The Rise of Benefit-Blind Analysis
The Trump Administration cares about regulatory costs. Regulatory benefits? Not so much.
Since Ronald Reagan’s time, there has been a consensus among conservatives that cost-benefit analysis (CBA) should be the gold standard for regulation. That approach has given them common ground with moderates such as Cass Sunstein, many economists (whether liberal or conservative), and at least a few scholars more environmentally inclined. Cost-benefit analysis has had its critics, but largely from the left. But now conservatives are showing increasing disench...
CONTINUE READINGThen and Now
How has environmental law changed in the last 38 years? A lot … and not that much.
I recently happened to remember a funny incident from 1980. The first edition of what was then the Findley & Farber casebook went to the publisher in October of 1980. I remember vividly encountering a colleague in the hallway who asked cheerily if the book had gone to the printer. When I said yes, he replied that at least it could still be used in legal history classes, since the field was obviously on its way out. What had happened in the meantime was Ronald Reaga...
CONTINUE READINGNetherlands Government Appeals Historic Climate Change Ruling
The Dutch Supreme Court will decide whether the government is obligated to cut emissions more
Last month, an appeals court in the the Netherlands upheld a lower court's ruling that the Dutch government is legally obligated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions more aggressively. This drew much international attention, as well as praise from environmental advocacy organizations. As expected, the government has announced that it will appeal this decision in the Urgenda case to the Supreme Court. Some background can help explain why the case is peculiar. From a...
CONTINUE READINGA Catalogue of Game Changers
We’re making progress on addressing climate change, and I’m hopeful that we’ll continue doing so. Yet it’s not clear whether the path we’re currently on will make progress fast enough to avoid very serious risks. So what would it take for us to make a quantum leap in this effort? I wouldn’t hazard a prediction about whether that will happen or if so what it will be. But I think we can see a roadmap of the possibilities. Here are the ones the categories ...
CONTINUE READINGFrom the Wildfire Files
Wildfires are getting worse and worse. Here's what we know about the situation.
I don't normally do this, but given the terrible wildfires now hitting the state, I thought it was worth doing a reprise of some posts on the subject from earlier this summer. Of course, there's more information in the original posts, if you want to click over to them. Spreading Like Wildfire In 2017, wildfires burned 10 million acres in the Western United States, destroying 12,000 homes, killing 66, and resulting in $18 billion in damages. Last year, fires swept thro...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Bloggers Deborah Gordon and Frances Reuland: Is California Extraordinary? Its Oil Resources Certainly Are
Facts About California's Oil and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Despite ongoing federal rollbacks to environmental regulations, California has the right to set its own clean air standards because it is truly extraordinary. Truth be told, the compelling circumstances that first set in motion California’s vehicle emissions standards remain entirely valid. And there are four recent conditions, related to California's oil supply, production, and refining, that bolster California’s case against the Administration’s threat to strip C...
CONTINUE READINGAn Ax, Not a Scalpel
Trump’s “take no prisoner’s” deregulatory strategy carries big litigation risks.
Some people, it would seem, prefer using an ax to a scalpel. That’s the Trump Administration. That strategy can be a great way to cut down a tree, but it doesn't work so well for surgery. And there's always the chance of cutting off your own foot. In many environmental domains, the Administration seems set upon going as far as it possibly can with its regulatory proposals. And then perhaps a little further. This is a high-risk strategy: It's as if instead of adoptin...
CONTINUE READINGKey Senate Races: Retrospective
The toss-up races came out 50/50, with the pro-environmental candidates winning 4 out of 8 elections.
In a post last March, I explained the environmental stakes in eight toss-up Senate races. We now know how those races came out. Vindicating the laws of probability, the results of the toss-ups were evenly divided between the two parties. In terms of the overall election picture, I said: "The odds are that the Republicans will continue to control the Senate in 2018. The electoral map is very unfavorable to the Democrats, with many vulnerable Democrats up for reelection ...
CONTINUE READINGPost-election climate policy options
Options for newly empowered state governors, legislators and US House Representatives to advance climate policy
This post is co-authored by Dan Farber and Eric Biber. Democrats took control of the US House of Representatives in the election last week, took full control of six state governments (Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Maine, and Illinois), took governorships in seven states (including Michigan, Wisconsin, and Kansas), and made significant gains in state legislatures in states like Minnesota and New Hampshire. What kind of climate agenda might these newly empower...
CONTINUE READINGNew Report: Improving Landscape-Level Planning for Solar PV Development
New UC Berkeley/UCLA Law report details policy changes to help achieve new SB 100 renewable energy goals
A new report from UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law, A New Solar Landscape, identifies key reforms for California to enact at the state, regional, and local level to increase the pace and optimal siting of utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) development. With the passage of SB 100 (de León, 2018), California now requires electric utilities to obtain 60 percent of their electricity from renewable sources by 2030 and 100 percent carbon-free electricity by 2045. To mee...
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