Region: National
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.
In August of 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, the combination of torrential rain and flawed infrastructure proved deadly. More than 1,800 people died and the price tag for the damage quickly rose to the tens of billions of dollars. In the chaotic disaster response that followed, several communities were disproportionately …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy the New Climate Reg for Coal is a Perfectly Normal EPA Rule
EPA’s approach isn’t a novel innovation. It’s just EPA applying its usual approach.
The problem isn’t that EPA’s new climate regulation for power plants will crush the coal-fired generation industry. It’s that much of the industry is so economically weak it can’t survive any kind of regulation.
CONTINUE READINGEPA’s New Power Plant Rules Have Dropped. What Happens Next?
Media battles. Lawsuits. Stay requests. And political mayhem.
The release of Biden’s new climate regulations for power plants will unleash a maelstrom of legal and political battles. One key question: Will the Supreme Court short circuit the litigation process by staying the rules.
CONTINUE READINGCould Trump Cancel the IRA?
Probably not. But also possibly yes.
The Inflation Reduction Act is Biden’s signature climate initiative. Trump has already called for repealing it, and so have some Republicans in Congress. Given the IRA’s huge cuts in carbon emissions, that would be a tragedy. Can he do that? He would certainly face some very significant barriers. Trump would need Republican majorities in the …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate 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.
Don’t believe what you’ve heard. There is one single thing you can give up that will help address climate change: voter apathy. One-third of eligible voters—80 million Americans—did not vote in the presidential election last time around. Why not? Because they just “weren’t registered” or they “weren’t interested in politics,” according to this Ipsos survey. …
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CONTINUE READINGA 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.
In August, 2021, I blogged on Legal Planet about a piece in Science I had co-authored arguing for an end to prohibiting “nonuse” rights to bid on public land use. The article helped popularize the issue and the Bureau of Land Management today announced a final rule that, as the BLM press release describes, “recognizes …
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CONTINUE READINGDon’t Count Your Judicial Vultures Before They Hatch
The conservative Supreme Court majority may turn out as bad as we fear. Or maybe not.
It’s not hard to imagine the conservative super-majority pursuing its campaign against regulatory agencies like vultures picking over the bones of environmental law. That’s certainly possible – vulture eggs do, after all, generally hatch into vultures. But it’s not by any means a done deal. There are multiple pathways the Court could take – none …
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CONTINUE READINGFilling 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.
Some of RFK Jr.’s views about climate change may be what you expected. Others may surprise you, like his embrace of natural gas as a fuel and his reservations about regulating emissions.
CONTINUE READINGU.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
On April 12th, the U.S. Supreme Court revisited a constitutional doctrine near and dear to its institutional heart: when and under what circumstances does a land use permit condition violate the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause? In yet another “regulatory takings” case from California, the Supreme Court wound up not answering that precise question. Instead, the …
CONTINUE READINGShanahan, Kennedy and Climate Change: Unanswered Questions
It’s clear that RFK Jr.’s running mate has good intentions and an interest in climate issues. But not much is clear beyond that.
Nicole Shanahan seems to care about climate change. But neither she nor RFK Jr. have told us their climate plan. And they haven’t explained why we should take the risk of another four years of Trump rollbacks.
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