Who Is Anne Idsal?
Bill Wehrum steps down as Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation.
This morning, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler announced that Assistant Administrator Bill Wehrum will be stepping down at the end of this month. The language of EPA’s press release seems intended to suggest that the departure was voluntary, but the resignation comes amid ongoing scrutiny about the Assistant Administrator’s connections to a number of industry clients he represented as a lawyer and lobbyist prior to his time at EPA. Watchdogs have suggested that ...
CONTINUE READINGHelping Repair Our Broken Governance System
Our institutions have been battered. How will we be able to fix them?
Much of Trump’s damage to the environment is obvious: his efforts to increase gas and oil production, his regulatory rollbacks, and his efforts to gut the agencies charged with protecting the environment. But he has also done deeper damage to the institutions we need to address climate change and other daunting environmental challenges. These problems go far beyond environmental law, but perhaps environmental law can be part of the solution. Restoring international ...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Takes a Knick Out of Regulatory Takings Law
Justices Curb Ripeness Rule; Open Federal Courts to Takings Litigation
In the final, major environmental law decision of its current Term, the U.S. Supreme Court handed property rights advocates a major victory while repudiating an important regulatory takings precedent the Court had itself fashioned and announced 34 years ago. The case is Knick v. Township of Scott. By a narrow 5-4 vote that split along ideological lines, the Court in Knick overruled a key component of the justices' controversial "ripeness" doctrine, which f...
CONTINUE READINGThe Trump Administration v. Everybody Else
House Committee hearing highlights dissatisfaction with and flaws in the proposed SAFE Rule.
CARB Chair Mary Nichols sits on a panel with industry representatives and others to discuss the Administration's proposed rollback of Obama-era fuel economy standards. Today, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection and Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change held a joint hearing entitled “Driving in Reverse: The Administration’s Rollback of Fuel Economy and Clean Car Standards.” The hearing examined the pro...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Nick Bryner: Cooking the Books While Cooking the Planet: A First Look at the EPA’s ACE Rule
Final Rule Changes Baseline Assumptions & Approach to Cost-Benefit Analysis in Attempt to Justify Weak Standards
Yesterday, the Trump EPA released its long-awaited response to the Obama-era Clean Power Plan. At first glance, the final rule has been carefully crafted in an attempt to avoid several glaring legal vulnerabilities of the rule—and to obscure the obvious inadequacy of the Administration’s response to climate change. The EPA has found many contradictory ways to justify its action. For over two years, Administrators Pruitt and Wheeler, along with their boss, have dec...
CONTINUE READINGThe Forgotten Environmental Legacy of Jimmy Carter
Carter saved millions of acres of wilderness, signed the Superfund law, and began the renewables revolution.
Many people today know Jimmy Carter as an ex-President who has strongly advocated for human rights. His Presidency is probably best remembered for the Iranian Hostage crisis. His post-presidential career was at least as notable as his time in the White House. Historians find his presidency flawed by micro-management and lack of rapport with the Democrats controlling Congress. Nevertheless, we owe Carter a considerable debt for his environmentally related achievements. ...
CONTINUE READINGThe evolving law of state protection of environmental resources on federal lands
Recent cases may expand the scope of states to protect environmental resources on federal public lands
One theme in environmental law and policy over the past two years has been an increasing conflict between states and the federal government – with a range of states (particularly those with Democratic governors and legislatures) challenging the federal government on environmental matters and seeking to be more aggressive in protecting the environment. One flashpoint for this conflict has been in the context of public lands, and there have been enough recent, importa...
CONTINUE READINGNew Report: Increasing Energy Efficiency at Low-Income Multifamily Properties
Join Berkeley/UCLA Law expert webinar Thursday at 10am to discuss top findings
As California moves aggressively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, will the state leave behind its low-income residents? Many of these residents -- 40% of the state's population -- live in multifamily housing units and apartments, where they have limited access to in-home retrofits that could save them on their energy bills and reduce overall emissions. These retrofits require upfront capital that low-income tenants may lack, as well as approval an...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Bloggers Will Martin and Michael P. Vandenbergh: Can Private Environmental Governance Address Nationalism’s Threat To International Environmental Law?
As Some Nations Retreat From Internationalist Approaches to Transnational Environmental Challenges, Corporate Actions May Play a Larger Role
The withdrawal by Japan from the International Whaling Convention and its related Commission in December 2018 and the on-off threat by the new leader of Brazil to withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate Change are the latest signals that International Environmental Law (“IEL”) is under siege. The move by Japan and the possible withdrawal by Brazil follow on the heels of President Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris Agreement and the e...
CONTINUE READINGThere Will Be No Global Environmental Constitution (at Least Not Now)
The proposed Global Pact for the Environment stumbles, as expected
In January, I asked in a blog post's title “Will There Be a Global Environmental Constitution?” and wrote that “some observers are concerned that international environmental law remains insufficient in its scope, depth of commitments, and breadth of participation. Some legal scholars, activists, and others advocate for a comprehensive Global Pact for the Environment.” In response, the UN General Assembly appointed an ad hoc working group to discuss possible opti...
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