Driven Past Endurance
This is probably not the best time to talk about the social cost of driving, given that many readers are probably planning to drive to see family. But no one is saying that you should never drive anywhere -- just that reducing driving has some positive benefits. The math is simple. The environmental impact of driving equals: (Emissions/unit of energy) x (units of energy/mile) x (miles traveled). Environmental regulators have done things to reduce emissions per...
CONTINUE READING(Tentative) ruling in cap-and-trade case looks good for CA: ARB has auction authority
It's never over till it's over, but for now California is breathing a little easier as it defends its cap-and-trade allowance auctions from two high-profile industry challenges. The cases, which Ann has discussed here and here, were filed by the California Chamber of Commerce and the Pacific Legal Foundation, and they make both statutory and constitutional arguments against the auction. Plaintiffs argue that ARB exceeded its authority under AB 32 when deciding to distr...
CONTINUE READINGShark Fins, Federal Preemption & the Ninth Circuit–An Update
Last week I wrote about an interesting, pending lawsuit involving a constitutional challenge to California's recently-enacted ban on the sale, possession or trade of shark fins. Asian restauranteurs and cultural advocates who'd filed the lawsuit and failed in their earlier efforts to persuade the federal district court to enjoin the law appealed that ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. There, in a move that surprised many observers, the fed...
CONTINUE READINGClimate change and insurance
I’ve made this point before, but here’s a challenge for “climate skeptics.” The insurance industry is a competitive, profit-oriented industry. They should have little room for believing in the hoax of climate change: After all, if they did, then a smarter competitor wouldn’t bet on climate change and would clean their clock. And yet, in this giant industry (where revenues and expenditures are measured in hundreds of billions of dollars), presumably full o...
CONTINUE READINGMore on the Two-Year Law School
Today, Berkeley and a number of other law schools offer specialized courses and activities in the environmental area. For instance, this year at Berkeley, we're offering Biodiversity Law, Energy Project Development & Finance Class, Environmental Justice, Environmental Law Writing Seminar, Environmental Law and Policy, Land Use Law, and the Law of Hazardous Waste, along with a field placement program. Students can also work on the Ecology Law Quarterly, our...
CONTINUE READINGEnvironmental Law and the Two-Year Law School
The NY Times reports that Obama has endorsed the idea of two-year law schools: On Friday, he questioned the utility of a third year of classes and suggested that students use their final two semesters to gain work experience. “In the first two years, young people are learning in the classroom,” Mr. Obama said. “The third year, they’d be better off clerking or practicing in a firm even if they weren’t getting paid that much, but that step alone would reduce the ...
CONTINUE READINGFeds Argue California’s Shark Fin Ban Is Preempted in Third-Party Litigation
In 2011, the State of California enacted a ban on the sale, possession and trade of shark fins. California's ban follows similar laws passed by Hawaii, Washington and Oregon over the past few years. The legislation, codified as California Fish & Game Code sections 2021 and 2021.5, followed years of advocacy by marine conservation groups, scientists and organizations such as the Monterey Bay Aquarium to ban the practice of killing sharks for their fins. The oppo...
CONTINUE READINGMonitoring problems again
I’ve posted a lot on how important monitoring of environmental conditions is for environmental law, and how difficult it can be to do monitoring well. Here is another recent example from the news. After the Deepwater Horizon blowout, there was a lot of concern about how much oil was leaked into the Gulf of Mexico, and the impacts of that oil on the commercial seafood industry in the Gulf and on the marine ecosystems more broadly in the Gulf. A recent study by a...
CONTINUE READINGUCLA / UC Berkeley Law Report on High Speed Rail Policies for California’s San Joaquin Valley
The environmental law centers at UCLA and UC Berkeley Schools of Law are releasing today a new report on policies to maximize the economic and environmental benefits of high speed rail in the San Joaquin Valley. “A High Speed Foundation: How to Build a Better California Around High Speed Rail″ is the eleventh report in the Climate Change and Business Research Initiative, funded by Bank of America. To launch the report, the law schools are holding a lunch event in Fr...
CONTINUE READINGDid Kenny Kill High Speed Rail?
On Friday, California Superior Court Judge Michael Kenny ruled that California's plan for the initial construction segment of high speed rail in the San Joaquin Valley violated the terms of the 2008 voter-approved initiative that launched the project. Petitioners and some in the media are calling it a major setback for the system. However, the judge acknowledged that the remedy for this violation is unclear, and he requested a hearing for this next phase to discuss furth...
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