Defending the Environment, Deep in the Heart of Dixie
It’s not hospitable territory for environmental work, but some law schools are still trying.
National environmental groups tend not to devote many resources to the Deep South. State governments and often courts are barren ground for environmental arguments. And.the local activist community is also thin. Law schools are also fewer in number than in the Northeast or Pacific Coasts. So what’s going on in those schools in the environmental area? There are many excellent individual scholars, but are there institutional efforts? When people talk about t...
CONTINUE READINGTeach Your Parents Well
A view from the Youth Climate Strike in S.F.
Youth Climate Strike signs and the young marchers holding them in San Francisco today were fed up, hopeful, witty and powerful—and offered helpful lessons to those of us entrusted with training the next generation of environmental advocates. Protesters offered concrete green visions (Only 363 offshore wind turbines needed to power the city of San Francisco); policy prescriptions (Put a price on it: Support H.R. 763); root-cause interventions (Please f*cking vote!); sec...
CONTINUE READINGWelcome to the Next Phase of the Great California-Trump Car Wars
First lawsuit filed, more to come
California didn't wait long to file its first court challenge to the rules just finalized by the Trump Administration related to California's GHG and ZEV car emissions standards (discussed here and here by Julia and Ann). Here's the complaint filed by California together with 23 other states, along with the cities of LA and NY. There's lots to say, but on quick reading here are some notable elements: It's not a challenge to the administration's decision to revok...
CONTINUE READINGGovernance infrastructure for water resilience
CLEE comments on Governor Newsom’s water portfolio executive order
Governor Gavin Newsom has directed state agencies to prepare a water resilience portfolio. Executive Order N-10-19 describes a set of broad principles to inform the development of the portfolio, as well as extensive outreach that should accompany the process, which is being conducted on an aggressive timeline. The EO states, correctly, that California needs a portfolio of collaborative strategies to meet water management challenges that will grow as a result of climat...
CONTINUE READINGEPA/Transportation Announcement of California Waiver Revocation is Full of Falsehoods and Irony
How Many Misstatements Can You Find?
This morning, the Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Transportation formally announced -- as expected -- that the Trump Administration is revoking California's waiver to set its own vehicle standards. Yesterday, Trump tweeted the news, coupling it with falsehoods claiming that the rollback would save lives and save consumers money. As I blogged yesterday, both are lies. Not to be outdone, today's EPA/DOT press release, with statements from EPA ...
CONTINUE READINGAmerican Public Wakes Up, Smells the Coffee
Further evidence of a shift in public opinion on climate change.
As I discussed in a September 9th post, public opinion has been shifting toward greater recognition of climate change and the need to respond. Much of the evidence came from polls dating back a few months. Further evidence is provided by two polls released this week. People do seem to be waking up to the problem. One poll was conducted by the Washington Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Here’s how the Post summarizes the results: “The poll finds that a str...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Tweet about Yanking California’s Waiver is, Shockingly, Full of Falsehoods
The rollback will not make drivers safer and will not save consumers money
President Trump just sent out a series of tweets announcing and defending his decision to revoke California's permission to issue its own tough standards to reduce carbon pollution and require manufacturers to sell Zero Emission Vehicles in the state. Julia has a great analysis of why the decision is terrible policy and bad law that you can read here. Here are Trump's tweets: Shockingly, Trump's claims that cars w...
CONTINUE READINGTrump Announces Waiver Rollback on Twitter
Revoking California’s Clean Air Act Waiver Is Bad Policy and Legally Indefensible
This post was originally published on the American Constitution Society's Expert Forum on September 18, 2019. President Trump announced the revocation on Twitter this morning. It’s not news that the Trump administration has been planning, via its so-called SAFE Rule, to freeze Obama-era fuel economy standards, roll back tailpipe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards, and revoke California’s Clean Air Act authority to set its own emissions standards. But i...
CONTINUE READINGBlack Carbon, 3 Billion Strong
I have been blogging about climate solutions and barriers to implementation and scale. Among the most important solutions are those that address short lived climate pollutants, primarily methane, black carbon, and HFCs, because if we stop or sequester those emissions, they will disappear from the atmosphere relatively quickly, unlike CO2. According to the UN Climate and Clean Air Coalition,Black carbon is a potent climate-warming component of particulate matter for...
CONTINUE READINGA Welcome Victory in the D.C. Circuit
This is what it looks like when judges just buckle down and do their jobs.
Last Friday, the D.C. Circuit decided Wisconsin v. EPA. The federal appeals court rejected industry attacks on a regulation dealing with interstate air pollution but accepted an argument by environmental groups that the regulation was too weak. Last week also featured depressing examples of the drumbeat of Trump Administration rollbacks, so it was especially nice to have some good news. I hesitated about whether to write something about the case because the opinion ...
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