What’s the Harm?
Tentative thoughts on Trump Administration’s proposed repeal of the ESA regulation defining harm
The administration has proposed revoking the definition of harm in the regulations implementing Section 9 of the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Section 9 is the section of the ESA that prohibits taking a member of a listed species. The change is significant because that definition of harm included, in some circumstances, actions that modify the habitat of an endangered species. Without this regulatory definition, the scope of the ESA could significantly shrink. Wh...
CONTINUE READINGDay After Earth Day, the Climate Pope, and the 89%
The Drain is a new weekly roundup of climate and environmental news from Legal Planet.
Environmental journalists everywhere are breathing easier this morning. They made it through Earth Day — one of two insufferable seasons of cliche, inane PR pitches clogging their inboxes. (The other? The 2-week UN Climate Conference each fall.) Environmental advocates are breathing a little easier too, because the White House blinked first in the war of words over possibly trying to revoke their tax-exempt status. Small victories. I usually feel “meh” abo...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Should You Do For Earth Day? Get On The Phones
The Environmental Voter Project is pushing hard in Michigan and Texas.
Politics matters. A lot. This assertion might strike as the epitome of obviousness, but when it comes to Earth Day, there is a tendency to get away from the hard work of blocking and tackling and more toward thinking about Our Relationship With The Earth on a conceptual level. At this point, I'm sick of concepts. No Administration has ever threatened the planet more than this one; together with a Supreme Court that often seems devoting to destroying environmental l...
CONTINUE READING“What We Do Matters:” UCLA’s Charging Ahead Symposium
States and cities have a lot of tools to cut vehicle pollution. It's time to break them out.
Trump is a bump. A nasty one, but a bump nonetheless, because the world is on the road to zero-emission fuels and vehicles no matter what. That was one takeaway from “Charging Ahead,” the UCLA Emmett Institute’s annual symposium held on April 9 — devoted this year to cutting vehicle pollution during the next four years and beyond. Another overarching idea: states like California and cities like Los Angeles have a lot of tools — it's time to break them out....
CONTINUE READINGPrecedent, the Trump Administration, and Endangered Species
A new Trump Administration initiative misinterprets the overruling of Chevron
The Trump Administration is about to embark on overruling a key regulation protecting endangered species. That regulation, which the Supreme Court upheld in the Sweet Home case (1995), protects members of endangered species from being killed or injured indirectly via destruction of their habitat. The Administration does not see Sweet Home as a barrier, because that case applied the Chevron doctrine in reaching its result. Under Chevron, courts upheld reasonable ...
CONTINUE READINGAnother CEQA urban residential exemption bill
AB 609 provides a different and promising approach for advancing urban infill, but it could use a map
Following up on my recent post about SB 607, which proposes creating a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) exemption for urban infill housing, a similar bill, AB 609, has also been introduced this session. Like SB 607, AB 609 exempts from CEQA housing projects in urban areas. The main difference with respect to the infill exemption provision is that SB 607 simply instructs a state agency (the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation) to develop a map of urba...
CONTINUE READINGThe NIMBY Presidency
Peter Navarro hates foreign trade. He also hates housing.
Well what a surprise. Not: Before Peter Navarro designed trade wars for President Trump, he orchestrated housing wars in San Diego across five unsuccessful bids for local office. Navarro, then a UC Irvine economics professor, led San Diego's slow-growth movement in the 1990s, drawing battle lines that still define today's development fights. His zero-sum view on homebuilding then reflects the zero-sum view on trade that animates the tariffs he helped design. T...
CONTINUE READINGLocal EV Leadership During Federal Withdrawal
The clean mobility transition is in local hands.
The federal landscape for electric vehicle (EV) investment is laden with pause and uncertainty. High-profile program discontinuations–both planned and executed–threaten to disrupt EV deployment efforts, while unpredictable tariffs interfere with drivers’ ability to afford vehicles. As local leaders work to reconcile ambitious transport decarbonization goals with the current lapse in federal climate leadership, public planners, automakers, and EV advocates must iden...
CONTINUE READINGIs Trump Good for the Oil Industry?
Not particularly, it would appear. If there’s an effect, it’s not big enough to hit the eyes.
Given that Trump adores oil and views it as a key source of national wealth, you’d think his election would be a boon for the oil industry. If he is aiding the industry, that doesn't stand out in looking at the stock market. Oil stocks went up and the day after he was elected, and again after he was sworn in. That suggests some market sentiment in his favor. But, as our former President would have said, here’s the thing: the market sagged back down just as quickly. ...
CONTINUE READINGChevron’s Losing Play to Avoid Big Damages
Chevron sponsored Super Bowl LIX events and science classes for New Orleans children just weeks before a Louisiana jury ordered it to pay $745 million in damages.
In February and March, Chevron generated headlines for its charity at the Super Bowl in Louisiana. This month, the oil company made very different headlines for being ordered to pay $745 million for damage to the Louisiana coast after a jury verdict. One of these stories shows the company as a town hero in a parade; the other as a villain doing a perp walk out of the courthouse. Chevron wants you to remember one and not the other. Don’t fall for it. Before the...
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