Why Maureen Gorsen is wrong: Prop 26 will undermine environmental regulation
Followers of this blog know that, yesterday, UCLA Law released an analysis of Proposition 26's impacts on state funding for environmental and public health programs. Today, the Yes on 26 campaign struck back with a press release in which Maureen Gorsen suggested that we failed to understand Prop 26 and ignored facts. (The Yes on 26 campaign has relied almost exclusively on Maureen Gorsen, now an attorney at Alston + Bird, for this type of legal analysis, probably beca...
CONTINUE READINGDid EPA Just Get Snookered on Trucking Emissions Rules?
Like Holly, I suppose it's a good thing that EPA has -- finally -- proposed new rules for fuel efficient and greenhouse gas emissions from medium and large trucks. But I remain highly skeptical that even these rules -- as weak and tardy as they are -- will ever see the light of day. Once again, the administration's attempt to be reasonable is going to turn it into Charlie Brown kicking the football. Recall that these are not actual rules, but only proposed rules; t...
CONTINUE READINGA new issue of Ecology Law Quarterly
Ecology Law Quarterly volume 37, number 3 is now on the streets (or at least on the web). Check out these articles: Background Principles, Takings, and Libertarian Property: a Response to Professor Huffman, Michael C. Blumm & J.B. Ruhl Read Article (PDF) Ways of Seeing in Environmental Law: How Deforestation Became an Object of Climate Governance, William Boyd Read Article (PDF) Climate Change and the Arctic: Adapting to Changes in Fisheries Stocks and Governan...
CONTINUE READINGUCLA releases new analysis of Proposition 26’s impacts to state environmental programs
As Sean has written, Proposition 26 hasn't been getting as much attention in the media as other anti-environmental measures on next Tuesday's California ballot, but it has the potential to be a real sleeper threat. UCLA Law just released a careful analysis of Proposition 26's impacts to state funding for environmental and public health programs, concluding that it "would erect significant barriers to funding many of these programs in the future," which "could have sub...
CONTINUE READINGThumbs up and thumbs down
Brief takes on good and bad news from around the web. First the good news: EPA and NHTSA have proposed joint fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas reduction standards for medium and large trucks, the ones that move freight around the country. "The agencies estimate that the combined proposed standards have the potential to reduce GHG emissions by nearly 250 million metric tons and save approximately 500 million barrels of oil over the life of vehicles sold during 2014 t...
CONTINUE READINGMeet the new BOEMRE, same as the old MMS
Cross-posted at CPRBlog. The Minerals Management Service within the Department of Interior was responsible for overseeing offshore oil development in federal waters from its creation in 1982 until its demise earlier this year. MMS was always a troubled agency, to put it mildly, dogged by scandals and a revolving door with the industry it regulates. After the Deepwater Horizon incident made its failings obvious, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar reorganized MMS out of exist...
CONTINUE READINGDry as Dust
A new literature survey and synthesis has some grim news about drought: Dry periods lasting for years to decades have occurred many times during the last millennium over, for example, North America, West Africa, and East Asia. . . . Climate models project increased aridity in the 21st century over most of Africa, southern Europe and the Middle East, most of the Americas, Australia, and Southeast Asia. Regions like the United States have avoided prolonged droughts...
CONTINUE READINGOne Fish, Two Fish, Old Fish, New Fish
The NY Times has a nice series on a field expedition studying biodiversity in the Amazon. Here's a sample paragraph to go with the picture above: As they pick through the specimens, bent over the table with their heads close together, they're carrying on one of those scientific conversations that are conducted so entirely in shorthand that they sound disappointingly primitive to a non-specialist . . . Any doubts about the sophistication of the enterprise...
CONTINUE READINGPutting the English on Climate Adaptation
As part of a research project on climate adaptation, I had occasion to look at what the British are doing. The Adaptation Subcommittee of the Climate Change Committee has done some excellent work to address adaptation issues. Besides planning, the Subcommittee has begun to assess progress to date, finding some improvements in capacity building but a lack of consistent implementation. The U.K. Climate Impacts Programme (UKCIP) offers some nifty adaptation tools, i...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Republicans Should Support Proposition 21
In my lonely quest to get people interested in Proposition 21, I've written other posts about it, and tried to answer objections. But one objection, usually offered by Republicans, deserves a closer look, because addressing it means that Republicans should vote for Proposition 21 even if one accepts their premises about the Legislature and the budget. Proposition 21 would impose an $18-per-year addition to the state's Vehicle License Fee, and create a trust fund for t...
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