Year: 2012
Los Angeles’ Expo Line: A Cautionary Tale For Building Rail
This weekend, the long awaited Expo Light Rail Line will finally open in Los Angeles, connecting the traffic-choked Westside with the rest of the city’s rail network, more than two decades after the region’s first modern rail line opened. The relatively short light rail line (8.6 miles, 12 stations) took an absurdly long amount of …
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CONTINUE READINGGuest Bloggers Erica Morehouse and Tim O’Connor of Environmental Defense Fund: 9th Circuit Allows CARB to Enforce the LCFS
(It’s exam season; so, for any remedies students out there this post can count as review!) On Monday, a motions panel at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) can continue enforcing the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS). This decision stayed (pending appeal) a trial court judge’s preliminary …
CONTINUE READING“Tailpipe truths” and glib contrarianism
An all-too-frequent foible of journalists who cover environmental issues is what one might call “glib contrarianism.” Journalists write articles that purport to debunk the “politically correct” environmentalist common wisdom. Doing so establishes the journalist’s credibility as a “balanced” news provider and also gets good traffic from outraged conservatives and guilt-ridden liberals who question whether they …
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CONTINUE READINGIs It Green to Occupy a Vacant Urban Lot and Turn It Into a Farm?
A local branch of the Occupy movement has taken over a parcel of land near my house here in the Bay Area. The parcel is an agricultural research field owned by UC Berkeley. The protestors are apparently upset that Berkeley is considering turning some of its land into a development: specifically, senior housing, and commercial …
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CONTINUE READINGALEC’s Battle for Dirty Energy
Nobody ever calls themselves “the Committee to Increase Corporate Profits” — American Legislative Exchange Council sounds much better. These phony organizational names make it harder to identify special interests or ideological zealots. Which of course is the point.
CONTINUE READINGNew journal issue on using the Clean Air Act to address greenhouse gas emissions
UCLA’s Journal of Environmental Law and Policy has just published its current issue, Volume 30, with all its content available free online in pdf format. This volume is a special symposium issue, featuring articles relating to the use of the Clean Air Act to address greenhouse gas emissions. Several of the articles’ authors were speakers …
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CONTINUE READINGNew legislative effort underway to develop public access to the L.A. River
Earlier this year, California State Senator Kevin De Leon introduced SB 1201, a bill that could bolster efforts to open up the Los Angeles River for lawful recreational uses such as boating. I have a particular interest in this, since UCLA’s Frank G. Wells Environmental Law Clinic worked with the advocacy group Friends of the Los …
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CONTINUE READINGThe World’s Most Interesting Environmental Lawyer
You’ve heard the ads. But what about the world’s most interesting environmental lawyer? He met his Kyoto commitments — in 2003. His air basin is an extreme ATTAINMENT area. Justice Scalia decides based on his commitee reports. He has standing whenever he wants it. He never defers to the administrative agency. Any others? Stay thirsty, my friends….
CONTINUE READINGNew Summary Report on California’s Law to Streamline Environmental Review of Infill Projects
As this blog has chronicled, California has undertaken some ambitious efforts to streamline environmental review for certain infill projects under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). One of the most recent and potentially far-reaching attempts, SB 226 (Simitian, 2011), creates an in-depth administrative process to define the standards for what constitutes a “good” infill project. …
CONTINUE READINGA Side-by-Side Comparison of Romney and Obama on Energy and Environment
I’ve put together a table of language from the issues sections of the official campaign websites dealing with energy and environment. I decided to use the candidate’s own language to avoid interposing my own views on the issues. Please keep in mind that the table uses their language, not mine. Not surprisingly, the candidates frame …
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