A Prop 23 Op. Ed.
Two of us (Rick Frank and myself) have just published an op. ed in the LA Times on Prop. 23. In a nutshell, Proponents of Proposition 23 argue that going forward with AB 32 in the midst of the current recession would further damage the state's economy and eliminate jobs. But a study we recently coauthored reveals major pitfalls in Proposition 23. The study, sponsored by the UC Berkeley law school's Center for Law, Energy & the Environment, concludes that the ini...
CONTINUE READINGThe New Yorker on Climate Legislation
Read the whole thing. Really. Because if you don't, and all you do is read the subtitle -- How the Senate and the White House missed their best chance to deal with climate change -- or just read the tag line -- "Everybody is going to be thinking about whether Barack Obama was the James Buchanan of climate change" -- then you will get a totally distorted view of the piece. The article makes it abundantly clear that from the start, only a miracle could have gotten c...
CONTINUE READINGDoes the Earth Need Chemo?
In a recent conversation, a Berkeley climate scientist compared geoengineering to chemo: you may find out it's your only choice, but it would be better not to get cancer in the first place. Likewise, we might need geoengineering, but it would be better if we didn't pump the atmosphere full of carbon. Nevertheless, it's important to know our options. Today's Washington Post has a useful article that describes the current state of play: "We're getting a sense that ...
CONTINUE READINGWelcome to our new environmental law fellow Rhead Enion
A few weeks ago, we gained a new colleague here at UCLA Law: Rhead Enion. Rhead, a graduate of Duke University Law School, Stanford, and the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, is our new Emmett/Frankel Fellow in Environmental Law and Policy. He has worked as a research fellow at Duke's Nicholas Institute and has interned with Oceana, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, and the ACLU of North Carolina. Rhead will be working with us on all sorts of projects...
CONTINUE READINGMajor Berkeley Conference on Climate and Energy
Today and tomorrow, Berkeley is hosting a major conference featuring leading scientists, engineers, and policy analysts. The keynote speakers include: Ralph Cicerone, President, National Academy of Sciences Chris Field, Co-chair, IPCC Working Group 2: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability Arun Majumdar, Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy, DOE A live webcast is available here....
CONTINUE READINGRecent offshore oil developments
It's been another busy week in the world of offshore oil regulation. Here are links to a few developments: In the courts, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed as moot Interior's appeal from the District Court's preliminary injunction of the first moratorium on new deep-water drilling permits. That makes sense to me even though the U.S. has gone back and forth in its views on mootness, arguing to the District Court that the first challenge was mooted by the new mo...
CONTINUE READINGCongratulations to Berkeley Law alum Kassie Siegel
Last week, the Daily Journal named Kassie Siegel, Berkeley Law '00, one of the most influential lawyers of the decade in California. Kassie directs the Center for Biological Diversity's highly successful Climate Law Institute. I can't send you to the Daily Journal story, because their web site requires a subscription, but you can read the Center for Biological Diversity's press release. Best line from the press release: "If I was facing extinction, I’d want Kassie Sieg...
CONTINUE READINGChilly in Baltimore: Energy Efficiency and Wind Power
I heard an interesting story on NPR today about "district cooling" in which a company in Baltimore uses ice to produce chilled water, which is transported to a number of building in the city for supplemental cooling. What really struck me as cool about this (sorry about the pun) is the fact that this system essentially "stores" power produced by wind turbines. Here's how: The ice used at the facility is produced at night when energy costs are lowest, and coincident...
CONTINUE READINGMountaintop Removal: Incompatible with Climate Solutions and Incompatible with the Environment
Monday thousands of people converged on Washington, D.C. for the Appalachia Rising Rally to protest mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. Activists dumped 1,000 pounds of Appalachia dirt on EPA's front lawn before marching on the White House. At a sit-in at PNC bank, four people were arrested while protesting that bank's financing of MTR coal mining. About a hundred more, including Dr. James Hansen, retired coal miners, and Appalachian residents, were arrested ...
CONTINUE READINGNanotechnology Regulation: The Future Is Here, Almost….Maybe
Apart from the reporting requirements in Berkeley, California, there is little public health or environmental regulation in the United States directed specifically at nanotechnology. But in California, that may soon change. In draft regulations released this month as part of its Green Chemistry Initiative, the Department of Toxic Substances Control specifically branded nanomaterials as chemicals subject to regulation. The regulations will establish an extensive pro...
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