AB 32 and post-2020 climate goals
What does California's Global Warming Solutions Act say about emissions after 2020?
I have heard some references, recently, to AB 32 "expiring" in 2020. It's easy to understand where this idea comes from: California's premiere climate change law was passed in 2006 and sets a goal for the state to return to 1990 levels of greenhouse gas emissions by a deadline of 2020. Moreover, one of the key regulatory programs the state is using to help reach this goal, the statewide GHG cap-and-trade program, is set to run only through 2020. AB 32 does not addr...
CONTINUE READINGImproving Transportation Spending In California
Joint UCLA / UC Berkeley Law Report Released Today
California spends approximately $28 billion on transportation infrastructure each year. But are we spending that money as cost-effectively as possible? And given the major impact that transportation investments have on our land use patterns and the amount of driving we need to do, are we spending this money in ways that align with California's environmental and energy goals? The short answer is: no. The majority of these dollars go to automobile-focused infrastr...
CONTINUE READINGClean Energy Data Legislative Briefing In Sacramento
Lunch event will be held on Tuesday, February 24th
UC Berkeley and UCLA Schools of Law will be hosting a free legislative lunch briefing next Tuesday on expanding access in California to clean energy data, the subject of the Knowledge is Power report that the law schools released last month. The energy data could include improved customer access to long-term usage patterns, utility statistics on distribution grid needs and pricing, and anonymized, aggregated energy usage patterns on a neighborhood scale. The goal is ...
CONTINUE READINGProperty, Fairness and the Public Interest (Another Glimpse of the Cathedral)
Why do we recognize some things as "property" and what does it mean to do so? A hugely influential law review article, published over forty years ago, made a valiant attempt to clarify the nature of property law. Looking back on the article and at developments since then, however, only makes it clearer that "property rights" are not nearly as absolute as people often assume. The article, Property Rules, Liability Rules, and Inalienability: Another View of the Cathe...
CONTINUE READINGClimate Engineering: National Academy Committee recommends starting research (with limits)
An NAS report on controversial engineered responses to climate change gets all the big things right, but avoids the hardest questions
Earlier this week, the National Research Council Committee on Geoengineering Climate released two reports, “Climate Intervention: Carbon Dioxide Removal and Reliable Sequestration” and “Climate Intervention: Reflecting Sunlight to Cool Earth.” Requested and funded by several US federal departments – NASA, NOAA, DOE, and the cutely labeled “U.S. Intelligence Community” – this report is the first time a National Academy committee has addressed these newl...
CONTINUE READINGA Link Between Climate Denial and Autism? Inquiring Minds Want to Know!
You too can be a denialism/autism truther.
Let's start by being candid and admitting that the jury is still out on this one. Still, there are reasons for concern about the possibility that climate denial can be associated with autism.Anyone who says this is false is just being dogmatic. We should at least openly acknowledge the existence of scientific uncertainty. Just consider the mounting body of evidence: 1. To begin with, there isn't a single peer-reviewed study definitively disproving the exist...
CONTINUE READINGThe California Supreme Court’s Unprecedented Focus on Environmental Law
California's Highest Court Has Far More Environmental Cases Pending Than Ever Before in Its History
The California Supreme Court, perhaps the most influential state supreme court in the nation, has of late become unusually and intensely focused on environmental law. More than ever before in its history, the California Supreme Court currently has before it a large docket of environmental cases that, individually and collectively, promise to alter the legal landscape of state environmental law. Legal Planet colleague Sean Hecht recently wrote about the Supreme Court...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Supreme Court to Decide Whether the Mining Law Preempts State Ban on Suction Dredge Mining
Court's Decision May Affect State's Ability to Regulate Activities on Federal Lands
The California Supreme Court recently accepted a case that may make it more difficult for the state to protect the environment from the damaging impacts of mining. At issue is the state’s ban on suction-dredge mining in streambeds. Californians engaged in suction-dredge mining have vigorously fought against the state’s ban, and a panel of the Court of Appeal recently agreed with the miners’ argument that the state ban violates federal law that generally allows mini...
CONTINUE READINGThe Dietary Supplement Scandal
There are 65,000 dietary supplements on the market, and almost half the population uses at least one of them. Americans spent $13 billion on dietary supplements last year, according to the Washington Post. There are disturbing indications that nearly all that money is wasted -- or to put it more bluntly, that the industry is essentially a fraud on the public. For instance, a 2011 study found that 20% of weight control supplements made illegal health claims.Here a...
CONTINUE READINGTea Party Support for Cutting Greenhouse Gases?
Surprising New Poll Results
The NY Times reports some very interesting poll results regarding climate change. The poll shows that Americans are more likely to support a candidate who favors action on climate change, less likely to favor a candidate who takes the “I am not a scientist” line, and much less likely to favor one who calls climate change a hoax. Some of the most intriguing – “startling” might be a better word – results relate to Tea Party supporters. According to the poll,...
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