What to Expect from Trump’s Second Term
Basically, a second term would be like Trump’s first term, but worse.
Here we are, one year from Election Day. As of now, there is a significant chance that Trump will be reelected in 2020, though experts disagree on the precise odds. In terms of the environment, what would his second term look like? The President. It’s conceivable that Trump might rethink his policy positions after reelection, but there’s no reason to expect that to happen. After winning election in 2016, the only policies he abandoned were those that deviat...
CONTINUE READINGAre You Sure That’s What You Want?
Automakers might get a federal “one national standard”…just not the one they seem interested in.
The Wall Street Journal reported today that the Trump administration will move to finalize its rollback of federal fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards by the end of the year, and that, unlike the freeze previously proposed by the administration, the rule will require annual fuel economy improvements of 1.5 percent. That’s still much lower than what the Obama-era law requires but doesn’t amount to the full halt the initial so-called “SAFE Rule...
CONTINUE READINGToyota’s Defense of Its Choice to Support the Trump Administration’s Auto Standards Rollback Rings Hollow
Sadly, Toyota Has Ceded Its Place As the Industry's Environmental Leader
My colleagues Ann, Cara, Julia, and Rick have all written about various aspects of the decision by General Motors, Toyota, and other automobile manufacturers to side with the Trump administration as it tries to prevent California from setting its own greenhouse gas emission standards. The administration is implementing this rollback in tandem with a federal initiative to roll back GHG emission standards and fuel economy standards (from a fleet average of 54.5 mpg in mode...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Strike in Los Angeles This Friday, November 1
Youth-led event on November 1 at Los Angeles City Hall will feature Greta Thunberg
This Friday, November 1, climate activist Greta Thunberg will join local youth organizers for a Climate Strike at Los Angeles City Hall from 12:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Event details are available on Action Network and Facebook. Climate change is a “wildfire multiplier” in California, with warming temperatures drying out vegetation and increasing risk of fires that threaten communities and add to greenhouse gas pollution. Thousands of Angelenos have evacuated their ho...
CONTINUE READINGSailing under False Flags
Anti-enviro groups often have misleading names. What if enviros did the same?
We’ve all seen the names of these groups. Something called “Americans for Gun Safety” turns out to campaign for allowing assault weapons in schools, or “Citizens for Energy Balance” wants only fossil fuels and elimination of renewables. I made up the first one, but the second one is loosely based on the name of a real group. Here's another real one: Californians for Recycling and the Environment, which turned out to be a front for plastic manufacturers oppo...
CONTINUE READINGPriorities for California Environmental Policy, According to Top State Regulators
Jared Blumenfeld, California Secretary for Environmental Protection, and Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources, spoke this month at the 2019 Environmental Law Conference at Yosemite
Managing California's wildfire emergency is understandably the focus of the Newsom administration this month, but state officials are also pursuing a broader environmental policy agenda, with groundwater management, resiliency planning, and pesticide reform among the top priorities in the year ahead. Jared Blumenfeld, California Secretary for Environmental Protection, and Wade Crowfoot, California Secretary for Natural Resources, shared their views in a plenary se...
CONTINUE READINGLet’s Commence an Economic Retaliation Initiative Against (Some) Automakers
Influencing Public Policy Through Individual & Collective Purchasing Decisions
At the risk of piling on, let me offer my own thoughts--and a specific proposal--regarding yesterday's decision by General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, Toyota and the automakers' trade organization to intervene in support of the Trump Administration in California's recently-filed litigation challenging the feds' attempted revocation of California's Clean Air Act waiver. Legal Planet colleagues Ann Carlson and Julia Stein have already done an excellent job of describing the ...
CONTINUE READINGLooking Into USDOJ’s Lawsuit To Dismantle the California-Quebec Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Linkage Program
While DOJ Says It "Didn't Consult With The White House," There Are Clues the Case Is Politically-Motivated
My colleagues Ann Carlson and Cara Horowitz wrote last week about the Trump administration Department of Justice's lawsuit against the California Air Resources Board, the Western Climate Initiative, and various California-based officials of both, claiming California is unlawfully trying to engage in foreign policy through its greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program's linkage with Quebec. There appear to be some real legal issues in play, and I’ll leave that to others. But...
CONTINUE READINGIt’s Not Just GM
Let's name names: it's Hyundai, Nissan, Kia, Subaru, Toyota, and other big automakers too
In response to the news that some auto manufacturers are intervening on Trump's side in the litigation over the validity of California's car emissions standards, I've already seen calls for boycotts. Why give our money to car companies actively undermining clean air and climate protections? Especially when they chose a day when California is literally on fire to join the wrong side of the fight? Even those of us bleary-eyed from smoke can see through their smokescr...
CONTINUE READINGLet’s Get One Thing Straight
The waiver preemption lawsuit isn’t about one national fuel economy standard.
As Ann wrote yesterday, the Association of Global Automakers and the auto companies General Motors, Toyota, and Fiat Chrysler have stated their intent to intervene in pending litigation challenging the Trump administration’s rule to preempt California’s Advanced Clean Cars program, and any future tailpipe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards the state and others might seek to adopt. I want to focus in on one aspect of the messaging around the rule and intervent...
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