California Environmental Blueprint: Environmental monitoring & modeling
This post is the second in our ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California. In our Blueprint, we recommended that Governor Brown establish an independent, statewide agency or council devoted to compilation, modeling, prediction and presentation of environmental quality data. I want to elaborate on what this agency might look like and why we believe such an agency is important to California's environmental future. To briefly summarize our Blueprint, we ...
CONTINUE READINGThe State of the Union Address: Good on Energy, MIA on Climate
President Obama's State of the Union address had good news for research universities and for renewable energy: We'll invest in biomedical research, information technology, and especially clean energy technology - an investment that will strengthen our security, protect our planet, and create countless new jobs for our people. Already, we are seeing the promise of renewable energy. In terms of renewable energy, he added: "I challenge you to join me in setting a new goal: ...
CONTINUE READINGObama’s Cost-Benefit Executive Order
Last week, President Obama issued a new executive order on cost-benefit analysis The order also promised a retrospective review of old rules to weed out the duds. Business interests were pleased, environmentalists were dismayed. Politically, the new executive order makes perfect sense. To be reelected and keep control of the Senate, he needs to win over independent voters who supported the GOP in November. To avoid policy disasters like refusal to raise the deb...
CONTINUE READINGThe BP Oil Spill and the Disappearing Louisiana Coast
In his book Bayou Farewell, Mike Tidwell tells some haunting stories about the rapid disappearance of the Louisiana coast from his time with Cajun fisherman. Here's one story: “We all pile into the crab boat and Tim tells his son to head down the bayou. A few hundred feet away . . . Time points toward a watery stretch of march grass oddly littered with bricks and concrete. “’It’s a cemetery,’ he says. “There, shockingly, along the grassy bayou bank, I c...
CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Environmental Blueprint: Protect and Restore Funding
This post is part of an ongoing series on our Environmental Blueprint for California, released by UCLA Law last week. I'll talk about the first--and, in many ways, most fundamental--recommendation in our paper: that Governor Brown do what he can to protect and restore stable, robust funding for our State’s core environmental initiatives. My coauthors and I recognize that any conversation about the State’s priorities has to begin with the reality of our broken bud...
CONTINUE READINGNice Start on That Renewable Power, LADWP — Now Get to Work!
In a blog entry on January 14th, Ann Carlson offered strokes to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for announcing success in reaching its goal of 20% renewable power. Ann appropriately pointed out that much work lies ahead for LADWP, since most of the new renewable power came in the form of short term contracts. Firming up a significant renewable percentage will take concerted effort. It is laudable that LADWP has made as much progress as it has in ad...
CONTINUE READINGThere’s No Such Thing as Global Warming, Nope, None at All
From the NY Times blog today: New figures issued on Thursday in Britain show that 2010 was the second-warmest year in the historical record. That comes on the heels of reports last week from two American agencies that 2010 was tied for the warmest year in the record books. All three sets of numbers come from scientific programs that conduct rigorous analysis of the surface temperature of the earth, using thermometers and other instruments distributed across the globe. ...
CONTINUE READINGFunding dam removal
Many of you have probably heard of the settlement agreements in Klamath River Basin. For those who have not, the short version is that most participants signed two agreements: the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement and the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement. The Hydroelectric Settlement lays out a process that could culminate in the removal of four dams on the Klamath river, all owned by PacifiCorp. (A summary of the agreements is here.) Last week, PacifiCorp...
CONTINUE READINGA Roadmap for Sustainable Consumption
Individual consumption – including household heating and cooling as well as non-business transportation – creates roughly one-third of U.S. energy use and carbon emissions. It would feasible to reduce these emissions by twenty percent in a decade: there is a lot of low-hanging fruit yet to be picked. A range of individual actions, while seemingly minor, could dramatically reduce household energy consumption. To name just a few, individuals could reduce idling of c...
CONTINUE READINGSeeing Nature Through Conservation Eyes
There's a cool new video on "conservation biology," which you can find here. It has fabulous photos, as well as interesting commentary on the role of photography in prompting conservation. The photo to the left is an early example: a 19th century shot of Yellowstone that helped prompt the creation of the national park there. The photographer, William Henry Jackson, was an important 19th century photographer and painter who died at the age of 99 i...
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