Paris COP update, Paris COP in context
The climate meetings in in Paris have descended into the usual maelstrom of intensive negotiations in long long days in many parallel meetings. I noted in my post the other day that there is a feeling of higher-than-usual stakes for this meeting. This was highlighted by the visit to negotiators last night by French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who reminded negotiators that he wants them to produce “clean text” by Saturday, to deliver to Ministers when they take o...
CONTINUE READINGTPP or not TPP? Understanding the Environmental Debate over the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement
The Obama administration recently notified Congress of its intent to sign the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement (TPP) and released the text to the public. The TPP has proven extraordinarily contentious, splintering political party lines, with likely more Republicans supporting the agreement than Democrats, and dividing environmental groups, as well, with the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and NRDC opposed and WWF and The Nature Conservancy supporting. Why such a divid...
CONTINUE READINGWe’ll Always Have Paris — Or Will We?
Some skepticism from an attendee about what can transpire there
Along with the UCLA Law crew of Ann, Ted, Cara, and Alex, plus six law students, I'll be attending the UN climate change negotiations in Paris next week, primarily to highlight California's effort to achieve a strong subnational agreement on greenhouse gas reductions. The "Under 2 MOU" is an impressive commitment by diverse subnational entities, such as cities and states within nations, to keep warming to under two degrees Celsius by 2100. It already has 57 signatories, ...
CONTINUE READINGPlanting Biofuels in California
New report on ways to boost in-state production of low-carbon biofuels, plus December 14th webinar
When we think of ways to reduce emissions from petroleum-based transportation fuels, electric vehicles get much of the headlines. Battery electric transportation certainly offers a viable, long-term alternative to petroleum fuels. But we're still a few years away from an affordable, mass-market electric vehicle, and battery technology may be decades away, if ever, from being suitable for uses like long-haul trucking and aviation. So what do we do in the meantime, if w...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Alberta’s Carbon Tax Matters
Combating Climate Change Will Require Reversing Three-Decade Trend of Political Economy
While Americans were preparing for our Thanksgiving, in the Great White North, a major new development occurred: the NDP (i.e. Social Democratic) government in Alberta -- Canada's major energy-producing province -- announced an economy-wide carbon tax starting in 2017 and a cap on emissions from oil sands. This would be an aggressive move anywhere in the developing world: in Alberta, Canada's most conservative province, it is quite radical. Premier Rachel Notley ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Environmental Lessons of Teaching Torts
What we can learn from negligence law about responsibility for environmental harm.
I'm about to teach my last Torts class of the semester today, and I've been musing about how some fundamental torts ideas bear on environmental law. Let me begin with the idea of duty. There are special situations where courts say there's no duty of reasonable care by one person toward another. But they're exceptions. There are two formulations of the general duty of care. Putting aside those exceptional situations, one view says that we have a duty to all ...
CONTINUE READINGEmmett Institute updates from the Climate Conference
UCLA faculty and students participating in COP21/CMP11
For two weeks starting today, negotiators gather in Paris for the annual climate-change meetings – officially, the 21st Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the 11th Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol (COP 21/CMP11). The meeting is located in a sprawling conference center at the edge of Paris, on the grounds of the old Le Bourget airport – where Charles Lindbergh landed at the end of his trans-Atlantic flight in 19...
CONTINUE READING“Necessary and Appropriate”
EPA has now formally proposed its response to the Supreme Court's opinion in Michigan v. EPA
Although the Paris talks are justifiably getting the lion’s share of the attention, there have been other significant environmental actions recently. One of those involves the EPA’s effort to reduce toxic emissions from power plants (particularly coal-fired plants). The Clean Air Act gives special treatment to toxic emissions from power plants. Other sources are regulated whenever they pose a health risk. But in order to regulate power plants, EPA has to make a speci...
CONTINUE READINGA Thanksgiving Day Reflection
Thoughts about the impacts of extreme events and climate change on food security, and hopes for the Paris negotiations
Thanksgiving is a time of gratitude for the food and community we share. But as many of us feast with loved ones today, our gratitude might also prompt reflection about the sources of our food and, more generally, the fragility of the environment. This seems especially appropriate, as Native American tribes are among those most vulnerable to environmental disasters and the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events and climate change are creating food shortages...
CONTINUE READINGMr. Smith’s War Against Science
Further harassment of climate scientists from the House Science Committee.
Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), who chairs the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, doesn't believe in climate change. Still, by current political standards, I guess we should be glad that he hasn't accused them of cheering when the Twin Towers fell, as his party's leading contender for the Presidency did to what he called "thousands and thousands" of innocent New Jersey Muslims recently. (If y0u're curious about that allegation, the Washington Post's careful inve...
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