Creating An Exit Strategy for Our Use of Natural Gas
To meet long-term greenhouse gas reduction goals, all fossil fuels have to go, even natural gas.
Coal is the climate’s Public Enemy #1. The use of natural gas has helped to ensure that the coal problem has not become even worse. Without natural gas, we would use more coal for space heating and for many more industrial processes than is currently the practice. Without natural gas, our reliance on coal for electricity generation would be at least 50% greater. Many describe natural gas as a “bridge” fuel that helps us avoid more coal use now, and buys us some...
CONTINUE READINGUCLA Law and Berkeley Law Are Recognized Among Top Five Environmental Law Programs in New U.S. News Rankings
Environmental Law Programs Thrive in California's Public Universities
I'm pleased to report that the environmental law programs at both UCLA Law and Berkeley Law are among the top five in the country, according to the new U.S. News and World Report law school specialty ranking for this year. Berkeley is ranked #4, and UCLA is ranked #5. (Technically, there are six top-five schools, since UCLA and Georgetown tied for fifth.) As has been the case in many recent years, specialized law schools with a deep curriculum-wide commitment to en...
CONTINUE READINGJudge Garland Has a Strong Record of Environmental Protection
If Ever Confirmed, He's a Good Bet to Uphold the Clean Power Plan
President Obama’s nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court, Judge Merrick Garland, has a record on the D.C. Circuit Court that environmentalists should celebrate. He is almost always deferential to agency interpretations of statutes, including environmental ones (SCOTUSblog has a good summary of his record through 2010 on agency deference). When he has not deferred to the Environmental Protection Agency he has sided with environmentalists. And he has ruled in some signif...
CONTINUE READINGTrump vs. EPA
To combat the anti-environmentalism of his base, we need to stress public health issues.
Donald Trump wants to abolish EPA and leave environmental regulation to the states. Given that many environmental problems cross state lines, it's not clear how he thinks this would work. But never mind that. A more immediate problems is understanding why this position may appeal to his core voters. For candidates like Cruz, it's not hard to understand their anti-environmentalism. The GOP has been very close to the extractive industries (coal, oil and gas, et...
CONTINUE READING500 Points of Light
How do law schools promote environmental law? Let me count the ways.
My favorite Sesame Street character is the Count.* Like him, "I love to count Things." A list of law school programs in environment and energy law, recently compiled by Ed Richards at LSU, gave me the opportunity to do just that. Here are some of the things that I counted: 39 environmental law clinics 40 LLM programs. 25 joint degree programs 54 environmental law centers 57 certificates of specialization 22 environmental institutes By themselves...
CONTINUE READINGFukushima + 5
What's happened since then?
Five years ago today, Japan was hit by a huge earthquake and tsunami, resulting in the Fukushima reactor meltdowns. Where do things stand today? Here's a quick wrap-up: Compensation. TEPCO, the utility operating the reactors, now estimates that it will pay $56 billion in compensation to victims. Clean-up. The plant has been stabilized, according to the Washington Post. TEPCO has a plan to construct a 1500 foot frozen ice dam around the plant to keep radio...
CONTINUE READINGThe Devil is in the Design: Forming California’s New Groundwater Agencies
By Dave Owen and Mike Kiparsky
Cross-posting from the Environmental Law Prof Blog. This post was written by Dave Owen and Mike Kiparsky. It is based on a recent report, co-authored with Nell Green Nylen, Holly Doremus, Barb Cosens, Juliet Christian-Smith, Andrew Fisher, and Anita Milman. Not that long ago, the opening words of one of Joe Sax’s articles described California pretty well. “We Don’t Do Groundwater,” the article’s title began, and until recently, that was true...
CONTINUE READINGThe Supreme Court Vacancy and EPA’s Mercury Rule
The rule limiting toxic pollution from coal plants now has a rosier future.
Among the many ramifications of the current vacancy on the bench, its effect on the EPA's mercury rule seems to have escaped much attention. It may already have helped EPA defeat an effort by states to get a stay from Chief Justice Roberts. But it has much broader significance. Some background: The Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision written by Scalia, vacated the rule and sent it back to EPA. The Court directed EPA to determine whether regulating toxic emissions ...
CONTINUE READINGAnother California Regulatory Agency in Crisis: Southern California’s Air Quality Management District Fires Longtime Executive Officer
Barry Wallerstein's Ouster from SCAQMD Signals Tilt Away from Protection of Public Health
In a move that shocked the environmental advocacy community and low-income communities of color that suffer most from the impacts of poor air quality in Los Angeles, the governing board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District fired its longtime executive officer Barry Wallerstein today, voting 7-6 in closed session to remove him from his post. Dr. Wallerstein has been at the helm of the agency since 1997 and has led successful efforts to improve air quality ...
CONTINUE READINGRoberts Denies Mercury Stay
A state effort to suspend implementation fails.
Chief Justice Roberts turned down a request this morning to stay EPA's mercury rule. Until the past month, this would have been completely un-noteworthy, because such a stay would have been unprecedented. But the Court's startling recent stay of the EPA Clean Power Plan suggested that the door might have been wide open. Fortunately, that doesn't seem to be true. In some ways, a stay in this case would be even more shocking than the earlier one. Only the states...
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