign, its effect on the race, and climate change.

Don’t Count Your Judicial Vultures Before They Hatch

The conservative Supreme Court majority may turn out as bad as we fear. Or maybe not.

A New Era for Protecting Public Lands

The Bureau of Land Management has always prioritized extraction activities. Now the agency has announced a rule that could elevate conservation.

Climate Action for Earth Day

“We have a long way to go, but we’ve started down the path.” I asked my UCLA Emmett Institute colleagues what climate actions give them hope on Earth Day. Here’s how they answered.

Could Trump Cancel the IRA?

Probably not. But also possibly yes.

We Need a True Debate Over Income-Graduated Fixed Charges

A state bill to cap the fixed charges utilities can collect in California would shut down an important debate about equity and rate design. Here’s a better way forward.