A Case of Administrative Bad Faith
The D.C. Circuit slaps down an abuse of power by Trump's EPA.
On Monday, the D.C. Circuit dealt a setback to Scott Pruitt’s deregulation efforts in Clean Air Council v. EPA. The case involved a tricky procedural issue. But the substance was simple: EPA, under Pruitt, had abused a reconsideration procedure under the Clean Air Act to stay a regulation for 90 days, when it had no power to do so. Indeed, its stated reason for doing so was purely pretextual. The regulation in question involved control of methane emissions for new a...
CONTINUE READINGThe EPA Sets in Motion its Plan to Rescind the Waters of the United States Rule
This Action is Just the First Step Towards Reducing Clean Water Act Protection for Many Waterways and Wetlands
With much fanfare, the Trump administration announced last Tuesday that it is proposing to rescind the Clean Water Rule, also known as the Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rule. This rule is intended to govern determinations of which waterbodies and wetlands are "waters of the United States," protected under the Clean Water Act. The rule's most obvious application is defining when someone who disturbs a river or lake bed or wetland must obtain a permit from the Ar...
CONTINUE READINGNew Report: How To Boost EV Charging Infrastructure
UCLA Law hosts free report release lunch event at noon, with live webcast & keynote by Energy Commissioner Janea Scott
Electric vehicles (EVs) represent one of the most promising clean technologies, in terms of their potential benefits for the electricity grid, local air pollution, and reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. Not to mention they're fun to drive. The good news is that as EV prices have dropped by nearly half the last few years, the number of Californians driving them has gone way up, with almost 300,000 EVs now on the state's roads (up from abou...
CONTINUE READINGYikes, Is It Pledge Week Already?
Yes, this is your biannual opportunity to invest in our work.
Like everyone else, I'm sure you find fundraising appeals annoying. That's why we hardly ever do them. But twice a year doesn't seem like too much of an imposition, and this is a really important time. This is our first "ask" since the new Administration took office. There's an especially critical need today for policy-driven research to help keep environmental progress moving forward outside of D.C. And there's also a need for reliable, evidence-based insight into...
CONTINUE READINGBreaking News: California Supreme Court Refuses To Hear Appeal On Industry Challenge To Cap-And-Trade Auction
Industry once again loses leverage over shaping the program post 2020
The California Chamber of Commerce has just lost its case against the state's cap-and-trade auction, with the news from the Los Angeles Times that the California Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal from the state appellate court. This means the auction mechanism in the cap-and-trade program is valid at least through 2020. As we've covered on this blog before (most recently with Ann's post from last fall, which links to our other posts), industry plaintiffs had...
CONTINUE READINGFrance Pushes for Global Pact on the Environment
President Macron, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others support proposal for global environmental treaty
In Paris this past Saturday, a high-level group of legal experts endorsed a new proposal for a worldwide environmental treaty: the Global Pact on the Environment. President Emmanuel Macron of France gave the concluding speech at a launch event for the Pact (text and video in French); other speakers included former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Laurent Fabius (Chair of the Paris UNFCCC COP in 2015), Mayor Anne Hidalgo of Paris, Former UN Special Envoy on Climate Cha...
CONTINUE READINGProfessor William Boyd Joins UCLA Faculty
Leading Energy and Environmental Law Scholar Will Bring Key Expertise to Emmett Institute
We are very excited to announce that Professor William Boyd of the University of Colorado Law School is joining the UCLA Law faculty effective July 1, 2018. He will hold a joint appointment with the UCLA Institute of the Environment and Sustainability. Professor Boyd is one of the nation's leading scholars of energy and environmental law. He has written pathbreaking articles on public utilities, their historical origins and the role they play in contemporary climate a...
CONTINUE READINGA Stealth Attack on Public Health
No, this isn't about the health care bill.
The Trump Administration has embarked on a campaign of postponing pollution regulations that protect the public health. Even if these are only temporary delays, rather than steps toward permanently weakening health protections, the delays are not innocuous. To put it as bluntly as possible, Americans will die as a result of these delays. For instance, the delay in implementing new air quality standards will directly impact public health. Scott Pruitt announced at the...
CONTINUE READINGFencelines
The Supreme Court rules on how to define a parcel of property under the Constitution
The Supreme Court ruled today on Murr v. Wisconsin, a takings case that could have potentially had a major effect on land use regulation. The Supreme Court has ruled that a "taking" of private property exists if the state prohibits all economically beneficial use of property. Naturally, lawyers have gleefully litigated the question of how to define what constitutes a parcel of property. Property right advocates have pushed hard to make the definition narrow, so th...
CONTINUE READINGAfter Trump
Some day the Trump/Ryan/Pruitt era will end. We need to be ready to move forward.
Fighting the Trump/Ryan/Pruitt assault on environmental protection necessarily absorbs a huge amount of our energy. But eventually, the current conservative stranglehold on the national government will come to an end. Sooner or later, the government will once again come into more environmentally friendly hands. When that happens, we need to have practical, detailed proposals ready to go. Some of these plans must involve administrative action like the Obama Administrat...
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