UCLA hosts live debate on Proposition 23 this Thursday evening
This Thursday evening, UCLA's Institute of the Environment and Sustainability will be hosting a live debate on Proposition 23, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, KPCC-FM (one of our NPR affiliates in Southern California), and UCLA Law's Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment. More information on the debate, including a registration link, is here. If you're in Los Angeles and interested in attending, please register in advance to guarantee your seat...
CONTINUE READINGNudging State Parks
The Sacramento Bee comes through with another essential backgrounder on Proposition 21. Among the takeaway points: *The parks have a $1 billion maintenance backlog; *Nationwide experts consider the California system to be the nation's most endangered; *Among those 10 states with the nation's biggest systems, only California and Massachusetts lack a dedicated funding source. The most recent state to adopt a specific charge was Montana, famed for its left-liberal dee...
CONTINUE READINGWhat to do about those coal plants we already have…
The California Public Utilities Commission looked pretty good, back in 2007, when it created a rule prohibiting utilities from making new long-term investments in power plants emitting more carbon dioxide than an efficient natural gas plant. That meant no new conventional coal plants, which emit twice as much carbon dioxide as a natural gas plant. The Legislature liked what the Commission did so much that it created a new statute assuring that the Commission could not ...
CONTINUE READINGWhy Can’t “No on 26” Run a Professional Campaign?
Today's Los Angeles Times acknowledges what Sean flagged the other day: Fundraising for a ballot initiative to suspend California's global warming law has flagged, but oil companies and other business interests are pouring millions of dollars into a separate ballot measure that could dry up funds to implement the law. The Times article reveals that Chevron, Philip Morris, and California Chamber of Commerce (which regularly undermines its members' interests in pursuit of ...
CONTINUE READINGDon’t Call It Skepticism
Dan wants to know why "climate skeptics" don't seem to care about uncertainty: Let me try just one more time. Suppose you have some symptoms that could be a fatal disease or could be something minor. You’re not certain which it is. Is that a good reason for ignoring the problem? Really? There is a simple answer to his question: they aren't actually climate skeptics. The rabid conservative opposition to climate regulation does not come from "skeptics," who m...
CONTINUE READINGMaybe Proposition 20 is the Most Important!
As long as everyone is getting into the act, we might as well also flag a critically important CA initiative for the environment that I imagine everyone else has missed: Proposition 20, the "California Redistricting Initiative." I know -- redistricting. You've fallen asleep already. You shouldn't. Here's the skinny: In California, unlike in most other states, redistricting of state legislative seats is done not by the Legislature itself but rather by an independe...
CONTINUE READINGProposition 26: The most important ballot initiative affecting California’s environment?
*UPDATES: UCLA Law released a report analyzing Proposition 26's impacts on the State's environmental protection laws. And co-blogger Rhead Enion has responded point by point to some of Maureen Gorsen's arguments criticizing our analysis of the initative.* My co-bloggers have argued whether Proposition 25 or Proposition 23 is more important to California's environmental future. I believe a different initiative -- Proposition 26 -- may deserve that honor. Proposit...
CONTINUE READINGThe Hypocrites Fighting Proposition 21
California's Proposition 21 would add a paltry $18 to the state's vehicle license fee, and provide $500 million a year to the state's park system. This would vastly augment its budget, and help clear a $1.3 billion maintenance backlog. It also would eliminate parking and user fees for the parks. Who could be against that? Well, apparently automakers. And as Stuart Leavenworth makes clear in the Sacramento Bee, that's grotesquely hypocritical: You've likely see...
CONTINUE READINGThe BP Deepwater Horizon Blowout and the Social and Environmental Erosion of the Louisiana Coast
In a lecture that I gave last week at the University of Minnesota, I discussed how the Louisiana Coast was under grave threat from erosion, rising seas, and pollution even before the explosion on the British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon platform. Whole communities have vanished under the rising water, and the livelihoods and communities of people who depend on fishing for income has been threatened. The oil spill is a critical blow to these struggling comm...
CONTINUE READINGHear Sean on KCRW discussing tonight’s California gubernatorial debate
The last of the Meg Whitman / Jerry Brown debates is happening tonight and promises to be a doozie (& not just because of the recent uproar over name-calling). By all accounts the election remains up in the air, with much at stake for environmental regulation in California (see here and here, e.g.). For post-debate analysis on environmental issues, blogger Sean Hecht will be commenting live tonight on KCRW's Which Way LA . Debate at 6:30pm, panel commentary immed...
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