Klamath dam removal bill introduced in Congress
On November 10, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Mike Thompson (D-CA) introduced the Klamath Basin Economic Restoration Act in Congress (H.R. 3398 / S. 1851). The bill would approve two Klamath agreements and give the go-ahead to potentially remove four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River. As we have discussed previously on LegalPlanet, this set of agreements represent a long-fought battle to restore the environmental integrity of the Klamath River...
CONTINUE READINGHow Cities and Counties Can Improve Public Transit
Flashy and expensive new transit projects, such as the Los Angeles subway or San Francisco's proposed Central Subway, get a lot of media attention. But cities and counties have a lot of discretion to improve their existing public transit systems in sometimes relatively low-cost ways. The benefits, as we discuss in a UCLA / Berkeley Law white paper on the subject (called All Aboard), include alternatives to sitting in traffic, better air quality, and improved quality of...
CONTINUE READINGNo (or at least little) net loss of jobs from regulation
We keep hearing the phrase "job-killing regulations" from the Republican side of the aisle, with environmental regulations generally at the top of their lists. Yet there has never been much evidence for the claim that government regulation is systematically bad for employment or the economy. To the contrary, scholars, this blog, think tanks (notably the Center for Progressive Reform), and even the Office of Management and Budget (which is not particularly a fan of regula...
CONTINUE READINGLooking Ahead to Durban
Unlike the Copenhagen climate conference which had enormous publicity and great expectations, the Durban conference next month is coming up very quietly. Yet, given the 2012 terminus of the Kyoto Protocol, it's a very important event. Some degree of progress at Durban is important to keep the UNFCC process alive; otherwise, the action is likely to move to smaller clusters of major countries outside of the UN process. The likelihood of such progress is unclear.There'...
CONTINUE READINGJunior appropriators can be cut off without a hearing
The Eighth Circuit has rejected a claim by farmers in Nebraska's Niobrara Watershed that their civil rights were violated when the state's Department of Natural Resources issued "Closing Notices" ordering them to stop drawing water. The farmers asserted that they were entitled to a due process hearing before the property rights granted by their state-issued surface water appropriation permits could be cut off. The court, however, found that their property rights had no...
CONTINUE READINGShould the national parks allow sales of water in plastic bottles?
In May 2010, Grand Canyon National Park announced that as of January 1, 2011, it would no longer allow sale of water in small plastic bottles at park concessions. The park hoped the ban would reduce the costs of dealing with tossed water bottles; the New York Times reports that disposable plastic bottles account for a remarkable 30% of the park's total solid waste. Grand Canyon Superintendent Stephen Martin thought he had laid the groundwork for the ban not only with p...
CONTINUE READINGU.C. Davis’ “CEQA at 40” Conference Now Available Online
On November 4th, the U.C. Davis School of Law's California Environmental Law & Policy Center hosted "CEQA at 40: A Look Back & Ahead." Celebrating the 40th anniversary of California's bedrock environmental law, the California Environmental Quality Act, the conference drew some 400 attendees to U.C. Davis, with many more viewing the proceedings via a live Internet feed. The diverse speakers at the event included state policymakers, jurists, veteran CEQA attorne...
CONTINUE READINGDatabase of Anti-Environment Votes in 112th Congress
To date, 170 anti-environmental votes have been taken in the GOP-led House of Representatives by the 112th Congress. It's difficult to keep track of the good, the bad, and the ugly coming out of the House. One tool to help track the action in Washington is a new searchable database of anti-environment votes. "The House has voted to block action to address climate change, to stop actions to prevent air and water pollution, to undermine protections for public land...
CONTINUE READINGKatrinas Yet to Come
A group of Yale economists have produced a sobering paper about the effect of climate change on hurricane damage in the United States. What makes the report especially notable is that the leader of the group, Robert Mendelsohn, is on the more conservative end of the spectrum in terms of climate economists. Here is the authors' description of the study, with the key conclusion highlighted: A damage function is estimated from historic hurricane data to measure the im...
CONTINUE READINGEnergy Storage in California by 2020: A New Report From the California Energy Commission
Yesterday, the California Energy Commission's Public Interest Energy Research (PIER) program released a strategic assessment of energy storage technologies in California by 2020. The report was prepared by a three-campus University of California team, including Berkeley Law, UC Los Angeles, and UC San Diego. Along with co-blogger Steve Weissman and Jessica Intrator (who did the bulk of the research and drafting on the policy side), I served as principal investigator and ...
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