Region: California
Saving Disaster Law From the Imperial Presidency
Trump’s efforts to deconstruct disaster relief have serious legal flaws
In recent days, Trump has said that he won’t provide relief for the LA fires unless California changes its voting laws and its water regulations. And he also suggested that he’d like to abolish FEMA entirely. The first of those proposals seems clearly unconstitutional. The second one is both a terrible idea and beyond his legal authority.
CONTINUE READINGDid California Policies Make the LA Fires Worse?
California’s environmental and climate regulations did not make the climate-fueled Palisades and Eaton fires more destructive or harder to fight. Here’s why.
We know climate change is partly to blame. Are California’s environmental policies regarding land and water management also to blame for the supercharged firestorm that has ravaged Los Angeles? It’s not just conspiracy theories on social media or misguided news stories; that’s the position of some congressional Republicans and President-elect Trump, who hold power over future …
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CONTINUE READINGHonoring Michael Zischke (1954-2025)
A Force in the CEQA World
Michael Zischke was a talented and award-winning land use and environmental lawyer, Mike was widely recognized for his extensive expertise in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) litigation and compliance.
CONTINUE READINGWhat Will 2025 Bring in Global Climate Finance?
Last year, international negotiations continued to disappoint on global climate policy, forests, and finance. This year, subnational governments must continue to lead.
As they have for many years, nations came together in 2024 at various climate-related events to push for a brighter future. From the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Cali, Colombia in October 2024, followed immediately by COP29 to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) …
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CONTINUE READINGClimate Takeaways from Newsom’s Budget Proposal
The Governor’s proposed 2025-26 budget would tap the recent voter-approved climate bond and seek new emergency funds.
For more than a month, California has worked at “Trump-proofing” the State budget. Now you could say the Governor is looking to fire-proof it too. On Friday, as wildfires continued to rage across Southern California, officials from the California Department of Finance presented the Governor’s proposed 2025-26 budget. Earlier in the week, the Governor—who has …
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CONTINUE READINGHuge Snub for Big Oil at the Supreme Court
Oil companies failed to persuade the justices to shield them from the growing number of state lawsuits seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change.
Big Oil has failed to persuade the U.S. Supreme Court to shield it from numerous state climate lawsuits filed across the country seeking damages for the harms caused by climate change — harms like the historic, supercharged urban fires burning in Los Angeles. The justices held a conference on Friday, January 10 to determine whether …
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CONTINUE READINGLA Fires and the Climate Connection
New UCLA research connects the dots between the climate crisis and the supercharged LA wildfires. “Hydroclimate whiplash” means worse floods, droughts, and fires.
Like millions of Angelenos, I’ve been staying indoors and off the roads, glued to the Watch Duty app, radio, and TV coverage as LA is engulfed by these historic fires. The last 48 hours of coverage has focused, understandably, on the firefight and immediate devastation. Now, it’s time to start hearing about the climate connection, …
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CONTINUE READINGA Crisis in Climate Communications
Deadly windstorms, wildfires, and hurricanes constitute something more horrific than just “climate change.”
What’s best for communicating urgency: phrases like “global warming” and “climate change” or “climate crisis” and “climate emergency”? What do audiences take away from these semantic choices? Does it matter what words we use? What about when the entire nation is watching a series of wildfires engulf Los Angeles, fueled by unusually dry vegetation during …
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CONTINUE READING2024: Ending on a Dark Note
It was a pretty good year for the environment – until November 5, that is.
2024 ended on a grim note for anyone who cares about the environment. Donald Trump is once again in the White House. His record in the first term made him in the most anti-environmental President in history. The story of the next four years will be a struggle to limit his damage while doing as much as we can to continue progress at the state level and in the private sector.
CONTINUE READINGLooking Ahead to the Second Trump Administration
Does the IRA have staying power?
This is the seventh in a series of posts. The first post is here. The second post is here. The third post is here. The fourth post is here. The fifth post is here. The sixth post is here. The incoming Trump Administration has, of course, called for ending efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, …
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