Negative Emissions: The Next Bright Shiny Object in Greenhouse-Gas Emissions Reductions
In ongoing debate over how to slow and stop climate change, the past year or so has seen a large shift of attention and interest toward technological options to remove CO2 from the atmosphere after it is emitted – options generally lumped under the headings “Carbon dioxide removal” (CDR) or “negative emissions technologies” (NETs). These terms cover a highly diverse collection of a dozen-odd removal approaches, which differ both in the mechanism by which the...
CONTINUE READINGRoadmap For California To Phase Out Oil & Gas Production
New CLEE report released today with legal options for state policy makers & free May 12th webinar
California is the seventh-largest oil producing state in the country, with a fossil fuel industry that is responsible for billions of dollars in state and local revenue and other economic activity each year. Yet continued oil and gas production contrasts with the state’s aggressive climate mitigation policies, while creating significant air and water pollution, particularly for disadvantaged communities in areas where much of the state’s drilling occurs. As a resu...
CONTINUE READINGAsserting “Climate Necessity” in Defense of Civil Disobedience
Giving climate change activists a fair hearing in court
The first Earth Day, fifty years ago, was a product and catalyst of political movements that established bedrock environmental laws in the United States. Without decades of political activism, there would be no Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, or Endangered Species Act, nor would there be vigorous enforcement regimes to carry these laws out. We owe thanks for today’s cleaner water and clearer air in part to the countless activists who have taken to the streets, pres...
CONTINUE READINGGrid Experts Weigh In on the Clean Power Plan Repeal and ACE Rule
UCLA Emmett faculty share expert voices in an amicus brief filed last week in the D.C. Circuit
Among the many Trump Administration rollbacks of climate regulation, a big one is its decision to repeal the Clean Power Plan and to replace it with a rule that does almost nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants. The electricity sector has made significant progress in reducing climate pollution recent years, but remains a challenge: In 2018, the power sector emitted a quarter of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Watering down fede...
CONTINUE READINGCOVID and Climate Change
Immediate emissions reductions, and durable ones
Many commenters on the pandemic response have noted the supposed silver lining that as travel, commerce, other economic activity have dropped, so too have the associated burdens on the environment. The air is clean, wild animals are roaming in cities – and there have been substantial, not huge, reductions in the emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. The data come in slowly, but various early estimates have found emissions down b...
CONTINUE READINGRed States, Blue Governors
Democratic governors in deep red states can only do so much.
Democrats flipped a number of statehouses in the past two years. In some of those states, the new governors have faced GOP legislatures. Their travails indicate some of the limits of what a new President could accomplish with a GOP Senate. North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Kansas are three cases in point. I want to ask two key questions about these states: How much have these governors been able to accomplish in the way of climate policy? How well have they...
CONTINUE READINGCoronavirus, Climate Change, and Tropical Forests
Why the fight against deforestation is more urgent than ever
Long before the wet markets of Wuhan became the focus of worldwide attention, scientists have pointed to tropical deforestation and habitat destruction as key factors facilitating the spread of zoonotic viruses such as Ebola and the Coronaviruses as well as other infectious and vector-borne diseases. The obvious lesson from this research is that protecting intact tropical forests and reducing human-animal interactions along disturbed forest frontiers should be a glob...
CONTINUE READINGThe Netherlands Will Likely Meet Ambitious Climate Targets
While COVID-19 will enable NL to meet a court mandate, the government wants to go further
Today is the national day of the Netherlands: Koningsdag, or King's Day. This holiday is typically celebrated with enormous street parties and outdoor flea markets. Of course, the 2020 edition is different, with the government asking residents to stay indoors in a "Woningsdag," or Home Day, to limit the spread of the coronavirus. In the world of climate law, the Netherlands has been in the news because of a series of rulings, culminating in one by the Supreme Cour...
CONTINUE READINGIn Support of Public Health Federalism
Reactionary State Responses to COVID-19 (and Other Threats to Public Health) Don't Mean Federalism Is For Suckers
For decades, "states' rights" has been a rallying cry of the right wing. Most Americans are familiar with the dynamics that required the federalization of civil rights law, both in the 1860s and again in the 1960s, the protection of much of our nation's federal lands, and the national crises that necessitated the federal government to enact national minimum standards to protect public health and the environment. Many of us are also familiar with the right-wing backlash t...
CONTINUE READINGRemember “Beautiful, Clean Coal”? Trump Apparently Doesn’t.
Maybe you haven’t noticed, but Trump has stopped talking about coal.
One of Trump’s iconic campaign photos showed him with a sign saying “Trump Digs Coal.” He vowed to bring back the coal industry. Even after his election, he delighted in photo ops with coal miners ( many of whom turned out to be coal company executives) wearing their helmets. But those days are gone. I couldn’t remember the last time Trump had referred to coal. A Google search didn’t turn up much, though I did learn he had failed to mention coal in his 201...
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