Region: California

California’s Redevelopment Wars

California’s political leaders are currently struggling with the monumental challenge of finding ways to eliminate the state’s $25 billion budget deficit.  Somewhat surprisingly, one of the most controversial deficit reduction proposals offered by newly-installed Governor Jerry Brown involves elimination of California’s 425 redevelopment agencies. Estimated savings: $3 billion per year. Such a reduction in state …

CONTINUE READING

And now for some good news

If you’re as depressed as I am by the current political climate and attempts on Capitol Hill to roll back everything from clean air protections to food safety, you might be feeling the need for some good news. Here’s at least a small antidote. The San Jose Mercury News reports that fish and birds are …

CONTINUE READING

Court’s AB 32 Ruling Is Quite Narrow and At Most a Temporary Setback

Cara published a terrific summary of  a tentative California superior court decision in which the court held that the state’s Air Resources Board (CARB) violated  the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in implementing AB 32, the state’s landmark climate change legislation.  The CEQA portion of the ruling — should the judge stick with it when …

CONTINUE READING

Calif court tentatively rules AB 32 implementation unlawful

A California superior court has issued a proposed decision, not yet final, holding that ARB failed to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in its adoption of the Scoping Plan that is guiding its implementation of AB 32, California’s landmark climate change law.  The ruling proposes to set aside ARB’s CEQA documentation and to …

CONTINUE READING

California Environmental Blueprint: Environmental monitoring & modeling

This post is the second in our ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California. In our Blueprint, we recommended that Governor Brown establish an independent, statewide agency or council devoted to compilation, modeling, prediction and presentation of environmental quality data. I want to elaborate on what this agency might look like and why we believe …

CONTINUE READING

California Environmental Blueprint: Protect and Restore Funding

This post is part of an ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California, released by UCLA Law last week.  I’ll talk about the first–and, in many ways, most fundamental–recommendation in our paper: that Governor Brown do what he can to protect and restore stable, robust funding for our State’s core environmental initiatives. My coauthors and …

CONTINUE READING

Funding dam removal

Many of you have probably heard of the settlement agreements in Klamath River Basin. For those who have not, the short version is that most participants signed two agreements: the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. The Hydroelectric Settlement lays out a process that could culminate in the removal of four …

CONTINUE READING

A Roadmap for Sustainable Consumption

Individual consumption – including household heating and cooling as well as non-business transportation – creates roughly one-third of U.S. energy use and carbon emissions. It would feasible to reduce these emissions by twenty percent in a decade: there is a lot of low-hanging fruit yet to be picked. A range of individual actions, while seemingly …

CONTINUE READING

Los Angeles and Renewable Energy

Much to the surprise of many observers, including me, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (the country’s largest municipally-owned utility) has met its 2010 goal of providing 20 percent of its electricity from renewable sources.  I’ve written previously about the implementation problems LADWP and other utilities are likely to face in cutting greenhouse …

CONTINUE READING

UCLA Law releases new environmental blueprint for California

In the looming battle over California’s budget, will there be room for environmental protections?  What should Governor Brown’s top-priority environmental initatives be?  UCLA Law released today “An Environmental Blueprint for California,” giving our view of the priorities Governor Brown should focus on to ensure the state’s environmental health in ways consistent with its economic prosperity.  California faces difficult choices ahead.  …

CONTINUE READING

Join Our Mailing List

Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.

TRENDING