Environmental Bills at the 10-yard Line
Now that the legislative session has wrapped, the ball is in the Governor’s hands. Here are some of the environmental bills he could sign by September 30.
The California legislative session wrapped up on Saturday, August 31st at midnight, with legislators working until the clock struck twelve. As usual, it was an exciting night to watch. Unlike most years, there seemed to be more of a rush at the end to reach agreement on some of the major issue areas, as well as a back-and-forth with the Governor about starting a special session focused on gas prices, and even more fighting and filibustering efforts than usual. Yes, l...
CONTINUE READINGRightwing Authoritarianism vs the Environment
In the U.S. and elsewhere, rightwing authoritarians oppose climate action. That's not a coincidence.
Project 2025 favors authoritarian presidential rule. It also wants to destroy environmental regulation, especially climate law. That’s not a coincidence. The combination of authoritarianism, extreme conservative ideology, and anti-environmentalism is common globally, not just in U.S. politics. There’s no logical connection between a belief in authoritarian government, upholding traditional hierarchies, and views about protecting the environment or the reality of...
CONTINUE READINGThe Zombie Myth of Job-Killing Regulations
Some ideas never die, no matter how much evidence piles up against them.
With the Labor Day weekend coming up, let's talk about jobs. Some myths are like zombies in two ways. They refuse to lie down and die, not matter what you do. And if you aren't careful, they can eat your brain. An example is the idea that environmental regulation kills jobs. Tragically, this brain worm seems hard to root out. But the evidence doesn't support it. Consider what happened to manufacturing jobs under Trump and Biden, putting aside the COVID era. Trump ...
CONTINUE READINGThe Tragedy of Indifference
This election will have huge consequences for climate change. Sadly, that doesn’t seem to matter that much at the polls.
Some observer from Mars might expect that climate change would be a central issue in the campaign. There is perhaps no other issue where the views of the major candidates are so far apart. And there is perhaps no other issue of such long-term importance. But of course our hypothetical Martian would be wrong. Climate change is at most an afterthought in electoral politics. This is not necessarily because the public is unaware that the climate is changing. In a poll...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Pulls Back On Sustainable Aviation Fuels
Air Resources Board abruptly withdraws proposal to mandate low-carbon jet fuel
California regulators had an opportunity this year to be a global leader on requiring airplanes to use low-carbon jet fuel. But the Air Resources Board announced earlier this month that it will back off from its earlier proposal to require jet fuel providers to decarbonize, through the agency's landmark low carbon fuel standard program. Why the change? The agency's official explanation was a head scratcher, noting that jet fuel suppliers could avoid having to actually...
CONTINUE READINGTrump’s Replacement for Project 2025: The “Other” MAGA Plan
It's not Project 2025, but the "America First Agenda" is worse in some ways.
Trump has attempted to disavow the unpopular Project 2025 and distance himself from the Heritage Foundation, the primary author. In the meantime, another think tank has risen to prominence in Trump World, the America First Policy Institute. It is poised to play a major role in his transition team. The AFPI’s views aren’t expressed as stridently but share Project 2025’s philosophy. In its attack on the administrative state, the AFPI seems if anything more radica...
CONTINUE READINGClean Air and the Turbocharged Shadow Docket
Guest Contributors Sean Donahue & Megan Herzog write that coal advocates offer troubling new grounds for the Supreme Court to stay EPA’s carbon pollution standards.
The Supreme Court is currently considering eight emergency (or “shadow docket”) requests from coal advocates (coal-mining companies, coal-burning electricity generators, and allied State attorneys general led by West Virginia) to bar implementation of new EPA rules limiting carbon pollution from coal- and gas-burning power plants while legal challenges to the rules proceed—what is known as a “stay” of the rules. EPA filed its opposition earlier this week....
CONTINUE READINGLet’s Make Tomorrow “National Climate Awareness Day”
Here’s the case for setting aside a day to think about climate change, and why that day should be Aug. 23
Not all days are set aside for happy reasons. Think of Memorial Day, dedicated to the nation’s war dead. Like the toll of war, climate change isn’t something to celebrate, but it’s something to remember. We can also commemorate the role of scientists and engineers in identifying climate change, its cause, and the technologies needed to address it. Picking a date to highlight climate change isn’t easy, given that climate change happens year-round. There's a g...
CONTINUE READINGNew Report: Charging and Financing Electric Trucks
CLEE/UCLA Law report & webinar offers solutions to meet California’s zero-emission trucks goal
California has groundbreaking goals to require automakers to sell, and large fleets to purchase, zero-emission trucks and buses in increasing percentages, starting this year. But these goals will only be achievable if the state has sufficient charging infrastructure to fuel the vehicles, along with available financing to help truck owners purchase or lease them. To address these dual needs, UC Berkeley Law’s Center for Law, Energy and the Environment (CLEE) and the ...
CONTINUE READINGAssessing the First Decade of California’s Sustainable Groundwater Management Act
You're Invited to "10 Years In: A SGMA Report Card"--A Conference at U.C. Davis Law School on 9/6
A decade ago, California stood out--and not in a good way--as the only Western state without comprehensive state laws monitoring and regulating groundwater pumping and use. But in 2014, following years of severe and protracted California drought, and both agricultural and urban water users compensating for depleted surface water flows by pumping groundwater in unprecedented amounts, a fragile political consensus emerged among California legislators, water districts an...
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