Another Scary Election (But Not Here)
An election next Sunday has implications for the entire planet.
I hate to give you something else to freak out about in our current Age of Anxiety, but there’s a very worrisome presidential election next Sunday. No, I haven’t completely lost it – the presidential race isn’t here, it’s in Brazil. The election pits a dangerous populist against a highly competent but colorless Establishment candidate. Does this sound at all familiar to you? The populist is Jair Bolsonaro. He’s been a legislator for years, somewhere on t...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Stays Upcoming Juliana Trial
Chief Justice Roberts' Order a Major Win for the Trump Administration
The presently-constituted U.S. Supreme Court doesn't seem to care for climate change litigation or regulation. On Friday the Supreme Court took the extraordinary step of freezing pending discovery and the scheduled October 29th trial date in the closely-watched Juliana v. United States litigation. In a brief order, Chief Justice Roberts stayed all district court proceedings in the Juliana case and ordered the plaintiffs to filed a response by October 24th to the Tr...
CONTINUE READINGCEQA and Local Land Use Regulations: Shakedown Street
Local Government Discretion Has Powerful Political Support
Eric's post the other day about CEQA and local land use regulation states an important and often-overlooked truth: environmental review can only hold up a project if it is discretionary. If local land use regulations state clearly what a developer can and cannot do, then no amount of environmental review could change a decision, and so CEQA does not apply. Eric and his research term conclude that we shouldn't blame CEQA when local governments could get rid of the problem...
CONTINUE READINGModernizing the Grid
Utilities are spending billions of dollars to make the grid more reliable and sustainable.
In my last post, I talked about how Obama's Clean Power plan was the right response to a changing grid. The grid is in the process of changing even more. Itwas designed for some relatively straightforward tasks. The main power plants, mostly burning coal (but sometimes natural gas or nuclear energy), ran day and night. They were supplemented by other power plants when needed to meet load (customer demand). All the power flowed from these central power plants and was inst...
CONTINUE READINGJumping the Fence Line, Embracing the Grid
Precedent from another agency for the Clean Power Plan.
If you've been reading this blog or otherwise keeping up with environmental law, you've probably heard this a hundred times: In rolling back Obama's signature climate regulation, the Clean Power Plan, the Trump Administration is relying on the idea that EPA's jurisdiction stops at the fence line. That is, according to the Trump folks, EPA can impose measures on a each plant, but not measures that go beyond the fence line like requiring more use of renewable energy of a c...
CONTINUE READINGLet’s Make A Deal
What Should Environmentalists Give Up - and Demand - For A Carbon Tax?
A nice editorial from the Los Angeles Times about the proposed carbon tax being offered by some Republicans under the front group Americans for Carbon Dividends, most notably former Secretaries of State James Baker and George Shultz. Exxon-Mobil is even throwing $1 million into the effort -- chump change for such a corporate behemoth. The Times says that a carbon tax is needed, but [t]he Baker-Schultz plan also includes a waiver that would let oil companies and other e...
CONTINUE READINGComments on proposed ESA rule changes
Law professors submit detailed comments on proposed changes to regulations that implement the Endangered Species Act
I’ve posted earlier about proposals by the Trump Administration to make significant changes to the regulations implementing the Endangered Species Act, some of the most substantial revisions to those regulations since they were overhauled in the early 1980s. A group of environmental law professors (including me) submitted comments on those proposed rules last month, with the support and direction of Bill Weeks at the Conservation Law Clinic at Indiana University. B...
CONTINUE READINGA Potentially Important Climate Change Court Ruling in the Netherlands
A Dutch environmental organization surprisingly won its novel climate change lawsuit when the government appealed.
Although I am in the midst of a series of blog posts (1, 2, 3) regarding novel technologies in the recent special report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), I take a brief detour to report on a court ruling in the Netherlands regarding climate change. Although I am skeptical of its impact in the case at hand, the ruling might have significant long term and indirect influence, in the Netherlands and elsewhere. The environmental advocacy organizati...
CONTINUE READINGGetting Kavanaugh’s Vote to Uphold Climate Change Regulation
Environmentalists Have a New Secret Weapon
Not for nothing was Brett Kavanaugh referred to as "Voldemort" by Center for Biological Diversity counsel Bill Snape: he is quite hostile to environmental regulation and will freely rewrite statutes to constrict EPA authority. But now environmentalists have a new ace up their sleeves: The price of beer could rise sharply this century, and it has nothing to do with trends in craft brewing. Instead, a new study says beer prices could double, on average, because of the pri...
CONTINUE READINGThe Wild & Scenic Rivers Act Turns 50
Celebrating a Half Century of Protecting America's Rivers--& Hoping for More River Conservation Ahead
1968 was an especially tumultuous year in modern American history. The nation endured the assassinations of both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy; then-President Lyndon Johnson announced he would not seek reelection due to growing public dissatisfaction with the government's conduct of the Vietnam War; and protests and riots consumed Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C. and many other American cities. So it was in stark contrast and a most welcome develop...
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