The Chevron Doctrine: Is It Fading? Could That Help Restrain Trump?
The Supreme Court may be shifting the rules for reviewing agency interpretations of statutes.
In June, the Supreme Court decided two cases that could have significant implications for environmental law. The two cases may shed some light on the Court’s current thinking about the Chevron doctrine. The opinions suggest that the Court may be heading in the direction of more rigorous review of interpretations of statutes by agencies like EPA and the SEC. That could be important as Trump's deregulatory actions start hitting the judicial docket. Thus, in the short-run...
CONTINUE READINGPublic Lands Watch: Sage Grouse Plan Revisions
BLM and Forest Service produce draft environmental impact statements for plan revisions
I wrote in the fall about the Trump Administration’s efforts to weaken protections for sage grouse on federal public lands. The next step in that process is currently ongoing – draft environmental impact statements (EIS) for revisions to land management plans for BLM and Forest Service lands. Those EISs are required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) before the relevant management plans can be revised – only after the plans are revised can the agen...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Supreme Court Rejects Ploy to Limit the Legislature’s Authority to Enact Technology-Forcing Statutes
Court rules for the State in challenge to technology-forcing gun control law
In a case I previewed here, the California Supreme Court has been considering a challenge to a gun control law passed in 2007 that required certain new models of guns use a developing technology called “microstamping” that would enable law enforcement to link a spent cartridge back to the gun that fired it. The gun lobby, represented by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), relied on the California Civil Code’s maxim of jurisprudence that the law �...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Strategies for the Post-Kennedy Era
How do we make environmental progress despite an increasingly unsympathetic court?
Ann Carlson wrote an excellent post about how Kennedy’s departure might impact some key environmental issues. His retirement means that the Supreme Court will move even further to the right and stay there at least until one of the conservatives departs (maybe Thomas, the oldest). The new pick is likely to be another Gorsuch, which will make Roberts the swing voter. This isn’t as dire as it would have been when Roberts was appointed, because he has moved toward the ce...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Does Justice Kennedy’s Retirement Mean for Environmental Protection?
Short Answer: It’s Not Good
The news that Justice Anthony Kennedy is retiring has ramifications for many important areas in constitutional law, including affirmative action, same-sex marriage, and abortion. His vote was also pivotal in many environmental cases. Justice Kennedy will almost certainly be replaced by a more conservative justice. If that justice votes with the conservative wing of the Court on environmental cases (and it’s hard to imagine Trump appointing someone other than a hard...
CONTINUE READINGHere we go again…
Two more proposals to provide CEQA relief to sports stadiums
It’s another legislative season in Sacramento, so yet another opportunity for legislators to hand out regulatory goodies to large corporations and wealthy people, in the form of CEQA “streamlining” for the construction of sports stadiums. There are two bills currently in the queue: AB 734 which would benefit the Oakland A’s and AB 987 which would benefit the LA Clippers. News coverage of each is here and here. I’ve written before about these bills, and why ...
CONTINUE READINGMemo to Staff: Eliminating Cl***** Ch****
Also, please delete all references to global w***ing.
MEMORANDUM To: All Department Staff From: The Secretary Re: Eliminating Cl***** Ch**** As you know, it is this Administration’s policy to eliminate all references to Cl***** Ch**** from government documents. This policy has been unevenly implemented, but I have informed the President that we are adopting a zero-tolerance approach. All use of the “double-c term” must now cease. This includes acronyms such as GCC or references to global w***i...
CONTINUE READINGGetting to Zero Fatalities
Eliminating traffic deaths and vehicle emissions by 2050? Not as crazy as you might think.
Could we have a transportation system with zero deaths from car crashed and zero emissions? That seems utopian but it’s not as crazy as it sounds. Even if we don’t get all the way to zero, we could get much closer than you might think. In The Road to Zero, RAND researchers provide a roadmap to zero crash fatalities by 2050. It involves a combination of strategies. Safer roads, such as more use of roundabouts to slow traffic and better pedestrian crossings, are one...
CONTINUE READINGAgency U-Turns
Policy reversals are likely to be more frequent in an increasingly polarized society. How should courts respond?
The Trump Administration is doing its best to wipe out Obama’s regulatory legacy. How will the courts respond to such a radical policy change? The philosophical clash between these last two Presidents is especially stark, but this is far from being the first time that agencies have taken U-turns. This is the fifth time in the past forty years that control of the White House has switched parties, with accompanying changes in regulatory approaches. Yet the underlying ...
CONTINUE READINGSenate Races and the Environment
Eight races will determine the balance of power in the Senate.
There's a lot riding on the 2018 elections. The midterms will decide whether the GOP has a large enough majority to pass legislation weakening environmental protection, whether either house of Congress is willing to investigate misconduct by Pruitt and others, and who Trump can appoint to agencies and the judiciary. I’ll post more detailed information about the races as we get closer to the election, but here’s a quick overview of eight crucial races. Seats current...
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