Comparing the future of marriage equality and climate change policy
A little under 15 years ago (Sept. 21, 1996) President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibited same-sex marriage for federal purposes. Just over a year later, global negotiators agreed to the Kyoto Protocol to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, which was intended to create an international framework to control greenhouse gases. However, the US has yet to ratify the Protocol, and domestic legislation to implement cap-and-trade r...
CONTINUE READINGChina and the Environment: Some Progress on Lead Pollution
It’s a pleasure to be joining the excellent group here at Legal Planet. My focus will largely be on issues related to China and its environmental and energy challenges. I returned to the U.S. last month after seven years working in China on environmental protection and legal reform (mostly for the Natural Resources Defense Council). Over the last few years, as with most things in China, the developments in the environmental, climate, and energy arenas have moved i...
CONTINUE READINGEPA to Continue Emissions Trading in Place of Clean Air Interstate Rule
With the success of the 1990 cap and trade program for sulfur dioxide (the major cause of acid rain), cap and trade has become one of the dominant regulatory means to control air pollution in the U.S. And, of course, cap and trade remains one of the central mechanisms to control greenhouse gases in those jurisdictions seeking to control such emissions economy-wide, like the European Union and California. But domestic efforts to control sulfur dioxide and nitrous ox...
CONTINUE READINGThird time not the charm for Columbia River salmon BiOp
U.S. District Judge James Redden has once again found the National Marine Fisheries Service's Biological Opinion for operations of the Columbia River hydropower system inadequate to satisfy the Endangered Species Act. This is the third time in a decade that Judge Redden has been asked to review a Columbia River BiOp, the third presidential administration to try its hand at a BiOp for the system, and the third time Judge Redden has found NMFS's efforts insufficient. In 2...
CONTINUE READINGGettin’ Down With the Greenies
Homie, you down with sustainable consumption? [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UFc1pr2yUU]...
CONTINUE READINGNew nonprofit Harbor Community Benefit Foundation launches, seeks Executive Director to oversee millions of dollars in community benefits projects in Los Angeles’s near-port communities
A historic agreement between the Port of Los Angeles and various stakeholders has resulted in the founding of a new nonprofit organization, the Harbor Community Benefit Foundation. HCBF's mission is "to carry out mitigation and other public benefit projects that assess, protect, and improve health, quality of life, and the natural environment, with a focus on the near-port communities of San Pedro and Wilmington, California." The Port, a major hub of international co...
CONTINUE READINGHow Should Law Schools Teach Land Use?
I haven't taught Land Use for a few years, but under pressure from the administration, I'm gearing up to teach it again a year from now. And I'm going to need that time to figure it out, because it's a little frustrating teaching it in the traditional way. To the extent that there is a "traditional" land use curriculum, it seems to center on two things: Takings and standards of review. The first is self-explanatory, and the second basically comprises everything el...
CONTINUE READINGThe ABA versus the Environment?
The ABA House of Delegates will vote on a Resolution (Resolution 11-6) that would abolish the ABA Standing Committee on Environmental Law (SCEL) at its Annual Meeting next Monday. Lesley McAllister has a posting about this over at the Environmental Law Prof blog: Resolution 11-6 would abolish SCEL and merge its functions into the Section on Environment, Energy and Resources (SEER). SEER's primary mission, however, is to serve the day-to-day needs of its members, which te...
CONTINUE READINGAn inconvenient truth
A new paper in the Marine Ecology Progress Series open access journal (peer-reviewed) tells it like it is in ways that environmental scientists are often reluctant to do. Authors Camilo Mora and Peter F. Sale took a very big-picture look at how well reserves are protecting biodiversity, on land and at sea. The analysis is necessarily crude, but attention-getting. They find that the area devoted to reserves has gone up steeply over the past 40 years, while biodiversity ...
CONTINUE READINGMillenium Development Goals Report 2011
We're a little late on this, but early last month the United Nations issued its 2011 Millenium Development Goals report, which really should be at the top of the environmental community's focus. Usually, the MDGs are thought of simply as concerning poverty and development, but of course these issues deeply concern the environment. More directly, although not often highlighted, the seventh MDG is "environmental sustainability." There's actually some good news here...
CONTINUE READINGJoin Our Mailing List
Climate policy is changing rapidly. Stay in the loop with expert analysis via email Monday - Friday.
