Democracy and Distrust
"Democracy and Distrust" is the title of a well-known book constitutional theory, which argues that courts should step in to correct dysfunctions in the democratic process. But that's not what I want to talk about right now. Instead, I want to talk about public trust in the institutions that make democracy work: the media that provide information about public affairs and the government officials who lead the government. As everybody knows, confidence in Congress is ...
CONTINUE READINGJonathan Pershing on climate change
Special post by Nina Jarass, UCLA School of Law LLM student, from Durban So far the US has kept pretty quiet in Durban – at least during the official meetings. Against this background, environmental groups like the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council have urged the Obama administration to show more flexibility on key issues surrounding the survival of the Kyoto Protocol and efforts to craft a new global climate agreement. On Tuesday Jonathan Pershi...
CONTINUE READINGFossil of the Day: Canada takes a commanding lead
Canada has taken a commanding lead here in Durban in the Fossil of the Day awards. The award is given daily at the climate change negotiations for the country doing its best to impede, stall or otherwise oppose progress in climate negotiations. The award is judged by 700+ member organizations of Climate Action Network. In the past three days, Canada has earned itself two first place and two second place medals, including an impressive sweep on Day 1 in Durban. (The U....
CONTINUE READINGChina’s Climate Change White Paper
China’s State Council issued a white paper entitled “China’s Policies and Actions for Addressing Climate Change” last week in advance of the climate negotiations in Durban. As several press reports have already pointed out, the white paper offers little new information, but is rather an effort to gather all of China’s main climate initiatives in one comprehensive document. If you are interested in the details, you should read the full report, which can be fo...
CONTINUE READINGThe (VERY) Uneasy Case for Nuclear Power
Anyone who is serious about combatting climate change must be serious about considering nuclear power. Fission generation produces virtually no emissions, and given the difficulties we will have in reducing the world's carbon footprint, to ignore nuclear power is to my mind irresponsible. But "considering" nuclear power hardly means adopting it. Nuclear power plants are fabulously expensive to build, maintain, and keep safe. Moreover, the Achilles Heel of nuclear...
CONTINUE READINGLocal Clean Energy Policies
With cities and counties struggling to emerge from the down economy, clean energy development has been an economic and environmental bright spot. As Berkeley Law and UCLA Law discuss in the 2009 report "In Our Backyard," California possesses numerous opportunities to deploy solar and wind energy facilities in existing urbanized areas, such as along highways and on large commercial rooftops. Governor Jerry Brown is working with Berkeley Law to develop policies to achiev...
CONTINUE READINGThe “African COP”
Some of the expectations for this year's Conference of Parties of the international climate treaty, the UNFCCC, related to its host country, South Africa. Many had hoped that the COP's location in Africa this year would help to highlight the serious issue of climate change impacts in developing countries, often the least responsible for climate emissions but also the least well equipped to deal with floods, droughts, heat waves, and other harms. So far in Durban, issues...
CONTINUE READINGSupreme Court Grants Review in Criminal Environmental Enforcement Case
The U.S. Supreme Court is obviously interested in environmental enforcement, or at least the legal issues arising out of environmental enforcement cases. Today, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in a second environmental enforcement case it will hear and decide in its current Term. Southern Union Co v. United States, No. 11-94. This follows the justices' earlier cert grant in Sackett v. USEPA, a lawsuit challenging EPA's practice of issuing administrative enforcemen...
CONTINUE READINGThe Cost of Renewable Energy Put Into Perspective
Would you be willing to pay 3 ½ cents a day to reduce the pollution from the electric power you use by 40%? In a recent article, the San Francisco Chronicle talked about the high price of adding renewable energy to the grid. Citing a study prepared by the California Public Utilities Commission’s Division of Ratepayer Advocates, it reported that, on average, new contracts for renewable power are 15% more expensive than power from a natural gas plant. The implication...
CONTINUE READINGKivalina and the Courts: Justice for America’s First Climate Refugees?
It's hard not to sympathize with the Native Alaskan inhabitants of the Village of Kivalina. The 400 residents of Kivalina, a thin peninsula of land in Alaska jutting into the Chuckchi Sea north of the Arctic Circle, have the dubious distinction of being among the first climate refugees in the U.S. Their town is literally melting away, a victim of twin impacts of climate change: rising sea levels and warmer Arctic temperatures that are destroying the permafrost upon whic...
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