Appeals Court Nixes NYC Climate Lawsuit
With a clever if contrived argument, the Second Circuit tries to eliminate climate change litigation.
On Friday, the Second Circuit issued an important decision in a lawsuit against the oil industry. New York City had sued the oil companies for harms relating to climate change. The appeals court ordered the case dismissed, on the ground that any harm relating to fossil fuel is exclusively regulated by the Clean Air Act. The ruling is a setback for the plaintiffs in similar cases — how much of a setback remains to be seen. The court’s analysis is very complicat...
CONTINUE READINGDeforestation and the Climate Crisis in a Time of Pandemic
Despite the pandemic-induced global economic contraction, deforestation increased last year, with significant increases in the destruction of primary tropical forests.
Earlier this week, the World Resources Institute released its first assessment of global forest loss for 2020, offering a chance to take stock of what happened to the world’s forests during the pandemic. The news is not good. Despite a shrinking global economy, deforestation increased around the world in 2020. In temperate regions, some of the most significant forest loss occurred because of unprecedented fires. Here in California, more than 4 mill...
CONTINUE READINGThe Green MAGA-Deal Goes Public!
It's something no one expected, and for good reason.
There were gasps of astonishment when Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Bernie Sanders took the stage together. The gasps turned into stunned silence as Trump began to speak. The trio were there, Trump said, to announce something HUGE, something no one ever expected: the world's biggest plan for climate action. Trump began by denouncing the media for portraying him as weak on climate change, calling himself the "greatest climate president since Abraham Lincoln."Â...
CONTINUE READINGSolar Geoengineering and Public Engagement Trolling
A first test of a long-planned outdoor solar geoengineering experiment has been delayed--again. Why?
It has been a busy week in solar geoengineering. Last week, the US National Academies released a report that offers recommendations for a research program and for governance of research. (A few of us will post our thoughts on the report here soon.)Â Here I discuss developments regarding outdoor solar geoengineering experiments, of which there have been only a few. A couple weeks ago, I wrote of opposition to a long-planned outdoor test of equipment that Harvard-based res...
CONTINUE READINGDo regulators and utility managers have irreconcilable differences or mutual goals?
By Alida Cantor, Luke Sherman, Anita Milman, and Mike Kiparsky
Do regulators and utility managers have irreconcilable differences or mutual goals?  By Alida Cantor, Luke Sherman, Anita Milman, and Mike Kiparsky. What do climate change, aging infrastructure, and urban population growth have in common? They all pose major challenges – especially for water infrastructure in the United States. And many utilities are having a hard time keeping up. Part of the problem is that the industry has relied on the same handful of tec...
CONTINUE READINGBiden’s Dilemma: Limiting Carbon from Existing Power Plants
It’s not that the policy choices are that hard. It’s the 6-3 Supreme Court.
Coal- and gas-fired power plants are a major source of U.S. carbon emissions. The Obama Administration devised a perfectly sensible, moderate policy to cut those emissions. The Trump Administration replaced it with a ridiculous token policy. The D.C. Circuit appeals court tossed that out. Now what? It wouldn’t be hard to redo the Obama policy based on all the changes in the power industry since Obama left office, which would result in much more rigorous emission...
CONTINUE READINGRegulating Interstate Ozone Pollution: EPA Nears the Finish Line
The regulatory history is dauntingly convoluted. This sixteen year regulatory saga has lessons for climate policy.
EPA issued a rule last week that will significantly improve air quality, particularly on the East Coast. This is EPA’s fourth and final iteration of a rule-making process to control interstate air pollution that began in 2005. Reflecting this history, this fourth rule is a second and presumably final revision of an update to an earlier rule called the Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (Revised CASPR), which itself replaced a yet earlier rule. (CASPR is prono...
CONTINUE READINGThe $25 Million Question: How Sonoma County Can Spend Vegetation Management Funds to Bolster Wildfire Resilience
by Ethan Elkind, Ted Lamm, & Katie Segal
How would you spend $25 million to reduce the risk of catastrophic wildfire through vegetation management? Sonoma County leaders found themselves facing this question and enlisted UC Berkeley School of Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) for help. Today, CLEE is releasing a report with specific recommendations for Sonoma County, which we hope can serve as a model for other local and state governments and community groups as they work to address ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Nondelegation Doctrine and Its Threat to Environmental Law
Here’s what the doctrine means and why it has suddenly become so significant.
If you ask Supreme Court experts what keeps them up at night, the answer is likely to be the non-delegation doctrine. If you are among the 99.9% of Americans who've never heard of it, here’s an explainer of the doctrine and what the 6-3 Court might do with it. What’s the nondelegation doctrine? Simply put, the doctrine says that only the legislature can create new rules of law and that Congress cannot transfer this power to the executive branch or the judiciary...
CONTINUE READINGA Preview: Major Property Rights Case Currently Before U.S. Supreme Court
Decision in Cedar Point Nursery Could Imperil Key Health, Safety & Environmental Programs
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in a major property rights case from California: Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid. That litigation arises in a labor law context. But, depending on how the Court rules, the case could have major, deleterious impacts on a wide array of health, safety and environmental programs. Cedar Point involves an agricultural industry challenge to a longstanding regulation enacted by California's Agricultural Labor Re...
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