The Whipsaw Effect
Get ready for a rough ride, with sudden weather reversals and climate shifts.
Adapting to climate change is an unavoidable necessity, if only because we’ve already baked additional warming into the climate system. Steady predictable changes in climate and weather would be easier to adapt to. Instead, we may well see some very sudden shifts, both in terms of short-term weather and longer-term climate regimes. That has important policy implications. The shorter-term variety of sudden change was dubbed “whiplash” in a recent article in Yal...
CONTINUE READINGWhen does a groundwater recharge project NOT need a water right?
by Kate Fritz and Nell Green Nylen
Groundwater recharge projects already play an important role in California. That role is about to expand rapidly, as local groundwater managers begin to take more concrete actions to meet their responsibilities under California’s landmark Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). As we mentioned in our last post, an important part of developing a successful recharge project is securing a source of water and the legal right to use it. In that post, we describe...
CONTINUE READINGElection 2020: Three Months till Election Day
The environmental are high: Trump has axed one regulation every two weeks for four years.
Since taking office, Trump has waffled on some issues and shuffled personnel, but on one thing he has held firm: eradicating legal protection of the environment. His motto seems to be: No Regulation Left Standing. Something to keep in mind, as we head toward Election Day. That's three months away, but some states begin early voting much sooner. Some of Trump's targets were well-known and controversial regulations, but the tide of rollbacks has not spared even some...
CONTINUE READINGElection 2020: Update on the Senate
Senate control will matter a lot, regardless of who’s in the White House.
Control of the Senate will determine the environmental views of new judges and whether any environmental legislation can pass. In August, I'll start looking at the environmental stakes in specific Senate races. Here’s why Senate control is so important and where things stand right now. Basically, the question is whether Mitch McConnell retains his grip on legislation and judicial appointments. Control of the Senate will have a big impact on post-2020 policy in man...
CONTINUE READINGPlanning a Green Recovery
Don’t let the opportunity for a green stimulus go to waste.
The economy crashed during the lockdown. Although a recovery has begun, government action will probably be needed to sustain it. We should seize this opportunity to make progress on sustainability. It’s hard to know the long-term economic impact of the pandemic. As Nobel-prize winning economist Robert Schiller has said, “Big events like a pandemic have the potential to leave behind a trail of disruption. They can create social discord, reduce people’s willingn...
CONTINUE READINGThe Mystery of McConnell’s Litigation Shield
Why is he investing so much in something so draconian and so unnecessary?
As part of their proposed stimulus package, Senators John Cornyn and Mitch McConnell introduced a bill that gives almost complete immunity protection to businesses that fail to take precautions against the coronavirus. It’s called the “Safe to Work Act,” but really should be called the “Work at Your Own Risk Act.” McConnell says he won’t bring a stimulus bill to the floor without it. The McConnell immunity shield is truly draconian. It creates a whole seri...
CONTINUE READINGWater right permitting options for groundwater recharge: Avoiding unintended consequences
by Kate Fritz and Nell Green Nylen
Efforts to boost groundwater recharge are critical to making California’s limited, and increasingly volatile, water resources go further. Recharge is playing a growing role in maintaining groundwater as an effective drought reserve and in slowing or reversing the effects of years of unsustainable groundwater pumping. But implementing recharge projects is not easy. Water managers face a range of hurdles. Even with the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA) on...
CONTINUE READINGElection 2020: State Legislatures
The Outlook for State Climate Policy Might Improve
The key political races aren't just about the White House or Congress. Control of state legislatures will also be important in shaping climate and energy policy -- not to mention their ultimate effect on the composition of the U.S. House due to redistricting. One of my themes is the importance of state government to climate policy. The sad fact is that the political parties have opposing views on climate change, somewhat ameliorated because renewable energy has so...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger John Graham: California Court Decision Will Affect Future Use of Carbon Offsets to Mitigate Emissions of Development
The California Court of Appeal Rules San Diego County’s Climate Action Plan Violates CEQA
The challenge to San Diego County’s Climate Action Plan (“CAP”) in Golden Door has been closely watched by many interested in the use of carbon offsets to mitigate GHG impacts in California. Simply put, carbon offsets are mechanisms that reflect off-site GHG reductions—from activities like reforestation—that can, in some cases, compensate for a project’s GHG emissions. Litigation over San Diego County’s CAP has lasted years; on June 12, the Court of Appeal...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Litigation 2020
Here’s the state of play and some thoughts about the future.
Trump Administration has been a fertile source of litigation. With the election only about three months away, this seems like a good time to see how things stand in climate-related case. In a nutshell, climate litigation has been a growth industry under Trump, and the Administration has done poorly in court. The Current State of Play Types of Lawsuits The Sabin Center at Columbia maintains a database of U.S. climate litigation, which gives an overall sense of what t...
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
