Whither WOTUS?
Trump ordered agencies to reconsider Clean Water Act jurisdiction. Easier said than done.
President Trump ordered EPA and the Army Corps to review the Obama Administration’s WOTUS rule, which sets expansive bounds on federal jurisdiction over water bodies and wetlands. The agencies have sent the White House a proposal to rescind the WOTUS rule and revert to earlier rules until they can come up with a replacement. In my view, either the agencies will have to dive deep into the scientific thicket in the hope of justifying a new rule, or they will have to gam...
CONTINUE READINGUCLA Law Conference Webcast Today: State Climate Policy in the Trump Era
Symposium Features Sessions on California, Federal, and Multistate Greenhouse Gas Reduction Policy
UCLA Law’s Emmett Institute on Climate Change and the Environment is hosting a full day event today on the timely topic of State Climate Policy in the Trump Era on Monday, May 22, 2017. There will be a live webcast for those who cannot join the event in person. Full details are linked here. And here's a direct link to the live webcast. The webcast will begin around 8:40 am, and the program will start at 9:15 am. We expect to archive the webcast for viewing later,...
CONTINUE READINGWhither the Social Cost of Carbon?
Trump rescinded the Obama Administration's estimate. Now what?
Republicans vehemently attacked the Obama Administration’s estimate of the social cost of carbon. Trump withdrew that estimate and directed individual federal agencies to do their own estimates. The agencies will now be faced with a number of problems, and it’s not clear that they are well positioned to deal with them. They might prefer to simply forget about the social cost of carbon, but that may not be an option given judicial rulings. Instead, they're going t...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Happens if the U.S. Remains in the Paris Agreement?
How does an Administration that has Repudiated Climate Change and Climate Policy Respond?
Although I have previously argued that we might be better off if the Trump Administration withdraws from the Paris Agreement, the odds seem higher that Trump will choose to remain in. He can appease his daughter and son-in-law, appear to be reasonable, and give up very little by remaining in. If he makes this choice, it will be fascinating to see how the administration participates in the implementation of the agreement. What, for example, will the Administr...
CONTINUE READINGThe states are stepping up on climate change
Will it be enough?
In just the last week, two economically and politically important states, New York and Virginia, took major steps toward reducing their contributions to climate change. On Tuesday, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) signed an executive order directing the state's Department of Environmental Quality to develop and propose a regulation to the State Air Pollution Control Board "to abate, control or limit" emissions of carbon dioxide from electric power plants. The orde...
CONTINUE READINGGuest Blogger Alex Jackson: The Way Forward on Cap-and-Trade
Incorporate Elements of SB 775 and AB 378 to Build on a Proven Program
California is in the process of defining the next chapter of its world-renowned climate leadership. Having pioneered a set of policies over the past decade that have put the state on course to meet its greenhouse gas emissions limit in 2020, lawmakers now face the question of what role the state’s cap-and-trade program should play in achieving the much more ambitious 2030 target passed in SB 32 last year. As previous posts in this series have touched on, several factor...
CONTINUE READINGChannels of Change
Even Trump can't kill progress. Here's why.
Trump won't be able to undo all of Obama's legacy on climate change, but much of it will be stymied. State governments will continue to remain active, and will fight Trump in the courts, along with environmental groups. And in a series of recent posts, I've described other channels that will continue to operate: Municipalities. In states across the country--Red and Blue -- cities have taken steps to foster renewable energy and cut carbon emissions. Corporatio...
CONTINUE READINGWhat Do We Really Gain If the U.S. Stays in the Paris Agreement?
As Long As Trump Is President
(This post is cross-posted at https://takecareblog.com/blog/what-do-we-really-gain-if-the-u-s-stays-in-the-paris-agreement.) The Trump Administration will apparently decide soon whether to keep the United States as a party to the Paris Agreement. Although I understand why so many observers have argued that the U.S. should remain in Paris, I have already expressed my view that remaining in Paris is at best a symbolic gesture. At worst, I fear that Trump will gain valua...
CONTINUE READINGLook Out Below!
U.S. Supreme Court Signals Interest in Key Environmental Law/Federal Preemption Case From California
The U.S. Supreme Court today signaled that it is seriously considering whether to review an important environmental law case from California--one in which the California Supreme Court previously ruled that California's ban on environmentally-damaging suction dredging in state rivers is not preempted by federal law. The case is People v. Rinehart, U.S. Supreme Court No. 16-970. Last summer, the California Supreme Court unanimously rejected a novel defense raised...
CONTINUE READINGNew Article Provides In-Depth Analysis of Limits to Presidential Authority Under the Antiquities Act
Analysis By Faculty at UCLA, University of Colorado, and UC Berkeley Concludes that Congress Alone, and Not the President, May Eliminate or Shrink National Monuments
[Updated June 12, 2017 to reflect availability of final published article] Mark Squillace of University of Colorado, Eric Biber of UC Berkeley, my UCLA colleague Nick Bryner, and I have co-authored a short academic article (published in Virginia Law Review Online) about the President’s authority to abolish or shrink national monuments. This article provides detailed historical research and analysis that underpins the op-ed we published in The Conversation a c...
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